Couldn't figure out blogger before now... so a summary of my 'posts' so far (as on the Nerd Fitness forums)
Blog entry #1:
2 more weeks (3 weekends) until I start my new job? Am I slightly
nervous? Yes! Mostly because I'm wondering whether I chose the right
school/type of school. A bit of a luxury problem, but there are so many
jobs available for English teachers at the moment (and only a few
students actually graduating) that it is 'a problem' .
I'm telling myself and others that I'll stay there for 3 years (because
that's how long everyone says it takes to get used to a new school and
teaching) but we'll see about that. If I really dislike it there (can't
imagine that, as I really enjoyed my teacher training there last year) I
could move on after a year. Who knows.
I'm also enjoying my summer quite a lot, so a bit of the 'ehhh, new job? ... ?'
is just the normal 'holidays are awesome and I don't want them to be
over!' thing. The first week of work is actually getting organised and
getting to know my colleagues before classes really start. That's good.
Can't wait for my first paycheck. What's a bit annoying is that because
it's a huge school everything takes ages. Including my contract. I hope
I'll be able to get that done during my first week there, too. I still
haven't heard back about my e-mail account. But yes, two more weeks
off... That's a whole Christmas holiday, so let's not look too far ahead
and enjoy my time off while it lasts. Next week off is in October, I'll
manage that, surely?
Blog week 2
So my old e-mail account is up and running again... But I got an
e-mail saying that because I'll now officially work for the school (as
opposed to working for them through another company) I'll get a
completely new account... Which means my old e-mail will soon be gone.
This is exactly what I dislike about huge schools, but at the moment I
think the pros are more important. Oh well.
I added some stuff to my resources folder (see lifequest). I found
some materials I can't remember ever creating or using, but I know
they're mine so I must have made them at some point. They'll definitely
be used this year, so that's good! I just need to print a few more
assignments and the basic version of my folder will be done (ready for
the start of the school year). Which is what I intended to do for my
lifequest, so this one is going really well!
Other than that I'm trying to view my last few days of the summer
break as a short break (which always feels long in the middle of the
school year). I made a list (well, I still have 3 goals to fill up) of
12 goals I want to accomplish during the last 14 days of this summer
holiday (my list started on Monday of this week) to make sure I get some
stuff done. So far it's been working out great. The list:
1. Sort wardrobe (done)
2. Finalise teacher resources folder (in progress)
3. Go to a museum
4. Deep clean room (go through drawers etc.)
5. Get 2 paleo books, start reading (Done! 'The Paleo Solution' + 'The primal blueprint')
6. Finish Ni no Kuni (in progress)
7. Get fancy dark jeans
8. Read The Traitor Queen (in progress)
9. Create turtle pendant (this one http://www.free-macr...le-pendant.html ... but I think I need to practice some easier things first...)
10...
11...
12...
I'm not really looking forward to starting work just yet... Hope that'll happen, but I'll try my very best anyway.
Journal for week 3:
I've been e-mailing my workplace a lot, but it seems that everyone
who actually knows something will only be back next week... Which is
when I'll start - but I don't even know which days I'll be working. This
bums me out a bit, to be honest. I'm sure it'll be okay, but it's
inconvenient and does nothing to easy my stress levels.
Other than that I've been trying to find 'proper dark jeans' (as
in... professional, nice looking, 1 colour-dark-blue jeans). Which seems
impossible. Or if I find anything remotely acceptable to my wishes, it
doesn't fit properly. Boo. I'm actually considering forgetting about the
jeans completely and focussing on skirts and dresses instead (of which I
have quite a few, but I do still find them difficult to combine at
times... but that might be more of a problem with the tops I have than
with the skirts). Other than this there isn't much to say I'm afraid.
Work hasn't started yet, I finished my resources folder and organised my
other material (binders etc.) so... we'll see what happens next week.
Luckily classes only start the week after.
Week 4
The schoolyear will officially commence at 8.00 tomorrow... Yes, the
minister of education will actually visit to start the schoolyear. But
why at 8.00? Ah well, first day of getting up ridiculously early
tomorrow... I hope it'll be interesting
Other than that I got my first paycheck already (that's education for
you - get paid for the whole month even the schoolyear starts now ).
Unfortunately I didn't get as many hours/day as I would have liked/was
promised during my earlier meetings with the school. I hope things will
improve, but we'll see about that. There was some confusion as to who
would work which/how many days, so maybe they messed that up and my
schedule will change a lot over the next few days. At the moment I'm
looking at 1 1/2 full days of work... spread out over 4(!!!) days. Which
is just silly, especially when I take travelling costs into account.
But I'm not panicking - I'm hoping most of it is miscommunication and it
will be fixed soon. If not... then maybe next term (which is in 7-9
weeks) I might get more hours. I'll be earning more than I got during my
studies, for sure, so we'll manage regardless.
I went to the forest with my mother-in-law for a nice walk (we walked
for about an hour) so I definitely got my exercise in. I expect tonight
to be a 'father-in-law is cooking so I won't have much choice' for
dinner (yes, it's a choice - I choose not to complain, enjoy my food and
not go 100 % primal (or 90%) just yet.) Which is why I had a lovely
breakfast of full fat yoghurt with nuts and dried fruit and a grand
lunch of cabbage (with lemon cream, yumyum), with 3 slices of bacon and
stir fried mushrooms, onion and tomato
Week 5
Blog-sorta-thing
So, I had three 'work days' so far, but all of them were preparation,
meetings etc. On Monday I start teaching (it looks like one class, 2
hours). My schedule is still not complete and I'm disappointed in how
chaotic the start of a new school year is. I'm sure in a few weeks' time
things will be much better, though.
What's also disappointing is the travelling expenses. I've been
spoiled so far: student travel card and even before that free travel
(because my father works for the railway company). But not anymore - now
I actually have to pay normal fares. Ouch. I'll probably spend around
120-150 a month just for travelling to and from work (including visiting
my parents on the weekends). In reality it's 30 minutes to one hour of
work on workdays I have to 'waste' on travelling... And I'm sure that's
actually fairly normal, I'm just not used to it. I really hope we'll be
able to get a place of our own near to my workplace soon.
I'm a bit nervous for Monday... or not exactly nervous, I'm just
still not sure on how I'll do the introduction etc. I might end up
deciding on the spot what to say to introduce myself... Might even work
best (spontaneity and all) but it does make me feel a bit off-centre
right now. Starting new things is not my forte (than again, whose forte
would that be?!). I'll just make it up as I go and hopefully enjoy the
process and not be too upset with myself when things don't go perfectly.
Life is like that, right?
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