Jobs

Today marks my first Thursday at NYCCD. So far I have loved it here. One thing that has really amazed me is how different a real job--or at least my job--is from school:

1. Pick your assignments- I'm given a lot of freedom to decide what to work on and how to approach it. I am currently designing the Parent Teacher Association meeting calendar for the upcoming year and I get to decide what to put on it. My ideas so far are a discussion about how to manage your child's Individual Education Plan as a parent and a talk on keeping kids active (perhaps including a bicycling trip). Having so much freedom is fantastic because even when my supervisor gives me a project that doesn't seem too interesting I can shape it into something I'm excited about. I wish I could have changed assignments I didn't feel like doing at Princeton in this way!

2. Not competitive- every person in my office has a different job and at the same time we're all working toward the same ultimate goal-- to help the kids this organization serves. As a result, there is no sense of competition. My computer wasn't set up to print for the first few days so I had to keep bugging my office mate Rosa to print stuff for me. I kept thinking she would get annoyed but she always seemed happy to help. Try repeatedly asking grumpy Firestoners to print things and I doubt you'll have the same success...

3. All kinds of people- My office mates range from twenty-year-old teachers to sixty-year-old nurses to forty year olds whose English is worse than my Spanish. I have really enjoyed getting to know such a variety of people.

4. When you're done you're done. When I walk out of here each evening I bring only my empty lunchbox. Papers and work are left at my desk and I have the whole night ahead. At school I certainly did take chunks of hours off of work but usually with a tinge of guilt. Now I run the Hudson River Park guilt free. Tonight I am planning a picnic.

All this aside, I really miss Princeton... Does anyone else dream about getting ready to go out on a Saturday night or Frist candy?