Catching Up

Nothing I've done recently is inherently Irish in nature. That doesn't mean I haven't been busy. And among the various tasks and activities is one very un-Irish thing.

So after the ballet, I spent the following week getting together with a few people from church; I also helped clean the new church building and did a little job hunting.

Finding a job feels like a job. I had already updated my resume, or CV as they call it here, and had created a few cover letter templates. That was easy. And finding positions in my line of experiences and applying with hiring agencies hasn't been that difficult either. The jobs are there. I've even gotten several bites. But once it's known that I'm an American with no work visa, the call for an interview never comes.

Despite the odds, I'm maintaining hope. Just this week I found two incredibly amazing positions with Apple and Amazon. Obviously both are large enough companies to not be daunted by the visa issue. In fact, Apple specifically stated they would pay to relocate the chosen candidate from anywhere around the world. And, the positions they're offering are amazing - I'd love it! Both companies are looking for customer service project managers, so really, I'd be doing exactly what I loved best in my last job. So fingers crossed on these.

On Saturday, I spent the day cooking and baking as I had invited a group of people to come over after church the following day. On the menu, but not in this order, was chocolate chip cookies, Shannon's amazing peanut butter cookies, salad, baked spaghetti and ... the very un-Irish, all American, good ol' mac and cheese. And let me now elaborate on the feat it took to perform such an un-Irish thing!

The week before I had really been craving something from home and we Americans know how to make the cheesy meals, so I decided upon macaroni and cheese. Ha! The odds were not in my favor. At the grocery store, I searched the pasta aisle, the ready meals aisle and did find it but in the most unlikely and disturbing of places. In the canned section. Yes, that's right - canned mac and cheese. I couldn't do it and cringe even now. So I thought I'd make myself some from scratch. I didn't have a recipe but figured it couldn't be that difficult. I headed over to the cheeses and that's when I got a second blow. I think I literally recognized only three cheeses out of a selection that took half of a refrigerator aisle. Mozzarella, Cheddar and Parmesan. No Swiss, no Provolone, no Jack. None of what seemed to be their basic cheeses matched ours. That kind of did it for me and I gave up on the mac and cheese idea, went to the freezer section and got an extra cheesy deep dish pizza! I admit I was defeated that day, but I armed myself with a recipe a couple days later and marched back into the store to conquer. If you're interested in the recipe I used, which by the way turned out fantastically for the get-together, visit here: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/04/macaroni-cheese/.

And yes, the get together went well - I thoroughly enjoyed myself. In total, I think I had ten people over which was the perfect number. There was enough food and everyone fit fairly comfortably in the living room, where we ate and enjoyed the warmth of a crackling fire. We chatted for a while and then everyone voted to watch The Hunger Games before we left for Ignite, the college/career group at church. It was definitely a fun, relaxing afternoon.