Two Weeks

I know, I know, but with the rotten internet situation here at the house, and not using it for personal things at school, getting a post written takes some time. See, I went out and bought what’s called a “dongle.” It looks like a stick flash drive, but is actually mobile internet. I was so thrilled, and I no longer had to steal wireless from the neighbors. What the guy at T-mobile neglected to tell me was that the dongle was crap. It took me about 8 minutes to write one sentence on Hotmail, and it won’t work with Skype. Huh. The basic reason why I bought the damn thing.




I didn’t sign up for a contract, just a pay-as-you go deal. 20 pounds for the dongle and 15 pounds for 30 days of service. About 50 bucks all together. Even so, because the darn thing didn’t work, I brought it back the next morning to return it.

“I’m sorry miss, you can’t return the pay-as-you-go items.”

“But it doesn’t work.”

“Oh no, that one doesn’t work with Skype. You have to get one of the stronger ones that come with a contract.”

“It would have been nice if you had told me that yesterday when I bought it.”

“You didn’t tell me you wanted it for Skype.”

“What did you think I meant when I said I was getting it to be able to talk to my mother in the States over the computer? Now, I’d like to return this.”

“I’m sorry, you can’t.”

“But I bought it less than 24 hours ago, and it doesn’t work.”

“You could have bought it 24 minutes ago and you couldn’t return it. Welcome to England.”



He really said that! God, I was pissed off. Can you believe it? I hate T-mobile. Hate them. Sell me something that doesn’t work, and then no refund. A very expensive lesson. The worst is how excited I was to finally solve this internet problem. I’ve spent so much money just calling the internet companies (up to 60 cents a minute for those kinds of calls), and they always seem to end with someone supposed to call me back, which has never happened.



So, my long-winded excuse for not posting.



I was away last weekend, went to London for a meeting with the other Fulbright teachers and a fancy little reception at the American embassy. It was really nice to be social; I’ve been pretty isolated so far. Being sick didn’t help, and I’ve not yet joined up with any clubs or classes in which I might meet people. The people at work are wonderful though, and I don’t know what I’d do without them. J. particularly has taken me under her wing, and M. and M. and M. have all been lovely. More about school later.



Some of the other Fulbrighters and I decided to see Billy Elliot, the musical. It was really great! We paid full price, which was painful, but because some of the other teachers were from quite far from London (three to four hours), we decided to splurge. There are a lot of discount tickets to be found, but most are last minute, and Saturday night is not the time to find them. Funny, I usually do not like musicals, but this was so wonderful. Funny and nostalgic and bittersweet at the same time. The little boy who plays Billy is in almost every scene, and he alone is amazing. The dancing he did made me tired just watching him. It was a very good weekend.



Made even better by a new friend calling me up and asking if I wanted to meet up for coffee on Sunday afternoon. It was really nice to actually go somewhere to meet someone. We met at Angel tube station, which is a great name for a subway stop, and poked around Islington (there were great shops there).



People keep asking me what I miss about the States, and my standard reply is “my dog and Mexican food.” I do dearly miss my dog Charlie:

How could one not miss that beautiful little face? But really, I miss the ability to call someone up, and just say, “Want to go to a movie? For a drink? A walk on the beach?” I’m not lonely so to speak, just feeling a bit out of the loop. It’s actually a good thing, because I realize how settled I was in my ways back home. Here, I have to start all over, and not being 24 and able to stay up all hours, it’s really been pushing me.



School as well has been really challenging. For years now, I’ve been in a groove. I’m a good teacher, and I get things done. I know where to look or who to ask when I have a question, and because I’ve been doing this for a while, at the same school, I don’t have too many questions. I know what I expect of my students and I know what’s expected of me. How could it be that different in England?



Well, it is. Everything from scheduling to homework, to marking, to the number of classes and preps I have. Even the amount of prep time. Here there is a head teacher, rather than a principal. There are deputy head teachers, and then there are heads of year, and heads of departments and deputies there as well. In addition, there are heads and deputies of the two key stages (K3 is years 7,8, and 9; K4 is year 10 and above). All the administrators at the school also teach; at least one class, and usually only one class less than a full load. Instead of calling from a roster of substitute teachers, there are three on site every day to cover whatever needs covering.



It’s dizzying.



There are interactive white boards in every room (very cool) yet no phones. The phone is in the English office. If I want to call a parent or any outside line, I have to call the main office and ask for a 6-digit code. Each teacher is assigned a laptop, and although we have online attendance, online grading is just in its early stages. Instead, all the teachers are given planners, in which we write down the names of our students and their individual marks. I don’t know what happens when a teacher loses a planner. Something else to worry about.



As demanding as all this is, I’m certainly never bored. It’s like exercise you’ve not done before. I’m working brain muscles I forgot about. That feeling of “oh-my-god, I’m going to screw it up,” is one I’ve not had for a long time. There’s a bit of thrill to it, if I can call it that. The fact that I’m working here, not just having a fun little adventure, just makes it more real. Understanding the differences, and really comparing them; thinking about how we all as teachers go about helping our students learn, that will come later. Right now, I’m just trying to get up to speed as fast as I can, and it feels like I’m on a Vespa whilst everyone else is driving a Porsche.

Thank goodness for the weekends.