i got hired for the job today! :-) went in at 10:30 and met with two of the three people i was supposed to meet with. talked for a nearly an hour and finally was offered the job. full-time, M-F, 8-5, website maintenance and coordination/design of all advertising. yay for me! :-)
9:45 a.m.
i just got off the phone with a very nice, Christian lady who runs the tractor company in town. get this ... she ran into the monument man, the guy who wants me to be his computer tutor who is handling my dad's headstone, at Subway a couple of days ago. one of his favorite questions is "where do you go to church" so she tells him Champion Fellowship, the new church i was going to for the music. he says he knows someone who goes there and tells her my name, that i'm looking for a job, and that i'm a computer guru. later she remembers meeting a Jenny at church one Sunday (which is true, we both remember meeting each other during the meet and greet time of the service) and thought she might see me yesterday, but i didn't go yesterday (i went to the country church with mom instead). ANYWAY .... i didn't go, so she didn't find me, so we didn't talk.
so we talked for about 20 minutes. she needs someone dedicated to updating their website and doing all the other advertising needs they have. they have someone, but he's actually supposed to be doing other things like sales or something and can't really dedicate as much time as it takes to keep the website current. she says it could be full- or part-time, depending on my needs, because i mentioned doing work for Parcel Plus as well.
8:00 p.m.
just got home from dinner and found a message on the machine from Carol at the tractor company. i called her back and told her i'd love to meet with her and the other necessary people at 10:30 tomorrow morning. she says, "you don't have to dress up or anything, we all wear blue jeans around here." perfect for me! :-) so i'll go tomorrow to the tractor company and see what happens.
i'm excited, especially because they sound like nice people to work for. plus, given the fact that the last two weeks i've been trying to learn a particular website software, it just seems like God is really working and that what i've been learning is going to actually be helpful. i've just been very aware today of how very cool it is how He puts all the little pieces together, isn't it? :-)
a couple of weeks ago i met with a woman who runs a mailing/shipping/gift store and also has a marketing firm inside of it run by herself and her husband. she contracts out a lot of graphic design work and talked with me briefly about the possibility of freelance work and maybe part-time work in the store. she finally was able to meet with me again today to have a real conversation about it all.
this afternoon i met with her and the guy she gives a lot of the major graphic work to. we sat fairly casually and talked about their needs/ideas and my needs and 45 minutes later we parted. their ideas are that i work part-time in three different roles. 1) counter help in the store, 2) graphic work through her marketing firm (small things, stuff that doesn't require a ton of art direction), 3) graphic work for the lead designer on a contract basis.
the hope is that between the three jobs i will stay busy, challenged, and financially stable enough to move out of Mom's house and support myself here in Brenham.
she is going to talk with her husband about the gross amount i need, then further think/discuss about the three jobs to figure out what it would more closely look like and get back to me (hopefully soon).
in the meantime, i'm continuing to teach myself a complicated, yet widely-used web application. it's good that i've been learning it, because it came up in our discussion today. so my eagerness to learn actually proved helpful today ... and, it motivated me to continue learning, even though i was highly frustrated with the program earlier today. :-)
pictures are up. i took 90, but only picked out the best ones to show you. click here. :-)
i was thinking, i didn't share other stuff, so this is the random info part of Cozumel.
i got to speak spanish to everyone. i didn't have to, because everyone spoke english, a requirement to work there. but when they realized i spoke a little spanish, they wanted to talk to me in spanish. they had to repeat things several times and say it slowly, but i had nice little conversations with several people. this one guy i spoke to entirely in spanish, some random parking attendant about the paying to use their beach, the fish, and where best to go if we wanted to snorkel. it was cool cuz we both understood each other rather well and it proved to mom that i actually learned something in guatemala. :-)
shells were EVERYWHERE on our beach. they were TINY and WHITE and nothing spectacular, but there were literally thousands (100s of 1000s) along our beach. we had to walk through them to get from the sand to the water, which was VERY painful. then they'd be in the water. and then would be a small section of rocks or big shells you had to pass through, but all in the sand, and then just sand. it was weird. and we've never seen so many shells before. and if you walked further down you could see those big conch shells, none of them perfectly whole.
the sun was HOT and painful. there was no shade when walking around the resort because there weren't very many trees, nor are palm trees really big enough to provide much shade. but they had lots of thatched-roof umbrellas on the beach to sit under, which wasn't only helpful, but necessary.
there weren't tons of people, which was nice ... plenty of room for everyone and no need to fight over lounge chairs. but the night before we left more people arrived, so for breakfast the morning we left there were lots more people. but overall, business was really slow, so unfortunately for them they were losing money on that all-inclusive deal.
this place is a five-star resort, very nice, and we recommend staying there if you ever go. but keep in mind that five star in mexico versus five star in america is going to be a little different. the flies, for example, would have americans screaming up a storm in america. but in mexico everyone just goes with the flow and doesn't say a word. the food was tasty and pretty and filling, but it was just normal food, "not gourmet," as one of the guests commented. and no, it wasn't gourmet for america, but it WAS gourmet for mexico. they could have just served us all beans, rice, and tortillas. :-)
oh, the iguanas! there were iguanas running around the grounds of our resort, so when walking to breakfast or to the pool we'd see them in the grass just watching life go by. and there were lizards, too. green, black, brown, small and medium sized. i think they all lived under our huts. fun!
my mom decided she needed to get away, but didn't want to get away by herself. so she took me with her to Cozumel to lie on the beach and do nothing for three days. nothing real exciting took place, because as i just said the purpose was to do nothing, and so we did.
we arrived thursday just after lunch. we found our greeter just outside the airport waiting to help us with our transportation to the hotel. very nice guy who got 12 of us into the van and then another guy drove us to the airport in the wild-Cozumel-taxi-driving way. we checked in and were given wristbands to prove we were all-inclusive and shown the direction toward our room. the resort was beautiful. an open air reception area with flowers and birds and a fountain just outside. all the rooms were in thatched-roof huts, eight rooms to a hut. we walked past flowers and shrubs and palm trees to our room, where patio furniture and a hammock were waiting on our porch. inside was a normal hotel room, two beds, a couple of chairs, a small table, and a tv. a normal hotel bathroom with a hair dryer, iron, coffee pot, and room safe. but what made it special was the towel animal of an elephant left on the bed.
it was lunchtime, so after dropping our stuff in the room we made our way a very short distance to the pool area where lunch was served buffet style every day. there was a hot grill waiting to cook your choice of chicken, pork, or beef. then already cooked were potatoes, french fries, various meats, veggies, pasta, fruit, salad, and dessert. we dipped up our plate, found a place to sit down, and then inquired of the bar about our drinking privileges ... all-inclusive really does mean, at least in this case, all you can eat and drink of anything you want. and so we ordered and drank freely (but responsibly, of course) and helped ourselves to the buffet two or three times. the only bad part about this dining outside for lunch were the flies. they were everywhere and always trying to eat our food before we could eat it. and then the bees and flies would attack our drinks. so, unfortunately, we were always fanning something.
after lunch we began our lounging and doing nothing. around 6-ish we made our way to the restaurant at the front of the hotel for dinner. this was buffet style too, but they also have a reservations-only dining room where you order off the menu. we decided to do the buffet the first two nights and the dining room the third night ... on the buffet the first night was mexican food (not all was mexican-style, but that was the theme of the night) ... and since business was slow, they only had one of the menu-restaurants open each night and the next night the mexican restaurant was open ... that would have been mexican two nights in a row. so we chose to do the seafood buffet the second night and then the italian menu-restaurant the third night. it all worked out well and provided lots of variety.
they provided entertainment each night around 9 p.m. The first night they had games outside (for free) where you played to win fake money to spend at the auction later on. so we played and hung out until the show started. after the show they had an auction where you bid to win items like a cheap necklace or a bottle of tequila. of course you win it for free, since the money was fake, so that made it even more fun. we didn't see anything we wanted to bid on, so we ended up giving our $19 to another couple who were trying to win the bottle of tequila, the last item of the night. they were furiously bidding against some other people and ran out of money. well, the other people had already won two other things, so we gave the couple our money to help win the tequila. and then a woman gave them hers. and then a girl. and finally, after all the pooled money, they outbid the other people and won. it was fun.
so the shows at night ... the first night we had mexican dance. six or eight very good dancers showed us different styles of dance from each state in Mexico. the second was a fire show by two young guys who had no fears of being burned up. and the third night was an international dance show, same dancers from the first night, but this time dancing different styles from spain, argentina, columbia, mexico, and cuba. all the entertainment was actually quite good, but the fire show was the best in my opinion. it was just different and dangerous and exciting. :-)
during the day they would have different activities like water volleyball, beach volleyball, a fashion show, horseshoes, and other things posted on a schedule. in addition to the two pools, jacuzzi, beach, and ocean activities, they had shuffleboard, tennis, a gym, and a spa. in the ocean the all-inclusive activities were all non-motorized sports ... snorkeling, boogie board, sailing, and kayaking.
so our second day was spent on the beach, lounging around in the sun, in the shade, and in the water. we snorkelled, we read, we kayaked, and we ate/drank at scheduled meal times. the snorkeling was ok, but not wonderful ... it was just regular water and sand there on our beach, so the really pretty fish weren't around because there was no coral for them to live in. we did see fish, but only a few and only white or black ones. BUT ... i saw a sting ray. and a big one at that. :-) i was on my way back to the beach when there it was. i was so shocked i moved away from it. it was a distance away and it was at the bottom, but still ... i didn't know how it might feel about me following it, so i didn't. i moved a little to the right and let it move a little to the left and after a few seconds we drifted far enough apart that i couldn't see it anymore. so i hurried on back to short to tell of my news. it was VERY cool, but enough scary that i didn't go back out ... i wanted to go find it again, but for some reason i was a little scared to.
the third day we decided to rent a car and drive around the island to see what else there is to Cozumel. after about an hour of driving, we determined ... there's not much to Cozumel. pretty much all activity is happening on the west side of the island just above and below the main city of San Miguel. if you love sunbathing/swimming, shopping, or water sports, this is a nice place to come. otherwise, you don't need to spend more than a day or two here. there's nothing on the east side except waves. no people, no activity, and not much room to pull off the road. it's very isolated and the entire 30 miles or whatever that we drove on that east side was spent with only a handful of other drivers. it was weird. but the waves were nice to see and listen to. :-)
from the air you can see the island ... there's nothing in the middle except trees. no roads, no villages, nothing ... just trees. it makes sense that they wouldn't bother with the inside since everyone comes to Cozumel for the beach, but it feels weird to drive down a road for 30+ miles and never see a turn off to another road, a house, or in some places another car! but such is life in Cozumel.
we tried to find snorkeling sites for the afternoon, but didn't have much success. we finally just took the car and snorkeling gear back and called it quits with a margarita. :-) then we got dressed for our very nice italian dinner.
dinner was nice. we had very attentive waiters, wine, a bread basket, and four courses of delicious choices ... salad, pasta, meat, and dessert. all of it was very good and beautifully-plated, but the dessert was not very good at all. the dessert as a whole at this place was always disappointing ... it usually looked great, but tasted icky. but otherwise, it was wonderful.
today we ate breakfast, packed, and sat on the beach reading for a couple of hours before checking out. after we checked out, we gave our bag to the bellman and ate lunch. then we got our taxi to the airport and flew home. the airport is so small and so efficient it only took us five minutes to check in, go through security, and find our gate. (airport-recommended two hours ahead of time is a joke, just FYI for any future travelers.)
so, in sum, it was wonderful, beautiful, and fun. yes, traveling with "panic-snoring-drunk mom," and "hormonal-indecisive jenny" had its moments, but overall we had a great time. :-) definitely two or three days is good enough. and DEFINITELY all-inclusive is the way to go!
