Automatic for the People

Raining...And if it rains through the night, we may see the first snow tomorrow morning. That will be a sight for sore eyes.

My eyes have been sore literally.
I'm extremely sleepy now so I feel a long sleep is on the menu. I am so tired that my mind is too numb to be churning out trains of thought. I feel slightly dizzy, so we're now talking about chronic sleep deprivation now. Not to worry, I'll grab a pillow in the next half hour.

Today was a stressful day at school for a lot of people. It was a bit more stress than usual for me, but I took it in my stride. Maybe because I am not 100% in here and now, I have not taken the issue of my air ticket more to heart.
In the meeting Jan said they were going to defer payment until the end of January. Well that I knew was just perfectly unacceptable. I didn't get emotional about it, well not much, I just thought: Sorry, that's not going to wash with me. A week ago they agreed to pay me on the 14th (yesterday). What made this little dance untenable was the memory last year of spending Christmas eve at school, arguing until about 11pm about an arrangement for payment that they'd changed and expected me to accept since I was 'out of time'. If you leave things until the last moment, they can play for time, and if you get exasperated, or worse, emotional, then they win. So it makes sense to repeatedly be clear about what is agreed in advance of Payday, and preferably have a few witnesses at hand.

It was also a stressful day for Eric. In the elevator he told me he has a mild case of tonsillitis and bronchitis. He also got called into the Directors office because his morning adult class has been complaining about him. He took great exception to this, probably because he is hurt that such a big brou ha ha is being made about it. In the West we like people to be discrete, to approach us privately and personally and inform us of our mistakes, one on one. In the East that is way too confrontational.

Here they'll discuss the problem with everyone, and finally a 6th party will approach you and let you know you need to do things differently. This creates a situation where one can lose a lot of 'face', and maybe that's why it's done - so you feel a deep sense of obligation to turn things around and make up for slipping up in the minds of half or all your co-workers.
It's hard not to feel embarrassed or offended in some way. It's important to be aware that there are distinct differences in social attitudes and interactions. Knowing that is half the battle won.

I had some precious moment today. In Barbra's class I expanded on a role play, and ended up teaching them:
Georgie Porgie pudding and pie
kissed the girls and made them cry
when the girls came out to play
Georgie Porgie ran away

Then we substituted student's names and made slight changes to the story. It was a lot of fun. I also prepared the The Real Game between this morning, and tested it out on a few classes, since it is Story day. I think it was a big hit. And Jenny liked it too. She felt the covering picture was not conservative enough (it showed the bare shoulder of a young girl with blue hair), but otherwise she was pretty cool about it. I also showed it to Alice, who was sensitive about the integrity of her part in the story, and she liked it. I can identify with her, because I feel very strongly about how I like things to look, and I don't like other people spoiling my best laid plans, or designs, especially when it's something creative.
Basically I changed the format of the text, making some words very large, and insderting a number of pictures to liven up the text. It has quite a funky look about it. And the story itself is interesting.

Jan received a big package from Germany, including cookies, salami, cheese etc. He gave us each a small rounded kind of confectionery, and it just disintegrated in the mouth, coconut and caramel, delicious.

I also had a visitor. Song arrived (she used to work at my school, and used to be the longest surviving teacher here after me), looking smashing, dressed in black, with a string of pearls around her neck. It was a great surprise to see her. She said she'd come especially to see me before I go, and gave me a Christmas card and a small gift, probably chocolates, wrapped in an Earthy-type paper. I was really touched. I believe we'll have lunch or dinner together on Saturday.

I got a note from one of my adults apologising because he'd be missing a class, and the lesson was quite a nice one. We covered the Billy Meier hoax, and contrasted that with the Travis Walton abduction story. Tomorrow we'll wrap up with a scientific analysis, much of which I'll borrow from Nasa reports, scientists and graphs depicting the wave nature of light. One of the students has also invited his friend along, so we'll see how that goes. He says his friend has a lot of energy and a good sense of humor. Mr Gold Rimmed Glasses has proved to be a very consistent student, and an asset to the class.

Mark, Eric and several other teachers are sick. I am not feeling great, but I don't feel I have any of the symptoms of a cold. I just need to get through one more week. I do consciously avoid air space where someone has coughed, and while I hand out dozens of stickers to the kicks, I make sure they grab hold of the sticker without making direct contact with me. Sometimes I'll tear the sticker off with its piece of white paper attached. It's not like am not touchy feely. I do pat them on the back, but there are a lot of germs on hands, and when you meet hundreds of people every day, you've got to take precautions otherwise you simply will get sick.

I've just received an email from Jenny. She says she's really happy I've invited her to the Christmas dinner, and although she has other plans and can't stay long, she'll be there. I'm really glad she's coming, because she's really such a good teacher and one of my favorite people to work with at school. I suppose the fact that I find her really attractive has something to do with the fact that she's easy to work with. More than that, I really love the students in her class, and they are happy, well behaved and interested, and that says a lot about the teacher.

After a last ditch meeting with the director (at about 21:15) Corneli and I went to Aroi Aroi. The food for once was not that great. Corneli is also going through quite a lot of stress at her school. She's running around all day and almost all night. I don't know how she does it.

She might join me for Kelly's wedding on Sunday. That should be good.
On the walk back I went to the ATM and saw on the door that it only closed at 23:30. Many ATM's here close earlier than that - 22:00 or 21:30.
I checked the balance and the director did finally pay the air ticket money.

I said to Corneli before she caught a cab home that I think when I am in South Africa I will come out of an automatic mode I have been in lately. I can teach fairly effectively but kind've be somewhere else in my mind. That's because I am a bit bored with the material. I've done a lot of it hundreds of times. And teaching in an automatic way, even when it works for the kids, doesn't always work for me. I like to find original stuff to do, and extend my interest in some area. Repetition eventually becomes dull.

I get a lot of satisfaction as it is. I have a lot of good relationships with a lot of kids. But fun is fun, and for me to be challenged is something else. I'd love to find a job teaching adults or university students. That's one way I know will really bring the passion and enjoyment back into the teaching experience.