Saturday, Mar. 07, 2020 - 11:04 am.
This past Monday I woke up with a clear schedule for the week. Then, by noon Andrew and I got a call, separately, to be interviewed for our uni grant application on Thursday. It's part of the process so it didn't mean victory, but it felt like moving forward.
That same Monday, in the afternoon, during Andrew's phone call with a friend, I started getting messages and emails. A friend checking in here, another friend and her spouse responding to an invitation to go out for a drink or something, an answer to our interest in an academic activity, etc. In those 20 minutes, we got a commitment or two outside of work for every day of the week.
Andrew and I have become a bit more social, as we said we would when we returned from the UK. That's helped with our overall well-being. On Tuesday we met for coffee with a friend in the city centre, and we walked back home, a 45-minute walk with perfect weather to be outside and within the last hour of the sun in the summer sky. Last night, we met with another couple in a relatively new beer garden. The city's growing and there are more and nicer places to hang out now, too.
On Thursday, besides having our grant application interview (which I even enjoyed!), both of us were called in for a meeting at another university. A friend of ours works there and she told us the Psych department was looking to hire undergrad thesis supervisors. I like teaching but I don't quite like preparing and delivering semester-long lectures to big groups, so supervising thesis seems like a good alternative. If there are any thesis groups (2 to 3 students) interested in my field, I'll still get to work on prejudice and well-being of LGBTI populations. I'll know if I have any groups to supervise this upcoming week.
Most importantly, I've been looking forward to the events for International Women's Day. Tomorrow, Sunday, there's going to be some sort of Feminist Day in the Main Square in the city centre, and on Monday there is the women's strike, and the march at 5 pm. I have a purple scarf, a green (pro-choice) one, a rainbow one, my bi pride flag, and a "women's rights are human rights" shirt, in which I sleep in because it's huge, but maybe I can pull it off in an outfit. I also have some milk and apple vinegar to counter tear gas (all activities are as peaceful as they can be, but the cops aren't). My body is ready.
To be continued next week, as it's always the case.
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