Come back to Texas

Despite the fact that I'm not traveling right now I figured I could probably manage to entertain you with the few things that have been going on around here.

I arrived in Houston Wednesday afternoon and my dad picked my up at the airport there. We decided it would be much more economical for him to simply pick me up in Houston and drive me back to Austin. Besides, then he got a whole two and a half hours with me all by himself. 

The first thing I did was nearly die of heat exhaustion when we walked out the elevator doors onto the roof of the parking garage. The Texas sun was beating down, as expected, and it was a clear, sunny 88°F. 

It was 34°F when I left Prague 14 hours before so I'm sure you can imagine how that felt. I tried to dress in layers so I could strip off the extra when I got to Texas, but we all know that effort is futile. You just can't get cool in Texas unless Texas wants you to.

We got back to Austin before 6 p.m. and my mom just about died seeing me. I spent the rest of the night chit-chatting with my parents and didn't even think twice about the Internet or anything else. 

I was out like a light by 9 p.m. since I slept all of two hours on the plane and two hours the night before getting on the plane. That night I managed a good 11.5 hours of sleep before waking up feeling refreshed and excited.

Unfortunately I had absolutely nothing to do. I don't deal with that so well. So I snacked and finally decided to get on the Internet and let people know that I was officially back in the great Lone Star State. I also searched Craigslist really fast and applied to a couple of teaching and tutoring jobs.

Eventually I decided it would be a good idea to go renew my driver's license — it expired on my 24th birthday in May while I was out of the country — and to get an American SIM card for my phone. 

Those were the only things on my list for the day until going to get Tex-Mex and Mexican martinis with my friends that evening. 

 

Those tasks took me all of about an hour and a half. When I got home I already had responses from jobs I had applied to and one wanted to interview me that day! 

Recession my ass, folks. I came back to America and had an interview in less than 24 hours and remember I slept nearly 12 hours of that!

The interview went well. Friday afternoon they called around 1 p.m. and said they had a very important question:

Employer: Can you work for at least one year?

Me: No, I don't think that will be possible. I was actually hired to begin a job in Prague in January so I will be leaving the country again then.

Employer: OK, thank you.

I turned to my mom and shrugged.

Well, two hours later I was having tacos (yummmmmm) with my best friend Meghan when I got another phone call.

Employer: Hi Jimmie, we were wondering if you would take the job teaching our students.

Me: Sure, absolutely!

Employer: Can you start Monday?

Me: Yes, of course, can I come by to pick up the materials today?

Employer: Today, really? Yes, please do!

I have to say coming home and having a new job within two days was pretty awesome. So now I'm spending a couple hours each afternoon teaching Korean exchange students book analysis and writing. Granted it's only 10 hours a week so I will definitely have to figure out something else as well, but it's something!

Everything since then has just been seeing people and eating.

The seeing people part is pretty amazing. I haven't even been home a week and I've already seen my brother and his whole family. My nephew is huge and curious and so funny and my niece is getting more grown up and gorgeous every day! Then I saw my very best friend from high school and her parents who are like my second set of parents. I haven't seen these folks in a year and a half (I didn't get to see them when I came home for Christmas). 

As for the eating part, well, I'm pretty sure I'm going to eat the entire city of Austin before I leave again. I have had Tex-Mex nearly every day and I haven't even gotten to the much desired BBQ yet. I can't decide which of my favorite BBQ places I should visit first. 

Suggestions? I think right now it's a toss up between Rudy's and Ruby's. Rudy's is just awesome but Ruby's has fried okra... Oh decisions, decisions.