So long Steve,.
Anyways, I'm sad to learn that Steve Irwin has died, stabbed through the heart by the barb of a stingray while diving, what are the chances? I've always liked what he was trying to do and the way he was doing it, someday, I hope to die the way he did... not by getting impaled by a ray, but by doing something I love. There would be nothing worse than dying of boredom or old age... yes, you may differ on your opinion if you like. If you don;t know, Steve Irwin is the "Crocodile Hunter" from Australia.
On another note, I've been virtually unemployed this last week. Five hours a week ain't much, but it's enought to "get by". Anyways, I decided to fill my schedule this week and started looking for work. My first time in Taiwan was randomly driving door to door stopping at all the English schools I could find and marching in to the manager. The second time, was stopping at the good schools and then getting a hold of the big manager for the chain as well as using existing contacts. Today, I just checked my email, the bulletin board system for Kaohsiung teachers and tomorrow I have 5 interviews. I'm looking at mornings and evenings, all paying more than 700NT/hour (CAN$28/hour) and keeping my weekends free. We'll see how it works out tomorrow, some have slight schedule conflicts, but some schools have arranged to move classes for me. Too bad, someday, I'll have to give this all up.
At my current school, my student's 'behaved' meaning they didn't try to 'pencil joust' the teacher or attempt 'book wrestling' with me. I made a kid cry because he didn't listen. I pretty much took away everything he had, including reward cards, when he told me I was a bad teacher and didn't have any reason to back it up, I told him he couldn't play on the swing set in the park after class, he could play on anything else, just not the swings. Well, he cried and was very sorry. I have him his stuff back, but still no swing set, he didn't think this was a very fun game to play.
However, I'm liking my school a little more, I no longer want to destroy it upon finishing teaching, now, I just want to go home in peace. Soon, I may even not want to go home, but that's a couple weeks away. My bosses love me, so that's good, and the parents wrote nice things in the books, so things are turning. The school has ordered a complete new cirriculum and book list, EXACTLY as I had suggested... to the letter. So, now each parent has kicked in about CAN$150 for the year and well, let's just hope this works, because it's all on my head and I have NEVER claimed to know what I was doing. My boss asked me what I would do, so I told her, I didn't think she would just do it, she should ask more qualified people... guess not. On the good side... there are no differences of opinion, only mine.
Also, I had a talk to my boss today, I told her that even though it's a church, I don't work for free. The church is making good money off these kids, so I should be, too. I told her to figure how much she wants to pay me for my extra time and I'll figure out how much extra time I have, she didn't argue and said she's discuss it with who ever she discusses things with. I got paid today, they forgot some stuff, but I'm sure it was a mistake, she'll have it fixed for Wednesday.
So, now I need to figure out my schedule, I'm keeping weekends off, I'm undecided if I want to work mornings, evenings or both, I already have afternoons with my school, I might try to stablize my times to be the same every day, but...
On a more relaxed note, I love my place. It's like being on vacation after work. My living room is covered with cushions and mats, so I relax on the floor. The balcony window is open and we are high enough that bugs don't come in. The breeze is nice in the 30C weather, and watching the sunsets are kind of nice. I seemed to come back to Earth today, my "spaced outedness" seems to have passed, not completely, which is nice. I really do feel different since I came back from Laos, I really think it did something to me, something good, something permanent... I just feel... I'm not really sure, but life seems to have a different perspective and I feel like I can view life from outside myself.
On another note, I've been virtually unemployed this last week. Five hours a week ain't much, but it's enought to "get by". Anyways, I decided to fill my schedule this week and started looking for work. My first time in Taiwan was randomly driving door to door stopping at all the English schools I could find and marching in to the manager. The second time, was stopping at the good schools and then getting a hold of the big manager for the chain as well as using existing contacts. Today, I just checked my email, the bulletin board system for Kaohsiung teachers and tomorrow I have 5 interviews. I'm looking at mornings and evenings, all paying more than 700NT/hour (CAN$28/hour) and keeping my weekends free. We'll see how it works out tomorrow, some have slight schedule conflicts, but some schools have arranged to move classes for me. Too bad, someday, I'll have to give this all up.
At my current school, my student's 'behaved' meaning they didn't try to 'pencil joust' the teacher or attempt 'book wrestling' with me. I made a kid cry because he didn't listen. I pretty much took away everything he had, including reward cards, when he told me I was a bad teacher and didn't have any reason to back it up, I told him he couldn't play on the swing set in the park after class, he could play on anything else, just not the swings. Well, he cried and was very sorry. I have him his stuff back, but still no swing set, he didn't think this was a very fun game to play.
However, I'm liking my school a little more, I no longer want to destroy it upon finishing teaching, now, I just want to go home in peace. Soon, I may even not want to go home, but that's a couple weeks away. My bosses love me, so that's good, and the parents wrote nice things in the books, so things are turning. The school has ordered a complete new cirriculum and book list, EXACTLY as I had suggested... to the letter. So, now each parent has kicked in about CAN$150 for the year and well, let's just hope this works, because it's all on my head and I have NEVER claimed to know what I was doing. My boss asked me what I would do, so I told her, I didn't think she would just do it, she should ask more qualified people... guess not. On the good side... there are no differences of opinion, only mine.
Also, I had a talk to my boss today, I told her that even though it's a church, I don't work for free. The church is making good money off these kids, so I should be, too. I told her to figure how much she wants to pay me for my extra time and I'll figure out how much extra time I have, she didn't argue and said she's discuss it with who ever she discusses things with. I got paid today, they forgot some stuff, but I'm sure it was a mistake, she'll have it fixed for Wednesday.
So, now I need to figure out my schedule, I'm keeping weekends off, I'm undecided if I want to work mornings, evenings or both, I already have afternoons with my school, I might try to stablize my times to be the same every day, but...
On a more relaxed note, I love my place. It's like being on vacation after work. My living room is covered with cushions and mats, so I relax on the floor. The balcony window is open and we are high enough that bugs don't come in. The breeze is nice in the 30C weather, and watching the sunsets are kind of nice. I seemed to come back to Earth today, my "spaced outedness" seems to have passed, not completely, which is nice. I really do feel different since I came back from Laos, I really think it did something to me, something good, something permanent... I just feel... I'm not really sure, but life seems to have a different perspective and I feel like I can view life from outside myself.
posted by Colin at 8:04 PM
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