Fuddland

On Monday morning my roommate and colleague for the last two months hung up his sunhat and headed home to Ireland, after a full year with my current employer and over thirty years of teaching abroad — not just in China, but several places in Africa, and in the Middle East — as well as educating the youngsters of his homeland. This left two full-time teachers at my school.

The same day, my remaining colleague told the boss that, for personal reasons [as well as the outrageously long hours he has been working since he joined the company five or so weeks ago], he must leave China at short notice: Thursday, to be exact. This left one full-time teacher at my school: me.

Erk.

There was a brief conversation between the boss and myself about how much extra work I would be willing to take on to cover this unforeseen situation, in which I stood my ground with an unwavering, “Not much at all.” I went home that day with thoughts about what would be best: to leave anytime soon knowing there is nobody to fill my shoes would seen particularly unfair — to the students — but at the same time, an extra pile of work isn’t really going to be a lot of fun, knowing that there are other teaching jobs with much more sociable hours readily available out there.

Luckily — perhaps the boss needs things to be completely dire before she actually does something constructive? — a new teacher was found, interviewed and employed during the following forty-eight hours, with another one lined up for an interview next week. Moreover, I used some strategic thinking to get myself off the three-month probationary period a month early, meaning I am now on full company pay — result!

I’ll still be keeping some other options in mind — it always pays to network and be nice to everyone you meet, but for now, I’m staying put.

#1

Jann | 2006 / 08 / 16 – 19:15

Crikey. Erm…every cloud, eh?

#2

susannah | 2006 / 08 / 17 – 02:23

You’re a real teacher now :)

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