A happy post, yay!
Okay, so I know I promised a substantial follow-up post, and didn't come through...but I didn't want to write what I was really feeling these first two weeks, which was dissatisfaction. I arrived to find out I'll only be teaching 15 hours a week, and to get those I'll be cannibalizing two other teachers' schedules - they won't start more than one class for me because they wouldn't have any way to continue it. I'll do nine hours' childcare, which I had hoped to be done with, and then I have to find 25 more hours in preparation and (ewwww) office organization. This from a "full-time" volunteer position. On top of that, my "simple lifestyle" that I was so looking forward to takes place in a five-bedroom house with four cars for four people, where we have cable TV so basically the only form of entertainment after a day of teaching is whatever's on the boob tube. This is emphatically NOT what I had in mind.
BUT! There is a but! A large part of the frustration was because I wasn't actually DOING anything the last two weeks. I watched classes. Now, this is an important part of the process, I actually asked for it so I'd have more time to do background research before I started, blah, blah, blah...I hated it. I really hate just sitting like a lump in a class, with everyone aware that I'm not a student but not a teacher, and having no actual role in anything going well, or poorly. So now, that is a thing of the past. I am no longer interloper, but a person with a task! I am a Productive member of Society! So I came home today feeling better.
And then! Then! I went to the Young Adults group organized through my parish, and through the beloved Holy Cross priest that remembered me on sight from a year and a half ago when I turned up again at his service. Of course, being me, I was nervous as all else. I figured everyone knew each other and I was a stranger who was so lame as to have been invited by the priest (not everyone could think as well of him as I do), I figured young adults was a euphemism for high school students, I figured they were taking the Spanish Language part of the description seriously and I'd be half following the conversation the whole night. Wrong on all counts. I mean, they knew each other, but everyone was really welcoming and I felt able to follow and give some valuable input into every discussion. There were mostly people younger than me, but college age not high school, which was all I had ever wanted. It was not conducted in Spanish, though most of the people in attendance had some Spanish, which I liked. And I didn't only know the priest, one of the Holy Cross Associates (read: other volunteers) I met on my first trip down here was there, and was actually one of the most interesting people to talk to. So I left with the very happy hope that they'll meet again soon, and with Mike's card so he can help me get in touch with some other college graduates, former volunteers, and maybe even some current ones. It was by far the best night I've had here, which is why I wanted to immediately tell you....4 people or so about it. ;)
Hope you've been having as good a time recently as I have.
BUT! There is a but! A large part of the frustration was because I wasn't actually DOING anything the last two weeks. I watched classes. Now, this is an important part of the process, I actually asked for it so I'd have more time to do background research before I started, blah, blah, blah...I hated it. I really hate just sitting like a lump in a class, with everyone aware that I'm not a student but not a teacher, and having no actual role in anything going well, or poorly. So now, that is a thing of the past. I am no longer interloper, but a person with a task! I am a Productive member of Society! So I came home today feeling better.
And then! Then! I went to the Young Adults group organized through my parish, and through the beloved Holy Cross priest that remembered me on sight from a year and a half ago when I turned up again at his service. Of course, being me, I was nervous as all else. I figured everyone knew each other and I was a stranger who was so lame as to have been invited by the priest (not everyone could think as well of him as I do), I figured young adults was a euphemism for high school students, I figured they were taking the Spanish Language part of the description seriously and I'd be half following the conversation the whole night. Wrong on all counts. I mean, they knew each other, but everyone was really welcoming and I felt able to follow and give some valuable input into every discussion. There were mostly people younger than me, but college age not high school, which was all I had ever wanted. It was not conducted in Spanish, though most of the people in attendance had some Spanish, which I liked. And I didn't only know the priest, one of the Holy Cross Associates (read: other volunteers) I met on my first trip down here was there, and was actually one of the most interesting people to talk to. So I left with the very happy hope that they'll meet again soon, and with Mike's card so he can help me get in touch with some other college graduates, former volunteers, and maybe even some current ones. It was by far the best night I've had here, which is why I wanted to immediately tell you....4 people or so about it. ;)
Hope you've been having as good a time recently as I have.