Hi. I hope it doesn’t get too overwhelming that you have to read so many posts at once. Well, currently, I do not have a job, and I never have had one. I have not been actively looking for a job at the moment, although I would like to work, since the idea here is that employers will not hire you unless you have work experience. While this does make sense, it was very frustrating for somebody who has not had a job to try to receive one. So I want a job both for the money to pay for college and the experience. Even though I am not working for money, at the present moment, I am working as a secretary for a club at our school. Every month I must fill out a form telling others about the progress of our club. Also, recently, I had to fill out an extra long form about the progress of the club for an entire year. At times, the work is boring, but I do enjoy being a part of something. Of course, I am also a full time student, which takes up a good amount of my time. Have you had any other jobs other than the ones you currently have?

Take care!

Hello again from sunny California! Actually, lately the weather has been raining one day and sunshine the next, so we never know what to expect. How is the weather in Spain at this time of year?

I’ve already talked a little about my job, but I’ll talk in more detail here. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday after school, and Sundays in the afternoon, I go to work at the community center a few blocks away from my house. At the pool, I am a lifeguard and a swim teacher, but usually a teacher. I work for about three hours at a time, since I have to homework and other activities, but I work all day during the summer. As a swim teacher I am in charge of one to four kids at a time for 30 minute lessons; the kids are anywhere from three or four to twelve years old, but they are usually younger kids. I really enjoy my job, because I like helping the children learn, and they’re always very funny. Some of my students also have learning disabilities, such as autism, and this means I have to teach in a very different way. It can be challenging, but also very rewarding. Because of my job as a swim teacher, I am inspired to continue as a teacher in life. I hope to get a teaching degree in college and become an elementary school teacher.

What do you teach your students in your class? Only one subject, or different things? How did the carnival go?

See you later!

Hi.

It is so interesting that you have a son with my same age! Well, for me, I have a fairly small family. I live with my father, mother, and sister. My sister, Judy, is 14 years old, and she goes to the same high school that I do. Some people say I look like her, but I don’t believe them, although we did look a lot alike at the age of 4. She is shorter than I am. My mother has many siblings. She is the youngest out of six children, three brothers and two sisters. My father comes from a relatively small family. He has two siblings, one brother and one sister. Of course, each of my aunts and uncles have their own children, so I have many cousins as well. Their ages range from as young as 5 to as old as 36. I do not get to see them that much. However, my grandparents, both from my father’s and mother’s side, live in San Francisco, and we visit them often. Do you see most of your family often?

Talk to you soon!

I work for Euroservices B. , a multinacional company.

I´m a secretary. I work in the accounts department.

We are more o less A hundred people on my floor.

I work on the fifth floor.

I like my job but I don´t like working in a multinacional

company because the are a lot of people.

My parents are married from a long time, their names are Demofilo and Natividad. They travel very much and they take care of their grandsons.
My big brother’s married and his name’s Joaquin, he works in a car factory. He has two children, both are boys.
My other brother’s married too and his name’s Jose, he is an electrician. He has two children, both are girls.
We are a great family. My mother has got many brothers. I have got uncles and cousins in Madrid and Seville.
My grandparents are around ninety years but they are very well.
I love my family because they are brilliant, they also love me and they demonstrate it.

I like the adventure sports, my favourite sport is to climb because I feel the nature and I test with my body (flexibility and equilibrium) when I climb. I sometimes go to the gym, run or swim…..the sport is health.
My hobby is to dance because it’s funny and many pleople can dance too…..I recommend it.
I like the cinema, action films with special effects and to travel around of the world.
I have taken cusine classes kitchen because I like to eat well and I believe that it is necessary.

…well actually, I don’t have one yet. So I’ll get back to you on that…

In the meantime, newspaper takes up a lot of my time. Though my newspaper class has an “advisor,” the class is pretty independent, with students making decisions and working together rather than the teacher lecturing. As editor, I plan what we do each day in class and lead discussions. The job is a lot harder than I thought it would be, but it is a great experience because I get to work with very cool, intelligent people. There are always things to do: reporting, writing, editing, layouting, planning, etc. As a result, newspaper takes a lot of time, especially on deadline nights, when we stay at school until 10:30 p.m. (By about 8:00 on these nights, everyone has gone a little crazy, but that’s part of the fun of it all. What’s not part of the fun is coming to school the next day…). Because we manage ourselves, we have more freedom and more fun.

I hope to do more journalism in college, but I don’t know if I want to pursue journalism as a career. For now, though, it’s the closest thing I have to a job.

Hey! How are you? Here is some more information on me and my family…

I live just outside of the city of San Mateo with my mother and my brother. My mom’s name is Norma, and my brother’s name is Garret. He is three years younger than me (14), and lots of people say we look alike, but I don’t think so. I also live with our dog Kia and our cat Clancy. They are also part of our family. My mother’s side of the family is very small. She has one sister, my aunt Laura, who is getting married soon for the first time. Her fiancée Steve will soon be my uncle. They do not have any children, so I do not have any cousins on that side of the family. My grandmother (my mom’s mom) is still alive and lives several blocks away. Her name is Ruth. I am lucky because I get to see all of these relatives a lot.

On two nights a week and two weekends a month I stay with my dad in the town of Burlingame, which is a 20 minute drive by car. His name is Dale, and he is engaged to Kendra, who will be my stepmother when they get married in October. My father’s side of the family is much larger than my mother’s, and it can be kind of confusing. I will only tell you the easy part. His mother is Carolyn and his father is Richard, but they are no longer married. He has four siblings - their names are Lisa, Karla, Ken and Chuck. They are my aunts and uncles. All of them have been married at least once, and so I have many (10!) cousins on this side. However, we don’t get to see each other very often - usually once a year in December for Christmas, because they all live far away.

I would include a photo from last Christmas, but I don’t know how to! Do you know how I can put a picture in my blog?

Bye!

Sonia, i hope we could still remain in contact where have you been!? The assignment for today is to tel you about my job…it’s really quite interesting. As i’ve said before, i work at the local supermarket, Albertsons. I am a courtsey clerk and work roughly 15-25 hours a week. I get an hourly pay of $8.40. My typical day at work is– at times–ver stressful. becuase i am one of the oldert courtesy clerks, i get to choose the schedule i desire. I always choose 7am-4pm on weekends. I start off by clocking in, getting restroom logs, doing some carts, cleaning the check stands, doing “go backs” (where we take grocery items that people didn’t want int eh last minute or if they thought it was too expensive). Depending on coustomer traffic, i usually take out the trash into this huge garbage truck looking thing in the back. It’s so sad–at timess– how much food goes to waste at a grocery store. One day, i remember throwing away 38 gallons of milk, a cart full of deli meat, and 15 dozen eggs. It was quite sad, i always remember the pooor kids i saw in El Salvador that begged me for some money to get food. Some coustomers can be very rude, want to know my biggest pet-peave?! here we go, Jose complaining about his job. When costoumers have huge orders, i mean huge, and they ask for double paper. Sometimes i feel like saying, “do it yourself!” or, when you ask the coustomer what type of bags they want, and they dont answer, and once their groceries are bagged the want the opposite type of bag! The most annoying one is when i say “Hello” and the first thing the reply is “paper.” Without even saying HI! HOW RUDE IS THAT?! well, i dont take that from people, so i say “hi, how are you.” and they say “okay..how are you?” i then say, “fine thanks. So you said you wanted paper?” i mean com’on, just becuase i’m a bagger doesn’t mean i dont deserve respect, infacr i’m doing you a favor!

ANYWAYS…….

I love working at Albertsons, although sometimes my manager can be very pushy. I understand that my job h
has hurt my grades, since in the weekdays i usually go back home at 10pm, but i just need to work. My mother works hard for low-pay and it just barely covers for the rent and maybe the bill for storage and her cellphone. becuase i am a student, i took it upon myself to get Comcast–the local cable company along with internet. I pay my cell phone bill, the union, and the cable bill. I enjoy helping my mother by paying some bills and buying my own personal–you could say– luxuries.

…althought i recently had a tough family break-up, i wouldn’t mind talking about my entire family. As you know Sonia, my family is a highly traditonal Latin American family. We believe in the most common and harsh rules some natives do, but my family has broken that tradition i love. I have a sister, she is 20 and goes to the local community college here in San Mateo. My dad, not really a part of my life anymore, is mechanic at a bowling ally near San Francisco. Enough of the people who aren’t in my life anymore, let’s talk about my mom.

My mom, wow what can i say about such an amazing woman? My mother is corageous, although short, smart, brave, sincere, and caring — everything that makes a mother a mother. Our recent family break-up was caused by my alcholic father. My father has always had a passion–if i should even be calling it that– for alcohol. He was, and still is, obsessed witht he toxic substance. He always used to beat my mother to the point where i had to call the police on him 4 times, at the age of 9. Becuase my father believed my mother had called the cops and placed him in jail for a month, he began to loose the “love” he had for her. Guilty for my mother paying the price, i was almost prepared to tell me father the truth. My mother, however, told me not to for she would not be able to bare my fathers hatred towrds me, so we left it at that. As my fathers “love” for my mother became slim, the house became more and more uncomfortable as the days went. My parents would’t speak for days, and i would always be the messanger between the two. Somehow, i managed to have my best year academically in high school during those times. Finally, after the final beating for my mother, i told my dad we would leave him. I knew he would laugh, he thought we would never do it, but we did.

Now i live with my mother in a small but peaceful studio apartment that we love. Although privacy is jeaprodized, peace is definitly gained. It feels so weird knowing i dont have to worry when i come back from school of an intoxicated father and the sleepless nights. My mother has always been the backbone to my success and future aspirations, my mothe fully supports my intentions for college and can’t wate to see me graduate. My mothers dream, when we came to this country, was see her son graduate and see him step foot in a top university, she will. I can’t desribe the immesne love i have for my mother, most people would say “mommys boy,” but i say, “son who respects his mother for all the hard work she has done for him so he could have a better future.” My mom is awesome, i love her to death.

my mommy and me!