one of the side effects of working in another country that doesn't celebrate the same holidays and repetitious days of 70 degree weather is that i have lost complete track of where we are in the year. i looked at the calendar today and had the epiphany that thanksgiving was 4 days away, a holiday that i usually count down the weeks to because of the lack of school/work and the bevy of incredibly delicious food to look forward to. this year, out of sight/out of mind really took over.
anyway, it's been a generally irritating week, so i could really use some holiday comfort food. my frustration with my school is at an all time high. it's almost laughable (if it weren't for the tears) how terrible my school is at communication. it's 2010 and my school doesn't have a school e-mail. shocking! i'm pretty sure "thou shalt not effectively communicate with your employees" is not one of the 10 commandments, so there's no excuse. as usual i have the dreaded english club on saturday morning, but i found out on wednesday (3 days warning) that all of the junior 1 (7th grade) classes have parent teacher conferences on saturday afternoon. did i mention that i also was not ever told what i needed to prepare? nor could anybody answer the question for me. the good news, which i found out 5 minutes before it started, was that i didn't have to do anything. i had to sit in the front row with the other teachers as the administrators spoke to the parents and then stand up when they refer to me and bow to the parents. simple enough. i missed my cue though and had an awkward late bow because they introduced me in chinese and not by name, so i only knew to stand when all the administrators were staring at me, nodding at me to coax me to stand. very awkward. then i just got to go home after the speech. not as painful as i thought it would be, but working all day on a saturday blows. i don't recommend it.
my classes are kind of going better, one anyway. J1A is making me happy. the other day, i was talking, and i had to pause for a split second, because they were actually silent. i was blown away. i didn't even have to say anything. J1B is still horrible. they are fun ruiners. they ruin fun. every lesson i do goes substantially worse with them because they won't shut up. they're really making me get creative with my punishments. every game i play is ruined because they won't shut up. even the students with good grades are bad.
which brings me to my next topic of anger. my contract situation. i was thoroughly amused at the simplicity of the contract i signed. it looked like a microsoft word document that a 5th grader put together. very basic and to the point. as a wide eyed young teacher fresh out of college, i shut down my cynic button. i should have known better. my school doesn't really care about the contract. they just do things, usually without telling me or giving me short notice. for example, my contract says i'm only supposed to work 5 days. i work 6. the thing that is really under my skin is that 2 days ago, i found out that i'm supposed to work all summer for summer school too. not just the single school year. i have other plans, like, being in the US interviewing and looking for a real teaching job. the job i want. the reason i became a teacher. my department chair is the one that dropped this bomb on me. basically, she told me it's fine and to just quit in june before summer school. very nonchalant. sounds like a plan. the repercussions though (which i don't have the answers to yet) are how this will effect my references and recommendations from the school AND my paycheck. i'm not too worried about my references. there are people in the school that will write me good ones regardless. also, i probably won't get my full year's salary if i have to quit in june. this is all speculation, but still they are very real concerns. i hope to find out more soon, but (as is the ongoing trend) i probably won't.
anyway, so i mentioned that i've been watching a lot of tv shows on my computer and i feel now is a good time to ask for more suggestions again. i'm just going to go down the list with some brief thoughts trying to avoid spoilers
dexter - a staple in my weekly schedule. i'm enjoying the season so far. not as good as last, but john lithgow is almost impossible to top. they've made up for it by enlisting the services of Robocop (peter weller). the original robocop is one of my favorite movies. it's incredible. weller plays a great bad guy. he's also probably going to get killed off because of his story arc, probably in a sweet way. he's learning too much.
boardwalk empire - the first show that i've followed from the start in quite a while. i love organized crime and the roaring 20s and prohibition, so it's really interesting. i recommend it. i don't really like steve buscemi though. he's just so ugly, i can't really take him seriously, especially in a lead role. i just think there had to have been better choices. apparently the guy he portrays was like 6-4 too. buscemi's like 5-10 and very unthreatening. he's just not very badass. it really is good though. check it out if you haven't already.
it's always sunny - i openly complained that i thought the first couple episodes were weak. they must have heard me, because the last couple weeks have been excellent. lethal weapon 5 was marvelous. so good.
modern family - i watched it a little last year and didn't really care for it. i didn't really give it a fair shot though. i've given it that shot and am completely on board. it's a great cast. and they work really well together. i admit that i'm partially on board because sofia vergara is a total knockout. those that know me and know my tastes know that i've always had a thing for beautiful latino women. perhaps it's just tan brunettes. but she is a specimen.
bored to death - got back into this. it's very funny. i always hated ted danson, but he brings it hard. zach galifianakis is always good.
eastbound & down - started weak, finale was awesome. solid sophomore season, not as good or shocking as the first.
psych - caught up pretty quickly. i have a slight crush on jules. she's just so girl next door. i also like it when shows call themselves out in their episodes when something gets annoying. psych does it very well. also, i got a kid in my conversation class to choose gus as his english name. dave, for the win!
south park - season highlights...lampooning snooki and ripped the new lebron commercial. good work trey and matt.
mad men - don draper's getting married to a french canadian girl? that has about as good a chance as lasting as greg oden's knees.
community - caught up recently. i'm down. who knew racism was the key to chevy chase's comeback?
that's about it. californication starts again in january, which will be fun. i am looking for new shows again. i've been looking to get into the wire for a while, so as soon as i find a site that has all the episodes i'll get on that. i'm torn between giving a shot to how i met your mother or the big bang theory. any other suggestions are welcome. happy thanksgiving everybody!
No comments:
Post a Comment