Rick’s final school break is here and we had a rocky start to his holidays. On Thursday night, we attended his Year 11 prom and had a wonderful time with his students and fellow teachers. However, at the event Rick noticed that his stomach was upset and was running off to the toilet that evening. By the time we got home at 11:30pm whatever was not sitting well with him was in a fit to get out of his system and from then until just this morning, he was man down. I ended up calling our doctor’s office as he was doubled over with abdominal pain on Saturday morning and after the doctor-on call spoke to Rick, she figured it was a virus and he would just have to ride it out. The good news is that this morning he had some toast and jam and then lunch and for the most part is looking and feeling much better.
With the week off, we planned to spend some time with my Uncle Keith and Aunt Mally at their new caravan in a holiday park in Herefordshire which is on the Wales’ border. There will be lots of hiking, biking, and perhaps some touring of the area but overall this will be a very relaxing holiday for us. Either way, I do hope to also do some chilling out and reading from my new Kindle (Rick’s gift to me for my birthday). Also not sure how much more we will see of my family as our time here is narrowing quickly.
Our vegetable garden is looking great and although it pales in comparison to the patch at home, it sure is nice to wander out there and pick fresh lettuce and radishes for dinner. We call it our 20 foot diet. It is also something that Rick really enjoys doing and working in the soil is a good way for him to forget about his mountain of school work.
Speaking of which, he put in his resignation on Friday. This feels somewhat unsettling for me as a teaching job with KPR, as we just recently discovered, is not going to be easy for him to secure. I am returning to my former role with the School Board but it is really disconcerting when he has put so much energy and time to return to no employment prospects.
In addition, Rick is a terrific teacher and for him to have been successful in a very challenging job makes me very proud. This was solidified when the students would come over and chat with me at the prom and tell me what they thought of Sir or Mr. T. I could hear it in their voices that they genuinely respected and often “hated” him. One of them even asked me how I could stand being married to him! I told her it wasn’t always easy but I knew that what I learned from Rick has made me a stronger and better person. She actually agreed that through Rick’s tutelage, she was considering career options in the field of Science that she probably never would have thought of before. I did also add that it was his ability to make me laugh every day and that life is never boring with him that keeps me interested. She found that all pretty amusing. I just think it is nice for kids to see another more human side of their teachers too.
I am continuing to enjoy my contract with Ernst and Young and it is so exciting be a part of a team that is dedicated to finding the best and brightest folks to join the company. My job is to coordinate weekly assessment centres and it is very much being an event’s planner. I have to make sure we have the appropriate assessors for the candidates based on their area of specialism in Financial Advisory, the proper rooms for interviews, group presentations, candidate welcoming, and an assessor base for the day. The look and the feel of the day needs to be seamless and smooth and present a professional image to our visiting candidates but also to the assessors who are existing Senior Manager and Partner and Directors of the firm. Sometimes my week can be a mad dash to the finish line to get the catering and refreshment sorts, assessment tools addressed, amongst cancellations and rearrangements but I absolutely love the rush. The best part is when I get to go out into our fabulous front reception with massive wall mounted flat screens flashing EY updates and greet the nervous “would-be’s” and put on a show for the day. I have even had a handful of Canadians come through the doors and I am sure hearing a familiar accent and a meeting a friendly face from home eased their interview jitters.
Despite that we are a hard working bunch of ambitious recruiters, we know how to have fun and love to hit a pub of a Friday night. Now how British is that? So I was pretty happy when I was approached by the Head of Recruiting to organize a boat cruise for them on the River Thames in June to mark the celebration of 4,000 hires. Not 40 or 400 but 4,000!!! I know how crazy these folks are on dry land so what is it going to be like on a cruiser? And for those of you who recall my days of belting out my infamous tune, “Did I Shave my Legs for this?” you will be happy to know that I am also booking karaoke for the party. I can hardly wait to introduce my EY friends into a “Bevie thinks she is a country star” moment. Stay tuned as I am sure I will have lots of photos to share after June 23rd.
