Can't sleep

I've been feeling a bit stressed lately. It's about 4am and I just couldn't sleep. Ever since one of my students approached me after class last week to tell me how I should be teaching the class I have been feeling like I'm constantly being evaluated. I could feel her eyes judging my every move wondering why I don't do things more like the teacher before me. At LLV, the students aren't just students they are considered to be customers as well because they are paying big money for these classes, so if they're not happy then it's my job on the line. However, I do know that the higher ups do take into consideration my experience (or lack thereof), my effort and the fact that I only have a TEFL certificate which, I am learning, is not nearly as worthy as the CELTA. The difference is that my TEFL course was only 60 hours, and the CELTA is 150 hours. Most people I work with have the CELTA certificate.

I have 4 Adult 1.5 hour classes: Monday, Wednesday and Friday I teach one Intermediate 1, one Pre-Intermediate 2 and one Elementary 2. Tuesday and Thursday I teach an adult 1.5 hour Elementary 2 class. It takes me about 2 hours to plan one class, so that's why I come in around noon even though I may not teach until 4 or 5:45pm and I do not get out of the school until 7:30 or 9pm. Right now I have what is considered a part-time load. In the beginning LLV is only going to give me a few classes and then slowly ease me into a heavier schedule. Next week I will be adding a 2 hour Elementary 2 class to my Tuesdays and Thursdays. I'm already stressing myself out over which activities I should include in my lessons and wondering if I have enough to cover the entire period.

Last night in the Intermediate 1 class I had given a required writing assignment. I assigned the topic of "Animal Rights- we eat them, we do experiments on them, we keep them as pets. Do you object or disagree?". I gave them 25 minutes to discuss, plan, and begin writing and then they were able to take the assignment home and finish it. This is the same class that the girl approached me to criticize my teaching. The same student told me that it was a waste of her time to be writing in class so she just chose to sit there and complain to another student. She said, "Why don't we do more pronunciation, grammar or listening work? This is not a good use of my time here." The other students participated in the discussion, talked with one another over what they could write and began to write their introductions. I bounced from one student to another to try to evoke some sort of opinion over the issue and it worked out fine. Yes, perhaps 25 minutes was too much time especially since I allowed them to take it home to finish, but I also had a 15-minute speaking activity planned that had been curtailed because the teacher before me had already done it with them. Argh! That girl really ruined my day mainly because I have been feeling like I'm getting a better grasp of this whole teaching thing. Many have even told me that my first classes are going to be crap, but I'm just going to have to figure it out as I go along. When I talk to the other teachers about my issues they share some of their own and they are extremely empathetic towards me, so thank goodness for that. I can't believe that I'm letting this one girl get to me. I'm literally losing sleep over it.

On top of that, this evening, after work, I went out with a few of the teachers for dinner and some beers. I came back to my apartment around midnight and my landlord came out and said accusingly, "Why are you home so late? Were you out partying??" I'm sure that this will not be the first time I will be home late, so if it's going to become a problem I don't know how much longer I will be able to stay here. I understand that they do not want delinquent tenants who come home at all hours of the night and disrupt everything, but I was coming back quietly and I am quite pleasant to them in our day-to-day interactions. I work with a teacher who lives 2 floors above me and has lived there for quite a while, so I will ask her if the landlords typically have issues with tenants coming home late.

Oh yeah, I moved into my apartment this past Sunday. I will take pictures once I have it all prettied up!

I've been sick for the past couple of days with some sort of cold/sore throat thing. I think it's because I go in and out of the heat and air conditioning. People tell me that this is a common thing to happen to people who first move here. I forgot to buy cold medicine before leaving the States, so I decided to try out some Chinese medicine! There is a street in the Old Quarter of Hanoi called Pho Lan Ong (Lan Ong Street) and all of the vendors there carry Chinese medicine. Just walking down the street you can smell all of the crazy stuff they have for sale. I went up to one stall and pointed to my nose and a woman pointed me across the street, so I walked across the street. I approached another shop and did the same thing and a man pointed me towards the stall two shops down. I walked inside and, again, pointed to my nose. A woman in a white coat pulled out a red box with a picture of an old Asian man with a long beard on the cover and it reads (in English), "Kim Long. Golden Dragon Indication: Medicament for rhinitis and sinusitis. Rhinorrhea, state of irritated nasal mucus, purulent rhinitis, allergic rhinitis, anti-inflammation of nose and sinus. Headache due to disease of nose and sinus." That's for me! Inside the box contained about 10 small packets of these tiny white balls that have to swallow. So far I have taken two packets and I guess that I feel better. Just thought I'd try it.