more?!

ay, so i had another interview today, as i had mentioned, and although it started out for one position, i ended up being offered a different one at the same organization about an hour later. random!

this americorps experience has been very 'in your face, tfa' considering that the interviews seem to be going really well. the position i was offered today is with americorps for community engagement and education (acee). i would be a bilingual tutor for first graders- definitely intimidating!, offer classroom support, and work with assorted community service partnerships afterschool. ay, i am so far from comfortable with my spanish to have the term bilingual attributed to me in any way shape or form. the woman i interviewed with thinks that i'd be good at it though, and gave me oodles of other folks to contact to talk about it. she said that she was sort of pressured into taking on a bilingual position, but in the end, her spanish greatly improved and she got a lot more comfortable with her students.

the other that i'm considering is with lifeworks, a shelter for homeless youth. i'd be a tutor with the GED program and provide classroom support and administrative assistance. so in one case, i'd work with 6 year olds, and in the other, 16-26 year olds. hmm. both will help me find out whether or not teaching is up my alley once and for all. the ppl at lifeworks that i spoke with 2 weeks ago were absolutely awesome. i really enjoyed talking with them, and they seemed so passionate and honest about their work. but when it comes down to it, so many of these programs are worthwhile that it makes it quite difficult to decide where to serve.

decisions, decisions. i'd love to get better at spanish. but i also don't want to start kids off with incompetence. eep!

also, apparently, americorps allows you to defer loan payments AND they pay for your interest accrued while serving. this, i did not realize. additionally, you can qualify for food stamps. today, the woman i spoke with told me that i'd get $140/mo! she said that she used them when she was a corps member and felt kind of guilty about it, but justified it by thinking about how her stipend was taxed, and this was just her getting that money back. that would be all the money i'd need to eat, and her reasoning seems like a positive way to look at it.

life after college- food stamps and poverty. sounds about right, i guess... buuut, it looks like i'll definitely have a job before my graduation party, which certainly warrants a "yesssss" *m.culkin-style, of course*

thoughts or advice, tigers? torn... and wishing i could meet some folks in person before accepting a position. such is life!