Storytime Tapestry Newsletter

The newsletter devoted to spreading love and cultural awareness throughout the world.

Special Treat ??“ From Me!

Feb 14, 2006

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Patience Is A Virtue I Wish I had

Carol Roach, M.Ed, BA

My mother is an impulse shopper.?  If she sees something she wants, she buys it.?  I never had the luxury of having enough money to shop impulsively. I really can??™t say how it feels though some people say that shopping is like a drug.? 

I am the very opposite.?  I will literally wait until everything I own is in rags before I shop.?  Partially it is because I lack the funds to purchase new things, but it is also a reflection of my personality.?  I love the old more than the new.?  Give me an old pair of shoes that are well worn and comfortable any day to a brand new pair of shoes that will no doubt give me blisters.? 

My mother is a shopaholic, but she will argue that she does not have poor impulse control. She can and will wait for things she wants ??“ well sometimes.?  Now my son, he is another story. He wants what he wants, when he wants it.?  I cannot remember the last time he actually waited for Christmas or his birthday to get his present, and at 29-years-old, I doubt that he will ever change.? 

Even though I don??™t mind waiting for things, I have to admit my patience does wear thin.?  For example, I cannot stand waiting on someone.?  If you tell me you will meet me for 6:00pm at the restaurant be there for that time. Even be better, be there before me.? ?  Oh I will tolerate you being 5 minutes late, but make a habit of it and you will hear about it.

As a child I never finished anything I started, whether it was knitting a scarf or joining a group. It just took too long and I didn??™t have the patience.?  I still can??™t wait forever.?  Right now I am looking for work, and I am coming up empty.?  I don??™t have patience; I want a job now.?  I need a job now.? 

I was preparing to take a French course since December.?  I am finding that I cannot find a job here in Quebec with my current level of French. My unemployment insurance agent sent me to a French high school for oral French courses.?  The trouble was when I went for the examination my oral French was too good for the level they were teaching.?  My problem is that I cannot write French.? 

The people at the school advised me to register for written French courses, so I did.?  In December, I took the evaluation exam and the results just came in.?  My French written is atrocious.?  I am functioning at a grade three level.?  I forgot how to conjugate vowels, place the accents in the proper place, and just about anything else the language requires.?  But I knew that already and that is what I told my unemployment agent. After all if my written French was good would I need to take French courses??  I don??™t think it takes a brain surgeon to figure that one out.

The official evaluation has come in; the agent no longer wants to sponsor the program. Get this; my level is too low for her liking.?  She says the object of her programs is to prepare people to work, not send to them to school indefinitely.?  Who lacks patience now I ask you?? ?  I cannot work unless I get my French up to a professional level. If it were not so I would have had a job by now.

She did it. She wore my patience thin, and I was yelling at her.?  How could anyone change their mind in midstream like that??  I did everything that she asked for and I waited patiently for the day to arrive that I would start my classes.?  Now I have to wait again.?  She has not made up her mind.?  She told me to go my orientation class today, and she will make her decision something this week after she speaks with the school.?  I am angry and I am disappointed.?  I have to wait again, and I am running out of patience.

Addendum: Since this piece was originally written, the French written counselor, spoke with my agent who offered two months only.?  That was not enough time to take French written courses, so I was again send back to the French oral side.?  I spoke with the counselor there, and she feels I am not even good enough for the top level.?  She recommends level 5 and level 6 which are the last two levels.?  I had to wait again for her to talk to my agent, who for some reason known only to her, she accepted this time.? 

You know it will be almost the full six months before I finish the oral courses, so I have no idea why my agent refused in the first place; other than to wear out my patience and make me feel like a ping pong ball in the process.

Carol Roach

winterose@videotron.ca

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A Native of Montreal, Quebec, Carol is a graduate of Concordia, and McGill University.?  She holds a bachelor in psychology and a Masters in counselling psychology.?  Carol Roach is a published writer and newsletter editor.?  You can purchase her book: Picking up the Pieces: A Woman's Journey at www.publishamerica.com, or www.amazon.com.?  You can also go to your local bookstore and order it there as well.?  Carol??™s second book: Angels Watching Over is currently looking for a home. Stay tuned for details.? 

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If you are interested in other stories feel free to join her newsletter: Storytime Tapestry at: http://subs.zinester.com/98907 , or email her directly at winterose@videotron.ca and she will be glad to accommodate you.?  Carol enjoys email and responds to every inquiry.

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