A long overdue update

It's been nearly a month (or longer?) since I updated this blog. My laptop decided to die about 3 weeks ago and it took ages to get it fixed. I needed to get the back-up discs from home then, when I got them, my mum had sent me the wrong set so I needed to get another set sent. Then it was a matter of my friend's partner having the time to sort it out for me and to get it back. Long story short, I have my laptop back, so updates should be more frequent now :D.

It's been a very strange month. The last you heard from me, I didn't have a job yet. That's changed. I'm now working as a supply teacher for an agency called Timeplan. I'm on a Guaranteed Work Agreement, which basically means that they'll guarantee me daily work during certain periods of the year and, if they don't have a job for me on any day, they'll still pay me. Pretty sweet deal, I think :). I've been working for them for a bit over 2 weeks now and it's been an adventure. Inevitably, I've been sent to schools in the poorest, scariest areas of London - Hackney, Vauxhall/Kennington, Canning Town, Acton, etc. It hasn't been too bad, though. The first week I felt like quitting. The second week was much better, apart from a Year 8 drama class that went so completely out of control that I needed to call in another teacher just to stop them from chasing each other around, screaming, punching, and throwing pencils. Kids never listen to supply teachers anyway and when you pair that diffidence to supply teachers with the fact that these kids are already punks, you get chaos. Ah well. Money is money, right? If anything, this has only convinced me that I want to work in the private sector. Why get paid the same money to deal with this kind of shit when I can work with well-behaved students instead?

It's definitely been frustrating though. Schools seem to think that when you arrive at a school, you should automatically know everything about it. It's rare that I'm told what the school schedule is, how breaks are run, where I should pick up my class, where assembly is held, what I'm supposed to teach, how lunch works, where the staff room is, where the staff toilets are, etc. I'm normally dumped into a classroom and left alone for the rest of the day. And they wonder why kids run amok when supply teachers are in...

You know what's been the most surprising thing, though? The racism. You rarely see asian kids in the state schools (asian = Chinese, Korean, Japanese) - they all get sent to private schools. And the kids in state schools act as if they've never seen an asian person before. Their ignorance is unbelieveable. Also funny is the fact that the most racist of the kids are inevitably the ones who weren't even born in the UK. Strange how that works out, isn't it? I think that's a universal truth - the most racist people are the ones who've faced racism themselves. The little things I don't mind; giggling and taking the piss out of my name, the questions about why I have Chinese eyes if I'm Canadian, and the complete inability to comprehend that I'm not Chinese, even when I've told them repeatedly that I'm Korean-Canadian. It's the big things that are frustrating. I had one idiot who pretended that he didn't understand what I was saying, and kept saying, "Miss Choi doesn't speak English! She's not speaking English!". Even when I stopped the class and had a good yell at him, he just kept grinning in that cocky, infuriating way young assholes all seem to have. So I wrote him up for a detention and sent him to the headmaster. I'm telling you, as a supply teacher, I'm becoming quite a hard ass :D. lol. Throughout all my previous teaching experiences, I've been known for being calm and not raising my voice. Now I lose my voice because I spend so much time yelling during the day.

You know what else has been surprising? How far behind these kids are. I mean, not knowing your multiplication tables in Year 8?? Still working on addition in Year 5?? Never having read a story or book in school by Year 10?? Ridiculous. It's a bit scary to think about what all of these kids are going to do in the future.

Anyway, I'm getting through it. A job is a job - this is all about the money. I'll go back to being an idealistic teacher who thinks she can make a difference in kids' lives when I have my own class and a steady job. Right now, there's no way to build relationships with these kids and it's enough just to survive a day. As another teacher said to me the other day as she relayed the regular teacher's instructions: "It doesn't matter how much work you get through. Just make sure you make it through the day alive."

Apart from that, I've still been enjoying London :). It's suddenly turned very cold, so everyone has started bundling up. I'd become a dress/skirt person during the summer/early autumn but the cold weather has forced me back into jeans for the time being. I've just stocked up on tights though so, as soon as I get myself a pair of boots, it's back to skirts! I just feel more put together when I'm wearing one for some reason. lol.

Oh, update on the flat situation. The two girls I was originally supposed to get a flat with have decided they don't want to move, so I'm on my own. I'm a bit frustrated to say the least, but it's probably better this happened now than for us to have gotten a flat together and realised we don't get along later on. Still, don't get my started on the topic...

I went to the ballet the other week, which was lovely. It was "Manon" at the Royal Opera House and the dancing was absolutely beautiful. I also saw a concert by the London Philharmonic, and a strange modern dance piece called "In-I" that bizarrely starred Juliette Binoche. I haven't had much of a chance to go out to the theatre/ballet/opera since I started working (been too tired), but I'll have to start booking more things now that I'm getting used to it. There are a million things I want to see/do. The Royal Ballet is going to be dancing "Giselle" soon, and I'd quite like to see the English National Opera's "Aida". I've also decided I'd like to go to more classical concerts, and then there are the musicals. "La Cage aux Folles" has opened now, and "Imagine This" opens next month. Lots to see!

In the meantime, this week is half term so I don't have to work :D. I think Donald and I might drive over to Lewes one sunny day to take a look around and to go to a restaurant that Donald has been raving about for awhile. Also hoping to catch a musical or two and, most importantly, SLEEP IN!!!! haha. Gotta love holidays!