i know, i know...

I promised updates and there haven't been any. Well, there's a reason - basically that I've been in too bad a mood to write anything. So now, you get an insight into how much my life is sucking right now...

As you (probably) know, I quit my job at Christmas because it was making me miserable. I had an interview the day after my last day for another job - I never heard ANYTHING back from them (which is rude and unexpected, given the organisation it was with, but that's a whole other rant). I went through a couple of months trying to work out what I actually wanted to do, a decision that really still hasn't been made. Our pre-booked holidays ran out and we were getting low on funds to do new things, so we decided that I should just apply to do some teaching supply work to at least get the money flowing again. I contacted the agency that seemed the best for me... I'm trying to work out how to say everything without giving away too many details to identify them. Anyway, basically it has been one big farce - incompetent moron after incompetent moron giving me different and/or wrong answers and advice to the same issues. They had issues getting in touch with my reference in Australia and expected me to be able to sort it out. They finally got it sorted over the weekend sometime. This was supposed to be the last thing stopping me from getting work. I got a phone call on Monday to say I can't work until I have a police clearance check from Australia. They had told me I didn't need this. I could've sorted it out 6 weeks ago when the whole thing started, but they told me they would help me do it and then, like I said, that I didn't actually need it. Now I have to work out how to get this friggin' police check without actually being in Australia. It could take another 6 weeks before I can work. I have called them out on their incompetence more than once now and they are always apologetic and say that the people doing/saying the wrong things will get spoken to. But those people still have jobs, don't they?

The thing is, I don't even want to teach here anymore. Its not just my terrible experience at the crappy school. Its the teenagers you see everywhere and their complete lack of respect for anyone or anything. Its the crappy school system they have that places huge emphasis on grades and results and no emphasis on creating functional members of society. Its the other teachers who couldn't care less about the kids and just went into teaching because they couldn't do anything else. Its the fact that its taking me a ridiculous amount of time and paperwork just to be a glorified babysitter. Yet, I feel like its what I need to do, because its the best way for me to make some money and about the only thing I am really qualified to do right now. I feel like this makes me a hypocrite because I only want to teach for the money, but at the moment, its true.

Back home, I loved being a teacher. Unlike many people in this world, I actually enjoy hanging out with young people, teaching them new things, learning from them, watching them grow. I'm starting to think that I shouldn't be teaching though - that I should be working with teenagers in some other capactiy - alternative education or youth work/ministry or something. But none of those things seem within reach here, especially given the fact that I need to be making money so we can continue to travel and do new things. But how am I supposed to make money if I can't even get a job?