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Saturday 16 June 2012

New Placement and the Race for Life


Yesterday was crazy. I’m still trying to recover now! After two months off from my formerly hectic life, all of a sudden, starting on Thursday, all kinds happened.

I was feeling a bit hacked off and rejected because the job search is actually going nowhere. I had heard nothing from the card shop, nothing more from the village pub and generally nothing from anything I’ve applied to. I went for a walk to the corner shop and they said there were no vacancies, so I just bought a lottery ticket and walked to the local pub to see if they needed barmaids or waitresses even for the summer. Again, the answer was no, but they took my CV, probably just to be polite. However on the way home, my phone started going mental with emails. I had a placement confirmed. Five 90 minute sessions over the next five weeks at a school in Ormesby, the activities planned are from a scheme called Aim Higher, basically trying to inspire and encourage teenagers to think about higher education or their ambitions. Considering I actually went ahead and applied for Job Seekers Allowance, it’s all a bit ironic. Best not mention that to the pupils.

I was asked to an interview that would be two days later at 4pm. It had to be this soon as we were going to the school next Wednesday. Immediately, there was a schedule problem. I was due to run the Race for Life at 7.30 and it would be impossible to get from Middlesbrough, to Hartlepool and back to Ormesby within two hours. So I asked for it to be rearranged, got no reply until the next day when I was already at my boyfriend’s for the night. It was asking me to go to the meeting at 12 instead.

So without time to go home and fuelled only by an apple, I left Marc’s and went straight to uni thoroughly unprepared. Literally, the most useful things in my bag were probably Clinique foundation, my phone and some tampons. No CRB form, no pens or notebooks, just nothing.

Luckily it didn’t matter. I met the girl I’m going to be working with and the organiser and they are both lovely and massively helpful. I’m being thrown in at the deep end a little as my last placement was mainly observation based with only bits and pieces of actual teaching or mentoring. This is us actually running the session and all of its content. But they are massively helpful and I left after a cup of tea and some a quick coffee feeling inspired, wired, hungry and with very little time to go home and prepare for the Race for Life.

I managed to grab some food and get ready on time and still caffeine fuelled, we got there on time. Like most things, if you don’t have time to be nervous, you perform better. We didn’t have time to think about the torrential rain or the fact we have only ran 5KM once before, we just went and did it. The atmosphere is fantastic and it’s a great cause, but next time I’m going in the runner’s group. The majority of ‘joggers’ actually walked around the course. This meant that we had to run around them as well as the muddy puddles. Because of the earlier thunder storms, 1km of the course was so slippery and dangerous that we were forced to walk it, but we managed the rest and completed it in around 30 minutes and really enjoyed it. The spectators and the man on the microphone really do spur you on and it was nice to do something different for a good cause. I mean, everyone knows someone who has been affected by cancer, so Cancer Research is one of the most worthwhile charities I can think of.

If this entry feels rushed, it’s because the day was a blur. A caffeine fuelled blur that gave me a lot to do and a lot to think about, so it’s little wonder that I got home, peeled off my muddy clothes, had a shower and slept.

 Despite the rush, it was the most worthwhile day I have had in a while, where I actually made some kind of difference. I also had to rush to the jobcentre to change my interview time, but that was just another obstacle and not very productive or enjoyable! I can’t wait to start my placement and I’m proud to say that I ran the Race for Life. Two things that I was hesitant about signing up for and worried I wouldn’t be able to do. Well, I succeeded in my 5km, met a new friend and I’m genuinely excited to start working with the group alongside the other volunteer next week. Good things happen when you start to let them. 

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