So, jeez, things have been busy.
For starters we have like, double the amount of kids now, half of whom I teach on my own in the afternoon. I have to prepare them for interviews with prestigious Canadian private schools, so that means working on confidence, storytelling ability, presentation skills and going over the same interview questions over and ooover. It can get a bit old, but I love my kids. They're all super fun and engaged, and it's been fun teaching them things that I really enjoy. That also means though that we now live with double the amount of kids, which increases the fun but also the difficulty in getting them to their dang beds by lights out. I guarantee not a single one of them falls asleep before midnight though (their whispers carry, but us cool university teachers pretend not to notice).
Also I've been going to some hecka fancy events. Our students have some wealthy parents, which means fancy dinners and meetings, which means our boss buys us tailor made suuits! He likes to keep a good image. His connections are actually quite impressive; he's brought in the youngest ever female Olympic triple-gold-medalist swimmer Donna De-Verona to talk with us and the kids (she was so cool) and also the former Premier of New Brunswick (also cool) and just yesterday we held a panel for 3 very distinguished and successful businessmen, including a high-end lawyer and two CEO's. At that meeting as well, my boss made a point of moving me from the back of the table to closer to the head; that's something I've been noticing too. I always seem to be the one who's brought in to speak with the kids' parents and be present during meetings; he likes to kind of display me as their white-male teacher. It's something we've all kinda noticed and we find it pretty funny.
Also, the clock is ticking; I have to make a solo visa renewal soon. Which is terrifying. I don't quite know where I'd start with a solo-travel trip, but I guess it's been inevitable since I came here. The main goal is just not to get too lost (I've accepted that I'm definitely gonna get at least pretty lost). So i mean we'll see how that goes. I'm thinking about just hopping over to Hong Kong for a day; a bit expensive but I hear it's a place I really need to check out. I'm gonna try to make the trip work so that I don't have to get a hostel and can just hang out in the city for a day, which is a tall order for a probably 30 hour trip, but I'll take it as it comes (yeah mayyybe that's a stupid idea, we'll see how it goes).
What else to talk about. Pretty soon I'll be on my own; the kids are leaving early August and my fellow teachers and other staff are finishing and most of them are heading back to Canada. I'm gonna have a new group of people to work with and new kids to get ready for interview prep. Safe to say I'm pretty nervous about that, and I'm gonna miss my kids and fellow teachers a lot. I'll also have to be a lot more independent, having to show the new people the places around the neighborhood without getting them hopelessly lost, and also taking more of a supervisory role with my job. It's really nerve wracking but also pretty exciting, I'll really have to take a step out of my comfort zone.
So there's lots on the horizon. Hopefully I make it back from Hong Kong so i can tell yall all about it ✌️
