Induction- Day 3 (Hiring fair!)

Now that Kevin has told all of facebook about the existence of this blog, I feel that I need to make it more interesting. I promise I'll try!

Today was a very long day. We began with reflection on what we learned yesterday, and how we were feeling today. Then we had an hour of practicing our interview skills, by role-playing as principals who would be interviewing CM's. It was actually interesting to get to be on the other side of the table, the one who was conducting the interview. It was helpful to hear the responses of other CM's, too. Then we got our hiring fair schedules, and went to lunch. At first I had 4 interviews on my schedule. Then 3. Then my final interview was cancelled.  So I only had 2 interviews today, both with schools in Tuscaloosa.  So I'm pretty nervous about the results.  I'm not nervous about finding a job, because TFA works so hard for us, but I'm nervous about the waiting to hear if I got one of these jobs, and then nervous to find out the next step if I didn't.  Dinner was quiet, for me, because the day was so long, and now I'm back in my room, wondering what to do for the night.

Okay. So I failed. This was not very interesting. Hm... I guess I'll tell a little about my new CM friends. (And I feel like I should say that "CM" stands for corps member. Sorry.) Oh, and sorry that this is long. I have a lot of new friends.

Julie- My roommate for the week is Julie, from California.  She's really fun and I'm glad to have gotten a roommate who I get along so well with.  It's also really amusing to watch her discover things about living in the South.  A great moment happened yesterday, at the community dinner.  Several CM's and I were talking about Institute (the next phase of our training), which happens at Delta State University in Mississippi.  The mascot at Delta State is the "fighting okra."  We were talking about how funny this was as a mascot, and Julie asked, "What's an okra?" So, today, she ate her first fried okra.  We're very proud. :)

Elizabeth- Elizabeth and I both did the whipped-cream pie eating contest leg of our CM Olympic's relay race.  I feel like we automatically bonded, by being supreme whipped-cream eating machines, and finishing first by a landslide.

Haley, Kailyn, Liz, Molly, Quinae, and Sean- My fellow elementary education CM's.  I've already started to get to know them, but I feel like we'll bond a lot over the next 2 years.

Wyatt- Winner in my mind for best interview story of the day.

Mickey and Larry- Kept me distracted and calm during the time I would normally have been hyperventilating before my interviews began.  Larry, especially, for laughing at my terrible pun-y jokes.

Jazmine- A second year CM who gave me some of the best advice I've heard so far, along with her email address and cell number.  Such an amazing show of support to all the new CM's.

Oh, and I'll probably be saying this every day, but I feel like I need to say it as much as I can, because it doesn't begin to express how true it is. The staff at TFA- Alabama is made of the most incredible people I can imagine.

Well, it maybe wasn't interesting, but I tried. I'm sure I'll have great stories to tell once I start teaching. Which starts around the 20th of this month, I think. We teach summer school as part of our training. Which is terrifying, because it will be high school, not elementary. Wish me luck!