It's HOT out there!

I would know because I walked around for over an hour in search of an address that DOESN'T EXIST!!! Thanks boss.

I had emailed my principal over a week ago, asking a few basic- yet VERY important questions. (Things like which grade am I teaching?-you haven't told me 7th or 8th yet. TFA guy told me you're having me teach English and a handful of class periods of something else- what subject is said 'something else?' How long are my class periods, so I can get an idea of how to structure my lessons, etc.) After several days, she responded with a one-liner, telling me to call her. So I did. She said I needed to come to the school to sign a form and bring it to the regional office. Then quickly got off the phone- Again, not answering my questions. Grr.

So I went first thing this morning. The form did NOT require my signature. It required HER signature and a lot of other info that only SHE could fill in. So, after she instructed ME to fill it out, I had to ask her what to put in each line. Then I had to point to where she needed to sign. It was really fun, and I'm happy that I made the trip out to there to fill out her paperwork for her. Then she needed a copy of it made, so she summoned the woman who was sitting on the opposite side of the room (considerably FARTHER from the copy machine) to come and make her ONE copy. But the fun did not stop there.

I then served as a little messenger, schlepping my way to the regional office. This involved a 20 minute train ride and an hour of walking around, only to find after asking several people that the address she'd given me didn't exist. A friendly security guard at some other public school told me where I needed to go. Thanks. Onward. Arrival. "Oh. You're TFA? You don't need to be here. You guys have an entirely different hiring process." Ahhh... I LOVE administrative incompetence! Really. I do. I think it's great that we have only the best, brightest, most ambitious and energetic individuals running our kids' schools. That's quality.

Bleh. So that was that. I called TFA placement guy to tell him about the morning and ask what needed to happen for me to officially have this job. He said everything was already taken care of yesterday, and I'm set. He asked if I had a good conversation with her. I said not particularly because she wouldn't give me straight answers about anything, and if I'm going to be teaching 2 subjects in less than a month, it would be really good for my planning to know what those subjects and grade levels will be. He proceeded to give me some BS about what a nice day it was outside and how I needed to be positive and think about how nice it was to go for a long walk. For the love of god.

I strongly feel that TFA really overdoes the whole perpetually positive thing. Sometimes it's necessary and right to say, "Wow, that really sucked. Oh well," and move on. But it's against TFA code to ever ever even acknowledge a given situation's suckiness. It's not human. TFA is missing a human element. "What? All of your bedding is still sitting on a sidewalk in NYC while you shiver in your Philly Institute bed? Well gee whiz! Isn't it awesome that you have your other two pieces of luggage? (Flanders' laugh) Two outta three ain't bad! (slap on the back)" Let's have a big thumbs up, high-five and positive Patty smile for TFA!

Oh, and about keeping you posted on the apt I wanted and was supposed to find out about last night... I still don't know! Eek! She called to tell me that if her friend gets the job she interviewed for, I can't have it. But if she doesn't get the job, it's mine. Is it wrong to really really want this total stranger to have bombed her interview? She'll find out Friday if she got the job. So no updates yet. In the meantime, I saw another shared apt situation on craigslist that looked rather fabulous. $725 for all the same building amenities. I emailed and haven't gotten a response yet. I just want a home!!! :)