[ Day 1 ] A New Job, A New Life!
Today was moving day.
After finishing school I decided to move out of my parents’ house and live on my own. Being fresh out of college, I didn’t have a job yet and I had been searching for job ads and the like. One in particular caught my interest. A mayor from a small town was looking for an assistant in the development-plan of the town, specifically on creating a recreative, nature-friendly town. As someone who studied plants, insects and nature I applied immediately. As the town was far away from my parents’ home the solicitation took place through Skype.
An elderly turtle, Mr. Tortimer, who was the mayor of the town, was very friendly and enthusiastic. Strangely enough, at the end of the conversation, I was hired! The housing would be taken care of upon arrival, the mayor had said. Most things would be provided for, I only needed to take my essentials with me (how strange).
After arranging this and that, 2 months later it was time to move to my new home and my new job!
The train ride was almost 4 hours. After 2 hours the train got less and less crowdy. We were heading to a small outback town, as the mayor had explained to me during the talk. In the last half hour only me and a blue cat remained. He had looked my way occasionally during the ride, but not alarmingly so. At some point he got up and walked over to me.
“Oh! Excuse me! I have a quick question for you. It’s now 4.33 p.m. on January 15th, 2018, right?” I whipped my phone from my pocket and confirmed the time and date. “I was right! Oh good!” the cat replied. “I’m just gonna plop down in the seat across from you. If you don’t mind, of course!” Not that I had any say in the matter, cause he went and sat down anyway.
“By the way, you…” he started, before interrupting himself. “Can I ask your name?” “I’m Melyora,” I replied. “Nice to meet you, Melyora, I’m Rover!” What followed was a conversation about where I was headed. “To Wildwood,” I said. It didn’t sound familiar to Rover, and he pulled out the train map and asked me to point the town out. I told him I was moving there to a new job and I’d never been there before.
He worried if I would have a place to say, but assured him it was taken care of (how wrong I was).
Then the conductor announced our arrival in Wildwood. After saying goodbye to Rover, I grabbed my bag and suitcase and headed to the doors. I headed out of the train, waving one last time to Rover and went out into the town of Wildwood.
Upon exiting the train station, 4 people stood in line in front of it. Waiting for me apparently, cause a round of whispers started as soon as they saw me. “Yo, you see that girl?” a grumpy blue bear said. “It’s totally her!” a smiling kitten with girlish hairdo said. “All right. We should say hi or something,” a moustached frog said.
A yellow dog called them to order, and as if rehearsed, they shouted a big ‘WELCOME’ for me. It gave me a little fright.
“Mayor! We couldn’t be happier to see you arrive safe and sound!” the dog said. “You think I’m a mayor?” I asked her, confused. She as well seemed confused by my response. Then she laughed. “Oh, come one! Quit joking around. You know exactly who you are!” Well, I was started to doubt who I was by the second. “You told us which train you’d be arriving on!” I did tell the old mayor that, but still, I knew nothing of becoming mayor. “You’re mistaken,” I tried to explain. “You’re not getting cold feet, are you?” the dog asked, looking a bit sad. “Don’t be silly! You’ll be fine! There’s nothing to worry about.” I was still not sure about the whole event, but as she was trying to cheer me up, I went along with it. She invited me to the town hall, the discuss the situation further. She handed me a map of town and together we walked to the town hall, which was just a little to the west from the station.
As we walked through the snow she chatted about the town and pointed out the apple trees, for which the town apparently is famous in the neighbourhood. I perked up a bit, as apples are my favourite fruit and in my head some ideas started on how to work with the apple trees in developing the town (as I was supposed to with the job). The town already looked pretty, covered in powdery white snow, but I already saw ways to improve it.
Arriving in town hall the dog introduced herself as Isabelle, the secretary of town hall. MY secretary to be specific. I, again, tried to explain to her that I was her only for a development assistant job and that I had a talk with the mayor, Mr. Tortimer, about it. Confused, she told me that Mr. Tortimer had indeed been the mayor of Wildwood, but that he had retired just a month ago. Apparently, he had told Isabelle that he had placed an ad for a new mayor and that I, Melyora, was qualified and had taken on the job.
After talking a bit back and forth about how this came to be, we settled to just go along with it. As Isabella said it, the difference between a development assistant and mayor in this town was non-existent, so I could just be mayor for the time being.
Housing, it seemed, wasn’t settled either. Isabelle explained to me that I could have my own house build and that I should visit Tom Nook on Main Street, on the other side of the train racks. After that we would finish my resident registration and we would start on being mayor tomorrow.
So off I went again, north over the train racks to visit Tom Nook.
Tom Nook turned out to be a raccoon. He was friendly and talked business, from which color roof I wanted to where I wanted him to build. “I haven’t had a good look around town yet,” I apologised. “Color me unsurprised!” he laughed. “You DID just move here, after all, and there’s no sense rushing into anything!” I awkwardly laughed, as I had a feeling I was kind of rushing into things today…
Tom Nook offered to take a stroll around town with him to see if I could find a plot of land that I liked. While walking around, I asked who managed to land and trees in town and he replied that no one in particular did. All the villagers did a bit of this and that, and it was free for taking.
Now, with me being mayor, I’d have the authority to cut the trees down and do what I want, but Tom Nook warned me that the villagers might or might not be pleased by my actions. When I told him I was planning to make it greener, at least, when the snow was gone, with more trees and flowers, he looked pleased and smiled. “I suppose that would make everyone very happy! The old mayor wanted to do so, but he couldn’t by himself, and the villagers have no clue about landscaping, so they’re no help. Just look at where Francine build her house!” He pointed towards a grey house with a blue fence that we were walking towards. I could see Tom Nook was right, as Francine had a rock placed like 3 foot from her front door, and her house was on a strip of land that got smaller and smaller because the river widened her. Right, I would not ask her for help during my own house plotting quest.
We walked on and on until I got a bit of feeling for the town. I told Tom Nook where I wanted my house and we went over there. A spot where the river bended twice, creating a U-shaped river and a plot of land, almost like an island. “Yes, yes! So you would like to build your house here?” Tom Nook asked. “Yep! Here!” He nodded and went around inspecting the plot of land. He commented on the nice location, near the river for fishing and being in nature. I agreed and Tom Nook put some poles in the ground to mark the area. He told me I needed to pay a down payment before they’d start building a house.
When I expressed my worry about a sleeping place, he thought a little, then pulled out a package from his backpack. “Here’s a tent for you then. A bit shabby, but it will have to do until the house is finished. Come see me soon for that! And you’ll have to let Isabelle know where you’re going to live. Tada!” And off he went. I sighed, still confused by this strange day, and set about putting up the yellow tent.
Today was moving day.
After finishing school I decided to move out of my parents’ house and live on my own. Being fresh out of college, I didn’t have a job yet and I had been searching for job ads and the like. One in particular caught my interest. A mayor from a small town was looking for an assistant in the development-plan of the town, specifically on creating a recreative, nature-friendly town. As someone who studied plants, insects and nature I applied immediately. As the town was far away from my parents’ home the solicitation took place through Skype.
An elderly turtle, Mr. Tortimer, who was the mayor of the town, was very friendly and enthusiastic. Strangely enough, at the end of the conversation, I was hired! The housing would be taken care of upon arrival, the mayor had said. Most things would be provided for, I only needed to take my essentials with me (how strange).
After arranging this and that, 2 months later it was time to move to my new home and my new job!
The train ride was almost 4 hours. After 2 hours the train got less and less crowdy. We were heading to a small outback town, as the mayor had explained to me during the talk. In the last half hour only me and a blue cat remained. He had looked my way occasionally during the ride, but not alarmingly so. At some point he got up and walked over to me.
“Oh! Excuse me! I have a quick question for you. It’s now 4.33 p.m. on January 15th, 2018, right?” I whipped my phone from my pocket and confirmed the time and date. “I was right! Oh good!” the cat replied. “I’m just gonna plop down in the seat across from you. If you don’t mind, of course!” Not that I had any say in the matter, cause he went and sat down anyway.
“By the way, you…” he started, before interrupting himself. “Can I ask your name?” “I’m Melyora,” I replied. “Nice to meet you, Melyora, I’m Rover!” What followed was a conversation about where I was headed. “To Wildwood,” I said. It didn’t sound familiar to Rover, and he pulled out the train map and asked me to point the town out. I told him I was moving there to a new job and I’d never been there before.
He worried if I would have a place to say, but assured him it was taken care of (how wrong I was).
Then the conductor announced our arrival in Wildwood. After saying goodbye to Rover, I grabbed my bag and suitcase and headed to the doors. I headed out of the train, waving one last time to Rover and went out into the town of Wildwood.
Upon exiting the train station, 4 people stood in line in front of it. Waiting for me apparently, cause a round of whispers started as soon as they saw me. “Yo, you see that girl?” a grumpy blue bear said. “It’s totally her!” a smiling kitten with girlish hairdo said. “All right. We should say hi or something,” a moustached frog said.
A yellow dog called them to order, and as if rehearsed, they shouted a big ‘WELCOME’ for me. It gave me a little fright.
“Mayor! We couldn’t be happier to see you arrive safe and sound!” the dog said. “You think I’m a mayor?” I asked her, confused. She as well seemed confused by my response. Then she laughed. “Oh, come one! Quit joking around. You know exactly who you are!” Well, I was started to doubt who I was by the second. “You told us which train you’d be arriving on!” I did tell the old mayor that, but still, I knew nothing of becoming mayor. “You’re mistaken,” I tried to explain. “You’re not getting cold feet, are you?” the dog asked, looking a bit sad. “Don’t be silly! You’ll be fine! There’s nothing to worry about.” I was still not sure about the whole event, but as she was trying to cheer me up, I went along with it. She invited me to the town hall, the discuss the situation further. She handed me a map of town and together we walked to the town hall, which was just a little to the west from the station.
As we walked through the snow she chatted about the town and pointed out the apple trees, for which the town apparently is famous in the neighbourhood. I perked up a bit, as apples are my favourite fruit and in my head some ideas started on how to work with the apple trees in developing the town (as I was supposed to with the job). The town already looked pretty, covered in powdery white snow, but I already saw ways to improve it.
Arriving in town hall the dog introduced herself as Isabelle, the secretary of town hall. MY secretary to be specific. I, again, tried to explain to her that I was her only for a development assistant job and that I had a talk with the mayor, Mr. Tortimer, about it. Confused, she told me that Mr. Tortimer had indeed been the mayor of Wildwood, but that he had retired just a month ago. Apparently, he had told Isabelle that he had placed an ad for a new mayor and that I, Melyora, was qualified and had taken on the job.
After talking a bit back and forth about how this came to be, we settled to just go along with it. As Isabella said it, the difference between a development assistant and mayor in this town was non-existent, so I could just be mayor for the time being.
Housing, it seemed, wasn’t settled either. Isabelle explained to me that I could have my own house build and that I should visit Tom Nook on Main Street, on the other side of the train racks. After that we would finish my resident registration and we would start on being mayor tomorrow.
So off I went again, north over the train racks to visit Tom Nook.
Tom Nook turned out to be a raccoon. He was friendly and talked business, from which color roof I wanted to where I wanted him to build. “I haven’t had a good look around town yet,” I apologised. “Color me unsurprised!” he laughed. “You DID just move here, after all, and there’s no sense rushing into anything!” I awkwardly laughed, as I had a feeling I was kind of rushing into things today…
Tom Nook offered to take a stroll around town with him to see if I could find a plot of land that I liked. While walking around, I asked who managed to land and trees in town and he replied that no one in particular did. All the villagers did a bit of this and that, and it was free for taking.
Now, with me being mayor, I’d have the authority to cut the trees down and do what I want, but Tom Nook warned me that the villagers might or might not be pleased by my actions. When I told him I was planning to make it greener, at least, when the snow was gone, with more trees and flowers, he looked pleased and smiled. “I suppose that would make everyone very happy! The old mayor wanted to do so, but he couldn’t by himself, and the villagers have no clue about landscaping, so they’re no help. Just look at where Francine build her house!” He pointed towards a grey house with a blue fence that we were walking towards. I could see Tom Nook was right, as Francine had a rock placed like 3 foot from her front door, and her house was on a strip of land that got smaller and smaller because the river widened her. Right, I would not ask her for help during my own house plotting quest.
We walked on and on until I got a bit of feeling for the town. I told Tom Nook where I wanted my house and we went over there. A spot where the river bended twice, creating a U-shaped river and a plot of land, almost like an island. “Yes, yes! So you would like to build your house here?” Tom Nook asked. “Yep! Here!” He nodded and went around inspecting the plot of land. He commented on the nice location, near the river for fishing and being in nature. I agreed and Tom Nook put some poles in the ground to mark the area. He told me I needed to pay a down payment before they’d start building a house.
When I expressed my worry about a sleeping place, he thought a little, then pulled out a package from his backpack. “Here’s a tent for you then. A bit shabby, but it will have to do until the house is finished. Come see me soon for that! And you’ll have to let Isabelle know where you’re going to live. Tada!” And off he went. I sighed, still confused by this strange day, and set about putting up the yellow tent.
