As so many other blogs do reflection posts every so often, I decided to follow the trend and be like everyone else, at least this time. Here’s my reflection on how my time teaching in China has gone so far:
I’ve been working in China for about a month now. I can’t really believe that’s it’s already been that long. But my body knows it has.
I’ve also done so much laundry in the month I’ve been here! I used to do at most 1 load a week. I know my laundry piled up a bit in quarantine, but I figured once I did all that, it would be like it used to. Now, I’m doing at least 2 loads of laundry every week, usually more!
Now, I just have a small washer and run it whenever I get a full load as the clothes need to hang for a day or two to dry. Then, when the clothes have finally dried, it’s usually about time for another load to be washed. It’s a never ending cycle!
After a month of working every day, I get home, lie on my bed (I don’t have a couch) watch an episode or two of something, if I still have the energy, and go to sleep. After what feels like 5 minutes, my alarm goes off and I have to go to work, again.
When I go to get up after a bit of sitting (a rare treat for me!), I’m walking like an old lady! Everything is sore. But not in the good, I-just-went-to-the-gym way. It’s more the I-just-finished-a-very-long-week-at-work way, one where you are just too tired to think and making food is just too much of a hassle.
I’m getting very tired of being tired.
I’m too tired and too busy working to really have that much time to explore my new city and country. I’m making a list of what to see first and where to go when I can travel. But, so far, all I’ve seen is Walmart, Ikea, a grocery store, and work.
I was talking with a friend back home, she was excited for a 4 day weekend. I told her that I was looking forward to my first weekend – 2 whole days off! – since I made it to Shenzhen just over a month ago. She couldn’t believe that I had worked so much and hadn’t keeled over from exhaustion!
Just a few more days to go and then kindergarten will be over and I can work one job with a normal schedule like everyone else. I’m counting down the days! Well, technically, I have been counting down since the second week when I realized that I didn’t like the kindergarten.
But, Friday (3 days of kindergarten next week left), I’m confirming with my employer to make sure that they don’t want me to work the whole next week at the kindergarten and I am really leaving on Wednesday.
The conversation gets hijacked by my big, big boss who came by the training center a few days ago to try to get someone to take a “part-time” job teaching 16 classes (full-time number of classes) at a nearby public school. He wanted to convince me that with kindergarten ending, I’d have the time for the public school job. I said I’d rather have a weekend.
Friday at the kindergarten, the day that the parents are supposed to be coming (or so I was told Monday), was definitely different. There were no parents. And the kids had a pillow fight and got some sort of certificate or completion (so many pictures needed to be taken!).
I knew the kids were there for a trial but I thought those that wanted to sign up would just start next week. But, when the other teachers were making sure the kids brought everything home, I started wondering if there was something they hadn’t told me, again.
I asked the head teacher if there would be any kids next week and she said there may be, but they didn’t know yet. Well, if they weren’t going to give me answers, I have an employer, he can get me answers.
I messaged him again, asking if he was very sure that I needed to be there as the kids were packing up everything to take home. I could almost hear the “Wait, what?!” from the other side of the city.
He hasn’t been told anything either. Which really isn’t all that surprising. China can be very bad about telling you in advance about any changes in plans or schedules. They will also usually blame you for not knowing when you had no idea that the plans might change.
When I left, I had no idea if I would be back or not. I decided to leave my “inside” shoes there as if I did come back I would need them, but if I didn’t, I was going to throw them out as they had gotten a couple small holes. (In the few weeks since this happened and when I posted this, I have not been messaged about the shoes and I’m not sure the kindergarten even knows they are there as I was the only one that used that cabinet.)
He did get back to me with an answer in a few hours: kindergarten was over! I was getting a cake for dinner!
I don’t know what it means for my employer or the teacher in quarantine. Maybe the quarantined teacher went to a public school? But, I’m free!! And the cake was very yummy, if nothing like American cakes.
And, in between all the drama of parents not liking me and the surprise ending, I had a make up class with a student that evening at the training center that was surprised when I told him class was over. He was having so much fun, he lost track of time!
I’m not a failure!
I think I’m getting the hang of this teaching in China thing.
My TEFL Adventure 