Sick Saturday, May 30 2009 

random and work piupo 7:16 pm

I’m sick, as in end-of-the-term sick (I hadn’t known there was such a phenomenon till I found out at least two other teachers were sick, including my mom). After a long parent-teacher meeting on Thursday night (which lasted till 10), during which I chugged down three full glasses of water while conversing with parent after parent, I woke up with a splitting headache (before the alarm clock went off, ugh!) on Friday. We teachers stood in the parade square for over an hour while prize after prize was given out and announcements made. For most of the day, I moved frequently between the heavily air-conditioned staff-room and the humid detention area to see and sit with students.

My throat started seizing up and I started feeling giddy at about 1pm, but I persevered, trying to plug the holes that kept opening up, before finally succumbing to the lure of a cab-ride home at 3.30pm.

Would it be strange to say that it’s somewhat pleasant to be mildly ill – with my head so heavy I can’t stress out about things even if I wanted to; with my mind only being able to focus on Travel&Living and children’s books; with my body finally being able to sleep and sleep and sleep, without starting up automatically at 5.40am or because there are things left undone?

 

Intensity Saturday, Feb 21 2009 

teaching and work piupo 9:42 am

I would like to talk about teaching, if only because it has consumed the past two months of my life. But all I can say is that it’s been alternately frustrating and rewarding, and always challenging. Today, after seven weeks here, I can finally state that I made the right decision.

Now off to unwind with yoga and some nice Indian food with my teaching college friend…

 

Learning Curve Sunday, Feb 1 2009 

work piupo 11:36 am

I’ve been using this phrase a lot lately.

Life in this new job is definitely not boring. I think back on my first six months in the headquarters, and draw inspiration from that period.

 

New Beginnings Monday, Jan 12 2009 

teaching and work piupo 9:02 pm

A new year, a new job.

I’ve rushed headlong back into teaching again. In most ways it feels completely natural but in other ways I miss the relative sanity of office life.

I’ve only finished one book this year, and it’s one of the lower secondary literature texts my school uses.

 

I Don’t See Daylight Anymore Tuesday, Aug 19 2008 

work piupo 11:38 pm

The thing about working in the “real world” is that you don’t get seasons even of the more artificial sort. There is no academic year to align your vacation schedule with – you make your own time to escape. Then again, you don’t have to go on holiday with all the little critters and their parents during peak season, when it’s either too hot or too cold/rainy in most parts of the world. At the end of the working day, and during weekends, you can shut off your mind and do whatever you like, without having to worry about marking, worksheets, emotional burdens. And lunches can be leisurely affairs when no meetings await your attention, even if you have to make up for it by going home later in the evening.

I remember stuffing the last of my pappadum into my face before the bell rang (as it perpetually did) to let me know that I only had 30mins, 1hr, 2hrs till my next lesson, during which I could only hope to complete an infinitesimal proportion of what I had to do without being interrupted by colleagues’ requests, students popping in for a chat/consultation session, emails asking for logistical arrangements for this and that. Then I would promptly forget to bring my power adaptor for my laptop on my hasty way to class, and have to dispatch a student to fetch it.

Here, there is time to think, and a lot to think about. I can work uninterruptedly for hours at a stretch, with my shoes off. The results of what I do aren’t always immediate; they may even take a decade to come to fruition, or never do so. And despite where I’m deliberately headed towards, I think I will miss this strange kind of life, which is exciting and low-key at the same time. I have met some of the most brilliant people of my life at this job – not intellectuals, but impressive, awesome leaders. At the same time, I don’t think I’ve ever felt more alone in the workplace, and this, not always in an unpleasant way.

 

Communities Friday, Jul 11 2008 

work piupo 9:36 pm

I went for an evening event at a neighbourhood school last Friday, and it hit me, just walking in through schoolgates, how much I do miss being back in school as a teacher. As a student, your school can be a claustrophobic world around which your life revolves – emotions run high and lifetime memories (and scars) are formed. As a teacher, you get a taste of this energy without over-committing yourself, even if you’ve to learn how not to do so. You can put your finger on this pulse that usually can’t be found in meeting rooms, vicariously join in the raucous, senseless fun, work yourself to the bone without feeling it until the end of the day.

And as a teacher, you see that the school comprises not just one community, but several. The constituency may hold their National Day celebrations at the school; alumni and parents splurge on artworks in order to support scholarship funds; and of course, the students work on their mandatory community involvement projects that hopefully bring them outside of themselves.

(I am probably going to be run-down, harried and with a constantly-furrowed brow when I go back, but for now I will hold on to some of these ideals.)