Some of you know how much I’ve been dreading going back to work after 5 years of blissful non-employment. Okay, so it hasn’t been all that blissful, but at least, I didn’t have anyone telling me what to do, where to do it, when to do it, or what to wear when I did it! And the prospect of giving up my beloved freedom just about gave me a nervous breakdown… so much so that I turned down three solid offers of full time employment in favor of a less-than-part-time job teaching at the airport two days a week. Even with the minimal teaching hours, there was still a shitload of prep time, and I was beginning to resent the intrusion on my personal time (which I used so wisely by sitting in front of my computer and blogging on soulcast).
Well, the big day finally came. It was yesterday. I set my alarm clock for 5:30 am in order to make it out to the airport in plenty of time for my first class at 8:30. When the alarm went off, I thought,
“What the hell am I doing to myself? I must be crazy. This doesn’t make me feel happy at all.”
But lingering in bed and waiting for the snooze alarm to go off is a habit I’ve outgrown, so I just swung myself out of bed and put the tea kettle on. Within minutes, I wasn’t feeling tired anymore. (I had gone to sleep early and warned TT not to wake me). As I went about getting myself and other last minute details ready for the class, I began to notice that I was actually enjoying the process. I had laid out my clothes the night before so that I wouldn’t run into any problems with indecision or suddenly realizing that I couldn’t find my slip or had to iron something.
Since the weather has cooled down so much, I have a lot more choices in my wardrobe than I had for the interviews in August. I wore a black and brown zebra print broomstick skirt with a black, ribbed turtle neck sweater and my lush, tan suede boots. For an effect that I seldom go for, I finished off my look by putting my hair up. I’d been told that they were looking for a mature teacher, because a lot of the students are older and have a hard time respecting a younger teacher (it’s a Czech thing). Well, having my hair knotted up certainly does make me look… er… um… “mature.” But, what the hell. I wasn’t trying to pick anyone up. And still no makeup. I just don’t do it. Don’t even own any. But at least I looked professional. And it was cold enough outside to top it all off with my new brown and grey, long herringbone wool coat that I picked up at the second hand shop in the train station for a mere 60 korun (that’s $3 US). I felt absolutely regal.
When I got to the airport (a half hour early), I felt like I belonged there. The lessons went well, and time went really fast. It was lunch time before I blinked twice. Eating in the crowded cafeteria, I used my limited Polish to ask if I could take an empty place at a table occupied by two guys. Permission was granted with a single word… prosim (please). And then, I was promptly ignored, just as if I were someone who really worked there. I felt like I fit in so well!
The afternoon session went even faster than the morning, and since I was way overprepared, I won’t have that much work to do for the next class. I finished up the day with a private lesson for one of the administrators, which amounted to just, basically, listening to him talk for 90 minutes. It was interesting and enlightening, and gave me plenty of material to work on for our next lesson.
I left with the
feeling of having done my job well, and I am no longer dreading my next class
(tomorrow). In fact, I think this is
going to be really good for me. I like
having a reason to get dressed in the morning.
To tell the truth, on Sunday, while I was first changing out of my
pajamas at 2 p.m., I was seriously questioning my ability to get
my butt out the door in time for the class.
But now I know I can do it. In
fact, I can do more. I just got a call from my school and accepted
an assignment for two more private students.
I guess it won’t be so hard to make a living here, after all. And it’s nice to have a reason to get up in
the morning.
So, what about you? Why do you get up in the morning?
