Friday I came to school late because of paperwork that I had to complete outside of the building. I prepared worksheets, notes, class lists, and examples in case someone had to cover my class. I put a rubber band around all my materials and placed the materials on my department head's desk, telling her office mate the situation.
I returned late, and the materials on my department head's desk hadn't moved.
I was mad.
I summed up my feelings with, "I feel as if I've been hired solely for my American passport and not for my professionalism."
My department head was mortified, we sorted it out, and the scene was over within two minutes.
That's the thing with women. Logically the job wasn't done, the students will be behind, we will be off the yearly 'flow', and education will be compromised - the things that could be controlled weren't - but in the end, as long as those intangible feelings are heard and understood, everything will be just fine.
I was fine.
I met with the principal today to also discuss how things were going this year. It was a standard meeting issued to all new comers. I had to be given directions to her office. Her office was saturated with the smell of cigarettes, in spite of the school's (and the country's) no smoking policy. I had a list of talking points, but the question I was asked was: how do you feel here? Are you happy?
And the answer was yes.
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