페이지

2016년 5월 30일 월요일

새로운 환경을 지내면서

5월의 마지막에 찾아 오는 Memorial Day 연휴라 집 정원에서 쉬고 있다. 2월 1일에 이사하면서 몇가지 공사도 하고 새집으로 옮겨 온 뒤 집안 정리하느라 많은 시간과 공을 들였다. 집사람의 도자기를 운반하면서 그리고 뒷마당의 언덕에 있는 소나무를 전기톱으로 베어 버리는 등 많은 힘든 일을 하면서 아프기 시작한 팔의 근육을 계속 혹사했더니 테니스엘보와 비슷한 병이  생겼다. 병원에서 스테로이드 주사로치료를 하여 오른쪽 팔은 난 것 같은데 왼쪽은 계속 아퍼 신경이 쓰인다. 나이 들었다는 여실한 증거들을 보며 뛰는 것도 이제는 길어야 4마일 정도로 줄여 조정을 하며 살게 되었다









집안 온통 집사람 작품들


















그간의 Aflac과 Geico 두 보험회사에서 일하던 것을 그만 두고 Wells Fargo Bank의 Home Mortgage Consultant로 취직이 되었다. 사무실이 집에서 3마일 거리라 가까워 좋고 무었보다도 65세가 넘은 나를 인터뷰하고 일하게 한 사실이 기적같았다. 3월 21일 부터 시작한 연수 기간은 약 2개월 여로 일주일씩 두번의 합숙 훈련을 거치면서 집융자에 대한 실무를 익히게 되었다.

164년이란  긴역사로 미국에서 두번째로 긴 역사를 가진 웰스파고 은행은 모든 정보가 너무 정리가 잘 되어있고 많아서 놀랐다. 일에 대한 내용이 법규에서부터 실무적 정보가 많아도 너무 많아 그것을 찾는 일이 지금도 너무 힘들다.   융자에 대한 상품과 관련 법규와 내부적 일정을 준수하지 않으면 안 되는 틀에서 일을 하려니 보통일이 아니다.

젊은 미국애들과 함께 머리를 맞대고 배워가는 일은 젊어진 것 같아 좋기도 하지만 영어로만 된 강의를 들으며 콤퓨터를 익혀야 하는 현실은 감당하기가 어려웠다. 그간의 회사 생활에서 무수한  강의를 듣고 일을 배우면서 별 문제가 없었지만 이번의 연수는 금융 분야지만 처음 접하는 내용에 복잡하게 되어 있는 콤퓨터를 익히는 일은 도움이 필요할 때도 있었다. 이제 실무를 하면서 미국인들에게 설명하며 일을 처리하는 것은 재미있기도 하지만 어려움도 있으리라 생각된다. 발음을 듣는 순간 어떤 사람은 전화를 끊기도 하고 사람을 바꿔달라고 요구도 한다고 한다. 30년 넘는 미국 생활에서 새로운 사실도 아니기에 별 문제는 없지만 미리 마음의 준비를 하여 그런 사람도 웃으면서 처리를 하는 경지에 이르고 싶다.

Alpharetta에서 연수 동기들

Charlotte, North Carolina에서 연수실





인생 길에서 무수한 사람도 만나고 일을 하며 매일 새로운 날을 맞아 오늘 이 순간을 살고 있다. 언젠가 삶을 마치고 하늘나라에 가겠지만 허락하신 동안에 건강 주시고 여건을 마련하여서 일을 하면서 노년을 보내게 되어 감사할 것 밖에 없다. 더 많은 사람을 사랑할 수 있고 더 겸손하여 만나는 사람들을 섬기며 매 순간 새로운 일을 한다는 것 자체가 너무 신나고 보람되어 요사이는 일하는 재미에 빠져서 살게 되었다. 교회도 지척에 있어 수요 예배의 성가대도 하게 되어 은혜 가운데 감사하며 살고 있다. 내가 신경 쓰며 기도하는 건 근신하여 깨어 있어 늘 준비하며 살기를 바라고 노력하는 일이다. 오늘도 이 순간도 이런 환경을 감사하면서....









2016년 5월 27일 금요일

사진으로 본 금주의 세계: Photos of the Week: 5/21-5/27/2016

Estonia’s triplet Olympic Marathoners, labor reform protests in France, US special operations forces in Syria, Lag Ba'Omer in Israel, the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Maryland, a thousand Indian Runner ducks in a South African vineyard, Barack Obama in Hiroshima, and much more.
  • The Finance Minister in Brazil's interim government, Henrique Meirelles, photographed behind microphones during a press conference in Brasilia on May 20, 2016. 
    Evaristo Sa / AFP / Getty
  • Armed men in uniform identified by Syrian Democratic forces as US special operations forces ride in the back of a pickup truck in the village of Fatisah in the northern Syrian province of Raqa on May 25, 2016. US-backed Syrian fighters and Iraqi forces pressed twin assaults against the Islamic State group, in two of the most important ground offensives yet against the jihadists. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), formed in October 2015, announced on May 24 its push for IS territory north of Raqa city, which is around 90 kilometers (55 miles) south of the Syrian-Turkish border and home to an estimated 300,000 people. The SDF is dominated by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) -- largely considered the most effective independent anti-IS force on the ground in Syria -- but it also includes Arab Muslim and Christian fighters. More background on this particular photograph of US forces in Syria from the photographer.
    Delil Souleiman / AFP / Getty
  • Migrants are seen on a capsizing boat before a rescue operation by Italian navy ships "Bettica" and "Bergamini" off the coast of Libya in this handout picture released by the Italian Marina Militare on May 25, 2016. 
    Marina Militare / Reuters
  • Stuffed Sumatran tigers, ivory and other wildlife trophies seized during recent raids are set on fire by Indonesian officials in Banda Aceh on May 23, 2016. Indonesian Forestry Ministry officials and Aceh's Nature Conservation Agency (BKSDA) destroyed the wildlife trophies as part of their campaign to fight illegal poaching. 
    Chaideer Mahyuddin / AFP / Getty
  • A woman sits at the edge of the field of United States flags displayed by the Massachusetts Military Heroes Fund on the Boston Common in Boston, Massachusetts, on May 26, 2016, ahead of the Memorial Day holiday on May 30. The 37,000 U.S. flags are planted in memory of every fallen Massachusetts service member from the Revolutionary War to the present. 
    Brian Snyder / Reuters
  • Orange County Sheriff's deputies take a protester into custody near the Anaheim Convention Center Wednesday, May 25, 2016, in Anaheim, California, after Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump held a rally at the convention center. 
    Jae C. Hong / AP
  • A trainer looks at a Panama Canal pilot maneuvering a miniature tugboat during a training day on the scale model maneuvering training facility of the Panama Canal, in the outskirts of Panama City, on May 25, 2016. The recently inaugurated scale training facility of the Panama Canal provides a realistic training and experience on maneuvering for Canal pilots and tugboat captains. 
    Arnulfo Franco / AP
  • A Chelsea Pensioner looks through the 'Behind Every Great Florist' design at RHS Chelsea Flower Show on May 23, 2016, in London, England. 
    Chris Jackson / Getty
  • A picture taken on May 26, 2016 on the French island of La Reunion shows lava during the eruption of the Piton de la Fournaise volcano, in an uninhabited area. The last Piton de la Fournaise's eruption occurred on October 30, 2015. 
    Richard Bouhet / AFP / Getty
  • President Barack Obama hugs Shigeaki Mori, an atomic bomb survivor; creator of the memorial for American WWII POWs killed at Hiroshima, during a ceremony at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park on May 27, 2016. Obama on Friday became the first sitting U.S. president to visit the site of the world's first atomic bomb attack, bringing global attention both to survivors and to his unfulfilled vision of a world without nuclear weapons. 
    Carolyn Kaster / AP
  • Demonstrators clash with riot police in the surroundings of the Congress in Valparaiso, Chile, while Chilean President Michelle Bachelet delivers her annual message to the nation on May 21, 2016. A security guard died during protests as a result of the fire authorities said was "intentionally" set by protesters who clashed with police. 
    Claudio Reyes / AFP / Getty
  • Lanterns fly into the air at Borobudur temple during celebrations for Vesak Day on May 21, 2016, in Magelang, Central Java, Indonesia. 
    Ulet Ifansasti / Getty
  • Halloween and party supplies sit in crates at Jinhua Partytime Latex Art and Crafts Factory in Jinhua, Zhejiang Province, China, on May 25, 2016. 
    Aly Song / Reuters
  • Lightning from a severe storm fills the sky behind a grain elevator in Belvue, Kansas, on May 25, 2016. 
    Orlin Wagner / AP
  • Israeli soldiers of the Search and Rescue brigade rest during a training session in Ben Shemen forest, near the city of Modi'in on May 23, 2016. 
    Amir Cohen / Reuters
  • A woman walks on steps lined with plastic cups, an art project of four college students, in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, ob May 24, 2016. 
    Reuters
  • Workers lower the styrofoam face of Soviet leader Josef Stalin they had sawed off while dismantling a giant sculpture at Letna Park on May 21, 2016 in Prague, Czech Republic. The styrofoam sculpture, which looks like granite, was part of a movie set and stood at the same spot where a real statue of Stalin stood 60 years before. The original Stalin sculpture, 15.5 meters tall, was unveiled in 1955 in then-communist Czechoslovakia but soon came into disfavour during de-Stalinization and city authorities removed it in 1962 by blowing it up with 800kg of explosives. 
    Sean Gallup / Getty
  • Part of Estonia's Olympic team, marathon runners triplets Lily, Liina and Leila Luik run during a training session in Tartu, Estonia, on May 26, 2016. 
    Ints Kalnins / Reuters
  • The last remaining space shuttle external propellant tank is moved across the 405 freeway in Los Angeles on May 21, 2016. The ET-94 will be displayed with the retired space shuttle Endeavour at the California Science Center. 
    Chris Carlson / AP
  • A group of Indian Runner ducks march past farm buildings at the Vergenoegd wine estate near Cape Town, South Africa, on May 11, 2016. Each day, a quack squad of killer ducks are released for the first of two sorties at South Africa's Vergenoegd wine farm in Stellenbosch. Their mission - seek and destroy thousands of pests out to ruin the season's harvest. Fanning out across the vineyards, some 1,000 Indian Runner ducks hone in on their hidden targets with uncanny precision, locating the tiny white dune snails feasting on budding vines. 
    Mike Hutchings / Reuters
  • Iraqi policeman Saad Ali Thabit detains a would-be suicide bomber at a checkpoint north of Baghdad’s Kadhimiyah neighborhood on May 25, 2016. Thabit is being honored as a hero by Iraqi officials and on social media. Closed Circuit video of Thabit discovering and then disarming the would-be bomber during routine searches was quickly shared on social media racking up hundreds of thousands of views. 
    Iraq Federal Police via AP
  • A scientist takes measurements for the archaeo-magnetic survey in the Bruniquel Cave in southwestern France in this undated handout photo after the discovery there of mysterious ring-shaped structures fashioned about 176,500 years ago by Neanderthals. More on the discovery here: A Shocking Find In a Neanderthal Cave In France
    Etienne FABRE - SSAC / Reuters
  • High school students study at night to prepare for college entrance exams at a high school in Lianyungang, east China's Jiangsu province, on May 24, 2016. 
    STR / AFP / Getty
  • A man walks inside the 'Cathedral of Light' at The Royal Botanic Gardens on May 25, 2016 in Sydney, Australia. 
    Brendon Thorne / Getty
  • The manager of Jinhua Partytime Latex Art and Crafts Factory wears a mask of U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump after talking to reporters in Jinhua, Zhejiang Province, China, on May 25, 2016. The factory is expecting Donald Trump to beat his likely U.S. presidential rival Hilary Clinton in the popularity stakes. At the factory, masks of Donald Trump and Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton faces are being churned out. Sales of the two expected presidential candidates are at about half a million each but the factory management believes Trump will eventually turn out to be the winner. "Even though the sales are more or less the same, I think in 2016 this mask will completely sell out," said factory manager Jacky Chen, indicating a Trump mask. 
    Aly Song / Reuters
  • Migrants chat before to spend the night aboard the rescue ship "Aquarius", on May 25, 2016 a day after a rescue operation of migrants off the Libyan coast. A 21-year-old Cameroonian woman gave birth today to a little boy as the Aquarius headed to the Sardinian port of Cagliari with 385 migrants on board. 
    Gabriel Bouys / AFP / Getty
  • Sylvie Lamontagne, 13, of Lakewood, Colorado, incorrectly spells 'panachure' during the final round of the Scripps National Spelling Bee in National Harbor, Maryland, on May 26, 2016. 
    Cliff Owen / AP
  • A Kenyan policeman wears a gas mask as he stands in from of a milk dispenser at a kiosk, during running battles between police firing tear gas and protesters throwing rocks, in the Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya, on May 23, 2016. Kenya's police shot, beat and tear gassed opposition demonstrators across the country who tried to gather to call for the electoral commission to be dissolved due to allegations of bias and corruption. 
    Ben Curtis / AP
  • Aerial firefighters work to put out a fire that is spreading in the woods around Jerusalem on May 26, 2016. 
    Ahmad Gharabli / AFP / Getty
  • A man watches from a distance as youngsters dance during a music and laser show, in a forest outside Bucharest, Romania, on May 21, 2016. People attended in large numbers a display of laser lighting and music that lasted until the morning hours. 
    Vadim Ghirda / AP
  • A swan takes off from a lake on a foggy day near the village of Vyazyn, 65 km (40 mi) north of the capital Minsk, Belarus, on May 25, 2016. 
    Sergei Grits / AP
  • A man stands on top of a set of traffic signals as he threatens to jump on May 24, 2016 in Changsha, Hunan Province, China. Police officers, fire workers and traffic police set up an inflatable safety mattress but he missed it when he fell after trying to jump onto the overpass. An ambulance hurried the man to nearby hospital. The reasons for his actions are unknown. 
    VCG / Getty
  • An Ultra-Orthodox Jewish boy stands around a bonfire as he celebrates the Jewish holiday of Lag Ba'Omer in the city of Ashdod, Israel, on May 25, 2016. 
    Amir Cohen / Reuters
  • Cars are engulfed by a chasm which opened along Arno river near the Ponte Vecchio Old Bridge, in Florence, Italy, on May 25, 2016. According to reports, the collapse occurred early in the morning and was caused by the rupture of an aqueduct. No one was injured. 
    Maurizio degl'Innocenti / ANSA via AP
  • A man holds a bouquet of flowers and a torch as he faces riot police during a demonstration against the government's planned labor reform, on May 26, 2016, in Lyon, central eastern France. The French government's labor market proposals, which are designed to make it easier for companies to hire and fire, have sparked a series of nationwide protests and strikes over the past three months. Masked youths clashed with police in Paris and striking workers blockaded refineries and nuclear power stations on May 26, 2016 as an escalating wave of industrial action against labor reforms rocked France. 
    Jean-Philippe Ksiazek / AFP / Getty