A one year contract
It had been a very eventful week, no joke! Yeah..of course X'mas was in the middle of everything to slow down the hectic week and give me something to look forward and celebrate. Wonderful christmas.. great birth of Jesus Christ. Hee hee..

Yeah, let's get back to the job topic although it was a very painful thing to talk about just a day ago. As I was saying on Monday's blog, "Formation Centre" (from hereafter will be refered as FC in my blog) which is the enrichment centre across the street from where Diah used to live had asked me to go and sign a contract with them the following day. The next morning, it was the first place that I went to. After reading the terms on the contract, with one of them stating: "Annual leave can only be taken during Formation Centre holiday", I was horrified. Does that mean that I can only be on leave on public holidays? I immediately thought of Ramunia which will fall on 3 of my working days, and the person told me that they would have to re-consider my contract afterall, so it was left pending and I felt that probably I will not be offered the job again. Sigh.. I was supposed to go home to change into a more formal attire for my NKF interview later that day, but on my way home I 'impromptuly' scheduled another interview at this Toa Payoh student care centre after my lunch. Therefore I ended up rushing to 3 places on Tuesday again. The Toa Payoh Student care is a PAP place with lots of kids running around and their teachers running after them to put them to sleep during rest time. This was the first time when I felt grossly over-qualified when I realized that the working hours are going to be double of that of FC, which is a private centre for the affluent, but the pay is even lower than FC! The teachers working there are all aunties like my mother, and once again I have the feeling that I will not see the place again. Later that day, I went through a very tough interview at NKF even though I was quite prepared, the interviewer pointed out mistakes in my grammar, looking quite disgusted the whole time and I felt like I was a kid talking to my principal in the Principal's office after being given some demerit points. What a day!

The next day was already Christmas's eve, but I was still on the job search high. I'm quite impressed with myself this time round. I called up several schools in the vicinity and enquired about relief teaching, and even went down to MOE to renew my status as a relief teacher. Can't believe that I'm doing what I was doing 4 years ago. Sigh.. but that's an alternative that was better than none. Finally Christmas eve arrived and it was time for my parties! Managed to put all these behind me for Christmas except during the discussion at Casey's place about job search and job interviews. Which, from what was discussed, I concluded that it will take me zillion years to convince somebody to hire me. So amazed by how most people can make themselves so enthusiastic and convincing during job interviews, BUT it's just not me.

The whole job issue became really hyped up last week, with good reasons. I was really upset with Hock Sui for pinning his ideals on me and pressing me to find a job soon. It's one of the rare times we have conflicts over anything, and its a sensitive but important issue. We didn't manage to have a fight or squabble afterall, but I was just plain upset with myself suddenly and horrified with him for making this his christmas wish when all I wanted from him was the latest Jay's CD for the 'hidden track'. I guess we are very different people and hopefully like what he says 'we complement each other'. He can't imagine how I can live my life without great aspirations while I can't imagine myself making great plans for the future. I guess he felt bad, but I feel so much worse that people close to me are feeling that I'm too laid back for my own good.

Last night, I slept with a discouraged thoughts of how to go about looking for a job now that Christmas is over, just like Cinderalla going home after her party. Was awaken by a phone call from Alicia (the young interviewer from FC), who told me that they had decided to offer me the contract despite the fact that I will not be fulfilling the terms when I go off for Ramunia. I ended up with the job and I realised that the FC hols are actually quite a lot as it always have one more week of hols in addition to the normal school break. I'll have 2 weeks of hols in March/ Sept, 5 weeks in June and 7 weeks in Dec. And that's a lot comparing to teaching in schools and other kinds of job, that's why leave is not granted on other days. At least I'm quite happy that I ended up with a job that I enjoy in a nice environment, just before the end of this lousy year. When I was walking out of the place, the lady from the Toa Payoh student care centre called to inform me that the post has been filled. I was still comtemplating taking up the offer, despite being paid peanuts (and I hate peanuts). Finally, the long week is over and so is my draggy job search.

Money issues
Yeah.. ERS is coming next week and so is the start of my computer loan repayment date. I'm pretty broke after these few weeks break from tuitions. Feeling so bad that I'm not paying a single cent everytime we go 'par-tor', which is not our practice until recently when he have a steady income and I'm taking pocket money from my parents again. Luckily, I'm going to have a pay check soon, just in time for new year and my tuition kid just called to start off with tuitions again. Phew..another reason why I was so desperate to get a job.