The Re-Education of D

I have taken two large steps in the growth department y'all and it feels good, real good to be honest. Let's start with the basics:

Co-teaching or even just aiding in subjects that I have no clue or memory registry about has opened my brain up to so much more information. In music I'm learning about the different instruments, the groups those instruments belong in and even the history of music in the middle ages. In technology I'm learning all the tricks and tips to Photoshop, how to weld metal, and how building structures work from every little angle. In art, well let's just say I'm trying. And math is a reawakening to words such as "exponent" and " least common multiple", these kids definitely figure out the equation before I do. I've always been an English and History buff, with very little deep interest in the other subjects, but now I have to be interested in order to aide the students in their language development AND I love all that I'm learning.

Awkard, and so naive on my first day at the private academy.

 

Now let's move to the hard part:

I was one busy baby one the school year started. I was headed to public school no later than 8:30, didn't leave school until 2:45. At which point I headed to private school around with the earliest arrival time being 3:15 and I set-up, planned for the days activities ( I taught five different ones, in a two day rotation). Finally I head home around 8:15, only to arrive around 9:30 and prep for dinner, hang with the roomies or work on graduate class homework. That's around the same hours I put in back in Texas with a lot less pay and in a much more enticing environment to have some fun. So I did the unthinkable after two weeks. I discussed the lack of sleep, extreme stress and lack of sleep with my Director at the private academy and we decided that no longer teaching my Tuesday/Thursday classes was definitely an option. I was definitely this overworked if not more in the United States and we had plenty of people who should've been qualified to aide in the workload, but after seeing so many of my colleagues fail at acquiring assistants in their hour of need I never spoke up and shouldered the battle. I know now that an as a work bee it is not my job to do all the work because others are to lazy or unaware of the position requirements, it is the person in charges job to make sure everyone is doing what they need to and doing it well. Just as ready as I was to say, "okay, adios" here I should have been just as ready to say "something has to change" back in Texas. Why we work bees, and women especially, feel the need to abandon all common sense and work our bodies into the ground while everyone else takes naps and orders drinks baffles me completely. But in a culture were siesta is an estimated time-frame and four day weekends are not rare there is the mind frame that overworking is a problem that needs to be fixed as soon as possible because you only have one life and it should not be lived at a desk, but with what you love and hold dear.

Now I'm moving to adjusting to my new schedule, being ahead in grad class, watching some television, dedicating my Tuesday afternoon to Spanish learning and just enjoying Spain.

 

Please share a time you had to step-back and decide what is important. Or if you're interested in the Language Assistant Program in Spain feel free to ask for job requirement details or extra income options.

Until next time, Hasta Pronto, Adios, Be Blessed . . .