I got a job!

Wednesday I was lazy! Did some laundry with Lenea and finished the fifth book of Harry Potter. 870 pages. Oh yes. It was an accomplishment. It is an odd and satisfying feeling to finish such a ginormous book. I invested so much time in those 870 pages that I almost felt empty once I finished. Luckily there are more books in the series. Don't judge me. Our bookstore is not so bueno. I am reading whatever Elizabeth suggests, and she thought it was a sin that I started and did not finish the series. I must admit that I am enjoying it. It is that little kid inside of me that wants to believe in magic. Anyway... I finally got a hold of someone at Human Resources. Yahoo! They scheduled me for in-processing on Thursday at 2:30. We also found out Wednesday night that Elizabeth had been nominated and won the youth volunteer of the year award for 2010. The ceremony for all of the volunteers was to be held Thursday evening at 6 pm. The only problem was that Elizabeth was currently in Frankfurt for MUSS (Model United States Senate) where the students act as senators and try to pass bills amongst themselves. It is pretty cool. I never had my stuff together like she does when I was 15. She is pretty stellar. All of this to say that in order for Elizabeth to attend we were going to have to make a 45 minute trip to Frankfurt to the volunteer ceremony and a 45 minute trip back to Frankfurt for her to finish her conference deal.

Thursday finally arrived and I had tried to contact the Human Resources in Heidelberg for my in-processing all morning to try and change my appointment time, but I could not get a hold of a soul. I wanted to move my appointment to an earlier time so that I could ride with Paul and Lenea to Frankfurt after my appointment. They were in a meeting all morning long, so my appointment time stayed at 2:30 pm. We were hoping that it would not take more than 30 minutes, since I was just going to be signing the last of the paperwork. This was not the case. Luckily I arrived about 10 minutes early and was able to start on some of the paperwork. What kills me is that a large majority of the paperwork are things that I have already filled out numerous times. Why do I have to answer the same questions over and over again? Grrr to the military. Back to the story... I finished my paperwork and spoke with a woman from Human Resources who told me more about my benefits and the behind the scene details of my job. I have full benefits... health and life insurance, 401k, retirement plan, yadda, yadda, yadda. I don't feel old enough to be dealing with some of this. As of 3:40 pm on Thursday I no longer have to pay a ridiculous amount of money for my independent Cobra Plan. I have Aetna! and it is SOOOO much cheaper than what I was paying. That is one of the small benefits of being employed! I can now go to the doctor and not have to pay a 500 euro deposit. Sigh. I can breathe easier knowing that I am not going to be screwed over quite as badly by my insurance company. Since my appointment ran until 3:40, Paul and Lenea went to Frankfurt to snag Elizabeth so that we could make it to the ceremony on time. I rode the train home and we all headed to the ceremony together. It was nice. Nothing grandios, but nice. The food was yummy and the awards were for well deserving people. After the ceremony we quickly left the building so that Elizabeth could return to her MUSS festivities. It was a whirlwind, but fun. Once we arrived back at the apartment, I went to sleep to rest up for my first day of work. I'm a big kid now (in the old theme song of Toys 'R Us... at least I think that is what it weant to).

Today I arrived at work at 7:55 am. That sounds so much nicer than the 5:30 am I was originally told. I found out that I will only have to show up at 5:30 am a couple of times a month and will only be required to stay until 2:30. Aparently the CDC doesn't pay overtime. They roll extra hours into a cumulative tank where they are stored for paychecks that I did not meet the full 40 hour work week. Whatever. It is just another way for the government to screw me over. I would much rather be paid time and a half, but what do I know? Once I arrived I was escorted to a conference room where I spent the first half of my day reading Standard Operating Procedures. Whomp. Whomp. I was allowed unlimited breaks, but I didn't use them. I wanted to read all of the manuals/guidelins/rules and just be done with it. Halfway through the morning they had a staff meeting, which I was able to sit in on. It sounds like there is a lot of work to be done at the CDC, but they seem like good people. It should be interesting. After the meeting I returned to my table and finished up the SOPs. Then I walked back to the apartment for my hour lunch break and chatted with Lenea some about the day thus far. When I returned after lunch I was given more "weekend reading." Boo! The good part is that instead of reading the papers right then, I was able to observe in my classroom. I actually got to interact with my kiddos and meet the people I will be working with. Shocker, eh? There are 28 kids on the roster, but only 20 were present today. The room fills at maximum with 30 kids. I am sure I had the dear in headlights look when they told me this. 28 kids? and I could have 30? The possibilities for mass chaos are outstanding. The ratio for preschool kiddos is 1 adult:10 kids, so there will always be 3 adults present. All of the people seemed to be really nice and very encouraging, so I think this will be a good thing. All in all it was a good day. Only one kid pooped his pants on the playground, and the best part is that I didn't have to change him. Score one for the hometeam. :) Monday I will continue the same routine. Training in the morning and observation in the afternoon.

Tomorrow we are going to Weinheim to the MarktPlatz. I can't wait for fresh fruit and veggies. Mmm mmm good!