I got a JOB!!

An eventful week. I have gradually been building up more and more energy and feeling less and less sick as the week progressed. Then this morning came the drop over the cliff. Out of nowhere, I got hit with something that feels a lot like pneumonia. My cough is going to be a problem and my bones ache so much that it is hard to walk. As I write this now we are sitting at the airport in Eindhoven waiting on our flight to Rome. Traveling today has been incredibly difficult and we are not even half way done. I hope that the sunshine and warmer temperatures take care of this problem.

On Tuesday I had a conversation with our school director. He explained that the Bilingual school downtown had some interest in me, and that I should set up an appointment. Two days later, I sat down with the other director, and he offered me a full time position (even though it would be teaching less than normal) starting directly after our holiday in Rome. Apparently one of their Math teachers dropped out due to health issues.

I was a bit surprised, and accepted the chance to teach there three days a week and start full time in the fall. I explained that I still had loyalty to WolfertPRO and would prefer to split my time. 

On Friday morning, yesterday, I came to school a bit early to speak with our director about the situation. He was in Italy skiing. I guess his vacation started a little early. So, next week I will have to tell him that I do not want to teach the second year students at all any more, and that I will only be available two days per week starting on the 11th of March. Hopefully he will appreciate the fact that I will not be leaving completely, especially as the school is losing three other teachers after this break. They have also lost the team leader who basically ran the school, along with half of Naomi’s time. 

Some of the positions have been replaced, some not, but regardless, the strain on the system drains a lot of additional energy. I really question whether WolfertPRO will continue upon the bilingual track. It seems unlikely at best. But for now, I just hope I am well enough to enjoy Rome!!

Potential

Last Sunday we had a nice time with our friends Clifton and Karmen at the World Museum. They had an exhibition on the Samurai. After the visit, Naomi and I had to watch The Last Samurai again. One of my favorite movies.

At school, we had an important week. Friday night and Saturday morning were open days, which means that prospective students visit the school to see if they are interested in coming. There are lots of schools to choose from, so it is a competitive process and the schools need to sell themselves to attract customers. Seems as though education here is taking on some capitalistic tendencies.

Our administration wanted everyone to show up for both days, so that we could project a positive image. Unfortunately, a lot of teachers did not. I was home sick on Thursday and Friday, but went with Naomi on Friday night anyway. Some people were pleased to see me, others asked why I had come. It was an important event that I wanted to be a part of, but it was also nice to socialize for a bit - a good way to break up a four day stretch of sitting around being sick. I ended up getting some good news when the director told me that we needed to talk next week about a job offer extended toward me by Wolfert Tweetalig - one of the schools I visited a couple weeks ago. I am looking forward to hearing the details.

The sun is shining this morning and that makes me want to do things...but my energy is still not there. From what I hear this year’s bug is a nasty one and doesn’t shake loose easily. I really hope Naomi doesn’t get it just in time for Rome next week...

New Direction

My original plan when I began this job, was to stay at WolfertPRO for about 3 years. I have heard very mixed reviews from the Management. At first they were very excited about their Native Speaker, then they thought I wouldn't last for 6 months, then I was one of the best new teachers, they had, then a couple months ago I was told to search for another job. Strange. The only thing I have seen in my performance from my perspective is consistency and growth.

As I was recently told to keep an eye out for a new job, this process was given a jump-start by the management on Monday. They arranged for me to visit two schools that are a part of the Wolfert group. These two schools have lessons taught in English and they are at higher levels. One, Wolfert Tweetalig, is a Dutch school at the intermediate and highest tracks - it is the first school to start with the bilingual concept. The second is an international school, RISS, so they deal with a separate curriculum.

The visits went quite well. At Tweetalig I was impressed by the warm atmosphere. The staff seemed relaxed and mostly positive. The students had plenty of energy, but when the teachers were talking, they were listening. When they ran into a problem they weren't sure how to solve, they didn't simply give up. This was all in stark contrast to WolfertPRO.

RISS had a nice, small environment. Definitely a different feel. Quite academic and quiet. The students I observed there were a bit older so it was hard to make a fair behavior comparison. I felt that the dynamic, vibrant atmosphere of Tweetalig was left behind as I crossed over into the slower, scholarly corridor of RISS.

Either school would be a much less stressful environment for me to teach in. My preference would be for Tweetalig, if an opportunity should arise. I am happy to have started out at WolfertPRO as I have learned and am still learning things I would not encounter elsewhere, but the time to move on to a higher level of education is approaching sooner than I had originally anticipated. I hope that something will work out for next year.

The next day, the urgency of these hopes crystallized. I had a visit by a government inspector who came to see that my American teaching certification could be transferred to the Dutch system. I was told this would be a simple process, but it decidedly is not. I have had to jump though all sorts of hoops but this was supposed to be one of the final steps.

The inspector showed up ten minutes late and was in general very rude and disinterested. At the end of the lesson he didn't want to speak English, but eventually told me that because I didn't speak Dutch I couldn't have a Dutch teaching certification. I brought him to the director to discuss things but he didn't want to stay for long - we were clearly wasting his time. He said that he was not impressed with the lesson (although I thought it went quite well) but that he wouldn't discuss it with me because I don't speak Dutch.

This whole situation is very strange because the Dutch people want to speak English, so they have set up a bilingual education system. These schools want Native Speakers, but the government is not willing to give them the ability to teach on a long-term basis unless they learn Dutch? Why learn Dutch when you are hired to speak English? Something is wrong with this logic. I am planning to learn Dutch anyway, but my priorities have been elsewhere during the past couple years.

I survived the teaching on Wednesday and Thursday. Friday was meant to be a day of half teaching, and half visiting a workshop at a nearby greenhouse. I was meant to go with a colleague  and we had planned to bike there. The ride would have been 45 minutes. Unfortunately, he had trouble finding a bike, and by the time someone offered to give him a ride, it was too late for me to bike there on time. If I joined in the car, I would need a ride back, which was an uncertainty. I didn't want to get stuck in the middle of nowhere, so I chose not to attend the workshop. I found the whole situation rather upsetting, because I don't like signing up for something and then canceling at the last minute.

The cancellation did give me an early start to the weekend, which was much needed, because I still feel like my body is fighting off a bit of a virus. Yesterday we had a great time of doing nothing. Today we will check out a Samurai display at the World Museum. Quite a nice weekend!

A Long Weekend

This week was, hopefully, the low point of the year at our school. Lots of teachers had meetings with parents (and a ton of work to prepare for these meetings) and a virus happened to be floating around, so school was barely open on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. All classes had schedules that were cut short - some more than others - because so many teachers were sick. I don't understand why they haven't introduced the system of hiring substitute teachers. At many schools, the students just don't have class, but at our school they want us to use our prep hours to fill in for sick colleagues. This causes a lot of friction.

I stayed home on Thursday and Friday. I picked up a small bit of whatever was going around. This bug put me at 60-70 percent. If I would have gone to school, the kids would have been super wound up due to all the schedule changes, and I have my teaching hours weighted toward the end of the week. Teaching these pupils is quite exhausting, so my 60-70% would not have been enough for me or for them. It was good to stay home for this reason and because we had guests yesterday, and I will be visiting a couple other schools and getting an evaluation on Monday and Tuesday, respectively. This makes me a little nervous - and happy to be well-rested.

Yesterday we went to see an exhibition of Jan van Eyck, a Dutch painter from the 1400s. We learned that he revolutionized the world of painting by introducing light. This made the paintings go from 2D to 3D - they became life-like. The exhibition showed what paintings were like before and after this character. There was a huge difference. It was also interesting to see paintings, books, and sculptures that were 600 years old. All this within 15 minutes of home. Living here does have plenty of advantages...

Our Ceiling had an IQ of 102

I haven't known very many people to have a pig for a pet...but there were a few. I have heard that these pigs are quite intelligent - some have even learned to open the refrigerator when they were a bit hungry. Pigs get hungry a lot.

I guess our ceiling got a bit hungry this morning while we were working out at the gym. Very cleverly, it learned to open the refrigerator. All it needed was a bit of water to activate those brain waves. The water was provided by a combination of a drainpipe which was frozen solid, a roof full of ice, and a steady Dutch rain.

Naomi awoke to a peaceful, trickling sound coming from the corner of the kitchen where we usually dry dishes. Needless to say, more than dishes needed to be dried. There was a nice pool of water on the floor, so it was a good thing she happened to get up early before it spread. We set up a little system to collect this leak and made our way through the rain and slush to the gym. Upon our return, we noticed a puddle of water soaking into the carpeting in front of the couch. As our eyes searched for its source, we came upon the extreme cleverness acted out by our ceiling.

In addition to opening the fridge, it had managed to gently move a wine bottle from the top of the fridge to the counter without a scratch. Impressive. The glass that ended up on the floor wasn't so lucky.

We made quick work of the major debris but put the cleanup project on hold for a bite to eat (luckily that clever ceiling left some for us) and some relaxation. After finishing this blog and a few other things, we will have to get back to work. The cabinets don't look to dry...

This week in general was an exhausting one. I pushed past my limits at school. We had report meetings, a parents night were I helped to give a workshop, and I kicked off a new project. All of this together was too much for me, and I am still feeling a rather exhausted and a little sick. Hopefully this coming week goes a bit more smoothly.

Welcome home!

That clever ceiling...

At least it was only one piece.

The wine is still good!

Snow!

Winter has finally hit the NL. Let me explain what I mean by finally. Last year the daffodils were blooming in February. When an inch of snow falls public transportation schedules cease to exist. There is a Dutch tradition of skating from town to town via a network of canals in the North - this hasn't happened in 17 years as they haven't frozen solid enough.

This week winter has come. On Tuesday, we woke up to about 2 or 3 inches of snow on the ground. This amount hasn't fallen in years. Traffic jams hit record lengths - well over 1000 kilometers of jammed traffic spanned the country. A few teachers took around 4 hours to get to school - some (like Naomi) couldn't make it at all. 'Snow days' are unheard of here though, because this sort of weather doesn't really happen. Call it a Dutch blizzard.

Getting ready for school.

Our backyard.

The back of the house.

The front of the house.

In spite of the excitement, school went pretty well this week. I wrapped up everything I needed to for the end of the quarter. Next week we have report meetings, where we discuss the performance of individual students. These meetings generally lack structure,clarity, and goals, so I am not really looking forward to them. I also get to start a new project with my first year classes about cars. They will be learning a few things about cars while making a balloon car. We will have races at the end.

Naomi had a good meeting with the school doctor on Friday. Due to her mono, she will be given a reduced schedule (almost cut in half) until the end of February. The doctor was very supportive and told her that she really needs to demand from the school a few things - in particular that she needs to know what she will be teaching at least a couple days in advance. As it is, she finds out when she arrives at school what she will be teaching. This causes undue stress. Unfortunately, she is not the only one that this has become a regular occurrence for...

Yesterday we had a nice, relaxing time running a few errands in town and discovering a new place the serves 'poffertjes'. These are a traditional Dutch treat resembling a cross between a silver dollar pancake and a muffin. They are topped with butter and a generous dusting of powdered sugar. When combined with a cup of Dutch hot chocolate, this is a perfect way to warm up on a cold day.

A few hours ago, the snow returned. It has been snowing steadily and the road in front of our house is white. Not sure how much will add up, but it could make for another interesting commute tomorrow...

Back to School, Back to School.

It sure was difficult going back - not just for us. We were supposed to get a new schedule this week, but that never materialized. We shall see if it comes out for tomorrow or not - this could wreak havoc on my planning. Grades are due this week and I am starting a couple new projects. It will be a busy, chaotic week. Once again.

Last week went ok. The first years are definitely getting busier, and the second years calmed down a little as I introduced a new system. Now they get points for their work attitude. I update a spreadsheet throughout the hour so they have instant feedback on how they are working. This seems to help so far. Next week we will have a test, and we shall see how they do. I am slowly improving the way things are going, but I don't have many options or much time to fix things. I would like to develop a nice project for the first years about cars, but I don't know that there will be time. The school also wants me to take on extra responsibilities, which I would like to do, but I am not sure where the time would come from.

On Thursday, we had a nice time at the Kunsthal (where a few masterpieces were recently stolen) with the entire Wolfert school group. We were given a nice little tour explaining some of the art - this was necessary for Naomi and I. The guide did a good job. In spite of our exhaustion, we had a nice time. This weekend is one of recovery (typical), and lots of sleep. We also bought plane tickets for the summer to Chicago...hopefully we can arrange some transportation. Naomi is having a tough time with the Mono. Hopefully she begins to get some energy back soon as the days get longer...we saw the sun yesterday!!!