Tide rolls back
...and what is left on the beach after the storm?
1) Most importantly my mom is doing OK. By the time I went to bed on Tuesday night she still hadn't woke up from surgery, which was nerve wracking. However, I was able to talk to nurses in her ICU unit yesterday and today and all the updates seem pretty good. I seem to keep calling when she is sleeping. I will feel a lot better when I can actually talk to her, but... I wait. At any rate, my brother is going down to see her this weekend, so I will get a better update then.
2) My Turkish paper is near completion. I submitted another draft and got that back. I might just need to add a couple more things and write a conclusion
3) MY BIG INTERVIEW
Not my best photo ever, but I was having such a good time I had to commemorate it.
I got up at 3:40am and took off at 5:20. I was in row 1!! If the plane was big enough to have a business class, I would be it 
Beside me sat another young woman in a suit carrying only a purse and a book. We realized at once we were going for the same interview. It was actually really nice to go through the process of finding our way through the airport together. We were some of the first people to show up to interview room at the HR building so we had a lot of time to get to know each other and some of the other early arrivers. I found out that they were doing the interview for 3 days (Tues, Wed and Thurs) and there were 2 groups of about 50 people each day. Watching all the professional people stream into the room all morning was intimidating.
Eventually, the 2 other people I rode the shuttle with in the morning and 3 others became a little 'clique' of friends. Before the interview, I pictured myself sitting alone in an airport reading a book and feeling nervous all day, but what I really did was hang out in a big room gossiping about airline stuff with my new group of friends. It was actually really fun. Everyone was so nervous and excited. We kept saying things like, "what if we could all go through training together?" "What if we all get the same base airport--we could get a crash-pad (apartment) together!" It was so cute.
We were ushered into another room where we watched an informational presentation about working for USAirways. Then, for the first task, we had to stand in front of the room, introduce ourselves and say what we thought being a good flight attendant meant. Then we were ushered into a simulation room where they checked whether or not we could strap ourselves into the "jump seat" and reach the defibrillator in an overhead bin without our shoes on. Nailed it.
Then we had to wait for our one-on-one interviews while we ate lunch. I was one of the last, so I was really starting to sweat by the time I was called. The woman who interviewed me was so great. For once, I can honestly say that I killed that interview. I actually thought of good things to say for the 6 work-related questions. I was feeling pretty good, but still physically shaking from nervousness.
The whole time we were hanging out waiting for each new phase, we were able to talk with and ask questions of the trainers and other flight attendants that were around. This was actually super helpful and I learned quite a bit. Everyone was super cool and nice too and had been working for at least a decade or 2 with the company. It seemed like everyone really liked their job.
After the interviews, they started to call people away. Now I know that there were being dismissed and were not going to be considered for the job. At the time, I didn't really understand if we were being cut or they were... so, there was a constant element of not-knowing. One of the guys in my group that we were sure would get it got called out. Next we had to break up into small groups and solve one of those survival team-work exercises. You know, decide which of these 12 items is most important and why after your plane crashes in the tundra. My group picked me as the spokesperson. Probably a good thing for me. Then more people were called out...then there were 8 of us.
When the trainers came back in, one announced that we had one final activity to complete and that he would read to us from this sheet of paper. "It says," he started, "We would like to congratulate you on your acceptance to USAIRWAYS." One of my interview friends, an absolutely gorgeous women from Tunisia, turned to me and said-- "Sarah, what does that mean!?" I stared back in disbelief and said, "It...it...it means we got it!!" After everyone realized what had just happened we all jumped up and cheered. People were hugging, crying, congratulating us. It was the most dramatic employment scene ever. The whole day felt like a reality show. Of my clique of friends, 3 of us made it-- the Tunisian woman, the other woman from Gainesville and I!
We were then given a stack of paperwork to read and sign as quickly as possible so that we could get back to the airport in time to catch our 5:45 and 6:00 flights. I entered my I-9 info, was fingerprinted and photographed holding my social security number. Wow-- serious stuff. It was all such a whirlwind that I was in a complete state of shock. I've been rejected by so many jobs that I only kind of wanted that I never even imagined I could be accepted to a job that I actually wanted.
We will find out later when we are to report for training, but another person on the shuttle back said that he thought he saw "Training date Feb 18" on one of the screens, so we will see.....
I'm excited and stressed because this is such a HUGE HUGE lifestyle change. Also, the reality of not having a paycheck for the 5 weeks of training or health insurance is a little daunting. I have a lot of logistics to think about.
I'm going to start making flashcards of airport codes and air crafts and studying now. Training is apparently NO JOKE. If you don't get a 90% on all your tests you are OUT.
I'm so excited.
I'm not going to tell my family until I make a big announcement over Christmas when I am there... and I'll figure out when to tell my current job when I know when I will be training.
Wow, my life is changing so quickly.
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I kind of decimated my vacation days in Turkey recently.... yes, I am evil
