I moved, again

Well its a temporary move which I pray becomes permanent. I got a job, a real one! I start tomorrow, it all happened so fast. (I can't believe I just said that!)

Monday the 25th I got a call from a recruiter; 'I saw your resume on dice, you look like a perfect fit for a position I have here in the Houston area' without taking break from the season premier of CSI that I was watching online, I go through the standard drill, 'are you willing to relocate?', 'how much will you expect the position to pay?', 'will you be available for a phone interview?' etc etc. I am really engrossed in what I am watching. All of a sudden I realise I am taking down a name and number to call at 2pm CST for a phone interview the next day. I quickly hit the pause button and try to get back into the phone call I was having which was with hindsight a lot more important than what happened to Catherine (she woke up in a hotel room alone and naked with apparently no memory of the precceding event!). Alas it was a bit too late, my party had dropped the phone and I was a bit confused; was I to expect a call from a guy at 2 pm or was I to call him? Luckily the recruiter sends me an email so I was able to call him and clarify things. Yes the gentleman would be expecting my call at 2pm on tuesday the 26th. That sounded a bit strange to me, me initiating the phone call and all. I however went ahead and marked my calender accordingly.

Tuesday arrives and I had forgotten about the interview, thank goodness I had set an alarm on my phone! I call the guy and the interview went well in my opinion the technical part that is. It seemed to me that the fact that all my experience was in Nigeria was causing a stumbling block for him. 'Another one bits the dust' I think as I we end the interview. I call the recruiter and leave a message for him as per the interview, of course I tell him it went well. The recruiter calls me on wednesday morning and asks how it went (apparently he hasn't spoken with the client)again I tell him it went well. He says he will speak with the client and let me know. 30 min later he calls back, 'you're in' he says. I can hardly believe it, thats it, 3 months of waiting and waiting and just like that I have a job, and a decent one at that? I am amazed that I managed to remain coherent for the rest of the call. I immediately call Princess. She was over the moon. After our conversation, I began to think about the last 2 days, you mean thats it? Just like that I will finally begin to get the US experience the lack of which seemed to be the reason why I had remained in the unmeployed market for so long? A friend pointed out that 3 months was not a long time to be unemployed, considering the fact that I had just moved to the US and all of that. While I might agree with him career/education-wise I have always had it smooth and the past 3 months for me was very enlightening. For sure it has taught me to better appreciate what I had taken for granted for the past 5 yrs; the fact that I had employment.

So first I was estatic, then thoughtful, then I began to panic, where will I live, how will I get to and from work??? At this point I will like to thank the members of my support team (you guys know who you are). I have made many a phone call to them in the past 4 days asking advice, venting, etc etc and they have been really there for me. Finally I was able to work out temporary living arrangements, an extended stay hotel close to my new office. Next step get a cheap ticket at such short notice and get a pickup from the airport. The Houston chapter of my support team really came through for me, picking me up and taking me to my accomodation picks ranked by cost. High on my list was a place I found on craiglists.com which was cheap but turned out to be in a not to safe part of town. Athough I have survived the Lagos area boy, I am not about to put his Houston cousin to the test. Even if I had wanted to stay, my friend was giving me the 'I hope you are not planning to stay here' look. Kia we load ourselves back in the car and we go to the second place on my list. Aha, much better. Its in a safer neigbourhood and in good proximity to my office (0.7 mi) and there is no fear of me gaining any more weight from eating rubbish, I have a kitchenette so I can cook. My friend drops me off, and I call my people to let them know I got in okay. Its a nice feeling to be making progress again. The plan is to stay here for a week while I continue to scour local property listings in the area looking for something more appropriate, i.e. cheaper, preferably a one bedroom furnished apartment I can rent on a monthly basis. Later today I plan to take a test walk to my new office, I was glad to note that there is a Metro stop very close by for a ride into and out of downtown. I don't think 3/4 of a mile is too much to walk on a daily basis anyhow I will keep you posted on that.