March 9, 2021

Tuesday

What an exhausting day!

I got up and caught the 7:20 bus. It was absolutely freezing outside. Goodbye, beautiful weather! I arrived and got my classroom all set up. I sat and had my two coffees so I could emotionally prepare for the emotional tension of the day. I knew the Viri would not be nice to me. She can be so so stubborn and petulant. Her behavior really contributes to the toxic work environment that I’m experiencing here. It makes me miss the offices that I worked for in college. Both of my bosses were wonderful and communicative, there were clear steps for resolving workplace conflict. What a dream!

My first class of the day was super chatty. One girl argued with me about wearing a mask, so I made sure to write down her name for Viri. We were able to talk about buffalos and geysers together. The next group wasn’t as bad, but it was still a hassle to be heard. I felt absolutely exhausted. Viri told me in the hall that I would be taking the room directly next to hers for the third group. I agreed, but was frustrated because I knew that meant I would not have internet for the first half of the session.

Sure enough, the internet was not loading my slides. The kids were being insane and I could not get them to calm down. Suddenly, Viri walked into the room and declared she would be watching the lesson today. The children were SILENT. They responded when called on, the spoke in English, they participated. I have NEVER seen them behave that well. It was shocking. Viri left the room, apparently having seen enough. I asked the students why they behaved so well with her in the room and never that well for me. None of them had an answer.

After class, Mme Kiel (the vice principal) came in to talk to me. She asked how things went and wanted to make sure they were better. I explained that the students seemed to scared to participate when it was just us alone now. They were quiet, but they refused to speak for me when Viri was not in the room. She offered to have me teach the full class with Viri, but I explained that her teaching style put my nerves on end and I would not be able to do that. Kiel explained that I needed to just give the kids another chance, they’re babies after all and we’re approaching lunch time.

Thankfully, Mme Bodet picked me up that day. I am fully confident that I would have been crying on the bus if she hadn’t. I felt absolutely crappy. I couldn’t believe that after all the drama of the past few weeks, the stress, the meetings that nothing had changed for the better. In fact, I feel that my position in worse now. Viri refuses to talk to me and makes it hard to be in the break room with the other teachers. Going to work next week will be rough.

At home, I had to rush to make something to eat before my call at 2pm. I was attending a class at a law school that I’m considering. It ended up being really interesting. We talked about laws regarding milk and what qualifies as a protectionist market. I’m getting really excited for law school! The idea of getting involved academically again makes me really happy. I can’t wait to figure out where I’m going and to start planning my life for the coming year.

Tuesday night I got to have a call with some of my close friends which made me feel a lot better about everything that is going on.