Well, time has moved on and I came to the conclusion a few weeks ago that I was the wrong person in the wrong place. The school is run in a way that I find difficult to cope with. The owners make most of the decisions and many of those decisions are not based on sound educational values but for show or for finacial reasons. Staff are very much seen as commodoties and are not really valued or respected in the way that I am used to. The two native English speaking teachers, myself and my colleague Nick are viewed rather as 'English machines' to be plugged into as many classes as possible so that our 'Englishness' will somehow be transmitted to the children. Thus I found myself teaching classes from Yr 1 to Yr 7 and everything in between despite the fact that I am neither infant or secondary trained.
In addition to the educational issues there are the accomodation issues to deal with too. I am sharing a flat with two Slovak women who are really lovely and we get on well but it is a two bedroomed flat and so one of them sleeps in the living room - not an ideal situation and I find that I am spending most of my leisure time in my bedroom. There is no English speaking church here in Trnava and very few English speakers. Well this is Slovakia and I chose to come and live and work here so what did I expect?!!!
The fact is that this is a place too far for me and I have decided to move to Bratislava and work in an English speaking international school. I have been going to Bratislava every Sunday to attend an international church. There is an Americam Pastor and an American Intern and about half of the congregation are from the USA. The other half are either British or from other nationalities but speak English. They have made me feel so welcome and have supported me through this difficult time. They have become my church family and it is through them that I have a new job to go to and a new flat to move into.
I have made some lovely Slovak friends during my short time in Trnava and I will miss them. My flat mates are lovely and another friend, who is married to a Canadian has been amazing. Keeping me company when I have been lonely, helping me to open bank accounts etc and showing me some of the lovely places around the area. This weekend we visited the Red Stone Castle which was fascinating and will be a lovely memory to take with me.
So how do I feel about events so far? I feel sorry that I can't hack it here - I am not as strong and independent as I thought I could be. The fact is that I need a network of friends to survive happily, I need my own space to live in and I need to work in a school where I can believe and trust in the educational ethos. I thank God for His faithfulness in leading me to a wonderful church and surrounding me with his love and I pray that I will be able to repay Him by serving this church and my new school effectively. I have cried quite a few tears of sadness over the past two months but I have also shared some wonderful times and I can now look positively to the future. I hope that the school here in Trnava can find another English teacher but I also hope that they learn how to treat 'foreign' teachers better and trully become a bilingual school in the future.
I take over my new flat on 20th October, fly home for a holiday on 28th October and start my new job on 7th November so much to look forward to.
Thanks to all those who have been praying for me, please continue to do so as I enter this new phase of my Slovakian adventure.
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