Yeah, so I'm still here.  Reading pretty much every day, occasionally commenting.

I don't have nearly enough time these days.  Turns out my part-time job is actually full-time hours for about the first month because of some extenuating circumstances.  Namely we are converting the photo studio to digital equipment and all new computers and software.  So after doing 40h training on the old system, I had to cover the usual full-time girl while she went out of town for company training, and now I will have to do 40h more training on the new system, and then - because I am the only part-timer who can actually do full-time hours - help finish training the other two part-timers who are students.

It's nothing that exciting as a job.  It's just a job.  Kind of a shitty one actually.  Just paying my dues I guess!  But I am capable of doing this job even if I don't really like it, there are some things I do like about it, and I get to sit down and rest my feet when there's no customers.  So it works for me, for now.  But I'm keeping my eyes open.

Yesterday was pleasant.  The two technicians who are there doing our install of the new stuff both speak English and not much French (took them a full 5 minutes to decipher our "business hours" sign!) so I had a bit of fun actually being able to help them out.  Not to mention just being able to speak in English at work.  I am decently fluent in French and still improving, but I'm still working twice as hard for anything I want to say, you know?  So it's relaxing and boosts my self-esteem to have a conversation in my native language with other native speakers.

Today we start setting up the new office system - the entire place is getting overhauled to match the new software - and then we start training.  I'll be in training all the rest of this week.  Next week supposedly I will drop down to part-time hours again, and for the rest of October.  Come November we'll be starting our Christmas rush so my hours will probably go up again.

But expect to see more of me starting next week!  Assuming I am not buried under the mountain of housechores we have been letting slide around here because nobody has the time!!