Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Life Choices

I had my staff evaluation at work today with Maria (my boss) and Cindy. 'Twas good, I was looking forward to it and was glad to hear that they have pretty much the same thoughts as I do when it comes to the different areas of evaluation, if anything they rated me as higher. Definitely was a much needed ego boost.

At the end we talked about some options I have there. I did make sure to be clear that I don't want to be moved from my room, I love my kids and can't see myself being with any other age group, and they agreed with me. But Maria let me know about Red River College's work placement program for the ECE diploma. This is where I could take my 2-year ECE course full-time, but I'd only attend class 2 days a week, and the other 3 days would be spent at work, implementing the stuff I'd learn in class. I'd need to have worked at the centre full-time for at least two years, so if I did this, it would have to be next September, since I've only been full-time since last March...

But Maria had said that in order to do that, I'd need her written approval for the school, and she would totally do that for me. She explained how this would be for someone who is willing to invest their time and energy into the daycare, since the daycare would be investing in them. Not everyone would be suited for something like that, for example the last person whom the daycare supported through the workplace program. I won't name her here, but in that case, things didn't turn out so well, and as soon as she was done her program, she left. Needless to say, Maria wasn't too happy... Now I don't know the entire story of what had happened, but I do know she had moved out of town, so I could understand that's prolly a big reason why she left...

Anyways, financially it would be pretty awesome too. Having my ECE would almost double my salary, if not more. And I would still be paid for 40 hours of work each week, which means I'd be paid to go to class. Of course, I'd still have to pay the tuition, but Maria had said that there's even options there, like bursaries and grants. So it's got me thinking: get paid to go to school for free in order to get a higher salary... Sounds pretty sweet!

My only thing is, am I willing to invest that much into the daycare? I mean, I love my kids, and I overall enjoy the work that I do, but I'm not planning to be there for 10 years... I'm even uncertain whether or not I'd be there for 5. Don't get me wrong, I do plan to be there for the next couple years anyways...

What I really want to get back into is cooking. I love cooking. I don't like cooking in a casual dining environment though. My dream is being able to create my own menu, change it up every month or so, and cooking my menu items. It'd be great to work in a small restaurant with a sous-chef, but it would have to be someone that works the same way I do. There's nothing worse than working a kitchen with someone who works differently. Not that the way they do things is wrong, it's just not the same as my way, and so sometimes it causes issues. Been there, done that...

But I don't want to have to own my own restaurant. I don't want the hassle of management. I just want to created menus and cook the food.

I was talking with Dennis about this the other day, cuz his dream is to own his own restaurant. But he wants to get into baking. Wouldn't it be great if he owned the place, I did dinner dishes, and he did desserts? And we could give each other ideas on dishes? Like, I'd suggest desserts to him, and he'd suggest dinners to me... Man, that'd be soooooo awesome!!!!! And I have worked with Dennis in the kitchen, and we work well together. We get each other, and we can get each others' backs when needed.

Anyways, I guess I just need to figure out what I'm going to do about career choice... I suppose I have until next year, and lots happens in a year... So we'll see...

1 comment:

  1. Wow! What great opportunities and dreams. Sounds like something to pray about, for sure!

    ReplyDelete