The New School

I haven't really written about my new job. This is mostly due to the fact that I'm still trying to cope with the changes. I feel like a freaking pubescent 13 year old! I've come to realize how good I had it in my previous teaching job: back to back hours, good and fun students, decent stable pay, etc. With this school, I have many different classes with various students. Some I see once a week, or twice a week, or once every other week, etc. Some classes are held at the school, some in a home, and some in corporate offices. Some classes are general English and some are business English. Most of the classes are 1 to 2 hours blocks and most are one-on-one. There is so much going on that sometimes I don't know how I'm going to keep up with all of these individual students and do all this traveling in between classes. Plus, I've decided that one-on-one's suck, especially if the student sucks! It just gets so boring. It's like what can I possibly talk to you about for 2 hours when I don't feel like teaching English??? I miss my big class where we can have good interesting discussions...so much easier to slack.

Moreover, as much as I try not to stress about money, I couldn't help but worry a little about it this week. The pay rate is between 14 to 22 Euros, depending on the type of class I teach. It's not so bad I guess, but my classes only really add up to a little less than 10 hours a week. It's like doing work study in college! I was talking to a couple teachers at the school and I found out during the conversation that they work for another academy also. One teacher said that she is finally making almost 1,600 Euros a month (and she's been here since September), but she also works A LOT! This kind of freaked me out a bit. That's how much I made in my previous class and it was just enough for me to pay rent, pay my bills in the U.S., and save for future needs (thankgod or else I wouldn't have been able to pay this month's rent). It just got me thinking, should I work for another academy? Am I going to be able to make enough? Am I going to get more than ten hours a week???

It's just all so different from my last job and I'm trying to make the best of it. My boss has given me a few more hours for next week and each of them at a higher pay rate. Also, there are more potential classes that she is trying to solidify with the clients/students, so that gives me hope. As for all the ridiculous amount of classes, I'm going to have to just get over it and deal with it. I'm in no position to turn down classes. I really don't feel like having to sell my body on Calle Montera. And maybe this will be good for me in the end. As they say, variety is the spice of life.

I think I am finally experiencing the real "teaching English abroad". This is how it's supposed to be: unstable, weird hours, long commute, not so great pay. I just got really lucky with my first job...and got really spoiled!