There are always things people don't like about their jobs, and I could name them, too, but ya know, I think mine's got a lot of perks, in the grand scheme of things. In no particular order:
1. On Mondays and Wednesdays, my first class, which is a 10-minute drive from my apartment, doesn't start until 10:00 a.m. This means I don't have to leave my house until 9:30, giving me an extra hour around the house to spend as I please. Sometimes this means washing dishes or straightening up. Often, it means an extra cup of coffee, yoga, or reading. (Don't worry, I make up for it by not taking a lunch those days.)
2. I have enough time between my morning and afternoon classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays to do 30 minutes of yoga in my empty classroom and still eat lunch. Before it got too cold and rainy, I was having a picnic outside on a blanket in a field behind the church twice a week. Fresh air, blue skies, good food, and a good book. And sometimes a free cup of coffee if the secretary makes it.
3. Also on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I have enough time to eat dinner and watch an episode of 30 Rock before my next class.
4. Mileage reimbursement = free gas
5. My coworkers are fun and easy to work with.
6. I can come to the office on no-class Fridays wearing jeans, a t-shirt, no makeup, and my hair in a ponytail and it's totally cool. No one to see, no one to impress but my computer and my papers.
7. Sometimes (like, a couple times a year) we close the office early on Fridays and I'm home by 3:30.
7. My office is close enough to everything that going to the bank, supermarket, or post office during lunch or right after work is totally doable.
8. My students might annoy me sometimes (like when I have to explain how to conjugate "to be" 15 times a day) but for the most part, I love them all. Especially the students in my jail class who say funny things like, "We might kill someone, but we wouldn't ever rob anybody," as if that makes them win the Morality of the Year Award. And of course, the moments when I see that what I'm teaching is actually sticking, and I can see progress in their English ability, it makes it all worthwhile.
9. Complete autonomy when it comes to lesson planning. No one tells me what to teach, so I can make a mix of life skills, grammar, vocabulary, literature, history, music and culture (all the things I love) and there's no problem. As long as students' test scores go up (which, invariably, they do), everyone is happy.
10. Not being in the office all day. Being able to go from site to site keeps me from being bored. And it makes the day go by faster. And I can do things like visit a roadside grill or farmers market in the middle of nowhere Wake County between classes.
See? There are always things to be grateful for. I'm never gonna make it rich working at a non-profit, but it definitely has its pluses!
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