You may be wondering what I have been doing since I got back from Costa Rica. Well, looking back on it, I wonder what I did, too.
I initially came back with the intention of continuing to look for more teaching gigs overseas and then taking off to one. I applied for a teaching job in Japan (thanks to Grandma for pointing it out to me) that I would have really liked because since I am not a certified teacher, I would just be assisting a local teacher. Which theoretically meant, no lesson planning. Yeah!!! Alas, I did not get the job. I kept looking but nothing just felt right.
Meanwhile, my friends Kim and Jason were kind enough to let me stay at their place. They have two boys that are 8 and 4 so it was the first time I have lived with someone that had kids. It was different, I must admit, to what I am used to, but it was a very good learning experience. I got to play being a parent without having to actually be one.
I took on the role of live in nanny, or as one of my friends termed it – manny. I would run errands, pick up the youngest from school when Kim was working, take the kids to their sports, go to their sporting events, clean up around the house, cook, do dishes, drug the dogs, etc.
Ok, but is this all I did for the last 8 months. Mostly. Over the summer, I did a lot of house sitting and at one point considered using house sitting as a means to travel the country. I looked online and found some possibilities but then thought about what would happen if I got stuck in some place that was just awful (in terms of condition, pets from hell, smoke smell, etc). It seems like most people will let you stay at their place for free if you take care of their pets, so this does not seem like a way to make money. Of course, I could have just been looking at the wrong sites. Plus, this would require me to have a car which would require me to have money.
What I spent a lot of time doing was working on a website for my dad. As most of you know, my dad has a thing for collecting DVDs. I built him a little database a couple years ago that would allow him to keep track of what he has and also keep track of which friends and family have borrowed his movies. Basically, a little library application. He asked if I could put the system online so his friends and family could look online to see what he had. I said sure no prob. But alas, it took a long time to do. Since my dad also likes to buy books, I have also recently added a book section to the site. At some point I might also add the ability to keep track of audio stuff (e.g., CDs, LPs, MP3s, etc), video games and whatever else I get asked to add. The site is called trakstuff and is free to use, so if you have the need to track what you have or what people have borrowed from you, give it a try.
I took a few trips during this time period too: my dad and I went to San Fran, went with the family to Vegas to celebrate a cousin turning 21 and went on a hike from hell with Tony in Sedona (it was not good for the trail quickly disappeared while going up the mountain and we tried to keep going).
So this is pretty much what I have been doing for the past 8 months.