One month into the position of Coordinador de Idiomas, and I have to admit although the money is good and I don’t want to give it up, I do not truly feel fit for this job. I also have three normal classes at three different levels, and along with the administrative duties, I am exhausted all the time. Only one class is a hold over from last semester, but with the problems of the electronic platform, that one, too, is in disarray. This week coming is for first partial exams, and at the moment I have nothing ready for any of these classes. Kate left in December after briefing me in a schrift (though admittedly, I didn’t pursue the training with so much enthusiasm as I might have), and now I’m finding all kinds of things I don’t know how to handle.
So, I have a confusing job, classes every day, for which I am unprepared, a class on Saturdays, cigarettes are ruining my health, and I have very little free time, which I seem to waste surfing on the Internet. Along with all this, A is only working a part-time teaching job at his father’s school and has a lot of free time. He takes me to Tec every morning, but then I frequently don’t see him again for the rest of the day.
I don’t feel so good about the whole situation, but look forward to some sort of vacation, perhaps during Semana Santa, though I’m thinking before April 15th, I have to go to New York to take care of my taxes. I haven’t resolved them for 2002, 2003, and now 2004 filing is due.
After the last fiasco, I’m almost afraid to go to New York. I’m losing money by the pound, and that’s another reason I want to keep this job. I’m hoping that as the New York money goes down, the Mexican money goes up and it balances out somewhat.
For the 19th of February, I hope to go to Tapachula to apply a TOEFL, and that’s a new thing for me. If I can find enthusiasm for little things, perhaps it will be enough to carry me through. As it is, I just dream about a time when I can retire, laze on a beach, drink piña coladas, and write whatever I want. Actually, I want Jimmy Buffet’s life, only I’m not enough of a pirate to steal away and just do it, nor do I have enough capital to make a start.
Oh, well, the dream is still alive.
