TravelChick

Job Hunting, More on Leaving

I'm looking for a job. It's not the easiest thing to do from Syria (slow internet connection, problems accessing job sites, and of course the conflict between how much time I should spend on job hunting and learning Arabic). Part of my problem is that I left my job as a journalist to get a Masters in International Studies and while I really want to work in security analysis, doing research on the Middle East, or working on US foreign policy, I don't always feel that journalism wasn't the place for me.

I belong to a professional organization for women who work in or are studying international security. It's useful for job listings, events, and contacts, Last summer when I was thinking about whether or not I should move to Damascus to learn Arabic I wrote to a woman who gave me really good advice; feeling at a bit of a dead end recently, I wrote to her again and she again gave me some stellar suggestions and even put me in contact with Peter Singer, someone whose work I really admire.

Of course, this made me think about the professors I've asked for job advice who, though we get along well and they were enormously supportive of my dissertation work, have not been so helpful when it comes to looking for jobs. I think this is partly because their careers have been so focused on academics that they just can't give me terribly relevant advice about how to go about looking for a job or where to look.

The other thing I've been doing, of course, is studying. I had a lesson with my tutor this morning; we went over relative pronouns and read some texts. I told him that I'm sad because I know I'm leaving Thursday and he asked me if I'm going to come back. This is, I think, the most difficult part about leaving. I know I will be back, but I don't know when (there are so many factors involved in this: I need to find a job, if I end up working in the US, Syria is a long way to travel from there, flying to Syria is not cheap). I feel that the other places I have left have been much easier to go back to. Chicago, London, small towns in Germany, somehow I've made it back to my other homes.

The other difficult part about leaving is that it's so difficult for Syrians to get visas to go to the US or to the UK, so I don't know if or when my Syrian friends will be able to visit me. Even if they do get visas, it's terribly expensive for them to travel. Making friends from Indonesia, Taiwan, and Syria over the past two years, I've learned to remember that traveling is difficult for many people.

Yesterday one of the guys at my favorite juice place, Abu Shaker, looked sad when I said I'm leaving and don't know when I'll be back. He suggested I open a branch of Abu Shaker in the US. It's all fresh, fabulous juice; I can't imagine how phenomenally expensive it would be in the US, but it would definitely work. Juice here is about a dollar for a liter of amazing, fresh, made to order tastiness. In the US I'm sure a liter would be at least six dollars. I'm really addicted to the juice; lately I've had to get it every day and today I just caved and bought an enormous bottle of the stuff. I don't know how I'll survive in the US. I think I just won't be able to drink juice. That said, it's nice to enjoy what I can while I'm here, so tomorrow I'm hopefully headed to my favorite restaurant, Beit Shammi, for some tasty lamb and some lemon and mint juice.

posted by Travel Chick @ 4:57 PM