The person that contacted me for my interview on Monday told me to sign in at the main office. Well, when I got to the school I ran into a man just after the front door who signed me in and directed me to the attendance office (where he said I would meet the man I had come to see). However, when I asked for the guy, the people in the office told me he had just left. I was like "what the...?" I asked when he'd be back and if I should wait, and I got no response to either question. So I decided to wait. And I waited. And waited. And waited for 30 minutes. And then I suddenly thought, whoa, what if he's in the main office. Ding ding ding. Man. MAN!! He WAS in the main office, and he had been waiting there with two assistant principals, three teachers, and the principal for the past half hour and they all thought I didn't show. Needless to say, this was not going well.

Everyone had already dispersed and the guy said we would have to schedule another interview. I felt like I was being blown off, which wouldn't have been too surprising, given the fact that I had kept them waiting for a whole thirty minutes, but I was bummed anyhow. The next minute, though, he decided that he could pull together another interview team. We headed on over to the principal's office and we went in search of more teachers (since the last ones had already returned to their classes). Unfortunately, however, two teachers walked in who had their period free and agreed to sit in on the interview. Let's backtrack.

Going on two months ago I went to this same school for an observation. It was right before I had to give notice to my then current job and I was completely nervous about my decision. I'm not the most financially secure person right now and I wasn't completely sure that I could handle this quick "jump" into teaching, especially at a high need school. What if it really wasn't for me? What if I couldn't manage the kids? What if I didn't get a teaching job? The questions and anxieties went on and on. I figured that it was my last chance to speak to a real teacher, and so I candidly asked all my questions and bared all my concerns to these two teachers at the end of my observation. And guess who these two teachers were. Just guess. They were the two who just walked into the principal's office!! The ones who were about to sit in on my interview!

I had a small heartattack and began breathing in a chaotic way. I had no idea what they were going to say during the discussion, or even afterwards for that matter. The interview went relatively well, actually, and I was feeling okay about it. It was the only real teaching interview I had ever had, and I thought I answered most of the questions to the best of my ability, given the fact that I haven't had extensive classroom experience or exposure to massive amounts of teaching theory. The question did come up, however. One of the teacher's said," I remember when you came here a month ago. You were nervous and hesitant about teaching and weren't sure it was the right thing for you. Has this changed?" So that really sucked. Of course it changed. I wouldn't be interviewing at a school if it hadn't. I obviously quit my job and committed myself to the program. What else was I to do? I answered the question and hoped that I had made some sort of a save there, but you never know. No one at my interview was smiling, except me of course, and I didn't feel a connection with anyone in the room. It looked to me like I was boring them. Oh well.

I went to another job fair on Thursday and put another nail in the South Gate coffin. I saw the AP from my current practice school and went to say hello. He asked if I was on the interview list and I said "no, but I don't need to be right? You're going to hire me anyway?!" It was all in fun, and I was completely joking, but when I turned around, the guy from South Gate was behind me. I freaked and didn't even say hi to him. Geez. Real smooth, huh?

Okay, so it's been awhile since I've visited this page.

I pretty much quit my UCLA job and now I'm doing the LA Teaching Fellows. It's really a weird situation, because I never wanted to be a teacher. All my life I have struggled against the idea that all English majors will be teachers, and now I'm teaching. I'm such a hypocrite. It's strange though, because I really like it so far. The kids can be demanding, and frustrating, and irritating, and the whole thing is quite an emotionally draining experience, but it still feels like something I want to do.

I've been student teaching at Lincoln High School for the past few weeks, and the place is absolutely amazing. I really like my CT (Cooperating Teacher), and my classes have been enjoyable. The campus has a great atmosphere, and I feel like I'm at home there. And I can't say enough about my FA (Fellow Advisor) group. In the afternoons I meet with the coolest crowd to discuss what happens in the classroom and to learn and practice new teaching techniques. My fellow advisor is also out of this world. His name is Balthasar, how cool is that? And he's the most laid back, friggin coolest dude ever.

Last night I went out with Emily and Paul. It's been awhile since I've gone out. I've been a bit of a hermit (this teaching thing's taking a lot out of me!). But we did like five things in one night, so I think I satisfied a lot of my activity cravings. We went to this Ramen place for dinner that Emily picked, and then to Westwood to this place called "Q's" where Paul and his friend Kevin were teaching me and Emily how to play pool. I don't normally like snooker or whatever, but it wasn't bad, and I actually got one ball in the hole, although it wasn't on purpose. :) I think I should stick to jippii pool...I'm great at that. After that we went to this place called "Lush" and did a little dancing. There was a live band playing old school music and it was pretty fun. Then, of course, we headed on over to that karaoke place on Sawtelle, the name of which I can't remember right now. Whenever Emily and I are together, we have to go singing. :) When that was over we were all hungry, so we went looking for some grub. We found a Jack in the Box, but all these lame people kept cutting in front of us in the drive through so we left those losers and headed on over to the 24 hour Yoshinoya. I actually didn't eat anything, I have no idea why, but it still turned out to be a nice thing, except for that one moment when this guy touched Emily's arm! Ill. Men are disgusting.

So I didn't get home until about 4am, and I didn't wake up until maybe 1 or so in the afternoon. Now I have all this work to do, and I have no idea where all the time went. I have a job interview tomorrow at South Gate High, so I'm supposed to be preparing for that. Too bad I'm so tired, and the day is passing so quickly.