Emma Underground

Almost two months ago, I applied for a position at the Mole Creek Karst National Park as a Cave Guide. I spoke to the recruiter on the phone the next day and later heard from my referee that they had also been contacted by the recruiter, but after that I heard nothing more about it. As over a month had passed, I thought that I must have missed out on the position and I was feeling more than a little downhearted. It turns out that I was right, I had missed out on the position, but last week another position came up and that one was offered to me. So, I start work on Monday.

Currently, I don't know all that much about caves, but I'm going to try to work on that over the next couple of days so that I feel a bit more prepared to start informing tourists about them. I have very little information on exactly what my duties are, which days I'll be working, or pretty much anything else about the job, but hopefully the blanks will be filled in for me on Monday. What I do know is that its a 4 month contract, so I'll hopefully be gainfully employed through the entire summer which takes a bit of the pressure off finding a more permanent source of income.

The other piece of information I have been given is that its a constant 9 degrees in the caves, despite whatever the weather is doing above ground. That seems like a pretty decent place to be spending the hot summer days to me :)

My new office

It intrigues me how people's attitudes towards jobs differs depending on their circumstances. When one of us unemployed bums that have been putting all our effort into trying to find work finally manages to land a job, we are over-the-moon extatic, but it usually only takes a month or two for the shinyness to wear off and we are just like everybody else, wishing we didn't have to go to work and longing for the weekend.  To an employement seeker, a job is like the Holy Grail - it is longed for and considered something to be fought for and prized if won. To most employed people, a job is just a necessary evil. Only a very select and lucky few people seem to have jobs that they enjoy after the novelty of being employed has worn off.