*.* My first blog abt my first day @ school in 2005 *.*
Heylows!
It feels real strange typing a blog now after not blogging for almost 3 weeks. Will blog about my France trip later but now, given the short time, shall blog about my first day in school.
I am posted to Anderson Junior College to teach Economics. I got that news when I was in Lisieux. It was my 2nd day in Lisieux. When I heard that news, I had mixed emotions. I was happy that I am going to teach Economics. On the other hand, AJC is a bit inconvenient, got to walk a bit of distance and I dunno if I can fit into their culture. I was feeling excited-but-apprehensive... that kind of feeling.
So anyway, I prayed to God at the basilica of St Therese. As I lit up a candle for myself, I knelt down infront of St Therese's relics (bones of part of her right arm) and asked her to help me to surrender all my feelings and to feel better and happy about it. Dun get me wrong... I am not upset that I am in AJC... it's just that jitters like.. are your fellow colleagues nice, can I fit in thier culture, what do I expect, etc etc.
And then the whole trip continues on, with me feeling peaceful about.
When I touched down yesterday morning, I was trying to get over my jet lag. Didn't want to think about my first day in school and purposely busied myself so that I would not let my anxieties eat into me. And then, I went to bed at 1am, couldn't sleep till 2am.
This morning was really jialat. Stoopid me thought that it was easy to get a cab at 645. No way man... cldn't get a cab at all. And when I booked for one, I had to wait for 10 mins before I got through to the operator. And when I finally got a cab, the stoopid cab driver didn't know the way to my house... he came at 715am and I was just 10 mins away from the first bell. At that point in time, I could almost drop dead cos I was supposed to report to the VP or P and I was late. Could almost break down out of hyper anxieities.
But thank God really... as I sat down in the lounge, waiting to meet the VP, I prayed that she wouldn't have a bad impression of me, that everything would be ok. That though I was feeling really mad and anxious, may I still manage to plaster a megawatt smile on my face. And most importantly, that my colleagues would be nice and I have a good first day at school.
The day went on fine. Thank God cos I will be teaching the JC1s. Since they are having their orientation now, I have about 2 weeks to warm up to the environment without having to worry so much about what to teach, etc. I met many many teachers. I have 3 mentors though one of them is my personal mentor. It's funny how MOE works. My HOD is my overall mentor who will be monitoring me and tracking my progress. I have a lecture mentor who was apparently mentored my my Econs tutor in CJC and I have another mentor who is my mentor for everything ( lectures, tutorials, etc).
The teachers are nice, though I was really surprised to see more young teachers. There were more male teachers (from the sci dept) cos sci faculty is about 3 times as big as Arts. Overall, they are very friendly and super helpful. Never met anyone who has been frowning the whole day. I also met up with a few new teachers who have already graduated from NIE and are on their first day here.
Canteen food is cheap... but I think can be cheaper... I ate 2 vege and 1 meat with rice... it costs $1.70. Izzit cheap? It felt very strange cos all along, when I was working at idealog, the bare minumum for food will be at least $3.50.
The only thing I do not really like is the distance from AJC to the 159 bus stop. Can die ah... and reallie can die if it rains cos there is no shelter at all when walking to AJ. But I am trying to be more open and optimistic by converting it into an exercise regime. Imagine... 20 mins of brisk walking everyday.... can lose some calories.
And I felt rather weird waking up at 530 (ahem... actually it's 6am) in the morning. It's been a long time since I did that and I was very "sad" to realize that this timing will be like that F-O-R-E-V-E-R..... :(
and it's quite strange to be back at home by 4pm... really strange.. not used to it I guess.
I need to sleep early. I reallie wonder how Jeri can tahan sleeping at 2am and waking up at 6am... How can she wake up? Really must pei fu her. I hope I do not suffer from any jet lag today and have an early and sweet sleep today. Aim to hit the bed by 12 midnight.
I am still having a mini jitters but I know everything will be ok. I need to make more friends and assimilate myself to the surroundings... God will be with me!
A Child of God blogged @ | 9:00 pm
