Travels

I am in Prague, and loving every moment.  It is my "My job ended, you should go to somewhere in Europe" tour.  You know, the one that any decent financial planner would suggest in this same situation. So I chose Prague.  Again, as it seems, since I think if I counted stamps on my passports correctly, this is my 8th time here.  The first time was 18 years ago, and the city is a wee bit different.  There are fewer crystal shops and a whole lot more customer service.  The beer is still cheap (about $1.25-1.50 for a pint)  and I have already had three different kinds of dumplings with more of both beer and dumplings to come.  I hope.  Dumplings are cute, right?  So if I eat enough...   Don't they always say "you are what you eat?"

Of course, my trip is total escapism.  I was a finalist (second place--BOO!) for a job I was hopeful for and that really did sting.  I liked the school, the people, and the place, but that is how it goes, right?  But that decision left me with few options and forced me to make a few decisions of my own.  I always knew this gig ended at the end of June, and that is fine.  But I was hopeful that I would leave this place for a job somewhere else, and that doesn't see likely right now.  If I was every unsure of the economic issues facing community colleges, this job market has confirmed that things are dire.  Few colleges have advertised for deans in the upper Midwest.  I am not sure, but the one in Minnesota was one of the very few available.  Schools are hiring VPs and there are a ton of president jobs, but I am not that interested in those, though I would consider a VP of Academic services somewhere, but there haven't been many in WI, MN, and Iowa, the three states I most would like to work in.

So I am going to do something I have never ever done--I am moving to an area where I want to live even though I do not have a job.  Talk about leaping without a safety net!  I am not sure about this, but my options are pretty limited.  I could stay in MI, but the openings are even scarcer here--though if you want to be a vocational dean there are more options with the state's focus on vocational programming.  Plus, I do not want to be in MI.  Nice place and all, but if I have learned nothing else, I know I need a coffee shop, a good grocery store, and at least a Chinese restaurant within five miles of where I live.  To get those three things around here, I would have to drive 39 miles, and I am still not so sure about the grocery store.

I have been keeping a list of things I do not and do want.  I want to go to a McDonalds that isn't a gas station or worse, a bait shop, too.  I want an olive bar that doesn't just involve canned black olives.  I want a restaurant that doesn't have dead things on the wall and which deep fries less than 1/4 of the menu.  I want to go where you can say the trees are pretty and the response isn't "they will make good firewood, won't they?"  I want to work at a school that when I comment on students' success or rather, the lack of it, people don't mostly respond with "well, that is students that we get."  I want to work on at a place that acknowledges the value of diversity.  It would be great to live in an area that has community education programs that are more than "Polish Cooking" or "Wine Making."   I am fine with Amazon Prime being a good friend of mine, but, boy, would it be great to live in a place where all my wardrobe didn't come from there or Tractor Supply.  Sometimes, I even want to live where all the waitresses don't call me "Honey" or "Sweetheart" and I get indifferent service with a meal that isn't breakfast or fried.

Simple things, right?  So I have picked the Twin Cities or Minneapolis-St Paul for you non-Midwesterners.  So if you know of a 1-2 bedroom apartment in a pre-war building with a parking spot, please let me know.  I don't want to live in a 137 plex if I can at all avoid it.  Small is good, urban is good.  Cheap is good, too, but I am good for a year, and I hope that I can find something in that time or at least I can sell enough plasma or my hair or something to survive.  I could sell the watch, too, but I can't have the watch and the hair.  No matter, I will be OK.  

And won't it be an adventure?