my job

in one month and five days i am going to quit my job of almost six years. i feel like i must pay tribute to it.

first of all, i did not have to apply for this job. it was handed to me. in fact, it was handed to me across an ocean. at the time of the offer i was teaching in honduras, was penniless, and was clueless as to what i was going to do in the future. then, amazingly, one day i received an email from an old prof of mine that said, "Schipper, you out there?" I said I was. The next thing I knew I was on a plane home and two weeks later, sitting behind a computer making more money than what my mom likes to say is more than she's ever made in her life. heh.

i'm the type of person who gets bored easily. when i'm bored with something, i just quit doing it. so, obviously this job has held my attention. that's not to say that i haven't had a lot of extremely long, extremely boring days. but, for the most part this job has allowed me the creative freedom i have needed to stay put for awhile. my job is to write scripts and then make 15 minute radio programs based on those scripts for people who are learning English as another language. most of the programs have a christian twist or moral to them but some of them don't. and i can make these programs about anything i want. every day i come to work and i read hundreds of different news articles and websites about anything i care to read about. when something sparks my interest, i write about it. then, i make a radio program. i use different kinds of music and sound effects. once i even sang a song in one of my programs. that wasn't a very good one, but still, i get to do whatever i want. and then, thousands of people all over the world listen to them. sometimes they write to me or one of my comrades which makes me feel kind of like a superstar.

my job is really flexible. i've been going to school and working for two years now. sometimes i would leave in the middle of the day to go to class and no one cared. sometimes, b/c of a morning class, i wouldn't come in until after noon and people would just greet me at the door like it was 8:30am. and when i have to get something done, i just leave. like today, i had a dentist appointment at my fake dentist office (i swear everyone there is just pretending...but i've been going there for almost 10 years and haven't lost any teeth yet...). sometimes when it is near the end of the day, i just don't come back. i just make up the difference on some other day. they trust me that i'm working 40...so i make sure i work 40 hours. except for now i only work 35. they let me just reduce my hours. AND they still give me benefits.

benefits. that is another great thing about this job. i get to go to the dentist every six months. and believe you me...i am in that chair every chance i get! next year i won't have dental insurance OR vision insurance so i know what a treasure this is. i know that this job has really taken care of me over the years. like, for instance, that time last summer when i had to go to the doctor three times in one week for various weird ailments. did i pay at all for that? nope.

my job always has treats in the kitchen. usually left-overs from someone's birthday or sometimes someone will just bring in a treat just because. at christmas this place is an abundance of treats. we're talking stomachaches caused by treat overload. this is a great place to have pms.

sometimes my job flies me to cool places. since beginning work here i've been to england, cyprus, poland, hungary, mongolia, china, and equador. most of the time i just sit in meetings. sometimes i teach. once i got to meet people who listen to our program and some of them asked for my autograph. i had to sign "Rebekah Schipper" b/c that is my radio name. that was pretty rad.

and finally, the people at my work are real nice. they celebrate my birthday each year. they sing to me, with candles and everything! and many of them ask me about school. they ask me how i did on this or that exam. i feel like i have to do good so that i won't disappoint them. when i got married they threw me a silly shower. they all just pretended that they happened to bring random things to work that they no longer "wanted." sponges, baskets, tupperwear, towels...all things found on my registry and things they knew i would need. one time i was mentoring a mexican family that was experiencing some real needs. my coworkers pitched in and raised $300 for them. i couldn't believe it and neither could that family! everyone i work with is very generous. and they are also very strong christians. i mean, i don't always agree with everything that people have to say, but i know that they mean well. they are trying to do what they believe is best and that is something that i can admire. and many of the people i work with are very wise, each in their own way, and i have learned a lot about life, death, marriage, and christianity from them. some of the people who work with me are from far off lands. some of them are being persecuted for what they do. it makes me think a lot about what i stand for and what i do here at work. their stories remind me to do a good job when i start to slack.

i've really liked this job. there were times when i felt fairly useless, times when i felt like what i wrote or made programs about didn't matter. but then recently i got an email from a listener in Iran. he said he was a muslim but enjoyed my program about "acts of service." he said he really liked the example of Jesus i had used. i did not help bring this man to Christ or anything, but it was neat to see how he could identify with the Christ that i had written about. now, i feel more confident about my work here and can exit with pride.

it's definitely time for me to move on to new endeavors but i know the good Lord gave me exactly what I needed for exactly the time I needed it. -sn