The land of the long white cloud

It must be the desperation of being just that little bit closer to 30, but I subjected myself to another futile flurry into job possibilities in NZ: hostel jobs mainly, as teaching jobs seem difficult to come by when I'm still in Oz and I can't consider moving over reliant on 'supply' when I have a daughter in tow.

I think I must have emailed every single hostel in the country outlining my explaining and trying not to sound too desperate :) Alas, this move turned out to be a BAD one, especially considering my current state of mind: I spent the next week deleting rejection after rejection from my Inbox...Nobody wants a 3 year old staying in their hostel.

Now for the rant: I realise wanting to bunk down with hordes of drunken, smelly 18 - 30 somethings with a preschooler is possibly a bit unusual, however, having managed a hostel myself, and having parents and grandparents who have been and still are in a similar industry, it is one of the few jobs that I perceive as 'do-able' with a toddler/preschooler in tow. If I had the money I'd buy my own bloody hostel and show them how it's done...but alas.

I had a lot of strange replies too - some would take the coward's way out and tell me they'd filled the position, then I would see it readvertised almost immediately on the BBH site! Others told me they couldn't spare an extra bed (although I'd specifically mentioned that daughter and I would share a bed!) and so many told me that their hostel was 'not family friendly' yet they had 'family friendly' written all over their website!!!! Understandable, but infuriating nonetheless. I really thought that amongst all of the hostels there might be one, just ONE who would give us a chance.

I also applied for a management position with YHA NZ, but rejection was waiting in the wings here as well. At least they allowed me the dignity of a reply...there is nothing more humiliating and annoying than putting hours...sometimes DAYS into a job application (and in some cases I've also done an interview!!) and then have no response from the company/school/government department. I think I've already ranted about the job in Tasmania, but if not, remind me later and I'll let you in on their incompetence!

Happy Post

Have just scrolled through my (very) long list of other bloggers and revisited all of them to catch up on what they are doing (twas like catching up with old friends...even tho most of them don't even know who I am!). Also to get a wee bit more inspiration for my own blog...just like getting out of bed, it's been a little hard lately to keep motivated. The whole reason for starting the wretched thing was to share our travel stories with the world but alas, we are still sitting HERE so it's just not that exciting.

But...happy thoughts!

One blog of which I am particularly fond is silversprite. I guess because they pretty much embody my Ideal Life: living on a remote Hebridean island, working as a librarian as well as having a web based consultancy business...>sigh<>

All this is rather fitting as I am trying, desperately trying to apply for a teacher-librarian position down south (actually not that far...and not on the coast, which I am craving, but still - it's part-time and at this point in the quest for employment, why the hell not??)

I am the original bookworm. Bugger teaching, I should've studied to be a librarian in the first place. The only part I'm not sure I'll like is the cataloguing, but I did realise tonight whilst walking (first time in MONTHS but more on that another time) that the school librarian does not have to do school reports, they have very few classes for which they have to prepare (and even then the lessons are mostly the same thing "How To Use The Library") and discipline is not such a big deal because they don't see the students that often, the work is usually assignment based (at least in secondary) or fun (primary) and they get to choose new books to buy...

Not that I'm trying to be lazy and get out of the hard work of teaching...I just don't have the heart for it ... I hesitate to say "anymore". It might come back, but at present I do not have the zest required to teach full-time. The silliest things completely debilitate me. Plus I don't look into the future and see myself marking reports and sitting up stressing over difficult classes, rushing to staff meetings, coaching a sporting team, none of these things feature...

The Dream :) Haha...reality!

Recruitment Agencies

Whilst I'm here I may as well rant on these as well!


I signed up with Select Education (also called Teach Anywhere) because they appeared to be the only agency operating for international/expat schools. They also seemed to be the only place even advertising these jobs - there's no website called "International school jobs dot com" - so Select were my only option.


Somehow I got 'stuck' with a recruiter who couldn't give a rats arse about me. I'm pretty sure I've already ranted and raved about how she wouldn't respond to my emails until I wrote to another recruiter. Well, I've tried to escape her clutches and sign myself up to another Select recruiter again but instead they keep forwarding me back to her. I got excited when I saw they were advertising what looked like her position for a January start (I even thought that perhaps this might be the reason she was so unwilling to put any effort into finding jobs for me) but so far she hasn't gone away.


I stumbled across another agency: Teacher Appointments based in Brisbane. This is a much smaller operation and were initially a lot more friendly and interested in where I was coming from and what my goals were (as opposed to Select who nod and smile through the initial phone call then proceed to send you just about every irrelevant and out of the question teaching positions they can find!). However, as this recruiter was handling the China job that I could not accept, once I emailed the school to negotiate fewer hours, they readvertised and the recruiter disappeared into thin air.


Hays...well, don't even get me started! They didn't even start. I emailed the contact (someone called Olivia) a few times without response. Eventually I think I signed up on the website or sent a CV or something and she got back to me. Now, she was and still is, advertising teaching positions in Asia with ONE YEAR CONTRACT written all over them. Yet, when I told her I was interested in a one year contract she dropped me like a hot coal. Please explain?


SANZA: I thought they only dealt with jobs in the UK but noticed in my extensive trawling through the jobs pages that they also had jobs in New Zealand and some in Asia. I signed up. I got a phone call from a very nice girl called Karen, who told me she'd look into NZ and Asia for me (I told her I was interested in ANYTHING in either location) and get back to me. She phoned back to ask if I'd consider the Middle East (no I already had and decided against it) and then a few days later sent me an email saying they had nothing to suit and please get back in touch (in a few YEARS) when I was looking for work in the UK. Hmm...NOT BLOODY LIKELY. What the hell???? So although they are still advertising all these jobs, they don't want to fill them? Instead of keeping me on and letting me know if anything came up, like EVERY other recruiter, they just ditch me???


And at the end of all this, bloody Timeplan send me an email asking if I know of anyone who might be interested in the position of Australian coordinator in their London office. Well, SURE I DO! I would be interested in the position but I am cursed with a bloody Australian birth certificate and can't live there, so I can't do it.


I have had just about enough of this shite.

Nothing

Still nothing. We are just sitting here, bored out of our skulls.

Worked a little over the holidays as a study tour teacher. Discovered pretty quickly that it was nothing I imagined it would be...or at least the children weren't (um, how do I say this? Spoilt, pampered little pets comes to mind!) I should have realised that the students who would end up in learning English in Australia over the summer holidays would be the wealthier ones. At least I know now what NOT to teach.

On the other job front: give me strength!

We are still treading water, going nowhere. Another January, another birthday and I am still sitting here. It is enough to drive you to drink...rejection after rejection after rejection! I don't know what it is about this time of year: perhaps because it's Christmas and spending so much time with family (wanting to know what my plans are and whether I've given up on Scotland yet), or my birthday (another year older, still don't feel any closer to where I want to be)?

I did have a job lined up in China. It was in a kindergarten - not an international/expat school. This meant the pay was lower, but I thought it would balance out as the workload expectations would also be lower (which seemed to be the norm looking at similar jobs). Then the school sent me their contract outlining 40 hours + contact per a week, with additional Saturdays from time to time! Tried to negotiate. They readvertised.

I started packing boxes with things anyway, and dusted off my backpack. Nutcase...eternal optimist? I'll leave that up to you!

No job, no job, no job...

*sob* still no word on the job front, so this will be my fourth Christmas in a row where I have spent the holiday depressed and anxious. Last year I was wondering about Tasmania. The year before I think it was a job in Scotland. The year before it was a job ANYWHERE (I'd only been back in Noobah a year and hadn't yet realised that after a while, you get numb to the pain of being back here).

I have started to hate the holiday period. The hot weather makes me miserable and short tempered. Being miserable makes me eat. Eating makes me fat. Being fat makes me miserable AND irritated. I shout and rant and snap at my daughter but really I am angry at myself - FOR STILL BEING IN THIS SHITHOLE! For letting ANOTHER BLOODY YEAR GO BY.

I think the fact it is summer (a season I detest in this country) and the new year is coming and my birthday only a few short weeks after that...well, it all adds to the general gloomy atmosphere. Another Christmas here means another one NOT spent in Scotland. Another Hogmanay missed. Another year closer to 30 and still no closer to being back home.

I feel wretched.

There were a few jobs on the horizon and had I any sense and actually REMEMBERED what I get like during this festive season I may have signed myself up simply to escape this misery. Instead I am stuck to the computer, sweltering in the combined summer and electrical heat, plonking my daughter in front of endless streams of crappy Christmas television and searching the job pages in vain.

And isn't it strange how all the ghosts of job hunts past come back to haunt me when I get down and desperate? I've thought about New Zealand, I go back to the Tasmanian idea, then I think again of the northern NSW coast...and without fail I always end up on the job board of some Scottish council - just to check.

And every year I think that I cannot go through much more of this. I cannot stay here any longer...I might die. I cannot get any older here. How many more years do I want to tread water in this backwater country? How many years do I want to have to look back on and lament as WASTED?

Yet here I am again.

Oh crummy crum CRUMBO

ARIEGHOSEIGHGGHGHHH!

I am a numpty!

Numpty (num-p-tee) Dialect, chiefly Scot. ~ n. 1. a bumbling fool; One who is intellectually challenged ("no' the fu' shillin'"). 2. widely known in Scotland as an MSP (Member of Scottish Parliament) [as in "Thae numpties couldnae organise a piss up in a brewery."]

Just got off the phone from an interview for a literacy tutor position in Cape York - that's right, waaaay up north where it's hot all year round...hardly my favourite climatic conditions but the opportunity is a one-off. I've even had to put my school in China off for a week because I want to have this chance. The program is highly successful at rapidly improving the reading level of students who are struggling with literacy. They even offer training in Sydney for a week at the start of January before a 6 month deployment to Cape York...

Buuuuut...at the end of the interview (which actually went well - usually I am terrible at phone interviews - especially the international kind but more on that another day) for some wildly inexplicable reason I TOLD HER I HAD A 3 YEAR OLD! @?!*# Why oh why oh why would I do that? It wasn't planned AT ALL. I haven't mentioned my poor wee girl in an interview for a year: not after my parent status cost me not one but TWO brilliant teacher recruiting jobs earlier in the year. The first one was also a phone interview and I had not intended to mention Miss M, but unfortunately I kept talking about "we" and "us". When she asked who else I travelled with, I would've been better off telling her I was a nutter and liked to talk about myself in the 3rd person, but instead I confessed. She practically hung up on me.

Discriminating on the grounds of being a one parent family or having a child is not allowed, of course, but that's even MORE reason to stay mum until being offered the position. I don't like to be underhand but I prefer to be the one to decide whether or not I will handle a position, or a location, rather than have the decision made by somebody who doesn't know me or who maybe doesn't have children at all!

I honestly have no idea why I said it. Talk about shooting oneself in the foot. Talk about self-destruction...argh! It was like some imp was pulling the words out of my mouth - I started saying it before I even realised what I was saying. I tried to stop but I'd gone too far to backtrack without sounding like I was covering up a terminal illness or a little bit of crazy.

>sigh<

So now we have to wait. This is probably my least favourite part of the job process. Applications are draining and time consuming, waiting to be contacted for interview is nail biting but at least you've not had your hopes raised too high yet. Preparing for interview is stressful but the waiting afterwards is dreadful.

Especially when you may have shot yourself in the foot.

*@!?&*@

Just typed a whole bloody post and suddenly it highlighted itself and promptly disappeared. FFS! As if I'm not p*ssed off enough at the moment without adding to my annoyance - but of course, that is PRECISELY what the Universe prefers to do - wait until we are sweltering in 600 degree heat as this stupid country's stupid summer kicks in, throw in a teacher recruiter who has taken a dislike to me (actually I don't think she ever had any 'like') and a million jobs but once again the ones I am not fussed on are the ones who want me and the jobs I am really keen on are proving elusive...

I think I've blogged already about my recruiter - who wouldn't respond to any of my requests to be put forward for jobs until I contacted another recruiter to ask if there was a problem? Anyway...as soon as I did that she promptly zinged to attention and a dozen interviews were lined up. Then came the realisation that hobnobbing at expat schools would demand at LEAST 2 years of my time. At this point this is not what we want to do. Perhaps in 6 months I will have discovered that we love Asia and want to stay longer etc etc but right now...NO.

So I'm in the pile on the floor again...

Until a brilliant job came through for a school in Japan looking for an early years teacher for only 6 months! Fantastic! But that was a week ago and still no response from them. I found the school online and I am sorely tempted to email them directly as there is something about recruiters. I had another group (workforce on tap or something like that, randomnly based in Bendigo, Victoria) who advertised for ESL teachers. As they were offering 6 month positions I emailed them for more info (there was very little in the ad) and the guy told me they didn't have any but I could ask all the questions I liked of the school when I submitted my CV and they phoned me. I don't like submitting my CV and personal details before I have any info but 6 month contracts are rare, so I did it. Again - no response! What the hell is going on???

The only school that WILL get back to me is in China. Although I am satisfied they aren't dodgy, they are only offering 10000RMB a month - about half what international schools in China were offering me. I kept putting the 6 month contract idea to them but they've ignored it - not only that, they told me they were really looking for someone to stay 18 months. For the love of God, why would I do that when I just gave up the chance to work an 18 month contract at an expat school for 3 times the money and an awesome package???

Which makes me wonder: why did I pass up that school? I didn't want to sign up for 18 months. I can understand schools wanting a longer commitment but surely it can't be that unusual for teachers to want to experience life over there first before committing to long term? And it's not like 6 month contracts are unheard of in western school systems - far from it!

China job has also informed me of their working hours, which are phenomenally high (for teaching). 40 contact hours per week, no planning or prep time (this is supposed to be done while children are sleeping!) for 10000 RMB. One of my hesitations for expat schools was the high demands on time, but at least they stuck to a regular 9 - 3 school day - none of this 8am starting.

In the absence of Japan job getting back to me (which is not a good sign, I'm sure, as other schools got back to me within a day or 2), I'm beginning to wonder if grabbing any old job at a language school might be a better option...

Oh, and I also had a call from a job working with Indigenous kids in remoter parts of Australia wanting to interview. So far I've left a couple of messages but not heard back...

I have a killer headache and I don't know if it's the heat or the stress!

I just want:
a great school: smaller size, flexible, helpful, younger kids,
decent accommodation
enough wages to save a little bit
helpful other staff and friendly kids
short term (at least at first!)

fingers crossed...

Something about nothing...

We haven't left yet >sigh<.

Still in the land of Oz, still working through my Cert IV in TESOL (towards which I have a disturbing lack of motivation...).

I have discovered that as I have a teaching degree, I have 2 options for jobs - international schools or English language schools. The first are mostly expat kids and very good money. The others don't pay quite as well but involve teaching local kids, which is what I am interested in. Although at this point lots of money sounds great because I have...

NONE!

It is starting to freak me out a wee bit, mainly because nothing seems to be on the horizon to change this empty coffers situation.

My casual job has peetered out to nothing - my final tour was last week (oh, I also resigned - long story don't ask but there was no further work really for the rest of the year anyway) and it's final term here so supply teaching is limited. I have my first day ALL term coming up in two weeks time - so it's a dire situation.

So I have been trying and TRYING to find a solution work-wise for the period from now until January (which was our EDD) but strangely enough things keep going cockeyed. I had a couple of positive phone calls for jobs on the Coast and thought we might move in with my grandmother to keep her company and save money etc (also short term so a rental would be hard to organise), but she went into hospital right as I was about to ask her if we could stay ... perhaps she guessed??? Another family member offered us a room but now the jobs may have fallen through...argh!

In the meantime I am thinking...(not always a good thing!) What if we looked into jobs NOT abroad for a spell (say, 6 months), which would give us a chance to save money, rent the house out before we left the country, practice living 'away from home' and also give me some relevant experience prior to trying to secure a job OS?

So I have emailed NT schools and another organisation that runs literacy projects in Cape York...both sound really interesting (working with kids from Indigenous backgrounds) and would be incredible experiences in their own right, buuuuut...I feel like I am wimping out AGAIN and finding more excuses not to leave. Don't get me wrong - oh, I still want to leave...desperately. But dreaming and doing are two different cats. Leaving is scary...maybe a job a little closer to home would make it easier to go further away? Plus there's the lack of funds...I feel awfully more apprehensive planning a sojourn in Asia with $20 in the bank than I might if I had a few thousand dollars.

I even emailed some hostels in New Zealand about working there over the Summer - a couple of them had links to English language schools or classes and I thought that it might be a fun way to start the RTW, but so far my emails have been met with SILENCE - more on that in another post as it has intensely irritated me. It is SO rude. And why don't they want me???

So...a lot of something about nothing because we still haven't set off. So far my CV has done more travelling than I have but I am ready to go. I just spent 7 days landscaping my front yard and this week I am planning to start the BIG JUNK CULL of all our ... junk! So, stay tuned for that exciting development!

Something good

I have been following Silversprite's blog for most of this year. I think I stumbled across it initially during one of my mad, "I want to be a librarian" periods. I still want to be a librarian but I can't commit to the postgrad study so maybe in a few years...

Ahh, I remember now - I had applied for a job in Strahan, which is a tiny place on the wild west coast of Tasmania. Cold, mountains meeting the sea, olden days buildings...heck, they are still using steam trains! The job was in community education - managing the local library and learning centre (yep, the job I'd dreamed of years ago back in Scotland). And whaddya know it looks just like Scotland. Have you seen how cheap house prices are in Tassie? It was perfect, just perfect! My mum, by chance, even happened to be visiting the village right at the time I was applying and being interviewed.

On that note, what a circus! It took WEEKS (possibly months - I initially applied in December, heard nothing until late January, early Feb and interviewed in February) for them to process the job applications. There were no less than THREE senior staff interviewing for the TEN HOUR PER WEEK post. Yep, 10 hours a week and all that drama. Not only that, but it took them so long to process the applications that I think I phoned twice to check the job had not been given to somebody else already, only to be told the panel had not even met to discuss it. Bearing in mind that when my Mum visitied the place in December (around the time of the job application), there was already a temporary staff member in there who told Mum that they were struggling as they had so few staff. Then interview lady tells me that they were also looking for people for nearby Zeehan and Rosebery (sp?) and would I consider those? I said yes to everything, took the interview (VERY stuffy and formal and except for Portree High School Interview the First the most excrutiating half hour I've ever endured).

So, I didn't get the job. It devastated me for quite a while. Not least because although the bastards advertised in November and applications had to be in by December, all their fluffing around did not produce a result until sometime in MARCH (and by the way, I was NEVER informed, which I thought was a common courtesy for people who reach interview stage). So, for those not in Australia, March is like October in the Northern Hemisphere. Both school and uni have resumed, so it's too late to get a teaching job or start a course. I was facing another long year of supply teaching when I stumbled across the Bremer Tafe Diploma of Community Services Management, completely misunderstood what it was about and spent a lot of money on hot air...but that vitriol will save for another time.

For now, I am talking about Silversprite (and may have been slightly distracted). I may have to start a new post...

A good reason for not getting the job in Strahan...look at the size of that thing!

The books came!

My Tesol books came in the mail yesterday!! Delivered out here in the sticks by my sister. Wee daughter and I are minding the caravan park for Mum while she is off galavanting.

Strangely they have provided guide books that look like workbooks and workbooks that look like novels...bit frustrating really as I would like to take the texts and workbooks with me overseas but they are too bulky. They also mention CD copies of readings and workbooks on their website but so far no sign of these...

I read through the guidelines for study last night. It was almost like starting Year 8 again: reading everything from cover to cover...(nerd!).

<-- How things were looking about midnight...yes, that is the Collins World Atlas peeking out. Despite having (briefly) been a teacher of Geography and winning a Geography competition when I was in Year 11, I still mix my Bratislavia's with my Uzbekistans...

At least I am more motivated for this course than any of my previous Tafe misadventures. The best part (now that I've read Unit 1) is that (unlike previous Tafe course) this all makes complete sense to me and I know the answers to the questions without thinking!

Apart from reading the books and worrying about whether I want to write into the workbook (it looks like a novel or a travel guide, dammit), I am looking for jobs. Oh how I hate job hunting. Plus as much as I'd like to take on a job overseas, I don't have enough money to fund travel at the moment.

Thinking about New Zealand again: managing a hostel there. I've also noticed a few jobs teaching English in NZ (more than I've noticed locally) so perhaps this would not be a bad starting point? Go and chull wuth the Kuwus fur a whulle, hehehe.

(the extent of my knowledge of all things Kiwi)