Poor, for now at least

Poor, for now at least

I've made a few mistakes since getting here. Miscalculations, to be precise.
The situation is this. I knew I wouldn't get paid for a while, yet I choose not to work in the UK, picking the easier way of loafing at home before my brother's wedding, and subsequent responsibility of being the best man. I somehow rationalised it was a good idea not to work, as is fits in with my general disposition for real 'work'.

We got given a meal allowance a few days after we got here, which, in keeping company with other international bums, got wasted away within roughly 7 days (200 euros- you do the numbers!) Did mention about the bar that stayed open late?

Since then I've been chipping away at the last of the great British currency I have left in my UK bank account. Family bridging loans will keep me going for a short while,...


So,........... I get paid from my international bumming job at the end of October. Another few weeks to hang on in there.....

You may be thinking what the point of this entry is, besides using up some of my 'precious' time. Well, there is a point, I just go the looong way round, call me the Ewan Mcgregor of blogging. And a poor comedian... I should stick to international bumming!*

*sincerly hopes his employer or anyone connected isn't offended by the tefling= international bumming equation*


The whole point of this entry

So,.... back to the bumming *aka tefling. We were given a few lesson plans, to kick start us off, and in keeping with our general (when I talk of we, I'm talking about the other bums aka 'teachers' or as they insist on calling us here, 'professors of English'- nice.) titles of being bums, we are given everything on plate, albeit an overused, synthetic plate, a bit like given the students recycled food, expecting them to like it. Anyway, gets us more time in the sun,.....

On the serious side, if there ever was one, in one of these gems of a lesson plan it directs the Professor (who can be accused of mis-interpreting a language for my own gain? Me? Never....) to introduce the topic of the family. I do, dutifully. Then, students talk about the changes in the family they have seen over the past generation, very useful when talking to 14 year olds, as I'm sure you can imagine.... anyway, I run with it.... Then I'm told to get back in the damn class.

The students, almost unanimously talk about the seriousness of the economy. I must have been out of the classroom a LONG time. There is a very tenuous link. They suggest that the economy has declined (over the last 25 years? HMM note to self- research country before encountering the natives) and this has caused couples to only have one child. This gets me interested,...

I ask in what way has their economy declined. It transpires that the students compare themselves to their Spanish, French and German counterparts, who earn more than them. They emphasize this. Somewhat surprised I ask them what the average wage is, of the average worker. They tell me minimum wage is roughly E400. Funking Bell! That's why, they tell me, some Portuguese are moving abroad, to earn more money. I tell them that I love their country for many reasons, to counterbalance their negativity. I'm countered with the undeniable truth that they've lived here for 14/15/16 years and I've been here 2 weeks. Good point.

Over the past few weeks I've walked around the shops a bit and noticed products are noticeably cheaper here, with my purchasing power being much greater than the UK. I'll be earning roughly 3 times their minimum wage. So, despite being poor now, in relation to the minimum wage workers my wage is more like a dream.

This is reasonably common in the Tefl world. However, it doesn't stop me from feeling pretty bad about the whole thing. Especially when I know many of the students would learn more if they quit the school and just bought a few grammar books and spent 2 weeks in the UK, maybe hiring a tutor to fine tune everything. Job done. Inevitably, that's not what they want to do. Some students stay at the school 6,7 or sometimes as long as 10 years, with a vague, plodding along kind of improvement.

The conclusion?

I'm paid well, but there's more responsibility than I thought there would be. I came here for the lifestyle, not the money. If I wanted money I'd become a liar. Lawyer, lawyer, sorry. I'm not ready to give up on life, so we'll see how this Lisbon thing goes..... that said the sunny always smiles here, so I'll try my best to, whether I feel poor or rich,............