I took on a second job that I start this weekend. I am going to work part time as an IELTS examiner on weekends and over the summer to bring in extra money for my own purposes. This is to allow me to do those things that I find fun. This would include scuba diving or going to the movies or paying for a second masters degree... anything that I might be interested in.
I also decided that I was getting too stressed at work. Not because I have too much to do (who doesn't) but because I am not doing things that are interesting or challenging to me. So I took on two new activities. The first is a third job... this is a hobby job, doing an activity that I find fun but does not interfere with anything else that I am doing. I got a job as a video game reviewer for an online magazine. Doesn't really sound like a job but it is. Or rather it sounds like a kids dream job. But I worked as a journalist in college and published numerous articles. Later I became the editor of two different major middle eastern publications. I figure why not! It seems like a natural progression. After all, I have two teenage boys and a teenage girl in the house, how would I avoid seeing and hearing about all the latest video game news? And yes, I am getting paid for this one too.
So with all this extra coming in you might think I would do something smart like pay off all my loans. But no, I am still needing a little something. So I have done something I dreamed about back in the early 90s when I started college. I am getting another degree. This time I am getting an MFA. I have wanted one for over 20 years, and I am no longer willing to want something futile. It is a waste of my efforts to dream about things I can't have or won't get, so I am changing my view. It seems to be working really well. I wanted to get this job and now I have it.
Makes Will a little cranky to see me try for a job and get it first thing, but then he is the one who always tells me I am superwoman (see previous post on that issue).
I am really looking forward to this hobby job.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Voice of Will: Observations on Tokyo
2006-10-12 - 9:51 p.m.
some more observations on tokyo.
this place is expensive. No, I mean REALLY EXPENSIVE. Think american prices, and then add in about 20%.
We knew it would be expensive coming here, but WOW! i was not prepared for it.
food prices are about the same. We have been having a lot more veggies and fruit, and with every dinner there is either pasta, potatoes, or rice as fillers. Lots less meat (about 1/2 of what we were eating in the states). But when you think about that, it isn:t a bad thing to decrease the intake of animal flesh, so I guess it is ok, and we aren:t suffering so it works out.
Prices on veggies are similar to US prices, and so we are eating lots of broccoli, spinach, potatoes, asparagus, eggplant, onions, tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, carrots, mushrooms, cabbage. Now if I could only learn how to make use of the leeks and lots of this "japanese" veggies. Oh well, i am trying to learn to cook japanese sytle, so we will see how it works out.
Seafood is another issue. I know how to deal with trout, and I can bbq squid, but there are SOOOOOO many different types of fish, i:m not sure what they are, how to cook them, can I eat this raw, etc??? And the price of the seafood is close to chicken, so I have just been getting chicken, and some seafood. You:d think it would be cheaper being closer to the ocean, but not where we are.
speaking of where we are, it must be a real pricy neighborhood. within our block there are 3 mercedes, 3 BMW's, a Hummer, a ferrari, and 2 porches. There are also lots of houses that don:t have cars, so i think it would be compared to a historic district in any major US city, and you have homes worth millions, but are using coupons to live there. not sure, but I will try to figure out more as time goes on.
Christine is trying to get me ajob teaching at an english camp over the winter break, you know english through film (basically teach what I taught at SIAS for 2 years and can rattle off the top of my head) and Geology of the planets (thank you dr morgan for the ppts with the images on them, they will be invaluable)
It looks like we will be sending the kids to japanese public schools starting around december 1. I am a little worried about them, because it is a very sink or swim culture. they do not do ESL classes in schools. the kids will have to try to pick up japanese by immersion. We will also be starting japanese classes next week, to try to help this transition.
I hope they don:t hate us for draggingg them around the world, and making them undergo these challenges. I don:t think they will, but you never know. especially after china, i am very gun shy about this issue.
oh well enough for now, I have homework that I am busy ignoring that i have to go back to work on. ttfn
Will
some more observations on tokyo.
this place is expensive. No, I mean REALLY EXPENSIVE. Think american prices, and then add in about 20%.
We knew it would be expensive coming here, but WOW! i was not prepared for it.
food prices are about the same. We have been having a lot more veggies and fruit, and with every dinner there is either pasta, potatoes, or rice as fillers. Lots less meat (about 1/2 of what we were eating in the states). But when you think about that, it isn:t a bad thing to decrease the intake of animal flesh, so I guess it is ok, and we aren:t suffering so it works out.
Prices on veggies are similar to US prices, and so we are eating lots of broccoli, spinach, potatoes, asparagus, eggplant, onions, tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, carrots, mushrooms, cabbage. Now if I could only learn how to make use of the leeks and lots of this "japanese" veggies. Oh well, i am trying to learn to cook japanese sytle, so we will see how it works out.
Seafood is another issue. I know how to deal with trout, and I can bbq squid, but there are SOOOOOO many different types of fish, i:m not sure what they are, how to cook them, can I eat this raw, etc??? And the price of the seafood is close to chicken, so I have just been getting chicken, and some seafood. You:d think it would be cheaper being closer to the ocean, but not where we are.
speaking of where we are, it must be a real pricy neighborhood. within our block there are 3 mercedes, 3 BMW's, a Hummer, a ferrari, and 2 porches. There are also lots of houses that don:t have cars, so i think it would be compared to a historic district in any major US city, and you have homes worth millions, but are using coupons to live there. not sure, but I will try to figure out more as time goes on.
Christine is trying to get me ajob teaching at an english camp over the winter break, you know english through film (basically teach what I taught at SIAS for 2 years and can rattle off the top of my head) and Geology of the planets (thank you dr morgan for the ppts with the images on them, they will be invaluable)
It looks like we will be sending the kids to japanese public schools starting around december 1. I am a little worried about them, because it is a very sink or swim culture. they do not do ESL classes in schools. the kids will have to try to pick up japanese by immersion. We will also be starting japanese classes next week, to try to help this transition.
I hope they don:t hate us for draggingg them around the world, and making them undergo these challenges. I don:t think they will, but you never know. especially after china, i am very gun shy about this issue.
oh well enough for now, I have homework that I am busy ignoring that i have to go back to work on. ttfn
Will
To My Husband
We have known each other for 17 years, almost 18 years now.
I like that when you hold my hand I still feel that rush of blood that comes to my cheeks. I like that you are still shy around me, still hesitant, still want me to come first.
I like that when you hold my hand I still feel that rush of blood that comes to my cheeks. I like that you are still shy around me, still hesitant, still want me to come first.
They Grow up so fast
Every time I look at them I see something so much smaller and more fragile than they have become. Then one of them says something profound, deep, intelligent, and mature,and I am floored by the person that my tiny precious baby has become.
When do you come to terms with the idea that this tiny being that lived inside of you for 9-10 months is no longer the dependent needy lovely little child and has grown into an independent thinking being?
This week I had to come to terms with my eldest becoming the young man that he wants to be, not necessarily the future that I envisioned for him but one that he will seek to expand on his own. The British school system that my son is in is so very different from the American system that I grew up in.
In my high school we had required "core" classes that every student had to take, some had choices but most did not. Then every year you had a few "elective" courses that you could choose from.
In my eldest boy's school they get two core classes, Math and English. For the next two years he gets to choose all of his "elective" courses. The biggest problem for me is that they don't have the kind of electives that we had. My elective courses were things like theater, band, choir, driver's ed etc. His "elective" courses were things like History, Geography, Sciences, etc. To me these are not electives, they are core necessary classes. In addition, there are just not enough students to justify them taking all of the classes that they need.
And the children are suppose to choose these courses. Will and I had sat down with him and discussed the options available and gave our suggestions for what we thought would be a well balanced and workable schedule. And I must be honest when I say that I am worried about his liberal studies. Because William has decided what he wants to do with his life. And he is working all of his classes and all of his activities towards that goal. Which is a good thing and a bad thing. First, I remember deciding at that age what I wanted to be, and being told at several points (never by my mother though...) that I would never be able to do that. So the fact that he has set his goal and is working towards it is great to me. However, I am really worried that he will be limiting his understanding and scope of the world if he decides to do this one thing and precludes all others.
Trying to balance between being supportive, giving him his independence, and fostering his growth is really difficult. But I sat down with him and Will and we discussed all of the options and made the decisions based on his future hopes, his preferences, and our input. Taking a look at his schedule though, he is going to be a seriously tired young man for the next two years.
Not that the choices were very good, because for every class that he wanted he had to give up one that might also help his future. But here is what he has for the next two years.
His core classes are Math and English (we hope he gets English Lit but he will probably not because he just doesn't enjoy writing... but we do know he will get into advanced math because he is just that good.)
For his elective courses he has
Biology
Chemistry
Physics
DT (design Technology, which is a bit like drafting and planning projects)
Computer Science (programming, not the baser course ICT which is understanding word and power point... what a useless class that would be, so I am happy they are offering CS).
and French.
Notice what I notice? No liberal studies. Nothing. He had to give up Music to take Chemistry, Art for DT, and History to take Physics. He wants the sciences and to be honest he will do better in them than the Liberal Studies courses. So we have to augment. I will be buying history, social studies, geography and American Lit books when we are back in the states, because I just don't see how he is going to get a grasp on the greater world understanding with this load. We have already got a music tutor for all three of the kids (and they are doing fantastic actually), and we have Sister Wendy's art videos to watch, plus a planned trip to Rome. If we can't garner a little culture from Italy, then there is something wrong with us.
I don't entirely understand the British system (or if this is even the British system?!) but when he leaves this school he will have an IB and will hopefully be as ready for college as I was at least. Which isn't to say that I was all that ready, so I guess he will be ok. But it is so hard to watch my little boy grow up.
Don't get me started on the other two. They are suppose to be smaller than he is aren't they?
When do you come to terms with the idea that this tiny being that lived inside of you for 9-10 months is no longer the dependent needy lovely little child and has grown into an independent thinking being?
This week I had to come to terms with my eldest becoming the young man that he wants to be, not necessarily the future that I envisioned for him but one that he will seek to expand on his own. The British school system that my son is in is so very different from the American system that I grew up in.
In my high school we had required "core" classes that every student had to take, some had choices but most did not. Then every year you had a few "elective" courses that you could choose from.
In my eldest boy's school they get two core classes, Math and English. For the next two years he gets to choose all of his "elective" courses. The biggest problem for me is that they don't have the kind of electives that we had. My elective courses were things like theater, band, choir, driver's ed etc. His "elective" courses were things like History, Geography, Sciences, etc. To me these are not electives, they are core necessary classes. In addition, there are just not enough students to justify them taking all of the classes that they need.
And the children are suppose to choose these courses. Will and I had sat down with him and discussed the options available and gave our suggestions for what we thought would be a well balanced and workable schedule. And I must be honest when I say that I am worried about his liberal studies. Because William has decided what he wants to do with his life. And he is working all of his classes and all of his activities towards that goal. Which is a good thing and a bad thing. First, I remember deciding at that age what I wanted to be, and being told at several points (never by my mother though...) that I would never be able to do that. So the fact that he has set his goal and is working towards it is great to me. However, I am really worried that he will be limiting his understanding and scope of the world if he decides to do this one thing and precludes all others.
Trying to balance between being supportive, giving him his independence, and fostering his growth is really difficult. But I sat down with him and Will and we discussed all of the options and made the decisions based on his future hopes, his preferences, and our input. Taking a look at his schedule though, he is going to be a seriously tired young man for the next two years.
Not that the choices were very good, because for every class that he wanted he had to give up one that might also help his future. But here is what he has for the next two years.
His core classes are Math and English (we hope he gets English Lit but he will probably not because he just doesn't enjoy writing... but we do know he will get into advanced math because he is just that good.)
For his elective courses he has
Biology
Chemistry
Physics
DT (design Technology, which is a bit like drafting and planning projects)
Computer Science (programming, not the baser course ICT which is understanding word and power point... what a useless class that would be, so I am happy they are offering CS).
and French.
Notice what I notice? No liberal studies. Nothing. He had to give up Music to take Chemistry, Art for DT, and History to take Physics. He wants the sciences and to be honest he will do better in them than the Liberal Studies courses. So we have to augment. I will be buying history, social studies, geography and American Lit books when we are back in the states, because I just don't see how he is going to get a grasp on the greater world understanding with this load. We have already got a music tutor for all three of the kids (and they are doing fantastic actually), and we have Sister Wendy's art videos to watch, plus a planned trip to Rome. If we can't garner a little culture from Italy, then there is something wrong with us.
I don't entirely understand the British system (or if this is even the British system?!) but when he leaves this school he will have an IB and will hopefully be as ready for college as I was at least. Which isn't to say that I was all that ready, so I guess he will be ok. But it is so hard to watch my little boy grow up.
Don't get me started on the other two. They are suppose to be smaller than he is aren't they?
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
A moment too soon
The last time I posted about how things are finally looking up as I was closing out the year and moving into 2012. But low and behold I have my back go out completely on December 9th, leaving me completely laid up through Christmas and barely back on my feet by the New Year.
Somehow a combination of stress and a degenerative disk condition has left me with a tail bone in the shape of a J...actually it is on my right side so it would be a backwards J. As I work on changing my lifestyle and doing the prescribed exercises I find myself thinking that this year is still looking better than last year did.
I have decided to focus my time on working on my writing, so there may be more posts in that section than in this one. I have also started to look for an agent. I have a finished piece that needs some polishing but is worth shopping around. So If I can find an agent and get to writing as a career, as I always should have been, then I think I may just find where I want to be. So this year is my year for focusing on my writing.
It's about time.
Somehow a combination of stress and a degenerative disk condition has left me with a tail bone in the shape of a J...actually it is on my right side so it would be a backwards J. As I work on changing my lifestyle and doing the prescribed exercises I find myself thinking that this year is still looking better than last year did.
I have decided to focus my time on working on my writing, so there may be more posts in that section than in this one. I have also started to look for an agent. I have a finished piece that needs some polishing but is worth shopping around. So If I can find an agent and get to writing as a career, as I always should have been, then I think I may just find where I want to be. So this year is my year for focusing on my writing.
It's about time.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Another One Down
This has been a very hard year. It is funny because I have already spent time in my new position with my new duties and it would be assumed easily that I would have adjusted to all of the responsibilities and duties without difficulty, that I would be doing my job without the difficulties that seem to have occurred. However, I have found this year (2011) to be harder than anything I have had to deal with before. And the funny part is, as we are moving into a new year (2012), it is finally getting easier.
Since last semester I have been having a rough time. Even with my fantastic summer in the states and the tour of London over the summer, it was all in all one of the hardest years I have had to work with.
I am teaching again.
It seems some jerk weenie decided it would be a good idea to come to the UAE as a foreign teacher, spend a couple of months teaching and gathering as much money from the position as he could, use his experience to write a script, and then walk out of the job part way through the semester. At least this is what the rumor has exclaimed.
And rather than informing me, my boss simply let my new schedule speak for itself. Lucky for me none of the classes were at 8:00, because I didn't know about it until someone gave me a copy of the new schedule and someone else asked me if I needed anything to assist with the transition.
Everyone assumed that my boss had told me.
Oddly enough, she still hasn't.
So I have been teaching a class of students who feel abandoned because their teacher left the week of Midterm exams.
On top of that, a teacher made the severe error of making an off color remark about the UAE at exactly the wrong time. The students were preparing things for national day and they began to do things during class which the teacher found distracting. So he changed a word from love to hate and then popped the balloon that it was written on, (supposedly) although the Newspaper articles make it seem much more detrimental.
So now he is gone too. Which means more shuffling of schedules and more difficulties for teachers taking on new loads and extra work.
And this is my first experience as a supervisor over other staff. I find it difficult because I tend to view myself as part of a team. I like to head the team, but I expect everyone to pull their own weight. The problem is that I tend to be an over-achiever and pull more than my own weight. This leads others to not doing their jobs because they know that I will fix something if it is wrong or out of place. I do try to delegate and I am learning how to work with the more mulish and difficult personality types, but it is difficult. I also am learning how to accept that sometimes there will be errors, mistakes, and things I don't like. Because you can't always do it yourself.
I don't think that I will make a good administrator because I believe too much in the idea of a team effort. I believe in empowering the employees and supporting their personal efforts on improvement. And while my expectations of excellence do pull out some great efforts on their part, it does mean disappointment for me at times.
I have one employee who has not adjusted to the idea of being in my department. She was placed against her will and is being slowly demoted. It isn't a nice situation for anyone. Worse, because she doesn't want to be here she makes less of an effort. And oddly enough when I am not here she does nothing. Literally nothing. Enough that my other workers are annoyed and upset.
And I am not the only supervisor. I hold this position jointly with another person. But due to sex issues (male vs. female) I do all of the supervision. He doesn't feel that it is appropriate that he manage the girls, so I get all the dirty work.
And I really don't like being the baddy all the time.
It is kind of like being in a weird marriage, where one parent has to be the bad cop (discipline) and the other gets to give all the rewards. Thank goodness my own family isn't like that. It stinks to always be the one to discipline the girls while not always being the one to give the rewards.
And I have just heard that we have yet another teacher who won't be coming back. They have given that teacher the "no return" message. And we have several teachers who have already decided that this is their last contract. So there will be a mass exodus at the end of their contracts and we will be losing good teachers. And I can't blame them.
However, as I said it does seem to be turning around. And I am having fun again. For me that is the most important thing.
And I will miss those who leave, as I have missed those who have left before. There have been several that I have missed very much since they have left and it sorrows me to be working in a place with such a high turn over rate. But that is life abroad.
The kids are doing well, My hubby is doing well, and I am finally healthy again. And I am singing in the shower again. Which is always a sign of my better mood. I am also singing Christmas songs. Which got me thinking that it might be nice to have the kids do a Christmas caroling video for Grandma.
Have a great day.
Since last semester I have been having a rough time. Even with my fantastic summer in the states and the tour of London over the summer, it was all in all one of the hardest years I have had to work with.
I am teaching again.
It seems some jerk weenie decided it would be a good idea to come to the UAE as a foreign teacher, spend a couple of months teaching and gathering as much money from the position as he could, use his experience to write a script, and then walk out of the job part way through the semester. At least this is what the rumor has exclaimed.
And rather than informing me, my boss simply let my new schedule speak for itself. Lucky for me none of the classes were at 8:00, because I didn't know about it until someone gave me a copy of the new schedule and someone else asked me if I needed anything to assist with the transition.
Everyone assumed that my boss had told me.
Oddly enough, she still hasn't.
So I have been teaching a class of students who feel abandoned because their teacher left the week of Midterm exams.
On top of that, a teacher made the severe error of making an off color remark about the UAE at exactly the wrong time. The students were preparing things for national day and they began to do things during class which the teacher found distracting. So he changed a word from love to hate and then popped the balloon that it was written on, (supposedly) although the Newspaper articles make it seem much more detrimental.
So now he is gone too. Which means more shuffling of schedules and more difficulties for teachers taking on new loads and extra work.
And this is my first experience as a supervisor over other staff. I find it difficult because I tend to view myself as part of a team. I like to head the team, but I expect everyone to pull their own weight. The problem is that I tend to be an over-achiever and pull more than my own weight. This leads others to not doing their jobs because they know that I will fix something if it is wrong or out of place. I do try to delegate and I am learning how to work with the more mulish and difficult personality types, but it is difficult. I also am learning how to accept that sometimes there will be errors, mistakes, and things I don't like. Because you can't always do it yourself.
I don't think that I will make a good administrator because I believe too much in the idea of a team effort. I believe in empowering the employees and supporting their personal efforts on improvement. And while my expectations of excellence do pull out some great efforts on their part, it does mean disappointment for me at times.
I have one employee who has not adjusted to the idea of being in my department. She was placed against her will and is being slowly demoted. It isn't a nice situation for anyone. Worse, because she doesn't want to be here she makes less of an effort. And oddly enough when I am not here she does nothing. Literally nothing. Enough that my other workers are annoyed and upset.
And I am not the only supervisor. I hold this position jointly with another person. But due to sex issues (male vs. female) I do all of the supervision. He doesn't feel that it is appropriate that he manage the girls, so I get all the dirty work.
And I really don't like being the baddy all the time.
It is kind of like being in a weird marriage, where one parent has to be the bad cop (discipline) and the other gets to give all the rewards. Thank goodness my own family isn't like that. It stinks to always be the one to discipline the girls while not always being the one to give the rewards.
And I have just heard that we have yet another teacher who won't be coming back. They have given that teacher the "no return" message. And we have several teachers who have already decided that this is their last contract. So there will be a mass exodus at the end of their contracts and we will be losing good teachers. And I can't blame them.
However, as I said it does seem to be turning around. And I am having fun again. For me that is the most important thing.
And I will miss those who leave, as I have missed those who have left before. There have been several that I have missed very much since they have left and it sorrows me to be working in a place with such a high turn over rate. But that is life abroad.
The kids are doing well, My hubby is doing well, and I am finally healthy again. And I am singing in the shower again. Which is always a sign of my better mood. I am also singing Christmas songs. Which got me thinking that it might be nice to have the kids do a Christmas caroling video for Grandma.
Have a great day.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Pantomime Update
Unless something major changes, there will be no pantomime this year. The script was finished, the refreshments purchased, the meeting held, and 2 people showed up. 4 people do not a pantomime make. So we won't be doing the RAK pantomime this year. Which stinks royally.
I am seriously disappointed, but I have done everything that I can.
I am seriously disappointed, but I have done everything that I can.
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