Acceptance

A leaf fluttered in through the window this morning, as if supported by the rays of the sun, a bird settled on the fire escape, joy in the task of coffee, joy accompanied me as I walked.

After a month here in Pitas, I could look you in the eye and say, "I'm fine here" with so much honesty that it could make you cry at how much this whiny person has changed. After much soul-searching (for the lack of better term), I am so thankful to God for this opportunity to live my dream. Though it might not be a bed of roses with very few good days in between, I believe in good karma.

I have 25 teaching hours per week. Five classes (Form 1, Form 2 and Form 4). I've expressed my interest in teaching Form 4 and I got it, but Form 1 and 2? 

Dread! 

Fortunately, I was proven wrong. Dead wrong

After a week teaching them, I realized that teaching the lower secondary students has its own charm. Kids have little inhibitions, eager for attention and they generally rock your life by making your lesson plans come true. Ask them to act, sing, dance, and mime, etc they will do it...just as long they like you.

My Form 4 kids have so much potential, but with years of very minimum exposure to English, they need to work harder than most people.Can you imagine not knowing what a blog is in this digital age?

It's devastating! 

Gandhi once said, be the change you want to see in the world.

Baby steps, Jess.

Wow, I'm actually talking about serious stuff!

Teacher-talk suits me just fine, yeah?

All is fine and acceptable for now. 

My first salary which is around 3kplus is still untouched. (WIN!)

Not much but it's 100% mine :) All mine!

Twirl now,

Because we have a lot to spin and skip about.

How You Remind Me

Sometimes, (especially in the past two weeks) I forgot WHY I'm here. Too busy being a whiny baby.

Sometimes, I need to remind myself WHY I'm here.

And guess what?

The reminder came to me.

It's like, the big guy up there is trying to tell me:

"Stop moping" 

and

Remember how and why you came to be here.

p/s yang ini kira lucu juga la. Ada dua budak Form 3 came to see me during recess. 

"Cigu, ni present untuk cigu". 

"Aikk, cigu pernah masuk kelas kamu ka?"

"Tida pernah"

"Jadi kenapa kamu bagi cigu hadiah?"

"Sebab kami mau rapat-rapat sama cigu"

*speechless*

Darlin' it ain't that easy

Readers,

I am officially a teacher now.

A working woman.

A freakin’ adult!

Yeah, I don’t feel like celebrating…yet.

I’ve been posted to a secondary school in the rural district of Pitas. The first thing that came to mind was FMLFMLFMLFMLFMLFMLFMLFMLFMLFMLFMLFMLFMLFMLFMLFML

The recurring theme of my first week here was MOPING. Even though the school turns out to be nice, the PK1 extremely helpful, the Kerani is super efficient, the teachers are friendly BUT somehow, I don’t feel settled. I don’t know what to expect other than the worst. I miss my family, my friends, and my dog. Well, starting over is a pain in the ass. You know what I mean.

My second week started on a good note. I finally got my table in the Teachers Room. The teachers I’m staying with are awesome housemates; they didn’t mind that I couldn’t cook. I hang out with two other new teachers at school – Tim and Diah. I think we are going to be good friends for a long time :) Have I mentioned that clean water is like GOLD here? Even the school buys water for daily use. At one point, I’m gonna have to start buying water WHEN the huge well that they pumped water from runs out of uh, water (wow, that’s a lot of ‘water’ in one sentence) No, I haven’t seen the well and yes, we use water pumps here.

However, the one thing I can’t stand is the unstable internet connection. There is no 3G coverage in this area; even Broadband of any kind is snail-slow. The school wireless connection is my only hope of going online but even that only works well for a few hours before the usual “Server Not Found" crap. Oh, the fact that electricity goes out every few hours for at least ten minutes EVERY DAY is not helping.

So, I’m getting Streamyx in two weeks. With internet, anything else is bearable.

The irony of the situation is that I have waited and expected this (to be sent to an interior school) but apparently experiencing it is a whole different matter. Adjusting takes time right? Besides, I’m here for a reason. It is time to put the six years of higher education to use and produce my first batch of students.

That thought alone is enough to get me through every day. (memotivasikan diri..hehe)

So bring on the little monsters already.

p/s I’m pretty sure Taylor (my dog) is missing me right now.