Lost in space.
Well, sincew I've come back form Laos, I've been in a daze. Have you ever seen "Office Space"? You should go see it, it's a great movie. I've been doing my things and feel like I've been doing nothing, just wandering through life in a daze of contentment.
I've been taking lots of naps and getting up at 10am or earlier, don't know why. I don;t really feel like going to work or really doing anything, but I still go and I'm not bothered by it... sort of.
My work... You read of these Taiwan teacher horror stories that happen to a select few... I'm now a statistic. My new class is 15 kids, all at different levels of Englsih. They have no dicipline, when I tried to read a story, 3 of the kids wanted to see the next page and tried to wrestle the book out of my hands. My boss' advice for dicipline? Pray to God or smack the kids, yes, I work for a Christian church, no, I don't believe in God. The kids speak Chinese in class, jump on the tables, have marker fights, some don't speak English, they hit each other and run away from me when I try to give them shit... oh, and they have no problem saying, "No!" and "Bu yao! (I don't want to)" Oh, yes, I have work cut out for me.
My boss... I'm working for myself, 5 years ago. She phones me an hour before class today to change my schedule. She wants me to create a whole new cirriculum for the school. She's only paying me for 5 hours a week. She has no idea what's going on and she thinks I have been sent by God. Her strategy for life is to pray more. She's a very nice woman and we hit our first bump today.
I got my schedule on Monday, One hour on Mon, Thu and Fri, and two hours on Wednesday. All my hours are between 2:30 and 3:30, except for Wednesday from 2:30-4:30. Today, she phones me an hour before class and asks if I can change to 3:30-4:00 and then take the kids to the park form 5:00-6:00 where thier parents pick them up, sure, today is fine. I got to school and at 4:00, there was no one to take the class, so I guess she meant till 4:30, whatever. Anyways, I found two jobs for the evenings, one os at a school 10 minutes away for Wed, Thu and Friday evenings for 4 hours an evening at a great wage. The other job, is Thursday evening, 20 minutes away for 3 hours, at an unbelieveable wage ($38/hour!!!). Both schools seem very nice, so I'm not sure which one to take. I simply told my boss that I had filled my time outside my schedule at her school and that I can't do both. And, I can't live on her 5 hours, so I gotta find additional work. She understood.
The reason I keep the job? It gives me an ARC and health insurance. This church is what keeps me here, it grants me my citizenship and healthcare. If I have this, my evengs are free to do private classes or cram school work. If I want time off or don't like a particular student or class, I have all the freedom in the world to change. Also, I like the school and hopefully I can get this class turned around, I have talked to the Chinese teacher who I share the class with and she's all for it and has offered to do whatever I say, I think she will do it, too. So, with much patience, and time, I think it's possible. Leaving the school has crossed my mind, but as long as my boss is working with me on this and progress is being made, I'll try to stick it out. The kids have just been let loose for a long time and it's hard to pull that back. Also, my boss hired me on the condition that I can go on vacation for 5 weeks before I start, allowing me to keep my health and citizenship between jobs. Not having this, may mean that I would have had to: Sell 3 motorbikes into someone's name, then back to my own, close and reopen my bank accounts, retake my drivers test, apply for a Taiwan visitor's visa, so much red tape. Glad it worked out.
So, I've been living outside myself, it's kind of nice, just very mellow. This weekend is Kenting I think, I'm trying to see if I can spend some time with Candy or Ady, but I never know what's going on with women. I'm a little lonely but I don't know what direction I should be taking, right now, there are a few women that are just sitting barely outside my grasp, don;t know where I should be reaching at the moment.
Candy is really nice, but is very shy and doesn't speak any English, we went to a movie tonight and then for a walk, it was great. She's nice and is willing to go for walks in the park late at night, which is when I like to get out on the town.
Ady lives by the airport, 35 minutes away and is usually only free on weekends, her English is perfect, not so good for my learning Chinese.
Michelle has been done, but she's grown up alot.
There's also Mei, she's a very cool girl but soo funny to talk to. Her English is very natural, she learned from her boyfriend and then lived in New York for a year at university. Her bf was from Harlem and she lived there, so she talkes like a gangsta and does all the gangster hand movements and stuff, I always crack up, but it's just the way she talks, very funny. And she must have lived DEEP in the hood, because it's strong.
When it rains, it pours.
P.S. I haven't even looked at my photos yet, I have bad karma, I think. My camera broke the day befroe I came home, the lens won't detach. I came home and the next day, my tv quit, my umbrella broke in Laos, my fancy self closing umbrella, and my remote controlled fan broke while I was away, maybe the motor burned out. The TV's fixed, camera's in the shop, fan is in the junk room and the umbrella is still awaiting inspection. On the cool side, Reg and I changed my living room into a Thai style room. We have Thai 'mats' on the floor and lot's of cushions to lean up against, it's now a very relaxed room, lounging around on the floor and comfy as hell. It even looks good and everything matches. Relaxing is good for me.
I've been taking lots of naps and getting up at 10am or earlier, don't know why. I don;t really feel like going to work or really doing anything, but I still go and I'm not bothered by it... sort of.
My work... You read of these Taiwan teacher horror stories that happen to a select few... I'm now a statistic. My new class is 15 kids, all at different levels of Englsih. They have no dicipline, when I tried to read a story, 3 of the kids wanted to see the next page and tried to wrestle the book out of my hands. My boss' advice for dicipline? Pray to God or smack the kids, yes, I work for a Christian church, no, I don't believe in God. The kids speak Chinese in class, jump on the tables, have marker fights, some don't speak English, they hit each other and run away from me when I try to give them shit... oh, and they have no problem saying, "No!" and "Bu yao! (I don't want to)" Oh, yes, I have work cut out for me.
My boss... I'm working for myself, 5 years ago. She phones me an hour before class today to change my schedule. She wants me to create a whole new cirriculum for the school. She's only paying me for 5 hours a week. She has no idea what's going on and she thinks I have been sent by God. Her strategy for life is to pray more. She's a very nice woman and we hit our first bump today.
I got my schedule on Monday, One hour on Mon, Thu and Fri, and two hours on Wednesday. All my hours are between 2:30 and 3:30, except for Wednesday from 2:30-4:30. Today, she phones me an hour before class and asks if I can change to 3:30-4:00 and then take the kids to the park form 5:00-6:00 where thier parents pick them up, sure, today is fine. I got to school and at 4:00, there was no one to take the class, so I guess she meant till 4:30, whatever. Anyways, I found two jobs for the evenings, one os at a school 10 minutes away for Wed, Thu and Friday evenings for 4 hours an evening at a great wage. The other job, is Thursday evening, 20 minutes away for 3 hours, at an unbelieveable wage ($38/hour!!!). Both schools seem very nice, so I'm not sure which one to take. I simply told my boss that I had filled my time outside my schedule at her school and that I can't do both. And, I can't live on her 5 hours, so I gotta find additional work. She understood.
The reason I keep the job? It gives me an ARC and health insurance. This church is what keeps me here, it grants me my citizenship and healthcare. If I have this, my evengs are free to do private classes or cram school work. If I want time off or don't like a particular student or class, I have all the freedom in the world to change. Also, I like the school and hopefully I can get this class turned around, I have talked to the Chinese teacher who I share the class with and she's all for it and has offered to do whatever I say, I think she will do it, too. So, with much patience, and time, I think it's possible. Leaving the school has crossed my mind, but as long as my boss is working with me on this and progress is being made, I'll try to stick it out. The kids have just been let loose for a long time and it's hard to pull that back. Also, my boss hired me on the condition that I can go on vacation for 5 weeks before I start, allowing me to keep my health and citizenship between jobs. Not having this, may mean that I would have had to: Sell 3 motorbikes into someone's name, then back to my own, close and reopen my bank accounts, retake my drivers test, apply for a Taiwan visitor's visa, so much red tape. Glad it worked out.
So, I've been living outside myself, it's kind of nice, just very mellow. This weekend is Kenting I think, I'm trying to see if I can spend some time with Candy or Ady, but I never know what's going on with women. I'm a little lonely but I don't know what direction I should be taking, right now, there are a few women that are just sitting barely outside my grasp, don;t know where I should be reaching at the moment.
Candy is really nice, but is very shy and doesn't speak any English, we went to a movie tonight and then for a walk, it was great. She's nice and is willing to go for walks in the park late at night, which is when I like to get out on the town.
Ady lives by the airport, 35 minutes away and is usually only free on weekends, her English is perfect, not so good for my learning Chinese.
Michelle has been done, but she's grown up alot.
There's also Mei, she's a very cool girl but soo funny to talk to. Her English is very natural, she learned from her boyfriend and then lived in New York for a year at university. Her bf was from Harlem and she lived there, so she talkes like a gangsta and does all the gangster hand movements and stuff, I always crack up, but it's just the way she talks, very funny. And she must have lived DEEP in the hood, because it's strong.
When it rains, it pours.
P.S. I haven't even looked at my photos yet, I have bad karma, I think. My camera broke the day befroe I came home, the lens won't detach. I came home and the next day, my tv quit, my umbrella broke in Laos, my fancy self closing umbrella, and my remote controlled fan broke while I was away, maybe the motor burned out. The TV's fixed, camera's in the shop, fan is in the junk room and the umbrella is still awaiting inspection. On the cool side, Reg and I changed my living room into a Thai style room. We have Thai 'mats' on the floor and lot's of cushions to lean up against, it's now a very relaxed room, lounging around on the floor and comfy as hell. It even looks good and everything matches. Relaxing is good for me.
posted by Colin at 3:15 AM
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