Ahh… Friday nights. The perfect time to unwind: head out to town with some friends, enjoy good food, and laugh the night away. Not for this girl. I’m perfectly happy to go home, take a long shower and watch a good movie. Perhaps I’ve outgrown all that “partying”. Or perhaps I’m just too exhausted from the weeks’ work to do anything else. Regardless, I’m perfectly content staying in.

Although, today being the last day of the school semester, my friends believe it’s imperative that we celebrate the occasion. After all, we survived five tumultuous months and we’ve managed to stay sane the whole time. Sure, we fell terribly ill along the way, lost plenty of sleep, and sacrificed our social lives… still, we came out of the fires unscathed. We all agreed that was some achievement so it calls for some major partying. Alas, today was one of those long days where we had a workshop and a school function back-to-back, and with the heat and humidity rising, many of us just wanted to veg out at home. Besides, let’s be practical. Partying requires energy, which we barely have. So I’m rationalising that we need to recuperate first, then we’ll be able to fully honour the true meaning of the word, and not make it a half-assed attempt. Agreed?

Now excuse me while I go prop my feet up.

This morning, I woke up, stared at the heap of scripts before me and wondered why I got myself into teaching.

Growing up, I only ever wanted to become a journalist. Since I was 14, I already knew I wanted a degree in Mass Communications so for the next 8 years, I kept my focus and worked extremely hard to achieve my goal. I was completely on track, until I realised that my fickle-minded self would not contend with a simple journalism major, and that I didn’t need to major in it to be a journalist. So I diversified. I settled on Public Relations and Media & Communication at uni and gave myself some business and marketing perspective.

Upon graduation, I wanted to gain some experience before diving into full-time journalism. I believed it was important to gain an in-depth knowledge about the various industries first before writing about it. I applied for several PR and Events Marketing positions and within a couple of months, I got my foot into the world of fashion & lifestyle.

It was a great platform for me as I had to constantly juggle several clients at a time, learning how to deal with the nuances of each industry. I won’t tell you what they are specifically, but know that some take pride in name-dropping, and appropriate responses include looking at them in awe. They love it.

Tired of all the schmoozing, I decided less than 6 months into the job, that I wasn’t cut out for this. I’d considered going back to my first love – journalism – but realised that it would be more or less the same thing, only this time, I’ll be on the other side of the fence. So I prayed, re-assessed my life and learnt that I’d only be satisfied if I were doing something more meaningful.

I didn’t get into teaching immediately. In fact, it took a couple of failed applications before I understood that I had to have a go at relief teaching first, before finalising my plans. What happened after that was clearly God’s answer to my prayer. I was given a six-month relief teaching stint that wasn’t like what most relief teachers had to do. I had to take over a teacher’s full workload and teach all her classes. I was thrown into the deep end of the ocean, but it was also a great learning experience for me. In fact, this stint quashed all doubts. I knew I was ready to teach. So with confidence, I submitted my application one last time.

Despite having many moments like what I experienced this morning, I have not once regretted my decision to become an educator. Yes, the workload is a total pain in the ass, I hardly have time to hang out with my friends, and the kids occasionally make me wonder why I even bother, but the fundamental idealisms pertaining to teaching has kept me going every single day. If I didn’t believe I can help these kids to find their purpose, I wouldn’t be able to haul my ass out of bed at 5:30 every morning, and still go into work feeling optimistic.

Brandenburg Gate, originally uploaded by Wolfgang Staudt.

Yesterday, we met up with another agent who is probably one of the most infectious people I’ll ever meet. I must admit, five minutes into the meeting, I was thinking LOUD! LOUD! LOUD! But as time went by, I couldn’t help but enjoy her dynamism and marvel at the spirit that she carried. It was as though Elmo and Zoe had a daughter who’s all grown up. However, the problem with such personalities is that you can’t help wondering if they’re selling themselves, or the product. Fine line there.

Anyhow, this agent worked out a reverse tour of the other offer, with us starting in Berlin and wrapping it up in Munich. No Prague here (aww), but sanity argued that this itinerary would be much more manageable, for both the students and the teachers. Already, it’s gonna be tough having to look after 20 wide-eyed, overly stimulated teenagers. The extra travelling would certainly make the whole trip more laborious. Also, the company offered us a 3-night homestay in Munich, which is awesome because it’ll be an extremely enriching cultural experience and we get to save on accommodation.

I really liked the previous agent (his itinerary was extremely comprehensive and he seemed so earnest and dependable!), but I think I’m leaning towards this one mostly because (1) they’re able to work within our budget, (2) there’s a lot less travelling, and (3) hello – homestay! Of course, secret reason #4 is that we’ll get to travel via Emirates on this itinerary. After SQ, Emirates is my carrier of choice, so yeah, this agent has my vote. But only barely.

Next on the agenda – shortlisting the applicants. We’ve already come up with the interview questions (some seemingly off-topic, such as “How many burgers do you think a teenage male eats in his lifetime?” but trust me – they’re all totally relevant to our objectives) and the students have been asked to select their preferences. We’re anticipating a slightly overwhelming response but we’ve got an idea of the type of kids we want, so I’m hoping it wouldn’t be too difficult. *fingers crossed*