Shown to the campus

1 Sep 06

Today was a moderately eventful day. It was the first day that I was on the clock as an English teacher. At six AM Revelry was heard across the campus. No, what was heard was not the revelry of students returning, but music over the loud speakers. I was already up. However, it will make for an interesting alarm clock.

After writing for a while I headed over to the office. To my surprise there was no one there. I really did expect to see someone at 8:30 in the morning. Seeing as there was no one there, I went for a walk to the local market. The streets here are lined with shops. However, there are only a couple of the stores that carry a wide range of items, and that we have been made familiar with. I would estimate that it is about 1.5 Kilometers from the college. This was actually the first time that I had ventured out from the campus on my own. I purchased some minor foodstuff and returned home.

Upon returning, I was informed that several of the other teachers had attempted to find someone at the office and that there had been no one there at the time, when they checked, either. We then received a call, on one of the few working phones, that they would be ready for us at 10:00. However we were to call first. Finally, shortly after 10:00 we, at the foreign teachers house (Little Australia) received a call informing us that the staff was in the office at the school. So, in some semblance of order, we headed on over.

When I arrived we did several things, first, they provided us with what English reading books that they did have. Second, they decided what college that we would be teaching at. Like many schools, there are, technically, several colleges on the campus under a common administrative umbrella. It was also made clear that before we were driven to our buildings that I was expected to have Zeneta with me. I ran back to get her and returned to the office. At that point we piled into a Volkswagen Santana, keeping in mind that none of the four of us would be considered to be "small." With a couple of stops along the way we were at our building.

One of the first considerations that we all had was the class schedule. We all considered it important that we know when and where we were expected to be. The second was a desire to know, precisely, what we were to be teaching. We wanted things like curriculum guides, books, and syllabuses or the material to begin forming a syllabus. Instead, we got blank stares.

There was no schedule; I am planning to be back on Monday at 8:00 in order to try to find out what I am supposed to be doing. As far as being told what classes we would be teaching. We were asked if we would prefer to teach oral or audio language. Of course we had to ask what the difference was. It seems that Oral is a class focused on speaking and discussion. Whereas, the Audio class is a class that is focused on media and consists, primarily, of watching films and explaining, and discussing, them with the class.

We were then shown our classrooms, which were surprisingly modern, having a projector and a computer built into the instructor's lectern. We also took the opportunity to see our, shared office, and the office staff.

However, seeing as this was Friday, and classes start on Monday, we were all getting a bit anxious about the mechanicals of the process. We were put a bit at ease in that we were told that we would be teaching freshmen and that the freshmen do not begin until the third week of the month. I suspect that there is an expectation that Zeneta will be regularly assisting in my classroom. She is also having a bit of a time adjusting to be addressed as Mrs. Robert.

We did as much as could be done and there was little to do but leave. At this point we returned to our housing with Susanne and with Collin and Bronny. Collin and Bronny had a need to travel to Hong Kong. It seems that they still needed to secure their Z visa.

I, on the other hand, had decided to purchase a bicycle. After some consideration we also decided to purchase a bicycle for Zeneta. So, the plan, and execution, went like this; we took a cab into town where Collin and Bronny could go to the bank. From there we went to the bus station where Collin and Bronny were able to purchase a bus ticket to the airport. They then returned by cab, the driver having been given instructions by Susanne, Susanne and I then preceded to the bike shop, where I purchased two bicycles, one for myself and one for Zeneta. At that point Susanne and I returned to campus on the bicycles, about a half hour ride.

The Bike Shop

My new ride being prepared.