A Job Interview

A few days ago, I had a job interview. It was for a high school English teacher/theatre instructor position. I'll find out Friday what the results are. Should I be offered the job, I will not be taking it. To begin with, they weren't offering to pay much money--I would be able to earn just as much if not more working at an office job full time; I've gone through enough schooling to know that I should be able to get more even as a 1st year teacher. Secondly, the town was in a rather small, remote place. I'm not against teaching in a rural area--I mean I grew up in a town of 650 people. However, we only had to drive 15 miles to get anywhere. This place, even though it was off the Interstate, required about a 40 mile drive to get anywhere and size-wise it's not even half the size of the town where I went to high school.

Not only that, but parts of the school have been condemned. A couple of the English teachers who interviewed me gave me a tour of the school. When we came to the library, they said something like, "This used to be a jewel of the school, but we can't show you it because it's been condemned." The doors were blocked of with yellow tape and bright signs. The school board still has no idea what they are going to do, several months after parts of the building were blocked off.

Finally, the location of the town will be a factor. I really have no idea where I'm going to exactly end up next year or what I'm going to be doing. From my past experiences I know that the best laid of plans can be totally washed away if I don't seek the leading of my Lord. I have to be open to the possibility of anything happening. However, at the moment, this is how I see things happening for the fall: either I get a job in the general vacinity (a roughly 100 mile radius) of where I am now so that I act in some projects that I might never get the opportunity to do again or I end up somewhere in/near the suburbs of Chicago or I move to Portland, Oregon. With that in mind, I've looked into a few other options as well. Considering all of this together and after much prayer, I'm convinced that if I'm not in the general vacinity of where I am now I will be moving far away. In my mind, ideally, I would stay around the general vacinity teaching somewhere next year and then moving out to Oregon the year after that. I don't know if that is what will happen, but that's how things seem to be at the moment.

There is something that has been calling me on the west coast. For a very long time I thought it was L.A. However, I don't think that's it anymore. One day I will get to L.A., but I have no desire to live there anymore. Instead, there is a far more beautiful country that I have seen where I was at more peace than I have ever been in my entire life. It's a place where despite the constant sprinkling of rain, there are green trees everywhere and cities don't look as scummy as many I've been to do. It's a place where a bookstore takes up 4 buildings and an entire city block. As the Gonzo the Great once sang, "I'm going to go back there someday."