Unemployed in Skowhegan

I am living the real american life. I am unemployed and I life in a small town in the middle of nowhere in the state of Maine.

My unemployed friends:

(Barbara, Ayten and Steffi) and I were told that in Maine it is not unusal of a position to be in. And it is true, since 2004 the unemployment rate for Maine doubled and is now at 8%. That means from a population of ca. 700.000 people are 56.000 out of work or as they call it "in between jobs". For the whole of the USA is the rate between 12.7% (Rhode Island -thats also the smallest state) and 4.1% (North Dakota). So I figured the state of Maine is the average and so is it to be unemployed in Maine.

To specify my situation: I am actually not longer unemployed and I actually haven't been since we still get paid by ILEX. I just had nothing to do because they hadn't found a placement for us. So in the first four weeks of my crazy adventure of living and working and driving my own car in America, they made me move three times, buy a car and drive it long hours to go to job interviews.

The last job interview was successful. I will be working for an agency called Seven Hills Foundation. The department is called Behavioral Health and I will work in the Project Care program, which is Case Management for HIV and Drugusers (which are here called drugabusers, please mind the difference) who are in a substitude program. So I will start learning about the resources and the area first and the most of the time, I think, I will be working in the Methadone clinic. My work will be the support for those clients with their life. That means helping them with authorities, accompany them to court, doctors, landlords etc...

Work is located in New Bedford, Massachusetts. (Its a rough place, they say). I will live in Fall River, Massachusetts ("Pride City Wide" I like the viedeoclips of their webpage). But I don't know when I will move there but it will be one of these days and before Christmas for sure because I will be starting to work on the 28th of december.

For the rest. I mentioned the 3 other unemployed homegirls. We get along great. I mean its almost a miracle because how often do you find people that you can hang out with for a period of time for 24hours a day seven days a week in an apartment that only has 2 bedrooms and yes count again we are 4 girls.

Now ILEX. The most disturbing and gag reflexing thing they keep on repeating to say are "Go with the flow - Lower your professionel expectation - Communicate, communicate, communicate" If I hear any of this one more time I am gonna kill myself! I mean we lowered the shit out of ourselfs not only professionaly when they tried again and again and again to give us 7days a week jobs with mentally disabled which is for all of us a NO-GO! We just dont do DD's. We went with the f***** flow so often especially when we discovered that we had catfleas in the apartment and we had to move out and fog the place for the day. And we keep on comunicating but we have the feeling not to be heard.

But ILEX people are doing their best to comfort us and find placements and everything. As we asked why it seems to be 80% jobs of working with disabled and 20% children and youth with behavioral problems. They told us the situtaion since the big recession this year: Governement cuts first the substitution for health care in behavioral health but seemingly never for the physically, mentally and developmental disabled support work.

and last but not least here is my christmas present for you:

Enjoy.