So much for updating regularly again. I'll admit, it's been a little hard lately getting myself to write. Life has been... dare I say it?... almost depressing the last few months. I love Seattle still, but haven't been able to experience it like I envisioned. The job hunt wasn't easy, but I found a few part time things that might just make it work. It took me a while to find the jobs though. Many mornings/early afternoons were spent at Forza in Green Lake (one of my favorite places). Had a nice system of ordering a hot jasmine tea while I applied for at least one job or updated my Linkedin profile or did something job-huntyish, sometimes getting lunch, and then ending my time there with a pint of beer. Perfect! I applied for full-time jobs at first, but the longer it went where I didn't hear anything, the more desperate I got. Began looking for part-time jobs. Now, I work as a nanny during the afternoon and at a University District college/locals bar at night. May not be the most exciting jobs, but I'm getting by. My weekends at camp were ending, so I actually thought I might now have time and the means to really explore Seattle.
The housing situation has been tricky as well. Katie and I had been living in a basement apartment for the first two months we were here, but it was a temporary place. Near the end of October, I found what seemed to be an almost perfect situation. A room in a awesome house with 3-4 guys (one who I work with and get along well with) only two blocks away from where I was living, set up as a month-to-month situation. The garage even had a climbing wall built into it! Wasn't a studio on Capitol Hill, but it would do nicely.
I had a trip back to NH planned for my birthday week, and was looking forward to the next chapter to start. Nice house, decent jobs, weekends free. Could actually start really living in Seattle! Right before I left though, the house fell through (still not sure about what happened; something about the guys fighting). I didn't have time to find something then, so now I was going to be coming back from NH to no place to live. Just a few days after I got back, my nanny family also told me that the grandparents would be moving in mid-December, so soon enough I would also be out of a job. The vision of getting to live in Seattle quickly disappeared.
In the week and a half since I've been back in the city, I have been couchsurfing a little, but mostly sleeping on an air mattress in a living room alcove in the apartment upstairs from the one I had been living with. The heat doesn't always work, there is a friendly cat who likes the air mattress more than I do (hasn't popped it yet, knock on wood), and I don't have a key to get in and out. The guys are awesome for letting me stay, but I cannot wait until I have my own space again. I've been constantly searching for a studio or a room or a sublet. It's tricky because I'm being picky. I want to stay in the Green Lake neighborhood, have a month-to-month (at most 6-month) lease, and ideally find some place furnished. But, I'm applying for jobs all over the city, so I might end up working 45 minutes away from where I'm living, so don't want to commit to anything past December. I'm looking at a place tonight that seems great, on paper at least. Well, on Craigslist. Fingers crossed it's the one!
My days have been full of apartment hunting, job searching (back to looking for full-time jobs), working two jobs, and trying not to freeze. I'm at Forza every day, to the point that some of the employees know my tea-snack-beer schedule. I'm determined to find a job that's actually in my field this time around. I could easily find another nanny job, but I don't know if it's just because I'm getting older, or I'm run down with all of the hunting and not sleeping well, or what, but I just really want to work with adults. And children. But mostly adults. I want to be supervising the adults who are directly supervising the children. Is that so much to ask for? I've been applying to a job a day and will hopefully hear back sooner rather than later. I've also started looking for camp jobs for next summer. Maybe I'll be in Texas in 6 months. Or Colorado. Or New Mexico. Wherever the job is.
Well, that's about it. I wish I had more exciting things to say. I never really believed it before, but the job search is a full-time job itself. So that plus two part time jobs equals a tired Kat. But I'm still positive! I know everything will work out in the end.
I think that's the biggest thing for me. I want to be here so badly, that even though I keep getting signs that I should maybe go back to NH, I'll do whatever it takes to stay here. I'll find a comfortable place to live, I'll find a good job, I'll have time to explore. I'll get a great camp job for next summer, and then maybe I'll move some place new. The possibilities are endless. Here's to the next few months of not knowing anything!