One Month into SY 2019-2020!
Once again the year has taken a giant leap forward in time, and I've forgotten to document it again...
I am loving my new school. Something that I have had problems with most of my life is a vague feeling of not fitting in. Regardless of whether I actually fit in or not, I have always had this feeling that my life was disconnected from those around me. At university, it was because I was 5 years older than most of my peers. At some of my earlier teaching jobs, it was because I was the new teacher without much experience, or because I was at a much different stage of life than my colleagues. Since starting here at TCS, I haven't had that same feeling. I have finally hit a point where my experience is valued by those around me, I am working with people at a similar stage of life, and have found groups of people with similar interests. This feeling of fitting in and belonging has been so profound to me, that it's only now that I have really been able to identify this feeling of not fitting in. Needless to say, I'm loving this change!
I won't spend a lot of time going into the details of my classes. I really like my students this year, and I'm excited about the challenge I face in teaching AP Physics 1 and AP Physics C. I have a really nice schedule this year (with fewer class hours than average, because I have three different courses to prep).
With the change in schools this summer break, I also changed apartments. I moved away from my amazing neighbourhood in Envigado (just south of Medellín) to the heart of the valley. Technically my new barrio is San Joaquin, but I'm just a short 5 minute walk from Laureles, one of the more popular neighbourhoods for people visiting the city. Laureles seems to attract people who are coming to Medellín for a few weeks or longer, where as for shorter stays Poblado is more popular.
I made the decision this year to live with roommates again. My last year with Athena was amazing, and showed me a lot of advantages to having roommates when living in a new city. This year, I´ll be sharing my apartment with 5 other people! As crazy as that sounds, I've been loving having so many people around at home. We all share a two-story penthouse apartment, with amazing views from the multiple balconies and terraces. I have plenty of private space, but also get the advantages of sharing an amazing space that I would not be able to afford on my own. My roommates are mostly digital nomads, though there are two who are here for a year to teach at local universities.
To quickly wrap up some other big things going on:
Here we are, the first week of September. All my friends back home are just starting their second week of school... and I am somewhere around week 5 at my new school. Getting back to school at the beginning of August felt like a bigger change this year than it did one year ago. Maybe it was returning to Colombia in the middle of July and feeling pretty short-changed on my summer holidays. Maybe it was that I had my head (a little more) above water than I did last year, and I was able to see what else was going on around me (namely, everyone else's August vacation photos online). Whatever the reason may have been, starting back to teaching in August was really difficult for me this year.
My transition to The Columbus School this year was amazing. I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Medellín last year, but already I can see that this year has way more potential for me. My first two weeks back in the country were all new-teacher related activities, organized my the phenomenal HR department at TCS. They put together a lot of fun activities, as well as including all the necessary government/new job paperwork, into a well organized and coherent package. Plus it gave all of us new teachers a great opportunity to bond with one another before the real work got started.
I am loving my new school. Something that I have had problems with most of my life is a vague feeling of not fitting in. Regardless of whether I actually fit in or not, I have always had this feeling that my life was disconnected from those around me. At university, it was because I was 5 years older than most of my peers. At some of my earlier teaching jobs, it was because I was the new teacher without much experience, or because I was at a much different stage of life than my colleagues. Since starting here at TCS, I haven't had that same feeling. I have finally hit a point where my experience is valued by those around me, I am working with people at a similar stage of life, and have found groups of people with similar interests. This feeling of fitting in and belonging has been so profound to me, that it's only now that I have really been able to identify this feeling of not fitting in. Needless to say, I'm loving this change!
I won't spend a lot of time going into the details of my classes. I really like my students this year, and I'm excited about the challenge I face in teaching AP Physics 1 and AP Physics C. I have a really nice schedule this year (with fewer class hours than average, because I have three different courses to prep).
With the change in schools this summer break, I also changed apartments. I moved away from my amazing neighbourhood in Envigado (just south of Medellín) to the heart of the valley. Technically my new barrio is San Joaquin, but I'm just a short 5 minute walk from Laureles, one of the more popular neighbourhoods for people visiting the city. Laureles seems to attract people who are coming to Medellín for a few weeks or longer, where as for shorter stays Poblado is more popular.
I made the decision this year to live with roommates again. My last year with Athena was amazing, and showed me a lot of advantages to having roommates when living in a new city. This year, I´ll be sharing my apartment with 5 other people! As crazy as that sounds, I've been loving having so many people around at home. We all share a two-story penthouse apartment, with amazing views from the multiple balconies and terraces. I have plenty of private space, but also get the advantages of sharing an amazing space that I would not be able to afford on my own. My roommates are mostly digital nomads, though there are two who are here for a year to teach at local universities.
To quickly wrap up some other big things going on:
- I bought a road bike a few weeks ago and have started to get out riding every week. Current record was 25 km yesterday in just under 2 hours. I've got a ways to go in building endurance and speed, but it's been fun!
- Next dive vacation is booked. Seven days in San Andreas coming up in the beginning of October. Update and photos to follow.
- I start my MSc. program through SUNY Buffalo this month. One course in September, two more this school year. Ideally all finished in 3 years!
- And Spanish classes are starting up again. I was placed at the A2 level, which means I've made some noticeable progress in the past year. Here's to actually becoming conversational!
Comments
Post a Comment