Week (almost) 3

Things are pretty quiet here. There really isn't much going on... Brittany and I both apply to various places nearly every day, both online and through walk-ins as we travel around town.

And there is nothing.

This economy sucks. Like, it's really not doing that bad overall; most people still have their jobs, prices stay fairly consistent even though the country isn't doing too hot economically, but it sucks because all of the jobs that I would want to do for just a few months in between school terms are gone.

They are gone because those are the first things to go when employers are having financial difficulties. All of those part-timers are let-go and the full-timers are expected to take up the slack. It also sucks because it does force some major institutions to slightly down-size also, like the school systems, sales companies, and any other company that is hurt by the times.

The result: as I was applying for a job at a hamburger joint in the mall I was talking to one of the employees that worked there, and he said that there are upwards of 40 applications for the one open slot that they had! Not only that, but he told me that some of those were professionals who had lost their job, a long-time teacher among the group. I'm sorry, but being a teacher sucks. Not that it isn't a super rewarding job and interesting because a person always has to be learning to teach others, but geeeez.

There is no way that I would be able to deal with that lack of economic stability. Teachers already don't get paid as much as other professionals of their educational level (6+ years of college), but then because school systems are so pressed for money all the time, there's no promise that a job will be yours forever anyway! Who needs that?!? I already think not having a job sucks and I'm not even a qualified professional.

Things are going good though. I just get caught up thinking about how others are effected by the times and I also like to imagine what it would be like in other people's shoes... a lot. I wonder how often I actually simulate what they are actually thinking correctly.

Now to shift gears some:

Sioux Falls is a nice place to live. It's a clean place. There are things to do. The weather is not horribly hot or rainy or stuffy, though it sure has moments of each. The thunderstorms are amazing here. Standing at the window, there will be at least a dozen flashes of light every minute during a t-storm, and the constant rumbling of thunder sounds like the earth is talking. Or gurgling. Or something. Or better yet it's fun to pretend like the sky is fighting with the earth, and I just hear and see the energy from when they clash.

Then after every downpour and major storm, it'll clear out, and become incredibly muggy. It's sooo different then the other places I've lived. Usually rain happens and then it's cold and dank for days to weeks afterwards. Here, it heats up vert quickly, and all of that water must come back out of the earth and just hang in the air around us. Gotta love the humidity factor.

Town is nice. It reminds me too much of Redding lol. A lot of town is fairly sprawled out, with lots of little business groupings throughout the city. It mainly reminds me of the area in Redding around the Mt. Shasta Mall, just because it has a lot of businesses around that are all clean-looking and friendly feeling.

The only major difference from Redding is that Sioux Falls has tall buildings in its downtown area. And a lot of them. Sometime when I get the camera working I'll definitely put some pictures up from our journeys into different parts. There are several very tall buildings, a trolley that drives people around the two main streets of downtown, and there is a parking garage built above a river. Sick! I don't know if we've taken any good pictures of it, but there is a fairly large, company garage sitting on the river being held up by a few large columns in the river (and of course supported on the banks). It's probably not as cool or amazing as I think it is, but it seemed like a sweet place to park to me.

Two days ago we went to the zoo here, and it was really good also. They had tigers, bear, flamingos, walubees, giant tortises, cheetas, and a bunch of other cool animals. Again, pictures would be good here and I'll put them all up together at some point, maybe the end of summer. They were working on a lot of improvements at the zoo, and are working to get a large african safari exhibit up. Hopefully before we leave they will have more animals.

And then we've just been hanging out here at the house the last couple days. Our bus passes expired so we've been putting off going down to the main station and buying this month's pass. Hopefully we'll find work or figure something out soon, otherwise we might be retreating away from here a little bit earlier than the end of summer.