Payday

This afternoon, I stopped by my school to pick up my first paycheck. It was a little short, but I was told this is because the school always pays slightly in arrears, and the time period reflected in my paycheck does not count the full month I have been here but only the period in May. I will not get the final week caught up until my final week when I leave, at the end of my contract.

Nonetheless, I left the office with almost 19,000 rubles--about $700 U.S. That will be more than enough to keep me going until the next paydate, on the 23rd. My career as a diligent saver of rubles can officially begin.

One nice thing I found out, though, is that a rumor I had heard about in-company work proved to be true. In-company teachers are paid an extra $2.50 per academic hour they teach in-company. This resulted in my getting all of an extra $16.50 this paycheck (because most of my work so far has been covering for teachers in regular schools, not in-company work). But over the long term, this should be a good supplement to the $1000 a month I am being paid to teach English in Moscow.

I had a bit of time explaining myself when I challenged a charge against my pay for the landline phone in our apartment. On my arrival in Moscow, my roommate informed me that this phone had not been working the whole time he had been there, but that it was still being charged for. I brought this to the attention of the pay office and said I did not think I should have to pay for phone service I was not getting. Once I was able to speak to someone who understood my objection, it was agreed that I would not be charged this fee (admittedly, all of 150 rubles, or about $6 a month) until phone service was restored in the apartment. Contrary to what my roommate had told me, he had not complained about this repeatedly, but only twice, and action had been taken on both complaints. Nonetheless, I was promised someone would be out on Monday to check the line in the apartment.

The remainder of payday I spent playing Scrabble with a couple of fellow teachers in our central school. I actually won one game--a first for me--and came close to winning another. It was nice to have some socialization with other teachers. One of the best points of my school, I think, is that there is a real sense of camaraderie among teachers, directors of studies, and other Anglophone staff.

I also spoke briefly with my own director of studies (DOS), who told me he had arranged a series of class observations for me next week. This past week, there wasn't a lot for me to do, as this is the time a lot of students go on holiday, and no classes were scheduled for me. I had one hour of tutoring last Monday morning but was otherwise free.

Instead of going out to explore Moscow further, however, I hung around in the school resource center, because my contract states that, when I don't have a full teaching load, I can be assigned administrative work. In order to put my best foot forward, I felt it was best to put myself where I could be reached should any such work be required. None was, but I got to chat up other teachers quite a bit.

Next week will be somewhat busier, however. All told, I will be observing six different teachers over three days (next Thursday and Friday are a holiday in Russia). So at least I am seeing my school's stated commitment to teacher development actually being applied.