has now become a new detour along the path of my life. As the saying goes, when one door closes, another opens. Well, … the door to Kazakhstan, and international teaching/traveling, has been shut (temporarily, I hope). However, the door to more education in the form of a PhD program has been flung wide open!
As most of you know, I had to have gallbladder surgery in August, on the day I was supposed to arrive at my new job in Astana, Kazakhstan. I expected to be delayed an additional 5-6 weeks as the original procedure was day surgery with a quick recovery. Unfortunately, the surgery was much more complicated than planned and I ended up in the hospital for 5 days along with a nine week recuperation time. NISA was very understanding about this and I made plans to go directly to Kazakhstan at the end of October.
All was well and moving along smoothly, when life threw me (and my family) another curve ball! My 75-year old mother, who has a variety of health issues she is dealing with, ended up in the hospital at the beginning of October with pneumonia. Even with the excellent care she received, seeing her there was an eye-opening experience for me, who had really never been in or around a hospital much – twice in the space of two months was rather overwhelming. The prognosis was good but her recovery time would probably take until mid-Spring plus her lung doctor is pretty sure she is in the preliminary stages of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). This means a couple of things: (1) she will probably be dependent on supplemental oxygen for the rest of her life, and (2) she is at higher risk of having breathing problems, including additional bouts of pneumonia and/or bronchitis.
After consulting with my mother’s doctor as well as my sisters, everyone decided that it would be a good idea for me to stick around until late Spring or early Summer and lend a hand with her care. My two sisters still have kids at home and I was already living (albeit temporarily) in my parent’s front bedroom. NISA graciously let me out of my contract and implied that I should contact them again once my mother was fully recovered. I found a place for my belongings that I had left in Istanbul and eventually, found a home for my two kitties, but not without the generous support of two wonderful Turkish friends (thanks Ibrahim & Esra!). Life was looking ok, my mother was working on getting stronger each day, and I was helping with the shopping, cooking, and taking care of the house. But all this free time was not so good for me, especially with bills to pay and no income.
So once I made the decision to stay, I started looking around for a flexible job that allowed me time to help out my family – nothing too fancy or with much responsibility at this point. I put in my application at a couple of places, including as a substitute teacher with the public schools. Las Cruces also has one of the two major universities in the state of New Mexico, NMSU. As providence would have it, their library was looking to hire a metadata cataloguer, which I quickly applied for. All the planets (and that loving Higher Power who oversees my life’s journey – thank you God!) must have been in alignment, because I was hired. I started my new job on 18 November.
What exactly is a metadata cataloguer, you might ask? Well, I catalogue locally digitized information, like newsletters, photographs, news releases, and other informational products. It’s a relatively new field in librarianship, and recently to NMSU. The metadata unit has just expanded from one to three people, so we have a lot of cataloguing to do. Right now, I am working on University news releases from the 1960s as well as monthly newsletters from the Extension Office (NMSU is a land-grant university focusing on agriculture), dating from the late 1920s. The job is all computer based, so I spend each day in my cubicle.
One of the best things about this new job, however, is the great benefits. I can continue to add to my already existing NM Educator’s Retirement account plus they have a tuition reimbursement plan. For some time now, I have been thinking about either getting a second Master’s or additional education to be more marketable. Many of the US jobs I looked at last Spring required an advanced degree, preferably in Library or Information Science. NMSU has several advanced degree (MA, EdD & PhD) programs in their College of Education and I have decided to take the plunge and go for a PhD in Curriculum & Instruction, with an emphasis in Educational Learning Technologies. The program is approximately four years and starts in the Fall of 2014. I’m knee deep in the application process, gathering transcripts, letters of reference, and writing samples along with documenting my fitness to be a successful PhD candidate. Wish me luck!
So it looks like I’ll be here in New Mexico for at least the next few years. I’m still in the front bedroom of my parent’s house so I can be close at hand when they need me. They had kept an extra car for me to use over the summer while I was visiting and they decided to hold on to it and let me continue using it, which is a big bonus that I’m extra grateful for. Life is settling down into a routine now and we just enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner, prepared by moi, low fat to accommodate my new dietary requirements but still delicious.
As my journey continues, I will make periodic updates to keep everyone up to date. Happy holidays and early warm wishes for a healthy and prosperous New Year.
Living on the Steppes 