interesting turn of events

my original plan ever since arriving in perth was to try to find a job (part-time) in the schools while i was studying in order to get to know the system over here and find out if i would like to consider a full-time teaching position after completing my master's. everyone i have talked to in western australia (some that i had barely even met) immediately would comment on the shortage of teachers and how they would expect me to find something very quickly if i wanted it since they are just in such high demand. well... my hopes were definitely shot down because that certainly has been a bit of a stretch. after jumping through several hoops already just to have my 'overseas qualifications' for teaching reviewed by the western australian college of teaching (wacot), i just learned last week that i must also have a criminal background check done back in the u.s. and sent over here (i guess i should have assumed this would be necessary, but i've been out of practice). after finding out that this could take up to 16 weeks, and that you really can't teach anywhere (even substitute) without that wacot registration, i decided to redirect my efforts of looking elsewhere for work. well, as luck would have it, jason and i had plans to have brunch last sunday with my friend meg and her parents. she and her parents have just been so wonderful to us in this transition. kate (meg's mom) actually works at the university of western australia and after talking about this whole nightmare of a process to transfer my teaching credentials over here, she offered to have a look at the university to see if there was anything i could do over there temporarily. i could not even believe this, but just three days later, she called and said she found something for me! then, yesterday i went in for an informal interview and secured my pay, schedule, etc and i am now officially employed!! i have to say, it is certainly not my 'dream job' as i will be working in the university records department, mainly scanning student records and documents in to their electronic database, but it pays pretty well and it's only 3 days a week, so i'm happy! the other plus side of the deal is that since i will now be "staff" i have the opportunity to eventually look for other jobs within the university that may suit me better and apply internally. hooooray!