Happy New Year!

Hi friends! It's January 1! 1:17 a.m. as I type this, to be exact. I thought starting the year off with a blog post might be a good idea. 

How was everyone's Christmas? Merry and bright and all that? I hope so. Mine was sooo lovely. James Burling came across the pond to spend the holiday with me. We had a most fabulous time exploring the city and spotting all kinds of decorations. 

Grand Central Terminal (aka my happy place) on Christmas Day!

The most elaborate gingerbread creation I have EVER seen. 

Bryant Park. 

Macy's!

Larger than life decorations. :)

Manhattan Bridge in the morning sun. 

A Special Christmas train!

Lower East Side graffiti!

2014 was a difficult year for me--full of transitions; new people, new places, and new directions. But you know what? I'm ready to put 2014 behind me. I don't wanna look back. I want to move forward. I want to imagine better for myself and work towards that. 

I'm starting off on a good foot. For those who don't know, I was offered a year-long temp job that starts this month. I just got confirmation yesterday that all my background stuff came back fine (I wasn't worried. 😊) and now I'm waiting for the last approval. That should happen on Monday and then I'll start work middle of next week. I am SO excited!

As I've said, 2014 was really hard. But it's been a time of learning. I've learned a lot about myself and others. I've learned:

1. It's okay to ask for help.

2. Sometimes, no matter how much you don't want to, you just have to walk away. 

3. You don't have to attend every fight you're invited to. 

4. Forgiveness doesn't free the other person. It frees you. 

God has been so good to me. He's brought me this far, He'll bring me the rest of the way. It's been hard to let go and trust Him, but He hasn't failed me. I know He has my best interest at heart and there's a specific path waiting for me, even if I can't see what it is yet. The journey is bound to be amazing! 

Allons-y!

Three Months!

So, I've been in New York for three months (as of tomorrow).  Three months! The time has simultaneously flown and dragged by. Being here has been different than any other period of my life, for multiple reasons.

1. I'm living in an entirely different part of the country than I've ever lived in.  I grew up in Eastern Tennessee and spent the later part of my childhood in Southern Indiana, before moving to Florida for the blink of an eye, and then moving back to Indiana, to the Northwest corner.  The climate here is different.  The way people talk is different... 

2.  I'm nowhere near any of my family.  I think this is a good thing.  Not that I don't love my family.  I do.  But for the first time, I'm on my own. I'm making decisions for myself and I'm finding out where I stand for myself.  It's a time of self-discovery and a time of learning to depend more on God because the familiar people/things I relied on at home are nowhere around.

3.  I've been job hunting ever since I arrived.  Real talk: Job hunting is exhausting.  It's exhausting to look through tedious job postings.  It's exhausting to keep applying and not hear anything back.  It's exhausting to go to interviews and try and put your best foot forward and it's exhausting to hear back that they're "going in another direction".  I end up feeling like Anne Shirley.  Seriously.

"If I was very beautiful and had nut-brown hair, would you keep me?"

I know the right job is out there. Maybe it's the one I interviewed for onTuesday.  Maybe it's a different one. It's hard to wait, but it seems that's where I'm supposed to be right now. Waiting.

 

Anyway, these are my musings upon three months in the city that never sleeps.  My laptop is dying, so this is going to get wrapped up. :) Take care my friends!

Addendum: I'm using my phone app to wrap this up properly. Three months in the city. I'm still here, and things are different, but I'm okay! God is still good to me. Things could be so much worse. 

♥ Rebekah

Easy Come, Easy Go

Hi friends! I decided to try out the blogger app for my iPhone. We'll see how this works. 

I had a job interview today. Nowhere fancy; it was at Radio Shack. Hashtag a job is a job. But I digress.

Earlier this week, I went to quite a few local businesses inquiring about work, picking up applications, etc. I stopped in at Radio Shack. I asked to speak with the manager and when he came out, I handed him a copy of my resume and references and asked him if they were hiring. He asked me what experience I had and what I was looking for. I told him. He seemed interested in meeting with me. Yay! 

He asked me if I would fill out an application online, take a few tests, and call him on Wednesday. I said I would and left posthaste to head to a wifi spot, so I could tackle the application and tests. 

Wednesday rolled around and I called the number he gave me early in the afternoon. "Oh he's not here yet.  He doesn't come in until 4." Ooookay. I guess I'm calling back. So, when 4 rolled around, I called back and spoke with the manager again. I reminded him of who I was and that we had spoken. He seemed pleased when I told him I had finished the online process and asked if I would come and meet him at 4 on Friday afternoon. Sure!

Now we're at today. Today I got ready and headed down to Radio Shack. I got there twenty minutes early and loitered outside until just before 4.  I confidently walked in and asked for the manager by name. "Oh. He's not here." He isn't? "No.  He went home already." Umm what? Seriously?

Okay. Deep breath. No big deal. Except the manager who was there had no idea who I was and seemed less than thrilled to have me on his hands.

He decided to proceed with the interview   He asked me what I'd been doing since I moved to New York. I told him. I explained my reason for moving and gave him a copy of my resume. 

Then things took a downward turn. He asked me what I had to offer the store. I told him I'm outgoing and friendly, I am a fast learner, good with technology, and dependable. All qualities you would expect to find in someone who works at Radio Shack. He apparently didn't like my answer because he asked me the exact same question again and as I had already answered him, I had nothing new to say. Awk-ward...

Then he asked me what my vision for Radio Shack was. I'm sorry. But it's RADIO SHACK. I wouldn't be CURING LUPUS! No, I didn't have a vision for the company. I don't even remember what I said, only that I stumbled through it. 

Last question: Do you speak any other languages? We're looking for someone who speaks Greek. Strike three. No, I don't speak any other languages. Should I just show myself out, or...?

Honestly, this was the worst interview I've had since I came here. I'm not sure I wanna work for a store where the management aren't good at communicating with each other, or, you know, actually showing up for appointments. 

On the upside, I have an interview in the Financial District on Tuesday afternoon for a better job that would be in my field. It can't be any weirder than the one I had today. 

❤️ Rebekah

Oh Look! A Blog Post!

Hi friends!

I've missed you all! I've missed this outlet, as well.  I don't have wifi at my apartment currently, so... it's much harder for me to blog. I know, I know, I can use the blogger app, but seriously, I've had bigger concerns to deal with, like looking for work.  But... one thing at a time.

So, some of you are probably wondering how I'm liking life in the city. Well, let me just tell you, New York City is AWESOME! I love the city! It fascinates me! There's always something going on and people are EVERYWHERE.  For an extrovert like myself, I feed off of that energy. I could stand in Grand Central for hours, just listening to the white noise of people bustling past.  It comforts my extroverted soul.

But life in the city has taken some time to get used to.  It was weird initially not to have my car here.  I had to completely change my mindset about going out in light of that fact.  If I went grocery shopping, I could only buy what I could carry.  And I better be careful about how far I walked to get the store because I'd have to walk just as far to get home.  And my shoes? My shoes were HORRIBLE! I don't think any of the shoes I brought with me, with the exception of a pair of sneakers, are even wearable here.  I had to buy different shoes that could keep up with all the additional walking I was doing.

Speaking of which... City life = walking!  I live about a mile from the nearest subway station, so there is a lot of walking involved.  It took some time to get used to all the walking, but I think I'm doing okay with it. If my roommate's legs weren't longer than mine I think I could almost keep up with her. Haha! Bonus: I've lost quite a bit of weight. My pants are literally falling off.  I look like a HOODLUM! And yes, there are definitely worse problems!

Life here is definitely an adventure.  I'm learning things about myself that I never knew before and I'm finding out how strong I am.  Life lessons that are invaluable.

When I moved here, I was a mess.  Without going into great detail, I will say that my parents are no longer together and basically every member of my family is in a different place. I always thought that a split must be hard on kids.  Guess what! It's not so easy on adults either.  My family may be splintered. But God has shown me that even though everything else has changed, He has remained the same.  He has been faithful.  He is moving my heart towards healing, a little bit more every day. He has provided just the right people to help me along the way.  I've found a great church here.  Every Sunday is a blessing to me and the people have reached out to me with open arms.  Not exactly what you expect from New Yorkers.  But New Yorkers who have Jesus in their hearts are a different story. I've made friends through my small group and even got my first temp job as a result of a connection I made there. :)


Confession: it was scary moving here.  Just packing up and moving far away from almost everyone I know and everything I was familiar with, but you know what? I'd do it again in a heartbeat.  Somethings are SO difficult. Those are the things that are worth it.  So, while things are still tough for me here right now, I know God has a plan for me. He's brought me this far; He'll bring me the rest of the way.  And if His plan is better than what I have in mind, then it's going to be worth waiting for.

Some days I get weary and that's normal.  In the meantime, I just keep plodding along and reaching for the opportunities that are presented to me.  I've enjoyed meeting people and getting to see things I never thought I would. Even though I'm not working and my life is filled with such uncertainty, I look around me sometimes and think "This is my life? Wow." and it's amazing. :) I'm making some new friends (I'm looking at you JC Cox) and I'm learning to be myself and you know what? I like me.

Some of my favorite things I've done:

Being a spectator at the New York City Marathon - People came from all over the world to be here.

Watching a couple get married in Central Park. :)

Meeting a minion in Times Square with Dawn Vargo!

This bagel... no caption necessary.

Seeing the Friends apartment building!

I'm going to try and be more regular about this blogging thing, but not having wifi makes it difficult, so just bear with me.

If you wanna see more pictures of my New York City adventure, you can follow me on Instagram, here.

♥ Rebekah