The person who said “Money isn’t everything” was probably stinking rich. Our lives, our very existance revolves around money. We spend a third at least, some of us even more, of our lives working to get money. But that is a deep philosophical discussion for which, at this moment, I do not have the mental capacity.

Anyway, the adventure count for my blog entries have dwindled to near extinction, but I have met some new people.

I thought school, and my classes, would start on Monday. It didn’t. I thought I would get my teaching schedule by Tuesday. I didn’t. I thought surely I would be teaching by Wednesday. I wasn’t.

So after some serious discusions and being on the verge of absconding to another contract in another province, they finally gave me my schedule. On Thursday I started teaching again. Yah.

Now, several things surfaced in this week about the conduct of my employers. My salary was deducted for the last 3 months of last year, which I didn’t notice, only because I don’t actually know how they calculate my salary. Anyway, the thing that pissed me off was that I found out there was a departmental meeting, during which it was specifically decided to withhold these facts from me. Why not tell me? Your guess is as good as mine.

They deducted my salary because according to their Mickey Mouse review system my lessons were boring, not helpful and a whole list of other adjectives. Fine. Great. Thanks for the feedback and giving me the opportunity to improve my lessons for at least the sake of your students, if nothing else.

But oh no, no feedback, no opportunity to improve my lessons. Just a deducted salary. All part of the big plan if you ask me, because I think they think they pay me too much money. While as we speak the Rand is strengthening against the Dollar and my Yuan-based salary is getting less and less. Lucky for me I have very few bills to pay back home, but as it is, it’s nearing almost a third of my salary. Sigh.

So I’m gritting it and baring it, because I see it as part of the experience. During this past holiday, I signed up for, completed and qualified for a TEFL Certification through the good people at i-to-i. At least now I can claim to know what I’m doing. It has helped me a lot, especially concerning lesson planning, which is so vital and which I’ve not been too good at doing before.

It was also nice to know that I actually know a little about English grammar. In fact, more now than I did in school. I scored 96% on that module. I nearly fell off my seat when I saw the score.

All this, plus my year in China, is of course for the greater good. The Greater Good being wanting to get as close to my son as possible. Preferrably the same part of the country he’s in (Malaysia), but at the very least just in the same country.

So, I am a hollow reed; I am a hollow reed; the wind blows through me. Kids cannot anger me, unscrupulous employers cannot offend me. I will concentrate on my work and effectively, in a lively and interesting manner, transfer my English knowledge.

Hummmmm.