Five things....

So, I really haven't been the best at keeping up the gratitude list thing. But will try to do better. I'm so glad that the week is almost over. I just have one more class tomorrow morning. Teaching 6 days a week isn't the greatest, but I guess I can't complain because I'm fortunate enough to actually have a job. And that would be number one on my list...

1. That I have a job. I remember the days back in Jan.-April when I didn't have a job. And it sucked. Having all that free time at first was nice, but there is such a thing of getting sick of having nothing to do. I did A LOT of reading. But it was nice to finally get a job at Trader Joe's.

2. Having a good day of teaching. All of my classes went really well today. Normally Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays are my most dreaded days, but today I was pleasantly surprised. One of my kids pretended to take a bite out of my arm and continued on saying that I tasted good. Really funny.

3. Chill nights out. Tonight after work was perfect. Arwyn, Lisa, and I headed down to my favorite Teppanyaki joint and had good food and conversation. Then on the way home we decided to get bevs at 85 C, a coffee shop. Once there we spotted some other teachers from the school and joined them. We stayed there all in all for about an hour and a half. It was just pleasant to get out and enjoy one's self.

4. Nice co-workers. It really makes a big difference on how I feel about work.

5. Being able to sleep in. Today I didn't get to, nor will I tomorrow, or Sunday, but it makes me appreciate the days that I can so much more!

I know that was terribly  short, and probably not that interesting. But I'm not going to worry about that now. I just finished Bridget Jones, The Edge of Reason, and realized that it was loosely based on my favorite Jane Austen novel, Persuasion. That made me happy, because I feel like I can relate to Bridget apart from all the booze and promiscuity. Anyways, she always makes me laugh, no matter what mood I'm in.

Here's to happy things in one's life!

jste češka?

So I'm supposedly tri-lingual. Or rather, I'm fluent in one (English), studied another (French), and somewhat speak yet another (Czech). All in all, the last two languages are beautiful, at least to me, but not as useful as say Russian or Spanish, or even Mandarin for that matter. After having studied and lived in France for two months, and then serving a mission in the Czech Republic for a year and a half, you would think that my language skills would be impressive. But, unfortunately, I haven't had much use for either one of them.

Until now. French may not be a hot commodity on the West Coast, but on the East, it sure is. There are so many francophony here, and I work with a lot of them. There are a handful of guys from Algeria, Senegal, Cote d'Ivoire, etc that communicate in French. I have to admit that I haven't been brave enough to use the French that I do know, but who's to say that I won't?

I've now graduated to the level of cashier, and have gotten pretty good at it, if I do say so myself. I get to strike up random conversations with people that come through my lines. Some of them flop:

Me: Did you find everything you wanted today?
Boring customer: Yes.
Me: Do you have any fun plans for tonight?
BC: No, not really.

Ok then...

But some of them end up being incredibly cool. Like this one lady with a very distinctive Eastern European accent.

Me: Did you find everything you wanted today?
Lovely, Brilliant customer: Yes, and so much more. I came in for this beer, but ended up getting so much more...

She went on and on and somehow I got the impression that she was Czech. So randomly I asked, "Jste češka?" (are you Czech?)

She excitedly replied, "Ano!!! Jsem!"

I was flabbergasted. This is the first random Czech citizen I've run into the entire time I've been back. All other Czechs I've come in contact with I've already known. We carried on an entire conversation in Czech ("You speak so well," she said. "Oh, you're too kind," I said). We spoke about the weather, my mission, where she's from, what she's doing here, what I'm doing here, etc. It was wonderful! I was so excited/shocked/nervous (my language skills are definitely rusty) that I was tripping over my r's and ř's.

I now have a new Czech friend, though I don't know her name. And now that I'm not a missionary I can tykat (use the informal) and not feel guilty about it.

Oh, bliss!

To Card or Not to Card...

Life at Trader Joe's is never dull. When I first started people thought I was a bit strange for not drinking the free, delicious coffee or tasting the wine. I don't smoke or cuss like a sailor. One day during a much beloved ten-minute break with one of my co-workers, church came up. She's Catholic, and I'm LDS. A look of realization flitted across her face, "Oh, now it makes so much more sense!"

That being said, I'm a bit clueless when it comes to certain items in our store--mainly our colossal wine section. The "wine guys" always encourage me to try the wine, which I politely decline. The other day one of them asked if I didn't drink for religious reasons or by choice. "Both," I said. He then asked if I was Muslim. Um, no. Mormon.

I'm glad that people are starting to know that I am a member the church, because it makes things far less awkward.

But back to the clueless part. Last night was my first night working with the closing crew. They are an awesome group of guys. About 15 til 10pm we had a huddle outside the front entrance of the store to discuss how the store is running, what can be improved, and various other announcements. Of the 15 or so people there, all but 3 of us lit up. I was shocked, to say the least. And it was really hard for me to concentrate on what was being said. My eyes were stinging, and I was hoping that I didn't end up smelling like I'd smoked the cancer sticks.

Anyways, the main topic of discussion was an incident that had occurred earlier that evening. I woman had gone to pay for some alcohol and was asked for her ID. She "obviously" looked like she was over 35 (could it be from smoking?), but she couldn't produce an ID. So a big debate ensued. Should we sell alcohol to someone who cannot produce an ID, even though they may look like they are older? Or is that breaking some sort of law? Our manager told us that we cannot sell alcohol to someone who can't identify themselves. Enough said. That makes perfect sense right?

Nope, guess again. One of the wine guys gets all up in a huff (because he had helped this woman pick out the wine) saying that it was wrong for us not to sell her alcohol. "Show me the law!" he passionately cried. He was incredibly upset and believed that this customer will never come back to Trader Joe's because she was embarrassed and that she should never had been put in that situation. He went as far to say that the cashier who carded her was stupid and that we shouldn't card people who look like they're in their 30s. This man was so argumentative that he was practically yelling at our manager. Emotions were escalating. Bad move. Then everyone else starting chiming in about how the wine guy was wrong and started talking about sting operations and being sent to prison, and all the intricacies of carding. And I'm pretty sure some of them were talking from personal experience while in their youth.

Twenty minutes later, when everyone had their nicotine fix (and three of us had gotten the black lung), when the carding situation was finally settled (we have every right to card a customer and to refuse to sell them alcohol if they don't have their ID) I got to go home. I never would have imagined that I would ever participate in a conversation concerning the proper techniques and etiquette for carding. Like I said, never a dull moment.

And might I add, that I don't mind being clueless, at least in that regard. It makes life easier.

Life as I now know it...

My hands smell like latex. My cuticles are ripped and torn. My shirt is stained with blackberries. I've yet again discovered muscles I didn't even know I had (and I've had many chance to discover new muscles). My mind is busy. I've been waiting for this moment for such a long time!

I've now completed two full weeks as a crew member at good ol' Trader Joe's. It is so nice to be doing something. I've lifted, hauled, stacked, picked, placed, tasted, scooted, blown up, fetched, carried, sliced, shoved, smashed, tripped (I'm a klutz), almost broken, knocked over, scraped, pushed, pulled, and sensed more than I have in a very long while. I hurt. My body is still not used to the all the physical labor, and I'm excited for the day that my body doesn't automatically shut down at 9:30 pm. And I feel that day coming very soon.

Work = Happiness.

Welcome Aboard!

Flash back in a psychedelic Wayne's World sort of way:

So, does anyone remember the one thing I always seemed to moan and groan about while I was in Utah? Any guesses? Any at all? It was the serious lack of Trader Joe's in the area. Let it be known that I am definitely attached to this delightsome neighborhood grocery store, and was thrown off when I didn't have one within walking distance of my abode.

Flash forward to today:

You are now friends and/or acquainted with the newest crew member of the Tyson's Corner Trader Joe's! Hoorah! To be perfectly honest, it wasn't the sort of job I was expecting to land when I came out to DC, but I definitely lucked out in a different sort of way. Not only is Trader Joe's an amazingly awesome place to shop, but from what I have assessed in my 2.5 hours "behind the scenes" it's an equally awesome company. They encourage recycling (if you know me, then you would know how excited this makes me), they give back to the community (huge), plus the other crew members are laid back and super nice. And I can wear my somewhat hippy attire to work! Could it get any better than that?

Here's to having work in this time of economic disaster! And seriously, if you haven't been to a Trader Joe's, get thyself hence!!!