Red Cross

I had a full day of training at the Red Cross yesterday. I'm planning to volunteer as part of the Disaster Action Team (DAT), which involves driving out to local disasters (usually fires, but sometimes floods or tornadoes) and offering Red Cross services and comfort to those affected. The scheduling is a little weird, so it's going to be difficult to manage, but I think I'll be able to do a weekend shift once a month. I'm always on the lookout for interesting volunteer opportunities, and this one has the added bonus of giving me some experience working with people in crisis situations. If I apply to the consular cone of the foreign service, one of my duties will be assisting Americans abroad, so I think the skills I learn will be transferrable. Plus, the Red Cross is such an amazing organization; it's an honor just to be a part of it.

I feel like my biggest weakness right now is a lack of meaningful professional experience, so getting this kind of directly applicable experience is key. There's no way for me to do visa interviews at my current teaching job (or any other job out there, for that matter), but I have plenty of exposure to different cultures, and I use Spanish daily, so it's still somewhat relevant. What I feel I need the most is some leadership experience. I've never been much of a "joiner," so I've never been able to work my way into a leadership role. I manage and lead children every day, but I don't know if that will be taken into consideration. Time will tell.

As we get closer to buying our house, I'm starting to feel more comfortable here in Dallas. Our new neighborhood is cute, full of young families and gay couples who spend their days biking to art lessons and locally-sourced organic restaurants. And I'm not really exaggerating. Michael and I have good jobs and are making good financial decisions and building a stable and safe future for ourselves; the foreign service would interrupt that in some ways. There are definite drawbacks to joining.

I still want this, but I'm happy to find contentment in case it doesn't happen. I don't want to be miserable and hanging on to a dream; I want to have my dream and be happy at the same time.