Borders Beginnings

I have started my new job at Borders. At present we are amidst the process called 'sort', where we unpack thousands of boxes of books, sort them into sections and put them on the shelf in alphabetical order. The store is amazing. As the second 'concept store' in Australia, each section is themed (the cooking section has a cooking show playing, the manga section has lightboxes with manga characters all over it etc). I have managed to get myself put in the kids' section, which I LOVE. I always thought myself a freak for preferring the kids/young adult fiction to the adults', but now I have found a place where I belong! Where I can get excited with 12 year olds about the latest series to be released, or tell parents where to find a good book for their 3 year old or a nice gift for a non-native English speaker, or what to give a child for their baptism...etc. There's also a beautiful Christian children's section, with my all-time favourite picture book, 'You are Special' by Max Lucado. Yes. I squealed when I saw it in the pile.

So far the company has been great. They've shipped in a whole team of people to help us 'move in' and train us etc (how awesome is their job? Some of these guys do that for a living - just go around the world opening new stores). We work hard and they congratulate us on achievements. At the start of each day we answer a fun question like, 'Which famous person would you like to have with you on a deserted island?' and at the end of the day we present a box tally, to see which are has unpacked the most and to congratulate one another for any achievements. We also have 'show and tell' where we can present any fun books we've found to the group and/or share our knowledge about any book we'd like. On my first day we were told that we're all experts in our particular field, and this is a good way of showing us they mean it. Then there are the fun, unexpected things, like 'sweets' twice a day (cadbury!) or, like yesterday, a massive, spontaneous storewide hide and seek with the 20+ staff running around trying to find our trainers. :) So far it's been fun, but then we also don't have any customers, which will definitely change things. The store (and in fact about 100 others) at Robina opens on April 2nd. If you live close by, I hope to see you then!

These two books were my show and tell yesterday: a great gift for kids and adults alike about the importance of the apostrophe and comma!!!!! Jordan showed me the adult version of Eats, Shoots and Leaves (about the difference the comma makes) some time ago but I hadn't seen The Girl's Like Spaghetti (about the apostrophe) yet. I think these are gold, complete with illustrations of the differences. Nerdy, yes. But you'll love them if you're a stickler for correct grammar!

In other news:

* Jordan's still in SA, but home next weekend for good. Then I'm putting him under house arrest so he doesn't leave me again...

* We are still delighted by our house purchase and can't wait to move in, on June 27.

* Jordan has now seen the house (he came home last weekend for a visit!)

* Uni is delightful and unexpectedly low maintenance? I feel like I should be doing more work...

* Mum and Dad are being stars having me/us stay here. Last night we had a beautiful dinner: pork spare ribs followed by sticky date pudding...yummo! Will miss that cooking!

* We get our new car on Monday week. Woohoo for being mobile again!