Work Woes

This is filled with complaints. 

1. I don't blog much because:

a. I need at least 5 hours of sleep daily. 

b. Anything less than that, I'll need to use cosmetics to hide the monstrosity I see in the mirror. 

c. I hate gunk on my face so I need to sleep.

(I'm running out of excuses soon.)

2. I wonder how maid-less working moms who do not have parents/relatives to help out survive. Childcare centres and childcare leave cannot help you when your kids have chicken pox. I am so very, very grateful that my parents are helping us take care of Huda and Farah who were down with chicken pox these past four weeks. Without my parents' help, I would have quit. 

3. I find myself spending an inordinate amount of time working at home. After the kids go to bed, I will mark and prepare the next day's lessons. This takes place from 9pm to about midnight. I leave school at around 5pm daily. Despite this, I still cannot finish my work - especially the committee work which I label as important but not urgent. How like this? Is work incompatible with family life?

4. Tonight, I did not touch my work. In return, there is this terribly naggy voice inside my head telling me that I have work to do. I hate this. Why can't my time away from work be time for me? I think I have to look into getting that photocopying lady job.

A Week Later

One week has passed since the holidays ended.

A few observations:

1. Work itself is not too bad. This being a new school, there are lots of workshops and courses conducted for the whole school to attend. While I don't like to go home late (my aim in life is to go home asap to spend time with the little kiddies) even if it means I have to tabao my work and do them after the kids have gone to bed, I quite like the workshops I have attended so far. The workshops are truly beneficial and not some random workshops which may not have any bearing on your work in the classroom.

2. I love my time in the classroom. When I was away from the working world, the one thing I missed is the interaction I had with pupils. I attended a school-based workshop this week during which the speaker said, education is about relationships that leave a legacy. I'm not sure about the legacy part but I sure know about the relationships part. That's what education is about, really. Actually, that's what being a teacher is about. It's about building relationships with the pupils so that values can be passed on that much easier. And, of course, along the way, you hope that some English/Math/Science get passed along too. (It definitely has nothing to do with form-filing and work reviews and EPMS forms which I truly detest.)

3. On a less-than-positive note, I'm still grappling with the separation anxiety. :(

End of An Era

1. I'm going back to work 27 June 2011.

2. I received a call from an em-oh-ee staff and she said that I would be going to * * School. I'm waiting for the official letter to come but less than 2 weeks to my return to the workforce, the official letter has yet to arrive. I'm feeling a bit kancheong now. Should I just call the school or should I wait? I am more inclined to wait because I fear that they would want me to attend various meetings from next Monday onwards. I know it sounds bad but I'm only supposed to go back on 27 June. I'll make a concession and work for free on 1 or 2 weekdays next week. But no more than that.

3. I am concerned that I am terribly out of touch. The last time I stepped into a class was the day I gave birth to Farah. That was February 2009. Syllabus changes happen as frequently as I change Farah's diapers and I'm not too sure if I know even half of what I'm supposed to teach. English, I have no fear. How drastic can changes to EL be? But, Mathematics.

4. Ooops. Did I say I have no fear of English? Salah salah. I'm not sure if I can speak English coherently anymore.

5. Then there's the issue of a new environment. I'm not sure I know how to make friends. (I'm increasingly enjoying becoming a wallflower but I'm afraid it may be taken as a sign of being aloof. And you know what it's like in a social environment. You're either in or you're a weirdo.)

6. And the issue of having to iron clothes to get to work. YUCKS! YUCKS! YUCKS! (I should now go on more shopping trips to find clothes that require no ironing. That's what I always set out to do but then, I stupidly get seduced by pretty clothes that require not just high heat but steam also.)

7. And also the issue of dinner. Do I still cook or do I just tabao everything from everywhere? (I don't like cooking but I like knowing that I'm serving healthy food for the family. And that's my motivation for cooking. I plan to cook, actually. This means I have to do a weekly planning of what-to-cook. Which I often plan to do but hardly ever succeed.)

---

The holidays are passing by too quickly! It's already the 3rd week of the June holidays. Argh!