Two Weeks On - The Honeymoon is Over!

Well two more full weeks have gone by and I have to say that they have not been easy.  This really is a very different system to work in and although it is a bilingual school it is not a bi-system!  The school is run totally as a Slovak school and it has gradually become more apparent that the owners want to keep to the Slovak ways and require the native English speaking teachers to teach English subjects in a Slovak way.  Haven't quite worked out how to do that yet! It has been difficult to find out how, especially as the induction process for new staff is sadly lacking.  There seems to be a sad disregard by top management/governors for the personal welfare of staff and one ends up feeling like a commodity rather than a person.  The other members of staff are really lovely and several of them have made a great effort to help but the attitude of the owners/managers leaves a lot to be desired from an English perspective. This has made life a bit difficult and these two weeks have been rather a struggle.  How this will work out I am as yet not sure.  The one thing I am certain of is that without the support of the International Church of Bratislava life would be a lot more difficult.  They are a wonderfully welcoming congregation and I have already been put on the Sunday School rota and am doing the intercessions in two weeks time.  It is so nice to be hugged into a Christian community and this Sunday I was taken out to lunch by one of the families and I saw a new part of Bratislava.  I really love the city and am beginning to find my way around it despite the fact that I only visit once a week.
So how do I feel after a whole month in my new environment?  Theer have been some great times and I have met some lovely people.  The children are great and I am certainly enjoying being back in a primary classroom.  I have also had times when I have been homesick and felt very much like a 'stranger in a strange land'.  On the whole though my experiences have been positive and I never thought that this adventure would be plain sailing.  Life is never that simple!! I would welcome prayers and I am trully thankful for the support and encouragement I have already recieved.  Watch this space and I will keep you informed as to how I am coming to terms with this different system.

Photographs from Slovakia

As promised here are some photos from Trnava.  They are not brilliant quality as they were taken on my iphone but hopefully they give you a flavour of my new home and surrounds.




 This is the view from the balcony.  I live in an identical block except mine is orange not yellow!

Two views of my bedroom - my personal space

 The kitchen/diner

 Three views of the living room

This weekend there was an annual street fair in Trnava celebrating the history of the town.  It seemed to have feature a period resembling the Norman times in the UK.  There were many people dressed in costume selling crafts that they were making at the fair.  In the evening there was a re-enactment of the defence of the walls of Trnava which have been restored and surround much of the town.  It was a really amazing site and felt both familiarly English and yet very Slovakian at the same time.

 People in costume by the town walls

 The tented area

 I climed the clock tower - 140+ steps.  These are the views from the top.

One whole week at school

It is Saturday morning, not very early as I needed a BIG sleep.  That was one exhausting week.  Teachers everywhere work hard but teachers in Slovakia certainly work extra hard in terms of contact time.  We officially start work at 8 – that is with children – and our first proper break is at 12.00.  There is a 10 minute break at 10.45 but it isn’t long enough for anything other than drooping off the materials you have been using and picking up the next lot.  I move from class to class teaching maths, science or English.  I asked for a trolley for science equipment and a custom built one, beautifully made, arrived yesterday, so that will certainly help to transfer equipment.  We also have lunch and playtime duties and early morning ‘greeting’ duty!  So all in all, pretty hard work but I have to say that it is fun – most of the time.  The children are generally pleasant and hardworking, although we have our share of behaviour problems as in any school anywhere.  There are many similarities to English schools but also many many differences.  Some of the differences are refreshing and make life easier and some of the differences are frustrating and my fellow English colleague and I spend time discussing these and wondering how we will adapt.  The head teacher is very open to suggestions and as we are a bilingual school and are planning to take Cambridge International exams there will have to be changes towards a more English system but not too much.  The school is only 3 years old and only became fully bilingual this September so we are all learning.  I believe that the school has the potential to be great but it will take a lot of hard work by staff and pupils alike.  Meanwhile, are there any experienced early years teachers out there who can give me any idea how to teach maths to a class of 16 Yr 1 children who don’t speak a word of English?!!!!

Another interesting piece of news that we receive on Monday was that we, the staff, are going to have a school uniform!  At first I thought that it was a joke but no – by October we will all be wearing black skirts or trousers and matching polo shirts and fleeces in a pleasant shade of blue with the school badge on it.  It will certainly make choosing what to wear each day easy – which black skirt or trousers shall I wear today?!!!!

I am off today to open a Slovak bank account prior to pay day and also investigate the mobile phone market.  There is a Slovak branch of O2 which allows me to call O2 subscribers in the UK for local rates.  All I need to find out is if the recipient of my calls has to pay too.  I still don’t have Wi-Fi at home but at least I have plug in broad band and the Wi-Fi situation is in hand I am told.  As it seems to be free I am not complaining about the delay.  I am confident it will arrive before Christmas.

I am yet to register with the local police.  There has been so much paperwork to fill in but I am assured that I am legal because the process has been started so hopefully it will be completed this week.  It gives me an identity card, access to Slovak health insurance, the ability to pay tax! and a variety of other of life necessities.  I will report on that experience once it happens.

There has been much sadness in Slovakia this week after the terrible air crash in Russia which killed a whole Russian ice hockey team.  In that team there were several Slovaks one of whom was a very high profile player here.  Several of them had also played for Canadian teams including the Vancouver Canucks. It seems that the whole ice hockey fraternity has been affected by the loss and is in mourning for those young lives lost.

I am off to Bratislava for the first time on Sunday as I have discovered that there is an international, English speaking church there so that is where I am headed.  I don’t think that services only in Slovak without a modern hymn in sight (or sound) is going to keep me spiritually satisfied for the next two years so adventuring I must go.  However, I am very aware of God’s presence here with me and He certainly answered my prayers for help this week as I began to finf my feet in the various classrooms.  This week was a getting to know the children week and mostly we were not teaching formal lessons.  However, on Thursday morning I was about to have my third science session with year 6 and felt very strongly when planning on Wednesday evening that chats and quizzes had been done enough and that it was time to have a ‘proper’ lesson.  It was the only class that I felt needed it this week so I went ahead and planned it carefully including a PowerPoint presentation for the Interactive White Board and a practical activity.  When I arrived at work at 7.30 on Thursday morning the head came and told me that there would be two new parents coming to watch one of my lessons as they needed reassurance that they had made the right decision in moving their sons to our school.  “Which lesson?” I nervously asked.  You’ve guessed it – Yr 6 science.  Praise the Lord – all went very well, the parents loved the lesson and I subsequently discovered that one of them was the sister of the owner of the school.  Yes indeed, God answers prayers.

Well that is all my news for this week.  Thanks for reading it, hope you enjoyed it and I promise to add some photographs soon – there have been requests!!!

Bye for now.