ALL CAPS for this Brit

Lots of things happened when I studied abroad in England at the University of Hertfordshire and some didn’t come to light until after I had returned to the States.  I will blog about all that later, to be sure. 

One amazing thing that that experience provided, even all these years later, was a brilliant friend!  We met at the Christian University (CU) campus organization.  With our different accents and vocab and with the great distance, we make it work and enjoy each others friendship.  We keep tabs on each other’s lives, encourage each other, cry together, vent to each other, etc but we definitely rejoice together and this is what I want to highlight today. 

My friend has battled terrible illnesses that have caused her to take time off from University.  She’s changed her major, in a sense, and taken more time to be certified as a teacher.  A lot of things have come full circle for her with several ups, downs, questions, feelings of hopelessness, and more.  With her permission (and some changes for identity’s sake), I’m sharing what she recently told me:

“I apologise in advance for the length of this email but thought you'd like to know that ...........

HALLELUJAH!!! GOD GAVE ME A BIRTHDAY PRESENT. FOR REAL! NO JOKES! because .............

I GOT A JOB!!!!!! sorry for all of that in caps, heck the whole email would be in caps if it wasn't considered rude but I'm hoping this is expressing how EXCITED, OVERJOYED, GRATEFUL and HAPPY I am!!!

So on Monday I applied for a job, winged off the job application as you do and didn't think any more of it coz the school I'm working in ATM is super stressful! Then the following day, not even 24 hours later, I got a phone call asking me to interview 4 days later on the 12th june, the day after my birthday. Mum, dad, my brother and my boyfriend have been asking me for over a month what I wanted for my birthday and I always jokingly but slightly seriously responded with A JOB!

So, anyways, last week was super stressful putting together my interview lesson on food poisoning. My birthday on Thursday came and I wasn’t feeling great. I felt quite ill with a cold. I battled on at work and it was fine. I got home and became quite violently sick with what I think was a migraine. I was so ill. I can't even describe! When dad got home, he and mum prayed over me that I would get better and be able to attend interview the following day. No less than 2 hours later I was up and about, a completely different person. Yes, still ill, but no where near as bad.

Got up the next morning and couldn't face eating. Mum prayed over me again for peace and if it was God’s will then let it be. Drove off to the school about 45 min drive away. I was the ONLY PERSON THERE FOR INTERVIEW THAT DAY!!!! I met the head of the school and she is LOVELY!! The design and technology department are beyond fantastically equipped. They have resources and machines that my current school couldn’t even begun to dream of!!

She gave me a tour of the school and explained that I was the only person being interviewed on that day and 4 more people were due to be interviewed this week. So, anyways, the pressure was off that I had no direct competition on the day.

I taught my planned lesson on food poisoning and it was great. Then was taken to the headmaster (principal) for my main interview with him, the head of the school, and the assistant head of the school. The interview went fantastic and then they invited me to stay for lunch, so I was taken to the cafeteria where lunch was on the house. I was escorted back to the interview room and I hadn't even opened my sandwich when I was called back to the headmaster’s office. Where I was offered the job!!!!

The most amazing news is that the assistant head of the school IS A CHRISTIAN AND BECAME A CHRISTIAN AT THE UNIVERSIRY OF HERTFODRSHIRE!!!!!!!! He was there in 1995. I found this out after he asked me if I'd like him to show me around the school again for a second time to soak it in. He'd read my application and saw I was from Hertfordshire and was a Christian from CU stuff [as is] on my application and wanted to sit in on my interview!!!

I’M SO HAPPY I CAN’T EVEN BEGIN TO EXPLAIN!!! GOD GAVE ME A BIRTHDAY PRESENT AND HE’S BEEN PLANNING IT FOR YEARS!!!!! HOW CRAZY IS THIS?!?!?!?! 

LOVE YOU LOTS!!!!”

I can hear her say every word with her smart British accent and the excitement that the caps lock can only try to convey.  Love that girl and am so very excited for her!!