It’s the fifteenth of July, and I’m starting to think about work. This summer is dedicated to vacation, and there’s really no point in applying anywhere till Zsolt finds a job himself and we suss out the local area (because neither of us want to make 1 hour commutes everyday). But the reality of reality* is slowly lurking at the back of my mind.

This weekend Zsolt, his brother-in-law, sister  (Berci and Anita) and I are going to a small Hungarian town named Mezőcsát. (Looked up on Wikipedia, Mezőcsát is quoted as being: “a small town in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county, Northern Hungary, 35 kilometers from county capital Miskolc.”) Though I’m sure it’s much more than that. Firstly, it’s Berci’s home town. Home grown country boy. And secondly, it’s small town living complete with pigs, chicken coops, hard alcohol and thermal caves. The weekend should be quite an adventure. And I imagine, not fit for vegetarians. (The meat  produced from this family is incredible: sausages, kobasz, bacon, rind, ham everything. They use all the pig.)

So we’ll be going there this weekend. And then, ticking in the back of my head, will be Zsolt’s upcoming graduation (here comes the stupid floppy hat for my Dr Zsolt!) plus that inevitable question: do you have jobs yet?

Ay. No.

I’ve told Zsolt our standard answer is as follows: ‘we’re still on vacation’ (though secretly looking online and thinking, just as soon as we finish grad, to begin drafting Zsolt a resume . . . the man has been a professional student up until this point in his life. PhDs are very impressive, but along with that piece of paper, another scrap of paper (i.e. the resume) is required.)

And yet – even though ‘work’ is starting to nibble on my toes as I float across lake Balaton – I’m not entirely worried. Things work out. One way or another, things will work out. They always do. Zsolt thinks I’m ridiculous for assuming everything will be peaches and cream, but I can’t suppress my optimistic tendency. Besides, when haven’t things worked out? Okay, I personally have worked a number of crappy jobs in the past (experience building), but I’ve also worked some wonderful jobs as well. And frankly, one slice of experience raised me up for another, and so things have worked out. Just like I’m certain they will in Ottawa.

In honour of these ‘future flashes’ I’ve started trying to improve my French. All the lovely placements in Ottawa require bilingual speakers (hey, I can do French, but to call myself fluently bilingual would be a generous, very excessively way out and probably too much, falsehood.) However, bit by bit things are refreshing and I’m optimistic (again) it will improve more as time ticks forward.

Anyhow, we’re at that limbo stage of our careers – where things will happen, and yet, haven’t happened. In the meanwhile I really ought to avoid Monster.ca, because it’s depressing. Instead I’ll try to focus on this weekend’s adventure in the Hungarian country side. And let this summer be as it was intended: a vacation.

*PS – This opens onto a fairly interesting subject. What will happen if my possible future employers Google my name and ‘oh!’ find breast cancer everything. Am I worried about discrimination? You bet your sweet ass I’m worried about discrimination. And yet, at the start of my blog – it felt absolutely impossible to hide the truth of my reality. Secrets were not healthy or supportive. So I made a choice between anonymity and saying my name aloud. To this day I don’t regret the decision, but do worry how it might impact my future. Will employers reject me? Will possible donors/adoptive agencies/birth mothers reject me? I don’t know. All I know is at this moment I’m cancer free.  And anyone who discriminates because of my history is not someone with whom I need to work. That’s for sure. I’m bursting with good stuff to offer – cancer is part of my story, but it’s not the longest chapter.  (Okay, I’ll get off my high horse now. It’s a touchy subject. ) Things will, I suppose, work out.