The summer is finally nearing its end, and there's only a month left before my departure, yay! This summer has felt extremely long, especially because I was so ready for it to be over back when it hadn't even begun.

I still have two weeks of work left, but I thought I'd share my thoughts about my job now rather than in September when all my thoughts will be focused on my approaching exchange year. I'm giving up my flat and moving back to my mom's for a couple of weeks at the beginning of September, so that also means I have to say goodbye to my fast internet connection for awhile. Mom's place only has a slow dial-up connection so I probably won't be spending that much time online while I'm there. I promise to update my lj though.

Anyway, about my job. I went back and read the entry I wrote about work back in May, and it seems like three months of work haven't really changed my opinion about my job at all. In other words, I'm not going back there after this summer. I was in pretty good spirits back in June and was actually considering returning to the factory after I get back from the States, but a couple of more months have made it very clear that it isn't a good place for someone with my type of personality. I've always been somewhat of a perfectionist and it tends to show in my work. If I had my way, I'd do everything slowly and carefully so that I could guarantee the quality of my work, but unfortunately, something like that can't be done in a factory where you're also expected to work very fast. And let me tell you, it's simply impossible to meet all the work's requirements. I've been persistently trying to do my work perfectly, but I have only been left with a growing feeling of frustration and a grudging realization that my only choice is to do my work against my own principles. I probably hit rock bottom yesterday when I was in charge of separating bad pieces of meat from good ones and the pieces just kept coming really fast and in big heaps so that I had less than half a second per piece to see whether they were okay or not. My eyes simply couldn't keep up and I had the urge to burst into hysterical laughter while the words "Do they think I'm superwoman or something?" kept repeating over and over in my head. Not the best day of my life.

And that is only one of the many down sides. The thing that has turned out to bother me the most is the amount of time I waste on traveling every day. According to my estimations, I've spent more than 150 hours on the bus during the past three months. In other words, traveling takes up about one third of my free time every day. The work wouldn't feel nearly as bad if I had more time to myself during the week. Various other down sides to the job include the cold temperature, having to handle raw meat, waking up at 4:50 every morning, and the overall monotony of the work. The only good thing about my job is the good pay and even that wouldn't be enough to counter all the mental stress the job causes me. I've always been an optimist by nature, but this job could easily turn me into a bitter old hag in the long run if I had to continue doing it for years. *shudder*

So, what have I learned this summer? Well, at least I know what I'm not suited for. And I've gained confidence that I really do want to become a translator. Oh yeah, and I now know that it's indeed possible to run five kilometers to the city center in under thirty minutes if I ever happen to miss my bus again (this happened yesterday, I'm going through great muscle pains right now). Hmm... and I guess I've really learned to appreciate a sharp knife. It makes cutting meat so much easier ;).

Ten days of work to go. Two weeks until I move back home. Thirty three days until Bellingham. Still need to learn those 140 new kanji. Darn.

So, what's been happening lately?

To begin with, I've had a nasty cold all week, but I still forced myself to go to work. In other words, this week has been pure hell. It's not easy trying to keep up with the fast pace of factory work when your nose and throat are itching, you're feeling a bit woozy and your nose is running, but you can't afford to go blow your nose because you can't stop the machines... Definitely the worst week I've had so far and I hope it stays the worst. So, why didn't I take time off work when I was in no condition to be working? Because I wouldn't get paid sick leave and as I've said, I need all the money I can collect. It's rather annoying that you start getting one day of paid sick leave after you've been employed for a month, but I happened to get sick a week before my first month is up, so no paid sick leave. Grr. Well, I'm mostly better now, and I'm hoping to stay healthy for the rest of the summer.

I finally bought my plane tickets, so it's now confirmed that I'll be flying to Seattle on September 18th and continuing from there to my destination, Bellingham. I need to change planes in London, which means that I'll need to wait there for three hours. It's a real shame that I'll only be passing through, because I've always wanted to visit London *sigh*. Well, maybe some other time. The plane tickets ended up costing me more than I had thought. When I booked the tickets, I was a bit annoyed that the price was a bit more than the amount that my home university is giving me, but I didn't dwell on it too much. But then, a day later I get an e-mail from the traveling agency saying that the airline company has randomly decided to raise their security tax so I have to pay 84 euros extra for my tickets. What the heck? Why thank you, British Airways, like I wasn't already tight with money without you charging me extra. Add to that te fact that I already need to pay another 65 euros because I have to change my return date... Thankfully I at least have a well paying summer job.

In other news, it looks like I'm going to have to participate in a work strike on Monday. It's apparently some sort of protest against some other company randomly firing one of their workers or something, and I have to participate because I'm not part of the work union. Okaaaaaaay. The plus side is that I get a day off (and I do have some business to take care of) but the down side is that I'm not getting any pay for that day. I'd rather have gone to work, but apparently they wouldn't let me in if I tried to go. Isn't that something though, my very first strike *suddenly feels like such an adult*. Friday is also free because it's Midsummer Eve. That should be a paid day off, though. It's going to be a short week, for once.

I finally received the documents from my exchange program that I'll need for my visa. Now I can finally apply for a visa. Hah, it's like the one last trial that I need to face before I can be one hundred percent sure that I'm really leaving the country for a year. Maybe the whole thing will finally stop feeling like a dream after that. The thought about the visa interview really scares me, but I know I'll get through it (somehow).

And I finally finished my last piece of school work. (Okay, so I just quickly wrote some crap and sent it off because I really couldn't be bothered...)

I think that's all for now...

I'm now done with the first eight days of work and it seems like I'm finally getting used to it. The best thing is that I've mostly gotten over my nausea. It actually felt really weird when I realized today in the middle of cutting off a chickens neck (or what was left of it) that it didn't squick me one bit. It should have! After all, I've always had a weak stomach when it comes to raw meat, blood and intestines. Doesn't that just prove that you can get used to almost anything if you're exposed to it long enough?

In any case, nausea is no longer a problem. My biggest problems now are the low temperature and muscle pains. Even though I'm wearing four layers of clothing I'm still cold, and I often lose the feeling in my fingertips whenever I'm doing something where I don't get to move around much. I'm just glad the weather seems to finally be getting warmer. It's nice to feel the warmth from the sun after a long day in a cold room.

I suddenly realized today that the Eurovision Song Contest final is tomorrow. I haven't been following the contest at all this year so I thought I'd spend the rest of my evening listening through all the participating songs because of nostalgic reasons. Hard to believe now that I once used to be pretty exited about the contest. I watched the finals and semifinals every year and voted and waited eagerly for the results to be announced. Now I just can't be bothered. I simply have better things to do (anime and manga and fanfiction are my life...) and I've gotten old enough to realize that the contest really isn't anything special. Most of the songs are usually lame ballads that all sound the same in my ears, and the voting is so freaking biased. Everyone always votes for their neighboring countries, which basically means that the contest is just an opportunity for the European countries to lick each others' boots. Many countries don't take the contest seriously at all and they never send their best artists to compete. I burst out laughing every time I hear Finland's this year's song. It's ridiculous. A bunch of long-haired guys in leather trousers screaming their heads off. Right. I have no idea why they're popular (or how on earth they ever managed to get into the finals), but if they do happen to win, I'm going to laugh my ass off. I'll probably watch the finals tomorrow if I can figure out how to watch the show through the net.

I also have some other things to do during the weekend. I need to write a short essay for school, do my laundry, fix my bike and things like that... I should start learning those 140 kanji, but that will probably have to wait until next weekend (I'll get my first pay then too, yay). But right now, I'm going to sleep. Night!

Warning! This entry contains a lot of complaining. If you'd rather not read my useless whining, you are quite free to stop reading here.

I started my summer job three days ago, and now I'm so tired I'm pretty much dead on my feet. I never realized how hectic factory work can be. At times it feels like I'd have to have two pairs of arms and an extra eye to be able to work fast enough. My knees and the soles of my feet ache like hell, and it hurts to move my thumbs. I know it'll get a bit easier once I'm used to the fast pace, but right now the work is killing me.

Because of work, I don't really have much time to myself during the week. Everyday I work for 8½ hours and then spend approximately 2½ hours traveling to and from work. That makes 11 hours. Then I spend about 7 hours sleeping. All in all, if I'm lucky I have 5-6 hours to myself everyday, and I can't really enjoy that free time because I'm so tired after work that I can't do much else but lie on my bed watching movies or anime. I know that a lot of people spend just as much time (or more) at work as I do, so I really shouldn't be complaining, but I'm used to having a lot of time to myself because of my university courses. It's a really big change for me.

The work itself isn't all that pleasant either (it kills my appetite). All those dead chickens... The first time I walked into the factory hall I thought I'd puke. There was raw chicken meat everywhere, it was cold in the room (about +4 Celsius) and there was a distinct smell in the air that made me nauseous until I got used to it. For a few seconds there I thought I should just quit right away, but then I got over it. I still occasionally feel nauseous when I'm working, but I've decided to bear it. As I've said, the pay is really good and I desperately need the money. However, I'm 95% sure that I'm not going back there after this summer.

Oh yes, there is still one more thing I haven't yet complained about: the weather. It's almost freezing outside even though it's the middle of May. I knew beforehand that my workplace would have a low temperature, but I wasn't prepared for it to be even colder outside! It's supposed to be nearly summer! Where's the heat?

I'm probably not going to update my lj often this summer because of work and tiredness, but I'll try to write something over the weekends. After this summer, going to the US will probably feel like a holiday...

I'm slowly getting everything in order. I went to get a new tetanus vaccination two days ago and my arm still aches a bit. According to the doctor, I shouldn't be needing any other vaccinations unless WWU has some special requirements. I'm still waiting for WWU to send me the necessary documents so there may be some requirements I'm not yet aware of.

I also went to a travel agency to ask about flight tickets. I'm getting some money from my home university to cover the traveling costs, but it seems that the money won't cover the whole price like I'd hoped. Because I'm going to the US for nine months, the travel agency can't sell me tickets for flights that far in the future. My only choice is to pick an earlier return date and then change it later, which will cost me extra. It annoys me that the money from my home university would've covered the cost of the flight tickets if I didn't need to change the return date. Grr. I know I could probably get cheaper tickets if I ordered them through the net, but as this is the first time I'm going abroad alone, I want to make sure I don't mess anything up. I'd rather pay a little extra and not have to worry than get cheap tickets and then find out too late that I've done something wrong.

I should be starting work next week as long as my salmonella test comes back negative. I should be hearing the results in the next two days. Yesterday, there was a meeting for all the factory's new summer workers. I was rather surprised to see that most of the other people there (and there must've been nearly a hundred people) were younger than me, most in their teens. Made me feel so old...

During summer vacation, I need to read through my Japanese text book and learn about 140 new kanji. I want to take Intermediate Japanese courses at WWU, but I have no idea how much they've covered in their earlier courses. The one thing I'm sure of is that the lessons there are a lot more intensive than here. I'm pretty sure they've covered more during their first year of studies than we have in two. I'm actually looking forward to the more intensive teaching, so it doesn't bother me that I need to do some extra work. After all, I really want to learn Japanese...

I'm so tired. I only slept for about five hours last night (and I need at least seven to be fully functional) and even that was somewhat disturbed because of my nervousness. The reason for said nervousness was that I had a job interview that I really couldn't afford to fail. So, I got up at 5:50 in the morning, spent about an hour traveling and a half an hour waiting for the interview, and all that time I felt like puking my guts out because I was afraid I'd freeze and wouldn't be able to get a word out of my mouth. Luckily, I didn't puke.

How did it go then? Well, I got the job. I didn't know before the interview whether they'd offer me the job straight away or whether there were other applicants I'd have to compete against. Thankfully, it turned out to be the former. As long as I pass a salmonella test, the job is mine. Now I can finally stop worrying about earning money and start worrying about all the other things related to my impending journey abroad (like getting vaccinations and a visa).

The job I got isn't really anything special, but out of all the other places I applied for it has got the best pay. It's a bit far from where I live (about 35 kilometers) and it's shift work (possibly including night shifts), but I don't care as long as they pay me. I desperately need money to cover my exchange costs. My mom has promised to back me up financially if I need it, but I'd rather not owe anyone anymore money than I absolutely have to.

I'll be working at a factory that manufactures food. I was a bit taken back when the interviewer told me that she had a job for me at the butcher's. It sounded so... gruesome. But thank god I won't have to actually kill the birds, just handle the raw meat. I sure hope my stomach can take it...

After the interview, I had to wait an hour until the next bus arrived, but it wasn't so bad because I had fun talking to some guy who had also had an interview with the same employer. We found out that we both really liked fantasy and comics so it was easy to find common topics.

Now I'm finally home and I'm free to enjoy my last two weeks of freedom until work begins. I still need to book my flight tickets and fill in some more forms, but everything seems to be going just fine. Let's just hope there are no sudden setbacks.

I need sleep...