We love it, we hate it.

The last couple of weeks have been an emotional roller coaster on the work front for Pete.
He finally got his work visa - Yay!!!! So now he can legally get a job in the US.
Then his social security number arrived. Yay - Pete exists as a real person in this country.
AND THEN - he got a job interview as a science teacher at a local high school.

We thought our problems were solved until a letter arrived from the Connecticut department of Education. Pete can't be certified as a teacher as his undergraduate degree is not adequate. He has to go back to Uni and take three courses, one in US History and two out of English, Fine Art and foreign languages. Needless to say we were fuming. He was happy to jump through the hoops and pay all the fees to show he was qualified. But this is just ridiculous - why do you need to know US History to teach Chemisty? &*(^%ing America. It will also cost about $5000 US and a lot of evenings and weekends studying to go through this process. No cheap education in this country - especially for foreigners.

This morning he went to the job interview anyway. They offered him the job - but not on full pay. It turns out they can hire him as a long term substitute teacher on a bit more than half the salary he would get if he was certified. They also encouraged him to do the Uni courses while he teaches and they will employ him at full salary when certified.

So now the dilemma....what to do. I couldn't bear taking useless undergrad courses myself, especially with those fees and I don't think he wants to either. We are searching around for other alternatives. There is private school but they don't seem to be in need of science teachers at the moment. There is also community college - which is looking like a good option. It is a bit like a TAFE where you can take Uni degrees. You only need a masters to teach there which Pete has.

On a happier note, the weather is exciting. Today was about 33 degrees with really high humidity. The weather channel says it 'feels like' 38. Now there is a huge thunderstorm. We get lots of thunderstorms and the radar images are really high resolution so you can watch the storms come. The rain is just like Darwin - you can stand in it and it feels like a warm bath (yes I'm the only one in the street who stands in the rain). Tomorrow is going to be 35 without the rain. We don't have an air conditioner either. I wonder if we did, whether we would save money by buying less beer?

Despite the heat we went to the gym this arvo. It is air conditioned - but not very well (Actually the best place to hang out is the supermarket). Anyway we are in training for a 5km fun run in September. This will be easy for Pete but still a challenge for me (some of us have to go to work in the day rather than hanging out at the gym).

Time for tea - Pete is cooking corn on the cob (in the microwave) I won't let him use the stove cos its too hot. Actually I suggested ice cream for tea but he wasn't in to it.

Hopefull the next blog entry will be about Pete finding a really cool job.