Well it seems like a long time ago since I blogged but it is only 3 days – and sitting in a hotel room in Fayetteville North Carolina, I am struggling to remember what has happened but you know me I will write heaps and probably bore half of you to death.
When I arrived at the airport I was not the only one to arrive – I also had the pleasure of meeting a family from China who would be living in South Carolina and a trainee teacher from Chile who would also be in the same state as me, North Carolina. We were all tired and were glad to have each other to go through this experience with.
Sunday was my day of rest – it consisted of sleeping, eating, and sleeping again, eating again followed by some shopping. I thought I was up to walking around a mall but could not believe how much the jet lag had caught up with me – my one oasis in my mall experience was the huge Apple (computers not fruit) store that left me in complete awe.
Upon entering the store I noticed that for a Sunday it was packed – people of all ages everywhere, young people, old people, big people and small people – all of them using a Mac device. I stood in the middle of the store transfixed by the hussle and bussle around me. After walking around the store and finding what I was after (a dongle and an adapter for my charger) I looked around for the cash register – but alas there was none. Then a lovely lady in a blue shirt asked if I needed help - then in a flash I found myself walking out of the store with my products. I later realised there were no cash registers but that each of the store workers had a hand held scanner, product finder and visa (eftpos) machines at there finger tips – they even emailed my receipt to my account. I was amazed – ok so 90% of you don’t care – to bad I was impressed!
As Monday dawned with the alarm failing to wake me, it was a rush to make it to breakfast and the first session of my VIF orientation. The day was full of smaller sessions covering a wide range of information that we needed to know in order to survive our time in the US. Things like benefits, taxes, driving in the US, and a general welcome to the programme. Believe it or not that was all before lunch.
After lunch it was all go again – signing of documents – from the bank, medical insurance, teacher registration for North Carolina and information about getting my Social security number.
Once that was done it was on to the driving test – VIF had asked a couple of driving instructors to take us for a bit of a test drive to gauge our confidence on the US roads – as I had driven a couple of times in the US I felt OK about it all – I survived and so did the hundreds of other people out and about on the roads – and I only turned the windscreen wipers on once!
It was one final session about teaching in the schools and dinner was fast approaching – where I decided that it was an early night for me.
After a restless nights sleep it was back into the VIF sessions – first was information on doing our Masters Degree, followed by appropriate behaviours as a teacher (stuff we knew but it was good to be reminded), information about hiring and buying cars (along with insurances) and finally we all received a cell phone with $100 already loaded onto it for us – this was unexpected but really appreciated. This was where my VIF orientation ended – while everyone else has another day and a half - there were 3 of us that were going to be whisked off to our schools.
I was feeling OK about this but the closer the car got to Fayetteville the more my stomach started to churn – I thought I was ready but I was to learn that I was far from it!
I found that I had hit the ground running – I walked through the front door of my school and was greeted by what seemed like a multitude of people. Everyone smiling and happy to be meeting the foreign teacher with the funny accent, I myself was just trying to remember everyone’s name. I was shown to my class and introduced to the people on my team – it soon became clear to me that I had a lot of work to do over the next 24 – 36 hours.
A times I found myself standing in the middle of classrooms with my mouth open and my head spinning but as there always is with the teaching profession I had a lot of colleagues offering there help and support. I found it hard to relay my appreciation, as ‘thank-you’ didn’t seem enough.
3 Hours after walking into the school, I found myself standing in my buddy teachers room greeting parents and students of my class. It was great to meet the students and see where they were at with the whole school thing and it was really great to have the parents there asking questions and caring about their child’s education.
This experience has been full of various emotions – joy, happiness, nervousness, fear, tiredness and many, many more. At times I have felt unsure and in over my head but I know that I can do this and in the long run it will be one of those experiences you talk about in years to come.
Tired is the state I constantly find myself in, so in saying that I bid you all a good night!
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