Coming together, falling apart

It's a work day, and for a little time things are coming together. At least I feel as though I'm able to take a few minutes to think, to write, and to share a bit of the "ordinary" which is still so extraordinary to me.

Since the Velvet Revolution (1989 -- see Wikipedia if you're interested) there's been a constant growth in the number of people/schools teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL). St. James Education Centre was founded (in 1999 by a Czech from Canada) specifically to teach English to and work with the business community. The Centre doesn't offer "public" or personal classes. It has contracts with major businesses to provide language training (several others as well as English) to their employees. I still have to do a frequent reality check. It is not yet commonplace to me -- and I hope it never becomes so -- that I've been so blessed to be in this city I love doing work which seems to bring together so many parts of my life. To make it even better, I have a growing circle of colleagues I really enjoy who are becoming friends. Talk about coming together - - -

And then there's falling apart! It feels as though there is some part of every day where I am convinced I'm absolutely falling apart. Here's an RD version of a work day. This is NOT complaining! It is a look at a typical day.

Leave my pension (still am working -- and it is like having a second job -- at finding long-term accommodation) between 6:30 and 7 in the morning. That is before the breakfast buffet opens! Short walk (hooray!) to my nearby tram. I do love riding the trams and am still fascinated with the wonderful old buildings at every turn. Incredible statues looking down on you. Yes, really bending as if to watch over you. Michael called my attention to that on my first trip, and I've been watching it ever since. Beautiful ornamentation, sometimes subtle, sometimes not, in the most unexpected places. Delicate colors standing side by side with centuries old gray. This first ride is always followed by another, usually tram, sometimes metro (that's a subway with more steps and a longer walk!), and almost always a long walk to the client's office. Yep, I can be tired before I even begin to work!

My classes last from 60 to 120 minutes, some with individual students, none with more than four. Three days of the week the schedule is back-to-back, sometimes with barely enough time to make it! Lots of walking, climbing, hurrying. Also lots of shifting mental gears. Some students are advanced, some not so, and a few at Pre-intermediate. That means they know quite a bit of English, but are learning a business approach for it. Almost always they are using English with another non-native speaker. That certainly adds another level of difficulty!

A couple days include a period of a couple hours where I can go to the office -- it's VERY near my pension, and I'll miss that when I find my new place. Three days are not over till after six, and one is eight. And that is my longest commute -- nearly an hour.

At the end of every month we have to report on our classes for the month: attendance, what the goals were and how they were met, etc. And here I am at the end of my first month! I have 16 different classes during a week. I can hardly believe how very fortunate I am yet again. My schedule was filled very quickly after I arrived. And we also have the usual required faculty meetings and training sessions.

All of which leads me to the falling apart place. I have moments -- very brief, but very real -- when I have to pay serious attention to which tram will take me where I want to go. And there is comfort (small comfort when the schedule's tight) in knowing that if I ride past my stop I can always get off at the next one. And a couple times I've said "when we discussed. . ." only to have a blank look on a student's face. Oh yes, that was a different class. And there are certainly evenings when I believe I cannot move another inch even if there were a fire!

Yes, it's coming together. I can shop, feel comfortable moving through the city, do laundry, understand and do my work, all those things that move us through each day. And it seems to me I still have way too many times when I feel very close to falling apart.

Maybe I'm not one of those figures held together with elastic. Remember them? You could pull the head/arms/legs into many different weird positions, then pop them back into place. Eventually all the pulling left the elastic with no more snap! Perhaps each time I keep it all together the connections get stronger. For now - - - it's coming together!