How did I get here?

How DID I get here? 

That is a wonderful question. 

Who knew that I would attain my dream job within a year of graduating university? 

It all began in the second year of my degree in Modern Languages. I got the crazy yet rewarding idea in my head to learn a completely new language- Spanish. I am already fluent in french, why not learn another one? 

By the end of the year, I was grasping introductions, food and the names of articles of clothing. I felt as though I was the smartest and most articulate Spanish-speaking student on the planet. 

Until, my professor announced our final project for the year- write a children's book, make it yourself, and read it to the kids at the local library. Excuse me? How was I going to write an entire story in my now third language, make it look nice and pleasing to the eye of a 4 year old, and then actually read it out loud to them? 

My partner and I worked long hard hours, we missed out on residence house events and turned her room into a ground zero disaster zone. After a week, we created a masterpiece. Now all it took was the confidence and proper pronunciation to get it done. It was called "Llamas in Pajamas" and really only brushed the surface of Latin American culture. It was about two llamas who, of course were wearing pajamas, crossed Southern America meeting friends and learning pieces of their culture along the way. The book was hand-made, and hand-bound. 

We presented the book to the kids, read it to them and something sparked in me. I knew it wouldn't be the last time I would read to a group of wriggly and smiley-faced children. Our class voted on the best books, and we came in second place. The book is still on display in the local library, three years later! 

That summer, my friends and I rented a seven bedroom house in our tiny university town, and got to work finding jobs. I searched high and low, interview after interview. Finally, it was down to two possibilities. A clerical job at the University, or a co-coordinator for the Summer Reading Club at the local library. My confidence level did not allow me to believe I could really do well at either job. Somehow, I flourished during the library position interview, and I was successful! That day began my ongoing love affair for working in libraries, and of course, with kids. 

At the age of 20, I understood what it meant to wake up every day, and go to work enjoying every single aspect. The kids, my co-workers, the atmosphere, the program. Most of all, I enjoyed how much of the work was created solely by myself and the other coordinator. We were in charge of sparking the minds of the youngsters, keeping their reading up, and of course, being as silly as a "big kid" can be. I worked at this job for two summers, and was torn when I knew I would not be returning. 

Before my second reading club summer, I traveled to Québec City and there I met my boyfriend. We spent a year in a long distance relationship, and now we are reaching our two-year point of meeting one another in Canada's most romantic city (barf). He is a teacher at a small school in a rural prairie town. I guess you could say that is how I got here. I spent the last 9 months working at a children's museum, and working at a national museum. These jobs helped me to build my self-confidence, learn, co-operate and work on my biggest weakness- multitasking. I can now say that I can easily plan an event, clean after guests, supervise volunteers, and answer the toughest questions while keeping my sanity intact. There were so many other feats to those jobs but my mind isn't quite recalling them at this moment. 

A job opening at my partner's school has brought me here once and for all. I am the librarian! It is not quite like the Summer Reading Club, but it is the job I have been working towards. To me, this is a career, and I plan to treat it as so. This blog will be the place where I keep fragments of ideas, plans for the future, experiences that I can read over and see my progress. 

If anyone ever reads this, please enjoy! This is a journey for the both of us.