After our Vietnam interview, we figured nothing could go as badly or feel as awkward as that. What would we have to loose with Honduras?
We knew NOTHING about Honduras or the school. We ran to the computer lab, right before the tech guy came in to start boxing up all the computers, to do some quick research. We didn't really research the country at all. We just needed information on the school. What we found, we loved. It sounded great - an almost perfect match to our philosophies and beliefs. With that, we left to grab a quick bite to eat.
It was weird being there on the last day, because most people had either signed a contract or left earlier that day. By this time, I think it was 1pm or so in the afternoon. Our plan was to catch the shuttle back to our hotel at 2:30 (since it ran every half hour on the first and last day of the fair), and then the shuttle to the airport was picking us up at 3. The convention center was pretty empty and it felt like only the "rejects" were left. I was wondering why the schools still interviewing on this last day hadn't filled positions yet. What was wrong with them!?!? Why didn't people want their jobs? But I pushed that thought to the back of my head, eager to get this interview over with and know if we were going home employed or unemployed.
The woman interviewing us was again super nice and easy to talk with. I thought Megan and I did a great job answering the questions again, and leaving enough for the other person to elaborate on. We let her know what we liked about the school - what we had researched so far. It should have been a warning sign, but she didn't even finish asking us questions. She didn't ask us to elaborate on our teaching styles or our philosophies. Yes, we did say that they were very similar to the school's, but we could have been making that up for all she knows. Although I'm sure we were very sincere and enthusiastic, it seemed weird that she didn't ask us more important questions. Even if you have a great feeling about someone, wouldn't you want to make sure they would be a good fit in every aspect?
Looking back, I think she was a little desperate. And I still don't know why she hadn't filled the spots earlier in the weekend if everything she said was true. Later I would learn that Honduras has recently overthrown their president, the drug cartels are a little out of control and the capital city isn't the safest place to live. At this time, though, I knew none of this, and I was just excited to be looking at pictures of paradise - the beaches, deep blue oceans and palm trees. We didn't see pictures of the town, the city streets, the school or the apartments we would be living in. And being so excited about how well the interview was going and about the possibility that we might actually come out with a job, I wasn't really thinking about anything else.
After only a few questions, she said that she really liked us and asked if we had any questions. We did ask some good questions - about transportation (which sucks there), housing, salary/accommodations, other teachers, nightlife, food/water and safety. She did admit it wasn't the safest place, although she has a car and drives everywhere. She admitted to us that it wasn't safe at night for us to walk the streets together, and perhaps not during the day. Later she retraced that statement, saying she didn't mean to scare us. She just is overly-cautious with safety. One good question she did ask us was, "What do we want or need out of a supervisor/principal?" We both agreed that we need to feel comfortable talking with them and asking for help. We said we need to feel that they are on our side, and support us when it comes to our students and their parents. She made it sound like the administration was everything we hoped it would be.
From asking a bunch of questions and later emailing teachers who work there, here's some information we gathered.
The school is far enough away from where most people live that you need to figure out on your own how to get to and from school. It's not safe to walk around at night, even with another girl, and you need to be careful in many parts during the day. Walking to school isn't an option, and they didn't have public transportation buses to take. She said some people carpool and others buy scooters/motorcycles. Others make deals with taxis to come pick them up in the morning and at night. Hmmm. I don't like relying on other people for rides, and we would later learn from a teacher who works there that carpooling doesn't really happen. I don't want to have to pay a freaking taxi every day to get to and from work. The woman interviewing us did say that transportation is one of the biggest reasons people leave. It's hard to get around. And I, personally, don't want to spend what LITTLE money I would be making in Honduras to buy a motorcycle. Plus, people drive crazy down there anyways, and if I'm going to get hit on one of those, I'm pretty sure I'd be toast.
She made the apartments sound doable and said she had talked to the board, and they had just increased the salary so people could afford nicer apartments. With how little we would be getting paid, and with how cheap the cost of living is down there, it seemed like apartments cost a lot for what you got. Later, Megan and I were emailing another female teacher who is around our age. She was awesome, very truthful and honest. She said that if you're single or have an apartment by yourself, you can't afford a decent one. She said that together, we would be able to afford an ok one, but the ones the school sets up for you are crap.
This girl we were emailing worked at the middle school. She did say several times, "Oh, ya, I was told that at the UNI fair too, but this is how it really is..." It was just dis-concerning that there were so many things that we were told at the fair that we later learned were embellished or just not true.
Of all things, safety was my number one concern. Megan had some family friends (boys who were avid travelers) who told us that anywhere else in Honduras might be okay, but since this school is in the capital city, that's not such a good idea. They said they probably wouldn't even go there. Not a good sign. My parents talked to some people who had traveled down there and some other people who had lived in neighboring countries. I kept hearing about how unsafe it was and how "rough" it is down there. I would love, love, LOVE to travel through South and Central America someday, but I think that starting out as a "newbie" traveler, living in the capital city of Honduras is not the best places to start. Especially since we'd be signing a two year contract. I did a TON of research on my own - reading over everything posted by the US Embassy, newspapers and blogs from Honduras and the US and talking with people who have traveled through that area. Some close friends said it sounded great, but again, they had never LIVED there for two years. Yes, I hear it's beautiful too, but did you know that they just overthrew their president? Or did you hear about the random bombings during the day by unmarked cars? Not something I want to be involved in.
Someday I hope to travel through that area, but I have no desire to live there for two years. And I don't feel it's respectful to be signing a contract, telling them we'll be there for two years, with intentions of leaving after one. Or not feeling confident at all that we'd be able to make it one year! That's not fair to them. Plus, breaking a contract is never a good idea, in or out of the US.
In the end, it wasn't just safety that persuaded me to say "no". It was the fact that so many things the recruiter told us were completely different from what these other teachers experienced. This one teacher did do a lot of traveling and said she didn't regret her decision. She said you just have to be smart, but she wasn't staying more than her two years. She was down there with her boyfriend though, and I hate to say it, but that makes a huge difference! I would probably contemplate it more if I was going with a guy too. But as two, young females with light hair, eyes and skin, I didn't think that was such a good idea.
It was hard separating my emotions. I was thrilled with the job offer and excited about exploring a new country and traveling. I just feel so incredibly ready to go away and have a new adventure. But I had to make sure that I wasn't going to be accepting a job just because I am tired of nannying. I didn't want to accept this job just because I want an adventure. I didn't want to accept this job just because it was our "last option"(even though it's not). It was honestly one of the hardest decisions I've ever made - probably second to when I had to decide about graduate school. Going with my gut (although my gut was pretty confused the whole time), I had to say no. I didn't make this decision lightly. I did a ton of research and talked to a lot of people. I weighed both sides for days. I didn't sleep for a week. If saying yes was the right choice, then why didn't I feel excited about going? There were just too many solid reasons not to go, and I felt like I should be more excited and have a better feeling about going if I really wanted to go. It was also a hard decision, because Megan wanted to go. She wanted to say yes, but she wasn't going to go alone. So I felt like my decision was deciding both of our futures. I wasn't going to say yes just for her. I was doing what I had to do, but it was still a hard choice, and I'm sure she was disappointed.
In the end, I don't regret my decision at all. I know it was the right decision for me. I do want to teach abroad and travel and have an adventure. This last week or two I have been researching and emailing international schools in Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Poland, Austria, Luxembourg, London, and Sweden. We'll see if something happens. I've only had a couple schools email me back saying they didn't have any openings. I've also only had 2 schools email me back saying they needed to hire people with more experience. A bunch of schools said they've forwarded my materials, will be looking over all applicants and they will let me know soon if I've been short-listed for an interview.
I do have an interview for a school in Germany on Monday. I'm not giving up...
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Friday, February 19, 2010
Saturday. The second longest day of our lives.
Friday was such a long day. It literally seemed like it had been a couple days. On Saturday we realized we had only known our new friends for a day, literally. But it honestly seemed like a week. It was the craziest thing...our whole sense of time was off the whole trip - waking up early, eating at weird times, and not sleeping because of nerves. My brain felt like it was going to explode every night...I couldn't turn it off. There was too much to think about.
Somehow, we both managed to fall asleep on Friday night. I think we were just so exhausted from the longest day of our life, and then that pitcher we split at the bar helped lull us to sleep.
The crazy shuttle was supposed to be running on the hour, every hour Saturday and Sunday. By the time it got to our hotel, it was suppose to be there at a quarter after. The shuttle guy had his own idea apparently, and we were getting a little worried waiting for it Saturday morning. Our interview was at 9 and by 8:20 it still hadn't come. We were contemplating asking random strangers at the hotel for a ride. Don't worry, anyone going to the job fair had a name tag. And they're teachers...they could be trusted. :)
The shuttle did pick us up and we got to the convention center with a few minutes to spare. We were ready for our Germany interview. And it was AWESOME. If we got nothing else out of the job fair, it was amazing practice at interviewing. I don't know if Megan felt the same way as me about interviewing, but in the past, everything I've wanted to say sounds right in my head, but when I spoke, it never EVER came out the way I wanted it to. My new thought process at the job fair was to relax and not worry. I had to tell myself that I didn't really care, and whatever happens is going to happen. I know my stuff...I can't worry about what they want to hear or what I should be saying. I just needed to have a relaxed conversation, and it worked. Megan and I both felt that our Germany interview went extremely well. The woman we talked with was amazing, and so easy to converse with. And the school was everything we wanted. Coming out of the interview, we both couldn't think of anything we would have changed.
It was funny, because we had our interviews together. We weren't sure how they were going to do it, or how WE were going to respond. We thought it was going to be hard when the interviewer asked one of us a question, and then asked the other one the same question. Somehow, Meg and I both did such a great job at saying part of the answer but enough to sound like we knew what we were talking about, and left enough ideas for the other one to expand on. It was nice when the interviewer switched off who she asked the question first to, but I was amazed at how well Megan and I interviewed together. We hadn't even talked about how it was going to work. I just remember sitting in the room, and a question was asked to Megan. I was listening to everything she was saying (which was great but also exactly what I would say), hoping that there would be enough left over for me to talk about so I wouldn't be one of those people that says, "Um, yea, what she said. I agree with her." We never once had to do that.
We had a good feeling about our Germany interview and planned to attend their informational presentation later in the day to get more information about the school, but to also show how interested we truly were. At 10:30, we had an interview with the school from Mexico that had offered us a job prior to the job fair. We knew they only had one position available, so it wasn't really an interview, but the principal liked us. He told us that we were the only ones he even interviewed that didn't have previous experience. Although it was a little awkward, since we had turned them down before the fair, he did give us good advice and we got some information about other schools we were looking into. But his main advice, which we were so tired of hearing, was to get some experience. Ya ya ya. How the heck are we suppose to get experience if no one is willing to hire us, let alone interview us? Jeeze! Talk about frustrating.
Our interview at 11 had been canceled by the Indonesian superintendent so we went to a presentation on a school in Brazil. When Megan and I had given the guy our resumes at the Round Robin, he said that if we're really interested, we need to come to the presentation. He said they take role. Well, no, they didn't take role, but they did remember "The Meg(h)ans". Although it was hard to find schools with two elementary positions, we did have an advantage having the same name. Even schools that rejected us, remembered us...passing us in the hall or meeting in the elevator, they would say something about "The Meg(h)ans". It was kind of nice to be recognized. The school in Brazil had already filled up their interview slots but said they would let us know if something opened up. Well, it didn't.
Next we had an interview with a school in Torreon Mexico. It was a great interview again. The woman interviewing us was very, very friendly and easy to talk to. She said that she had liked us from the beginning and was very happy to be interviewing us. Although the interview went great, we weren't too sure about the area or the school. We ended up attending their presentation, and found out more information. The school is VERY poor. Not that we have to work in a rich school, but they didn't have many materials and the pay wasn't going to be enough for us to keep paying off student loans. Plus, Torreon isn't the safest place. Recently in Torreon, a bar was randomly shot up and 15 died or were seriously injured. Not really a place I desire to go. They wanted to hire us too, but we had to write them a "thank you but no thank you" note.
We were supposed to have an interview at 2:30 for a school in Honduras, but we received a note in our box saying they had filled the positions but good luck. Our last interview was at 4:30 for another school in Torreon, and from what we had just learned, we decided to cancel our interview with them and head back to the hotel.
Germany had said they would let us know Friday night or Saturday morning (in our mailbox at the convention center) either way. Aaron had accepted a job in Qatar and was going to dinner with his new principal, so we asked him to check our box when he was done with dinner. He did, and there was no word from them that night.
We weren't sure how early to get to the convention center to be checking our box in the morning. Germany was pretty much our last and only option at this point, but we didn't want to get there early and wait around all day, just for a note in our box. But we didn't want to not come and miss a potential interview either. The woman in charge of the entire UNI job fair was SOOOOO nice, and gave us her cell phone number. She said she had to be there at 7am on Sunday anyways, so to just call her at 7:30 and she'd check our box for us and let us know.
Saturday night, Aaron, Megan and I decided we needed to have some fun and celebrate Aaron's job and our awesome Germany interview. We went to a couple local bars and had a good time that night. Probably not the smartest move, because of the potential interview in the morning, but it was worth it. We needed to have some fun in Iowa.
7:30am came way too quickly, but I called her cell phone and crossed my fingers. No luck, but she said to call back every half hour and she'd check again. Nicest lady EVER! We decided to get up at 8:30 at eat some hotel breakfast before it closed. While we were at breakfast, she called back and said there was a school from Vietnam that wanted to interview us in an hour and half. We rushed back to the room to shower and get ready. While Megan was in the shower, she called back. There was a note from Germany in our box and she read it to me. The note read:
Dear Megan and Meghan,
Thank you very much for your interest in our schools. Unfortunately we could not offer you a position at this time, but would like to stay in contact for upcoming vacancies maybe next school year. Best Regards.
I knew I wanted a job at this school, but I guess I didn't realize how much I REALLY wanted it. Not until I heard the note and hung up. I felt like I had been punched in the stomach. It was so upsetting, because we had such a good feeling about our interview. At least they didn't say we sucked (not that they would), but they didn't have to say to keep in touch, unless they really meant it. They could have said, thank you but no thank you.
I ended up calling home right after and started crying on the phone. It sucks when you have no control. It sucks when I thought it sent so perfectly, that I honestly couldn't think of one thing we could have changed. I'm sure there were things we could have elaborated on or said differently, but we had a damn good interview. I don't mean to toot my own horn, but it was awesome. And I don't usually have that feeling.
Well, it was onto Vietnam. That interview didn't go so well. The woman, first of all, asked if we were lesbians. Straight up. And seriously, who cares? And why should it matter? I was actually pretty offended. I guess they can ask you all sorts of personal questions overseas, but I don't think that's cool. She wanted to make sure we were just friends who wanted to teach together and not "partners". She said frankly that her superior would not support that and it's such small community..blah blah blah. I totally tuned her out. That first statement just turned me off completely. Let alone she was upset that we didn't have more experience. I wanted to 1.) Punch her in the face for her first comment and 2.) Punch her in the face again for clearly not reading our resumes. It states on there how much experience we have, and if you want someone with more, then don't waste our time by interviewing us. Needless to say we were polite but left feeling hopeless.
We did have one last minute interview though. Honduras.
Somehow, we both managed to fall asleep on Friday night. I think we were just so exhausted from the longest day of our life, and then that pitcher we split at the bar helped lull us to sleep.
The crazy shuttle was supposed to be running on the hour, every hour Saturday and Sunday. By the time it got to our hotel, it was suppose to be there at a quarter after. The shuttle guy had his own idea apparently, and we were getting a little worried waiting for it Saturday morning. Our interview was at 9 and by 8:20 it still hadn't come. We were contemplating asking random strangers at the hotel for a ride. Don't worry, anyone going to the job fair had a name tag. And they're teachers...they could be trusted. :)
The shuttle did pick us up and we got to the convention center with a few minutes to spare. We were ready for our Germany interview. And it was AWESOME. If we got nothing else out of the job fair, it was amazing practice at interviewing. I don't know if Megan felt the same way as me about interviewing, but in the past, everything I've wanted to say sounds right in my head, but when I spoke, it never EVER came out the way I wanted it to. My new thought process at the job fair was to relax and not worry. I had to tell myself that I didn't really care, and whatever happens is going to happen. I know my stuff...I can't worry about what they want to hear or what I should be saying. I just needed to have a relaxed conversation, and it worked. Megan and I both felt that our Germany interview went extremely well. The woman we talked with was amazing, and so easy to converse with. And the school was everything we wanted. Coming out of the interview, we both couldn't think of anything we would have changed.
It was funny, because we had our interviews together. We weren't sure how they were going to do it, or how WE were going to respond. We thought it was going to be hard when the interviewer asked one of us a question, and then asked the other one the same question. Somehow, Meg and I both did such a great job at saying part of the answer but enough to sound like we knew what we were talking about, and left enough ideas for the other one to expand on. It was nice when the interviewer switched off who she asked the question first to, but I was amazed at how well Megan and I interviewed together. We hadn't even talked about how it was going to work. I just remember sitting in the room, and a question was asked to Megan. I was listening to everything she was saying (which was great but also exactly what I would say), hoping that there would be enough left over for me to talk about so I wouldn't be one of those people that says, "Um, yea, what she said. I agree with her." We never once had to do that.
We had a good feeling about our Germany interview and planned to attend their informational presentation later in the day to get more information about the school, but to also show how interested we truly were. At 10:30, we had an interview with the school from Mexico that had offered us a job prior to the job fair. We knew they only had one position available, so it wasn't really an interview, but the principal liked us. He told us that we were the only ones he even interviewed that didn't have previous experience. Although it was a little awkward, since we had turned them down before the fair, he did give us good advice and we got some information about other schools we were looking into. But his main advice, which we were so tired of hearing, was to get some experience. Ya ya ya. How the heck are we suppose to get experience if no one is willing to hire us, let alone interview us? Jeeze! Talk about frustrating.
Our interview at 11 had been canceled by the Indonesian superintendent so we went to a presentation on a school in Brazil. When Megan and I had given the guy our resumes at the Round Robin, he said that if we're really interested, we need to come to the presentation. He said they take role. Well, no, they didn't take role, but they did remember "The Meg(h)ans". Although it was hard to find schools with two elementary positions, we did have an advantage having the same name. Even schools that rejected us, remembered us...passing us in the hall or meeting in the elevator, they would say something about "The Meg(h)ans". It was kind of nice to be recognized. The school in Brazil had already filled up their interview slots but said they would let us know if something opened up. Well, it didn't.
Next we had an interview with a school in Torreon Mexico. It was a great interview again. The woman interviewing us was very, very friendly and easy to talk to. She said that she had liked us from the beginning and was very happy to be interviewing us. Although the interview went great, we weren't too sure about the area or the school. We ended up attending their presentation, and found out more information. The school is VERY poor. Not that we have to work in a rich school, but they didn't have many materials and the pay wasn't going to be enough for us to keep paying off student loans. Plus, Torreon isn't the safest place. Recently in Torreon, a bar was randomly shot up and 15 died or were seriously injured. Not really a place I desire to go. They wanted to hire us too, but we had to write them a "thank you but no thank you" note.
We were supposed to have an interview at 2:30 for a school in Honduras, but we received a note in our box saying they had filled the positions but good luck. Our last interview was at 4:30 for another school in Torreon, and from what we had just learned, we decided to cancel our interview with them and head back to the hotel.
Germany had said they would let us know Friday night or Saturday morning (in our mailbox at the convention center) either way. Aaron had accepted a job in Qatar and was going to dinner with his new principal, so we asked him to check our box when he was done with dinner. He did, and there was no word from them that night.
We weren't sure how early to get to the convention center to be checking our box in the morning. Germany was pretty much our last and only option at this point, but we didn't want to get there early and wait around all day, just for a note in our box. But we didn't want to not come and miss a potential interview either. The woman in charge of the entire UNI job fair was SOOOOO nice, and gave us her cell phone number. She said she had to be there at 7am on Sunday anyways, so to just call her at 7:30 and she'd check our box for us and let us know.
Saturday night, Aaron, Megan and I decided we needed to have some fun and celebrate Aaron's job and our awesome Germany interview. We went to a couple local bars and had a good time that night. Probably not the smartest move, because of the potential interview in the morning, but it was worth it. We needed to have some fun in Iowa.
7:30am came way too quickly, but I called her cell phone and crossed my fingers. No luck, but she said to call back every half hour and she'd check again. Nicest lady EVER! We decided to get up at 8:30 at eat some hotel breakfast before it closed. While we were at breakfast, she called back and said there was a school from Vietnam that wanted to interview us in an hour and half. We rushed back to the room to shower and get ready. While Megan was in the shower, she called back. There was a note from Germany in our box and she read it to me. The note read:
Dear Megan and Meghan,
Thank you very much for your interest in our schools. Unfortunately we could not offer you a position at this time, but would like to stay in contact for upcoming vacancies maybe next school year. Best Regards.
I knew I wanted a job at this school, but I guess I didn't realize how much I REALLY wanted it. Not until I heard the note and hung up. I felt like I had been punched in the stomach. It was so upsetting, because we had such a good feeling about our interview. At least they didn't say we sucked (not that they would), but they didn't have to say to keep in touch, unless they really meant it. They could have said, thank you but no thank you.
I ended up calling home right after and started crying on the phone. It sucks when you have no control. It sucks when I thought it sent so perfectly, that I honestly couldn't think of one thing we could have changed. I'm sure there were things we could have elaborated on or said differently, but we had a damn good interview. I don't mean to toot my own horn, but it was awesome. And I don't usually have that feeling.
Well, it was onto Vietnam. That interview didn't go so well. The woman, first of all, asked if we were lesbians. Straight up. And seriously, who cares? And why should it matter? I was actually pretty offended. I guess they can ask you all sorts of personal questions overseas, but I don't think that's cool. She wanted to make sure we were just friends who wanted to teach together and not "partners". She said frankly that her superior would not support that and it's such small community..blah blah blah. I totally tuned her out. That first statement just turned me off completely. Let alone she was upset that we didn't have more experience. I wanted to 1.) Punch her in the face for her first comment and 2.) Punch her in the face again for clearly not reading our resumes. It states on there how much experience we have, and if you want someone with more, then don't waste our time by interviewing us. Needless to say we were polite but left feeling hopeless.
We did have one last minute interview though. Honduras.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Who needs sleep anyways!?
Getting up at 5am after going to bed past 10 is not ideal when you're going to interview the next morning.
After catching the shuttle on time and making it to the convention center around 7, we looked in our "mailbox" and pulled out tons of information. For the first hour or so, Meg and I just went through the paperwork and highlighted schools with multiple openings for elementary teachers. Then we marked where the tables were set up in the round robin room so we could have a game plan of who to talk to first.
We had met a guy on our plane from Idaho (Jason) who was also going to the fair and we ran into him. He had just met a guy from Oregon (Aaron) so it was fun to hang out with them over the weekend. We went to an orientation in the morning where they gave a rundown of the days events, gave us advice and answered questions. It was funny to look around, because everyone (including Meg and me) were dressed in suits. Although everyone looked nice, nobody looked like a teacher. (The next day I was wearing black pants and a purple sweater, and a man at our hotel said to me, "Ah much better. You guys look like teachers now. The suits...they just didn't make you look like teachers.") Everyone was ultra-professionally dressed the first day, because that was the day you signed up for interviews. Thank goodness I didn't have to wear that suit more than once. Along with small planes, suits are also not my thing.
At 10 we had a food break. Our eating schedules were off the whole trip, because eating so early meant we were hungry at 10, but eating lunch at 10 just seemed weird. I have never seen a Subway so packed in my life. But there really weren't too many options within a block of the convention center, and it was so cold out that we didn't want to walk too far. After nibbling away nervously at a sandwich and thinking about signing up for interviews, the time had finally come for the Round Robin. The main doors opened and everyone stormed through, getting in line at various schools' tables in hopes of landing an interview time slot. Looking back, it would have been smart if Meg and I had split up. We could have conquered more ground and probably gotten more interviews. I didn't realize that the time slots would fill up so quickly.
Let's just say we did not have high spirits at the end of this first day. It was extremely frustrating. It was frustrating because there were many schools that listed multiple openings in the paperwork (that was supposed to be current), but as we walked around the tables, their signs read differently. Many schools we were hoping to interview with only had one opening now. Switzerland was especially frustrating. We had been emailing back and forth several times with the director who was excited that we both went to Oregon. We had both sent him our resumes and he had our whole file accessible to him. It was clear he's either an idiot (that's my vote) or didn't read our resumes, because as soon as we got to the front of the line, he looked at our resumes and said, "Oh, you only have subbing? Both of you? No full time experience? No, that will not do. I can't even interview you. And you both have BS degrees in Education? Well we're not looking for that...." I wanted to slap him in the face. Meg and I politely said thank you anyways and walked off, cursing Switzerland under our breath as we walked away.
We started out polite. I swear. But that Round Robin session wore on us pretty quickly. We understood that some schools filled positions right away, or some schools required teachers to have two full years of teaching. But what frustrated us so much, is that they didn't even give us a chance. If they would just give us a chance and let us explain our experiences and how much we've learned from substituting and gotten to know us a little bit, I bet they would have liked what they heard. Oh well, it's their loss.
Indonesia was another frustrating school. I had had an interview before traveling to Iowa with the principal and he was great. I think the interview went really well. He knew of my experiences and that wasn't a problem. I was interviewing for a kindergarten position, and then they also had a 3rd grade and a 4th grade opening. The principal had told me to talk to the superintendent (who shall remain nameless)and so Megan and I went up to him right away. He took one look at our resumes and pretty much laughed in our faces, exclaiming that he couldn't possibly hire two girls with no experience. He was so incredibly rude and de-grading in the way he talked to us that Meg and I got all fired up and started arguing back. We tried to be polite, and I think we were, but we weren't going away with out a little fight. We tried to explain, "I understand that you are looking for people with more experience. However, the principal knew of both of our experiences and was fine with it. We had a great interview, and I can tell you that we are confident, capable and enthusiastic about being teachers at your school..." and then he had to make some snide remark about, "Oh ya, I can teeeeell you're enthusiastic." He was awful, and looking back, I wouldn't have wanted to work for him anyways. It was just frustrating that he and the principal were on totally different pages. Not cool.
By this time our little Indonesia event happened, we had already given our resumes to Greece, Germany, Honduras, Costa Rica and Brazil schools who were going to contact us later if they wanted to interview us. We had signed up for an interview with another Germany school for Saturday morning at 9am. Also at this time, Poland and a lot of other schools we were hoping to interview with had either filled up their time slots or didn't have more than 1 position available. We literally walked down every aisle finding schools with 2 or more openings and just handed them our resumes, hoping to interview. We didn't even care where at this point. I think we hit the line of 5 Mexican schools in row, ventured over to Brazil and even hit up other countries we never would have thought to go. The school in Mexico where we had previously been offered a job now only had 1 position available. This wasn't cool either. But when all hell broke loose at the Indonesia table, we knew it was time to call it quits. We had a few interviews lined up for Saturday, but just needed to get out of there.
So we went to a bar :) Dad you would be so proud. Drinks in Iowa are cheap too, as is food, so it was a nice surprise. The dollar fifty pint of Blue Moon brightened our spirits a little bit.
At 4pm we had an interview with a school from Mexico. Weird I can't even remember who it was with. It went fine, and then we returned to our hotel to change before the "Social" that night.
It felt sooooo good to change out of a suit and into dress pants. They had some snacks for us to much on and a bar where we bought a few drinks. There were principals and directors from schools mingling with everyone vying for a job. It was fun though, because everyone was so friendly! We'd be talking to someone about some school and they would have just talked to another group of people about the same place so they'd introduce us and we'd get some good tips or information that way. It was neat that everyone was trying to help each other out. Megan and I did manage to line up another interview with some women from a school in Torreon, Mexico the next day.
Aaron, Jason, Meg and I decided to hit up one more bar before calling it a night. It was fun just relaxing and having a beer after a crazy frustrating day. We decided to go home when some college party bus pulled up and they stormed into the bar after doing a beer bong out the bus window. I had forgotten we were in a college town. At least the next day we didn't have to be there until 9am for our interview.
After catching the shuttle on time and making it to the convention center around 7, we looked in our "mailbox" and pulled out tons of information. For the first hour or so, Meg and I just went through the paperwork and highlighted schools with multiple openings for elementary teachers. Then we marked where the tables were set up in the round robin room so we could have a game plan of who to talk to first.
We had met a guy on our plane from Idaho (Jason) who was also going to the fair and we ran into him. He had just met a guy from Oregon (Aaron) so it was fun to hang out with them over the weekend. We went to an orientation in the morning where they gave a rundown of the days events, gave us advice and answered questions. It was funny to look around, because everyone (including Meg and me) were dressed in suits. Although everyone looked nice, nobody looked like a teacher. (The next day I was wearing black pants and a purple sweater, and a man at our hotel said to me, "Ah much better. You guys look like teachers now. The suits...they just didn't make you look like teachers.") Everyone was ultra-professionally dressed the first day, because that was the day you signed up for interviews. Thank goodness I didn't have to wear that suit more than once. Along with small planes, suits are also not my thing.
At 10 we had a food break. Our eating schedules were off the whole trip, because eating so early meant we were hungry at 10, but eating lunch at 10 just seemed weird. I have never seen a Subway so packed in my life. But there really weren't too many options within a block of the convention center, and it was so cold out that we didn't want to walk too far. After nibbling away nervously at a sandwich and thinking about signing up for interviews, the time had finally come for the Round Robin. The main doors opened and everyone stormed through, getting in line at various schools' tables in hopes of landing an interview time slot. Looking back, it would have been smart if Meg and I had split up. We could have conquered more ground and probably gotten more interviews. I didn't realize that the time slots would fill up so quickly.
Let's just say we did not have high spirits at the end of this first day. It was extremely frustrating. It was frustrating because there were many schools that listed multiple openings in the paperwork (that was supposed to be current), but as we walked around the tables, their signs read differently. Many schools we were hoping to interview with only had one opening now. Switzerland was especially frustrating. We had been emailing back and forth several times with the director who was excited that we both went to Oregon. We had both sent him our resumes and he had our whole file accessible to him. It was clear he's either an idiot (that's my vote) or didn't read our resumes, because as soon as we got to the front of the line, he looked at our resumes and said, "Oh, you only have subbing? Both of you? No full time experience? No, that will not do. I can't even interview you. And you both have BS degrees in Education? Well we're not looking for that...." I wanted to slap him in the face. Meg and I politely said thank you anyways and walked off, cursing Switzerland under our breath as we walked away.
We started out polite. I swear. But that Round Robin session wore on us pretty quickly. We understood that some schools filled positions right away, or some schools required teachers to have two full years of teaching. But what frustrated us so much, is that they didn't even give us a chance. If they would just give us a chance and let us explain our experiences and how much we've learned from substituting and gotten to know us a little bit, I bet they would have liked what they heard. Oh well, it's their loss.
Indonesia was another frustrating school. I had had an interview before traveling to Iowa with the principal and he was great. I think the interview went really well. He knew of my experiences and that wasn't a problem. I was interviewing for a kindergarten position, and then they also had a 3rd grade and a 4th grade opening. The principal had told me to talk to the superintendent (who shall remain nameless)and so Megan and I went up to him right away. He took one look at our resumes and pretty much laughed in our faces, exclaiming that he couldn't possibly hire two girls with no experience. He was so incredibly rude and de-grading in the way he talked to us that Meg and I got all fired up and started arguing back. We tried to be polite, and I think we were, but we weren't going away with out a little fight. We tried to explain, "I understand that you are looking for people with more experience. However, the principal knew of both of our experiences and was fine with it. We had a great interview, and I can tell you that we are confident, capable and enthusiastic about being teachers at your school..." and then he had to make some snide remark about, "Oh ya, I can teeeeell you're enthusiastic." He was awful, and looking back, I wouldn't have wanted to work for him anyways. It was just frustrating that he and the principal were on totally different pages. Not cool.
By this time our little Indonesia event happened, we had already given our resumes to Greece, Germany, Honduras, Costa Rica and Brazil schools who were going to contact us later if they wanted to interview us. We had signed up for an interview with another Germany school for Saturday morning at 9am. Also at this time, Poland and a lot of other schools we were hoping to interview with had either filled up their time slots or didn't have more than 1 position available. We literally walked down every aisle finding schools with 2 or more openings and just handed them our resumes, hoping to interview. We didn't even care where at this point. I think we hit the line of 5 Mexican schools in row, ventured over to Brazil and even hit up other countries we never would have thought to go. The school in Mexico where we had previously been offered a job now only had 1 position available. This wasn't cool either. But when all hell broke loose at the Indonesia table, we knew it was time to call it quits. We had a few interviews lined up for Saturday, but just needed to get out of there.
So we went to a bar :) Dad you would be so proud. Drinks in Iowa are cheap too, as is food, so it was a nice surprise. The dollar fifty pint of Blue Moon brightened our spirits a little bit.
At 4pm we had an interview with a school from Mexico. Weird I can't even remember who it was with. It went fine, and then we returned to our hotel to change before the "Social" that night.
It felt sooooo good to change out of a suit and into dress pants. They had some snacks for us to much on and a bar where we bought a few drinks. There were principals and directors from schools mingling with everyone vying for a job. It was fun though, because everyone was so friendly! We'd be talking to someone about some school and they would have just talked to another group of people about the same place so they'd introduce us and we'd get some good tips or information that way. It was neat that everyone was trying to help each other out. Megan and I did manage to line up another interview with some women from a school in Torreon, Mexico the next day.
Aaron, Jason, Meg and I decided to hit up one more bar before calling it a night. It was fun just relaxing and having a beer after a crazy frustrating day. We decided to go home when some college party bus pulled up and they stormed into the bar after doing a beer bong out the bus window. I had forgotten we were in a college town. At least the next day we didn't have to be there until 9am for our interview.
Small planes are not my thing...
Megan and I left on Thursday morning for Iowa. I just about had a heart attack when I saw the size of our plane to Colorado. It wasn't as small as a sessna or anything, but it was so small that we had to walk to one end of the airport and then go downstairs. Who goes down stairs at PDX!?!? We walked down a dark stairwell into a ghetto waiting room that was on the ground level. I had never walked outside to catch an airplane before and when we did, I was freaking out. Most people probably wouldn't think it was that small, but getting on an airplane with two seats on each side is not my idea of a good time. And, Meg and I were in the last row (of course), so we A.) couldn't recline our seats and B.) were right next to the bathrooms. I knew it was going to be a great flight.
We flew into Denver and had to change planes to another small one and continue onto Iowa. I had never felt such relief as we landed on the snowy tarmack. UNI had everything so organized when we got to baggage claim. They had a little room set up where we checked in and could store our bags while we waited for the other flight to get in before we all boarded the shuttle that would drive us to Waterloo. Cedar Rapids is a TINY airport. I don't know why I was expecting it to be much bigger, but I guess I was. Around 7pm we boarded the shuttle and drove to Waterloo. Somehow we had gotten a really good deal on our hotel,and so I had thoughts of it being really sketchy (like the time we went to Boston) but it was actually nice. By the time we got all checked in, I think it was around 9. We had to be up at 5am in order to both shower and catch the shuttle to the convention center by 6:30. We had to be there by 7am. In reality, we were both still on Oregon time and getting up at 3am Oregon time was not pleasant at all.
We flew into Denver and had to change planes to another small one and continue onto Iowa. I had never felt such relief as we landed on the snowy tarmack. UNI had everything so organized when we got to baggage claim. They had a little room set up where we checked in and could store our bags while we waited for the other flight to get in before we all boarded the shuttle that would drive us to Waterloo. Cedar Rapids is a TINY airport. I don't know why I was expecting it to be much bigger, but I guess I was. Around 7pm we boarded the shuttle and drove to Waterloo. Somehow we had gotten a really good deal on our hotel,and so I had thoughts of it being really sketchy (like the time we went to Boston) but it was actually nice. By the time we got all checked in, I think it was around 9. We had to be up at 5am in order to both shower and catch the shuttle to the convention center by 6:30. We had to be there by 7am. In reality, we were both still on Oregon time and getting up at 3am Oregon time was not pleasant at all.
Monday, February 1, 2010
blahh
I'm sitting here waiting for the principal from Indonesia to come back to skype...he just got back from yard duty and had to "freshen up".
And I should be thinking about what I'm going to say or how I'll answer his questions, but my throbbing face, my stupid sinuses..that is the only thing I can think of. Oh yea, and dinner. And bed. And how I got off work late.
All I want to do is eat, watch a movie and sleep. Not really feeling the interview right now. But who knows, maybe it will be better that way. I won't over think anything and it will all come naturally. In most interviews, I usually am freaked out and stressed out anyways, so this could be better. It hopefully will end up like the Mexico interview - I didn't really care about the interview or think too much about it and it went really well. Crazy how that happens.
I should be excited, and I'm sure I will once we start talking, but I just want to go to sleep. I just want my stupid sinuses to stop hurting.
And there's so much to do, so little time. Iowa in just a couple days. Ready or not, it's approaching quickly...
And I should be thinking about what I'm going to say or how I'll answer his questions, but my throbbing face, my stupid sinuses..that is the only thing I can think of. Oh yea, and dinner. And bed. And how I got off work late.
All I want to do is eat, watch a movie and sleep. Not really feeling the interview right now. But who knows, maybe it will be better that way. I won't over think anything and it will all come naturally. In most interviews, I usually am freaked out and stressed out anyways, so this could be better. It hopefully will end up like the Mexico interview - I didn't really care about the interview or think too much about it and it went really well. Crazy how that happens.
I should be excited, and I'm sure I will once we start talking, but I just want to go to sleep. I just want my stupid sinuses to stop hurting.
And there's so much to do, so little time. Iowa in just a couple days. Ready or not, it's approaching quickly...
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