Vacant once again

Shall I continue where I left off? It feels to be so long, since I last sat and spoke so highly of the German School which had presented me with everything I thought I needed at this moment in my journey. I spoke last about how I was trying to decide what to do: whether to take the job that felt to be too perfect or to whether to wait patiently for a different opportunity to come along. Since then I’ve made decisions, only to realize that they had already been made for me. I shall explain..

The weekend was one where I spent many hours contemplating, thinking, reconsidering my options and asking questions. This takes up so much time and it’s something I seem to spend doing so often. I’ll cut to the chase. I had decided to visit the German school 1 more time so as to speak with both the CEO and the vice principal and, if everything were to suit both myself and them, then I was so eager to give this a go. I wanted to take them up on their offer!

HOWEVER, Monday morning came and things suddenly weren’t as they once seemed to be. I spoke with the vice principal, who told me exactly how things stood regarding my potential employment at the school. Apparently they wouldn’t be needing me until AUGUST, instead of MAY! Last week the CEO told me May, and now they were saying August. What a contradiction and lack of communication between these 2. Hearing this, changed everything, as you would imagine. Along side this bit of news, I was also told that they weren’t even sure about my skills due to my lack of teaching experience. They also weren’t sure of their need for teachers or their need for assistants who aren‘t native to this country. The timeframe for WHEN they would possibly be needing to extend their team of teachers was also one big question mark. So, too much uncertainty. The conclusion of this meeting was that I would keep them posted on my whereabouts over the next months and hopefully update them with my attainment of teaching experience through other job placements. We would take things further if both parties were still interested, when the time comes.

Can I be honest and say how I feel when I walked out of there? I felt brilliant! Why? Hadn’t I just gotten “knocked-back”? Hadn’t the amazing job opportunity I’d been offered last week suddenly been snatched from me? So shouldn’t I feel down and out? I couldn’t pinpoint my actual reason for my light-hearted feeling but it was definitely what I was experiencing. I had a bounce in my step, I had a smile on my face, I felt a wave of relief wash over me. All the visions I had started to create in my head about how amazing things could fall into place if I were to take the job offer of the German school, were gone. I suddenly had no plan anymore. It was all once again very much unknown. And I didn’t care too much. How fantastic! This told me that I obviously wasn’t wanting it as much as I thought I wanted it. I had probably convinced myself I wanted it and believed so strongly that it was meant to be. Now I’m feeling great because I’m believing it actually wasn’t meant to be. It’s such a good thing that I found this out. So this is what Monday morning revealed.

Since then, the search has continued. A few other options have come my way but they haven’t been what I’m looking for. They are either positions which are vague, farfetched or simply dull. Not one position has been for an actual English teacher. So I’m waiting ever so patiently. I have contact with the trainers from the course, who are also “working hard” trying to arrange something for me - how much of that is actually true, I’m not too sure. But I have to trust them, as well as do the searching for myself, just to increase my chances.

What I’ve realized about job hunting in India, is that everything takes time. A number of people have told me this. You need patience when getting things happening and getting the ball to start rolling can take some effort on the jobseekers behalf. Also, when opportunities do arise, it’s important to act fast, depending on how desperate you are to get the job. Or as Jayanthi put it, so wisely: In India it’s a survival of the quickest. The next few weeks will prove if I’m apart of the survivors in India. If I’m meant to stay for the duration of my visa, which is until the middle of July, then decision-making and fast-acting is something I’ll have to do.