Welcome to Teaching

The last two weeks have been pretty busy, but mostly the same routine. Work is very hard and exhausting. All of the English teachers are frustrated with the school and its disorganization. The students have a hard time understanding us and we spend most of our time on discipline rather than teaching. I’m handling it pretty well, but the more I talk to other teachers the angrier I get.

I just had to go watch my first graders for recess. The worst kid in the school is in my homeroom and I had to chase him down the hall, pin him against the wall and yell in his face for kicking another student. This is a daily occurrence and it doesn’t even faze him. I rarely get angry enough that I yell and turn red, but that happens all the time now and isn’t exactly cathartic. Sometimes I just shut the door and stand in the hallway while the kids run across desks and fight each other.

My friend Carol is miserable at work and says she wants to quit in a month or two, which makes me sad already because she has quickly become one of my best friends here. She has an education degree and says this is nothing like teaching should be. Phil is from Australia but taught in Japan for five years. He says this is the hardest teaching job he’s ever had. Hopefully we’ll all stick it out through the year. I have to keep myself from thinking about the end of school because the summer seems like five years from now.

This all sounds bad, I know, but I really love it here. Hong Kong is fabulous and the weekends are great. I love the apartment and we had some fun times so far. I’ve been hanging out with a few of the other teachers on the weekends and having a great time. We try to avoid thinking about the week ahead, but the school inevitably seeps into the conversation. Carol and I spent yesterday afternoon together in the city. I found a great grocery store that sells some great food for really cheap. They even sell Brooklyn Lager! We wandered around SoHo (south of Hollywood Rd.) and had some food and drinks in a little café. Andrew and I had steaks for dinner and drank the lagers while we watched Green Street Hooligans.

Back at work now though and just trying to take it day by day. Hopefully some problems will be solved this week and everyone will start to enjoy work a little more.