Flicker of hope......

I might become an English teacher! I´ve been teaching English to a businessman, the head of "Schülernachhilfe" (tuition centre) in Korntal for the past 1 mth and its been pretty fun. We do grammar exercises and watch english DvD to discuss about the show. There´s quite a lot of flexibility about what to do, since this is an individual class and we stay in the same area. I get there on foot in 10 minutes and we meet twice a week, 1.5 hrs each time.

I´ve also secured a weekly English-teaching job at VHS- Stuttgart (community centre). The group is small. It would require at least 6 people for the course to take place. Currently there are already 3 participants and that is really encouraging since there are still 2 more weeks to go before the class starts. The amazing thing is that the school is making an exception for me, since I can´t work when my dad is here to visit and when I go back to Singapore for 4 weeks. The timing has coincided with Easter holidays and Pfingsten (pentacost) holiday, which means that I will only be missing 3 classes in total, for which they will get a replacement.

I´m having my second and final interview with a private English school on Tuesday next week. Please pray for me k? I´m really interested to work there and if I do get the job, I´d have a 20-hour contract, which is cool cos that means that I get social insurance and all, plus 23 days of leave. I didn´t think that a part-time contract had any leave in the first place. The only drawback of this job is that it´d require me to work at least 3 evenings a week, from 5-9pm. That means that when Stephan is at home, I´d be away and vice versa. But the positive side is that Stephan has all the time to study! He won´t have anybody to disturb him in the evenings....

Its not the most ideal situation, but I´ll see how the Lord leads. There´s a possibility to teach in companies too, when the vacancies come up. I´d be employed to be teaching in the school first. Since I´m convinced (from experience) that God can close any door He pleases, I also know that any open door is not by coincidence, but it is really by the divine hand of God. Oh, the manager is a Christian too and she herself went through Discipleship training School by YWAM - which was what I wrote in my resume and which was what got her interested in me! That´s my own testimony that God can use my mission trips / bible schools for His own purposes. That´s also one of the reasons that I´m sensing that it really could be where God wants me to be.

I´m excited to see what comes up. Oh, and this school is making an exception for me to go to Singapore too. I told her that I´ve booked my flight and she said that I´d have to go on no-pay leave then. Which she added that normally they only allow people to go for 2 wks, max 3 wks holiday. But since I´ve already booked my ticket, I´d have to go for no-pay. I´m like wow! I wasn´t hoping for anything more. Actually a closed door at any interview would be more expected, since why on earth would they want to hire a person who can´t work for 1.5 weeks in March and 4 weeks in May?!?!? (especially when they desperately need someone now?)

I´m really excited. Cos I´ve been praying that God guides me into something that He has created me for, somewhere where my heart is. I was really unhappy working in front of a computer all the time and in a sterile office environment. I feel most alive when I´m with people, talking to them and loving them the way God loves us. That´s when I felt that I could try teaching, since I did have a teaching stint for 5 mths before and really loved it.

In this light, I tried emailing the German goverment to see if they would accept a person from Singapore to be an English teacher. They rejected me immediately on the grounds that I do not have any "teaching degree", plus the fact that I would have to teach 2 subjects at least. Which means, teaching one subject like Maths, science etc. IN GERMAN. Wahhh.... We gave a very detailed reply that in Singapore, there´s no such thing as a teaching degree, but people go to the university and get trained afterwards. We still haven´t had any response as yet. In the meantime, these doors to teach privately are opening. So, maybe this could be a foot-in-the-door to get into the whole teaching thing?

I´m even looking into the possibility of working on a 400€ basis (taxfree) part-time in a low-budget supermarket, so that I can occupy myself during the day-time. Actually the teaching thing could work too, since I´m more a night-person than morning. Plus, I still get all my freetime during the day to do stuff like swim, meet up with the housewives etc......

I couldn´t resist....I had such a successful PAD THAI cooking yesterday. It was so awesome. Can´t believe that something so simple to cook can taste so authentic and good!!!!!

From this......

To this......