Greetings, dear reader, from the US where I have spent the last three days trying to figure out how to empty out my storage. It’s my own version of an “everything must go” sale, without getting any money. So all of the work and none of the rewards. The week leading up to our trip to the US was quite busy, both in terms of preparing for the trip but also because I had to run around to the City Council to get a background check.
While this is required for The Conversation Playground in order to work for them, I figured it would not be a bad thing to have as it applies to the whole of the Netherlands and maybe parents would be more likely to hire me if they knew that I’m in possession of such a thing. But I can tell you that the stress of trying to run around while I was trying to pack, as well as clean up from Thanksgiving’s party, as well as teach for the English Center and VIPKid, was an exercise in patience and letting go. It wasn’t so much that I had to get the permit, that took a half an hour. But I had to get the application from The Conversation Playground and that took a long time.
Over at the English Center, lots of nice things are happening for me. I have my Dutch guys coming back to me for another 15 hours of lessons on Mondays, I have the Japanese couple coming back to me on Monday evenings and another Dutch client coming back to me for another eighteen hours, all of this is starting in February. I’ve also been selected to teach a pre-intermediate English class starting on 21 January. You’d think that would be very simple, wouldn’t you? Except that I went and I booked a trip to Greece from 15 January through the 22nd. Which means that I would miss the first of my own classes. There is, however, a light at the end of this particular tunnel. Remember the two intermediate business English classes that I taught for a colleague? He has now offered to take my first class. and providing that’s OK with the English Center, I’m happy to have him do it and then take the other 11 classes. They happen twice a week on a Tuesday and a Thursday from 10-12. This means €80 a day, but if I can get a Conversation Playground class on a Tuesday, that will be a decent enough working day. Fingers crossed.
Writing-wise, this week I attended my writers’ group in Amsterdam and actually got some really good editing done. I am hopeful that over vacation I’ll be able to do a bit more editing/writing. At least until everybody from Jasper’s family comes for Christmas and there will be no time to think let alone write. I’m also hoping to attend the Washington Creative Writers Club. But I’m not sure that I will feel as if I belong. That’s been a staple of the last few years of coming to DC from Amsterdam. This is Christmas number three and the more I come back the less I feel like this is home. The problem is I don’t actually feel like Amsterdam is home either. At least not yet. Maybe it’s Jasper that is home. Which is a burden I don’t want to give to anyone, let alone Jasper.
That’s all she wrote for this Inkreadable installment. But stay tuned. As always, there’s more to come.
Inkreadable 