the last month has been a busy one. houseguests, winter camps, holidays, and general changes in schedule have all played their part in keeping me occupied.
jobs have come and gone in the last month as well. for the last 5 months, i have duly given up my saturdays working for a school which didn't agree with me in any way, shape, or form. in the spirit of good taste, i'll refrain from naming names, but let me give you a little background. this was a school that offered a "class" (and i use the term loosely, here) on saturdays for students who were in middle school and too busy to attend regularly-scheduled english classes. The curriculum was pretty much an outline of the grammar points, reading and writing assignments. There weren't any clear guidelines for project expectations, little in the way of testing, and absolutely no rubrics for marking students. Basically, they let you do what you want. Sounds great, doesn't it? A teacher's dream...the opportunity to open your students young minds and show them the possibilities of the world around them. While good on paper, this wasn't the case in practice...as the students only show up for 3 hours a week, parents expected bang for buck...meaning, i needed to cram in as much as i could and ensure that the students would retain it all. chronic absenteeism combined with adolescent angst and just a soupcon of general class-on-saturday malaise all made for me having my job cut out for me. The best part of the job was that all a parent had to do was air a grievance and it would squarely fall on my shoulders as my ineptitude. Heaver forbid that the school was poorly managed, the curriculum practically nonexistent and the majority of the students underachievers who never put in the work. I would leave this job every Saturday feeling angry at the school, feeling i was a bad teacher and hating my students. I would gripe and bitch to my wife during my lunch time phone call, and then again for at least an hour following dismissal as i shook off the day. Still, I went each and every Saturday to face the music and at least tried my best, even though I voiced plans to get out this situation.
It seems that the universe heard me and decided to sort me out.Winter camp was fast approaching and about a month before it came, I let the school know I was interested in having some hours in the morning. I was put off time and time again, until the last day of the semester came. Classes went as scheduled and immediately following my last class, the head teacher asked if he could talk to me. He said the school was happy with my teaching, but a big part of the job was retention and none of my students had enroled in the upcoming semester. AS such, the school had decided that the cost of my work permit outweighed my teaching skills, so they were going to let me go and cancel my work permit by the end of February. I was shocked, but told him I wasn't surprised and left without another word.
I mulled what he had said over in my head, and honestly I was depressed about it. I couldn't help but feel that what he really meant by retention could be nothing other than my teaching. I mean, retaining students would have to mean that I was a fun, interesting teacher who taught them something, wouldn't it? How could one thing not be related to the other? I continued to brood on these ideas until I found out from a co-worker that the school had axed most of the licensed teachers in favour of hiring illegal teachers, in order to save a few bucks. Needless to say, I was pissed but it just seemed to be the final piece of the horrible puzzle that is that school. They just cemented what I always thought they were...a business first and school second. I briefly considered calling immigration or firebombing the place, but thought of the karmic backlash i would inevitably have to deal with, so i opted to be dignified and do nothing.
Thus, ended my career with that hellhole. The upside is that I have my weekends back and no longer complain (as often) The ironic part is that I turned down a writing job as I had just got my schedule and money the way I wanted, only to be let go of another job a few days later. Sigh. It's not all bad though...the magazine and I have worked out some freelancing work which should keep in the black until something else comes along. My other school has also increased my working hours, so I'm well-pleased about that (as is my bank account) Between the freelancing and the other school, plus my privates, I will hardly even notice the loss of income from the saturday job. Kind of nice to know that this won't affect me all that much and I'm working less...up yours, LC.
Enough about work. February also saw us with our first houseguest in Taiwan. elisha's brother shawn decided to come and spend his vacation with us here during chinese new year. The first week was spent seeing sights and taking in markets in Taipei. The weather was great, unseasonably warm and we all hoped that it would be a trend which would continue through the 2nd week. Unfortunately, after wings @ hooters on thursday night, the weather got really cold and the rains started. This was the trend that would continue. Temperatures plummeted to 9 degrees and a relentless rain kept us in indoors between Tuesday and Friday. Finally, the rain yielded and we were able to have some beers and a house party for Shawn's last night. It was a whirlwind two weeks, but funny enough, the time trapped in the apartment keeping warm and dry went faster than anything else. I enjoyed myself and hope that he did as well.
so, it's now the year of the tiger and time to get serious about a few things again here in taiwan...chiefly among them is to get back into saving mode...had some fun spending cash, but our trip back to the old country is coming up faster than you can say international flight. just need to be a smidge more careful about how and where i spend my hard-earned cash...also need to get back into doing some design and chinese classes. leaving taipei made me realize how little chinese i actually speak...i felt like reminding some of the people i needed to speak to whilst away, "no, i ask the questions and you use the response from page 147 in the textbook."
Gonxi fa cai!
