Parlando Italiano

This week I started a new job.

It's through the same company that I was already working for, but it's at their other office. (The office that I didn't even know existed until recently.)

I looked into my new job on a whim, and ended up accepting it. It should be really good: I become a full time employee (with full benefits!) and I'll be speaking Italian daily, among other good things.

Since I'll be speaking Italian full-time, I work on a full-time (10 am - 5 pm) Italian schedule. Italians live 8 hours ahead of us, though, so my shift on Utah time is... 2 am - 9 am! So far, I'm partying like a rockstar most nights.

It's quite a change for me. I'd really never even considered working a graveyard position.

I train for a month, and then I'll be able to work from home. Fun. Buses do not run at 2 am, and Lavish doesn't want me walking to work, so she gets up every morning to drive me there. What a trooper.

A few interesting things have happened, so far.

1) The reason they hired me is that the Company is entering the Italian market. I am the solitary resource that Italians will have...starting mid-February. Until then, I get to listen to calls that British people make. It's fantastic. And they have catchy accents.

Take, for example, yesterday. From the living room, I could hear that Lavish was washing dishes. I wanted to let her know that she shouldn't wash the stuff that I'd just put in the sink, because I was about to wash it. I had to self-censor because the words that came to my mouth were: "Lavish, don't wash those! I'll wash them forthwith!" (Forthwith?! Who says that? British people.)

2) My days have become really disjointed. I'm supposed to be sleeping after work, from 9 am-ish until 6-ish pm. The problem is, those are hours when things are happening. I keep finding things to do, or things to want to do, after work. So what's been happening is: I get home at 9:30 am, or so. I go to sleep until 2 pm, or so. I get up and do things. Sometime in the evening I sleep more. I get up for work.

The only thing is, breaking my sleep into two pieces makes me feel like my days are going by differently. My days are not 24 hours long, they are 12 hours long. (Ex. I feel like I've been working for like, oh, 6 days, and that I'm not getting any thing done any day.)

3) Yesterday, before I left, the guy training me wanted me to speak with someone. He liked the way that I read our training book and thought that this other guy would be interested in possibly having me do some voice work. (Whaaat....?) I met with him, and today he had me read an 11 page tutorial inside a sound box thing. (The girl they have doing voice work so far has a voice that is a bit scratchy, and she has a Utah accent. I'm not from Utah, right? No, no.) I may become the tutorial voice for our company's website. The guy really liked how it came out, and suggested I look into doing voice work. Strange.

Anyhow, those are my work stories of late. I should blog again, soon. Cheerio!

Spinning Class #1

For some reason, I am drawn to natural things. I like the idea of organic food. I would love to have a ranch someday, and have livestock and a big garden. Growing all of my own food sounds fantastic. It's not that I don't like nice things...I like classy natural things. If that makes any sense.

I discovered paper making and knitting through a friend that I met online, and have enjoyed both over the past few years. When I moved to Provo, I found Heindselman's (which is the oldest yarn store in the country!) and it became my new favorite store. They sell so much yarn!

They also sell rovings, which is fiber that is ready to be spun into yarn. I couldn't believe it. I had always just sort of assumed that spinning wheels were obsolete.

Turns out, they're not.

My yarn store offers spinning classes, and sells spinning wheels. Who knew!?

And then, I was catching up on my knitting friend's blog and I found out that while I was on my mission, she had started spinning yarn. Her stuff is gorgeous. [See picture at left.]

So I signed up for my class, and it started last night.

It was amazing. I love, love, loved it.

There are five of us in the class, and I am the youngest. By a lot. I think the other women are all 45-60 years old. (Our teacher is up there, too, and she's been spinning for 10 years. I'm 23. I will have been spinning for 10 years at a paltry 33 years old!)

Everyone is really nice. Last night we talked about the different kinds of fibers, and passed them around. [Nice story: One lady who shops at the store saved her dog's hair for 5 years and then spun it and made a really pretty cardigan. Dog hair actually does come out really nice. She wore it to a party. At the end of the night they went to the room where they had placed all of the coats on the bed. Coats were everywhere. Her cardigan was in the middle of the room, in shreds. Moral of the story: Dogs can always smell dogs. Think long and hard before spinning dog hair.] We learned how to spin with handspinners. We learned how to clean wool.

For homework, we have some stuff to spin, and two big bags of wool to pull apart and wash. This afternoon I picked it all apart. I'll wash it tomorrow. Next Thursday, we'll learn how to use spinning wheels. Cool.

My Life Since September, or Why I Love My Phone