Good Evening My Dears,
The weather in Edinburgh has reverted to its natural state. We are building the ark in Scotland and it is going to be considerably bigger than 40 cubits. When last I wrote, I had an upcoming interview and the the US was coming to visit. But first a brief rewind back to the interviews I had in the previous week. After the insanity of that company which will not be named, I gave another polite call to the agency that got me the interview and told them that I did not want to proceed should that which must not be named come calling. A good thing, too, as it turns out that the agency was having a tough time with that place. It seems that I was not the only candidate to complain about their chilly reception and Inquisitionish Interview format. The interview at the language school was also a bust, this time because I was "not a good fit". Whatever that means. As my new friend Sabrina said, "maybe they just didn't like your nose". Since I can't really fix either of those things, I put them out of my head and I concentrated on the next interview I had, which was for a British investment house. For this interview, I was one of 5 candidates interviewing across two roles. That means that I have a 1 in 2.5 chance of getting either role. One is a more junior role and the other is a slightly more senior role. What I liked abut this interview is that the interviewer pulled out an organizational chart of the finance department and showed me how people moved across the department. This company likes to promote from within, and as the two roles that I interviewed for are fairly junior roles, that means there is room for growth. Unfortunately, I will not hear anything until at least tomorrow as they interviewed today. There will be a second interview in the process as well. This time with someone from HR. Sounds like there will be more competency interviews in my future, if, that is, I get shortlisted. Given my dislike of the competency interview, I went to the agency on Friday morning, before my interview, and had them do a practice competency interview with me. That was an extremely useful exercise and I may ask them to run a second one.
On Friday evening, the US came a-callin' in the form of Gary and Zane Stuggins, family friends and WIS parents from Alex's class. To be more accurate Canada came callin' via the US, as that is where they are actually from. I met them at their hotel and we wandered George Street in New Town, and went to dinner. I convinced them to go for tapas at a place called Cafe Andaluz that I had been eyeing pretty much since I landed. The food and wine were great and I would not hesitate to recommend to other Edinburgh visitors. Definitely better than the other British tapas restaurant that had the misfortune to be exported to the US. I write, of course, of La Tasca, which is much more bland than its Scottish cousin. For Andaluz, while a chain, makes more of an effort with its presentation than does La Tasca. The atmosphere is lovely and the waitstaff friendly and accommodating. I also got a birthday present from my Mama, which, of course was clothing, though surprisingly from Macy's and not my beloved TJ Maxx or Ross. The aforementioned New Town is not really new as it is from the 18th century. That never fails to amuse. Old Town seems to have been built by Noah, right alongside the ark.
On Saturday, I went and invested in some me time with a mini facial (free), haircut and color (not free, alas). Though, really, the mini facial wasn't free either, as the results of the facial were so dramatic that I bought the products used. I tell you though, I will never ever go back to drugstore skincare again. Sporting my new face and hair, I met my friend Sabrina for a night on the town and we hightailed it to Leith to go find Indian food. Only to find that the whole of Leith Walk was closed. Closed. On Saturday. At Six. No Indian Food. No Food of any kind. At least until we walked the water of Leith to Commercial Street and Commercial Quay (pronounced Key), where we found an Italian place and had really, really good Pizza.
Contrary to my American upbringing, which of course disdains any sort of government help, (because, let's be honest, people, the US is not necessarily a fount of Social Programs), I went to the Jobcentre and registered for a jobseeker's benefit and a council tax benefit. I did not, however feel comfortable getting a housing benefit, as I am not so desperate yet that I can not pay my rent. I also went to the surgery up the road and tried to register for healthcare, but to take advantage of free healthcare you have to be working. The next step is to investigate if there is, at least, emergency healthcare reciprocity on my Greek passport so a call to the Greek Consulate/Embassy is on tap for tomorrow.
Right, my dears, I am off to examine the perfect spiderweb that an enterprising arachnid has built on the outside of my living room window. Ms. S.P. Ider is in her house so I am going to leave her alone for the moment. If she was in my house, I don't care what the Chinese say, good luck or no, that there arachnid would be toast.
Next Up: A possible second interview, a visitor arrives, and a birthday.
Cheerio for now,
Tina
The weather in Edinburgh has reverted to its natural state. We are building the ark in Scotland and it is going to be considerably bigger than 40 cubits. When last I wrote, I had an upcoming interview and the the US was coming to visit. But first a brief rewind back to the interviews I had in the previous week. After the insanity of that company which will not be named, I gave another polite call to the agency that got me the interview and told them that I did not want to proceed should that which must not be named come calling. A good thing, too, as it turns out that the agency was having a tough time with that place. It seems that I was not the only candidate to complain about their chilly reception and Inquisitionish Interview format. The interview at the language school was also a bust, this time because I was "not a good fit". Whatever that means. As my new friend Sabrina said, "maybe they just didn't like your nose". Since I can't really fix either of those things, I put them out of my head and I concentrated on the next interview I had, which was for a British investment house. For this interview, I was one of 5 candidates interviewing across two roles. That means that I have a 1 in 2.5 chance of getting either role. One is a more junior role and the other is a slightly more senior role. What I liked abut this interview is that the interviewer pulled out an organizational chart of the finance department and showed me how people moved across the department. This company likes to promote from within, and as the two roles that I interviewed for are fairly junior roles, that means there is room for growth. Unfortunately, I will not hear anything until at least tomorrow as they interviewed today. There will be a second interview in the process as well. This time with someone from HR. Sounds like there will be more competency interviews in my future, if, that is, I get shortlisted. Given my dislike of the competency interview, I went to the agency on Friday morning, before my interview, and had them do a practice competency interview with me. That was an extremely useful exercise and I may ask them to run a second one.
On Friday evening, the US came a-callin' in the form of Gary and Zane Stuggins, family friends and WIS parents from Alex's class. To be more accurate Canada came callin' via the US, as that is where they are actually from. I met them at their hotel and we wandered George Street in New Town, and went to dinner. I convinced them to go for tapas at a place called Cafe Andaluz that I had been eyeing pretty much since I landed. The food and wine were great and I would not hesitate to recommend to other Edinburgh visitors. Definitely better than the other British tapas restaurant that had the misfortune to be exported to the US. I write, of course, of La Tasca, which is much more bland than its Scottish cousin. For Andaluz, while a chain, makes more of an effort with its presentation than does La Tasca. The atmosphere is lovely and the waitstaff friendly and accommodating. I also got a birthday present from my Mama, which, of course was clothing, though surprisingly from Macy's and not my beloved TJ Maxx or Ross. The aforementioned New Town is not really new as it is from the 18th century. That never fails to amuse. Old Town seems to have been built by Noah, right alongside the ark.
On Saturday, I went and invested in some me time with a mini facial (free), haircut and color (not free, alas). Though, really, the mini facial wasn't free either, as the results of the facial were so dramatic that I bought the products used. I tell you though, I will never ever go back to drugstore skincare again. Sporting my new face and hair, I met my friend Sabrina for a night on the town and we hightailed it to Leith to go find Indian food. Only to find that the whole of Leith Walk was closed. Closed. On Saturday. At Six. No Indian Food. No Food of any kind. At least until we walked the water of Leith to Commercial Street and Commercial Quay (pronounced Key), where we found an Italian place and had really, really good Pizza.
Contrary to my American upbringing, which of course disdains any sort of government help, (because, let's be honest, people, the US is not necessarily a fount of Social Programs), I went to the Jobcentre and registered for a jobseeker's benefit and a council tax benefit. I did not, however feel comfortable getting a housing benefit, as I am not so desperate yet that I can not pay my rent. I also went to the surgery up the road and tried to register for healthcare, but to take advantage of free healthcare you have to be working. The next step is to investigate if there is, at least, emergency healthcare reciprocity on my Greek passport so a call to the Greek Consulate/Embassy is on tap for tomorrow.
Right, my dears, I am off to examine the perfect spiderweb that an enterprising arachnid has built on the outside of my living room window. Ms. S.P. Ider is in her house so I am going to leave her alone for the moment. If she was in my house, I don't care what the Chinese say, good luck or no, that there arachnid would be toast.
Next Up: A possible second interview, a visitor arrives, and a birthday.
Cheerio for now,
Tina
No comments:
Post a Comment