Afterward a took a taxi to my interview. My guidebook had said that taxi drivers in Panama City will refuse to take you some places based on their whim. That's what happened with the first. He just walked away from me when I told him where I wanted to go. The next had me get in the car and kept on driving before actually figuring out where we were going. He agreed to take me and asked me how much I would pay when I asked him the price. I offered $5 and he easily accepted which makes me think I still overpaid.
When arranging the interview, the director had said that any taxi driver would know where the school was and that the security guard would be expecting me. Neither of these things were true. But eventually my taxi driver got me to the right place. Also, he and I had a fairly decent conversation, all in Spanish.
Eventually everything was settled at the front desk and after waiting a bit was called in for the interview. My only other experience with an "international school" had been an interview at the Frankfurt International School about 10 years ago. I think I still somehow expected this high quality education with strict guidelines for qualifications of who they hire.
I think this was about the opposite. I suppose primarily because Frankfurt International School is geared to kids of expats while the school I interviewed at today is geared to Panamanian families seeking a bilingual education. Also, I'm sure that the public education system is dramatically different in both places which probably carries over to private schools as well.
So here I am with the director, a transplant of Philadelphia. He greets me by asking if we'd already met, says I look familiar. Then scans through my resume. Somewhere on it he sees that I'm CPR qualified and asks if I can teach a refresher for his employees. Inside my head I'm saying "no, um, I'm not qualified for that!" But tell him, sure. But really, why wouldn't they just get a local nurse into an inservice, someone that really is qualified?
Then he tells me that they are considering me for teacher for one of the 4th/5th grade classrooms. Umm, this is news to me, your email said a position in Student Services which I researched to be the counseling department. When the lady from HR comes in she continues to say I'd be great for the position with my Early Childhood License. But in my head, of course, umm, I'm only licensed through 3rd grade, I don't know the first thing about teaching bilingual 4th & 5th grades.
Somehow, I agree with the director to come in on Friday with my documents (licenses, degrees, and reference letters) for a second interview (thinking in my head once again that I likely won't be there due to my scheduled departure that morning). Then I go with the HR lady to discuss salary.
She basically begs me to take the position and wants to know that moment if I will but agrees for me to let her know by Friday. They won't help me with legal papers but kind of said that others leave every few months for 72 hours at a time. The pay is only $1000 a week for 40 hr work weeks. That's half as much as I was earning as a nanny in California and that was in addition to them covering my room and board. They also offer to let me tutor for an hour after school for an extra $15-40 a day depending on how many students I have. But we all know that teachers work much more than a regular 40 hour work week with grading and lesson planning. So if my purpose is staying longer to learn Spanish, when would I actually have the time to study it? Basically on that income all I would have time for is to struggle to survive much like many others in this busy city.
These are the conclusions I came to during my book club meeting that evening. But at the end of my interview, I was very much confused about my options.
After I completed the interview my first tasks were: to find a bathroom, get lunch, and access the internet to complete tasks for the interview. I found a great salad place but the bathroom was out of order and there was no internet. I completed at least one task.
I walked around longer looking for a cafe to use the bathroom and internet. In the end, I found myself in yet another McDonalds where I used the bathroom and the internet without even being a customer. I sent some emails out that were necessary for obtaining documents if I were to decide to take the job.
Afterward I attempted to find the place to change some dollars for Colombian Pesos to prepare for my upcoming trip should I continue with leaving rather than staying for a job. I couldn't find the exact one that was recommended but found another. I stood outside for a bit trying to decide if I would be leaving or not. In the end, I didn't get any and just headed back.
That evening I went on the school scheduled activity of a bike ride. It turned out to be just me and the director, no other students. However, it was quite lovely to be out on a bike rather than walking all over the place. He showed me some of the things surrounding the Casco Viejo area.
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