When I first wrote the draft of my double life post on Thursday, I couldn't write any further and had to put it on hold. It just seemed out of place and doesn't reflect what I wanted to convey to you. Sometimes I get a little bit off the track while writing. It's like my hands have a mind of its own and keep writing and writing and writing without asking what my mind is thinking. I often get derailed from the main points that I previously thought I want to write about. One of my major problem, I guess.
Anyway, according to Urban Dictionary, a double life means "Having two lives, one of which you do not want other's to know about." Your second life is supposed to be secret and not known to certain group of people, whether you have the intention of hiding it or not. I certainly don't (which is why this post even exists in the first place).
If you have been an avid reader of my blog, you would have already read my previous post about my current internship experience. I am working from 8.00 in the morning till 5.35 in the afternoon (before 6.00 pm, it's considered afternoon), Monday to Friday only. To many, that working hours may be a little to early but is still considered fine. However, my work do not end there, not just yet!
Daytime, I am just a final year Diploma in Mechanical Engineering student carrying out his internship job in a metal stamping company. Nighttime, I am a tuition teacher, teaching children/teenagers ranging from ten years old to fifteen years old. I teach Bahasa Malaysia, English and Science with Bahasa Malaysia being the main subject I am teaching (about four classes per week, including Karangan). Of course, Mathematics would be the best subject to teach for an engineering student but I am only requested to teach for the three mentioned subjects.
Me, a teacher? Are you joking...
My schedule starts from 8.00 in the morning and on some days it ends at 10.00 in the evening, non-stop. That means I don't get to go home and change and even eat dinner at home till 10pm. What a tiring day, right? Luckily I only have to do that like once or twice a week!
However sometimes at the end of the day I do not feel all that tired at all. Sometimes I feel like I wanted to stay there a little bit longer to play mingle with the kids. Some of them are quite cute, some of them are naughty and some of them are just rather interesting. Each kid is different from the rest and each has their own pattern. Let's just face it, if you like kids, you just want to pinch their cute little cheeks and play with them. Period.
In classes, I don't feel like I am a good teacher cause I really cannot explain the Bahasa terms to them quite effectively. Knowing the fact that most of them are originally from a Chinese primary school, I still try my best to explain to them in Mandarin. However, it is noteworthy that not all of them have the perseverance to learn. Some of them do not have the heart to learn at all. I am still working around on that part.
On Mondays I get to spend only two hours at home (aside from sleeping) as I worked from 8am to 10pm. On Tuesdays, I get an additional of two hours at home as I end my work around 8pm. I only have one class on Tuesdays which is the pre-secondary English, for October. On Wednesdays my Karangan class is on alternate. If this week I teach Karangan then my sister will teach Essay the next week. Class ends at 10pm, with a stack of books to mark. Now I understand the eye-straining situation my Bahasa and English teacher once had.
Terrible handwriting means the teacher have to constantly try to decrypt the "ancient civilization language". You know what I mean?
I do not have any classes on Thursdays so I get to relax a little bit. On Fridays, I have class till around 8pm, same as Tuesdays but I teach English for standard one, two and five.
All in all, I still enjoy the work of a teacher. You get to educate the young ones and help them to gain knowledge. Although you are still getting paid for teaching, but the excitement does not come from the amount of money you made, it is from knowing that your students at least have gained something from your classes, whether it is a new Bahasa Malaysia peribahasa (proverbs) or it may just be some lessons from the stories that you shared to them and how these changed their lives. Teachers get motivated when they see their students succeed, whether it is educational or not. The money is just the plus part. I don't make much from teaching though.
I am still holding on quite OK now. I remember that I lost control of my emotions two months ago when I started teaching but I am better now. After some thoughts I figure that this was my choice* and for better or worse I should just accept it and try my best to teach.
*Actually the tuition centre lacked a Bahasa Malaysia teacher so the headmistress asked me to teach for a few months till she can find a proper one for next year's term. I agreed because she was quite in need of a teacher and I figure I have some spare time at night.
I think that is all for now, I am putting the puzzles together for the next post and it will probably be soon. I will take some time to write it this weekend. So, see yah!
