by Last week I passed a billboard advertising jobs at McDonalds. It showed the salaries for both burger flippers and trainee managers. I’m now earning more than a trainee manager at McDonalds in Romania. I’ve made it!
I’ll never make a ton of money at this job, but I’m now supporting myself now, just about, without having to rely on my rental income. And it’s extremely satisfying work. When I’m reading chapters of The Twits or Captain Underpants to my junior students, it doesn’t feel like work at all. Yes, Mum very kindly ordered some kids’ books for me – they turned up last week. My teaching job has given Mum and I something to talk about, and our relationship has improved as a result. The benefits of my job seem almost endless.
In previous jobs I’d show up on a Wednesday, and I’d have literally no recollection of what I’d done on Monday or Tuesday unless I’d written it down. Sometimes I couldn’t even remember what I’d done two minutes earlier. My memory was dangerously bad. A big part of that was my depression, plus the fact that I didn’t give a toss, which is part and parcel of the same thing. Now I continually amaze myself by how little I forget. Matei is on £16,000 with his phone-a-friend lifeline remaining; Elena wants to learn about phrasal verbs involving ‘get’; I’ve got a lesson on body parts planned for Oana and Cătălin; I’m just about to start Chapter 6 with Luminița; and so on. Neither do I forget (touch wood) the lesson times themselves, although I keep quite meticulous records of my past and future lessons.
It’s a cool, crisp, cloudless autumn morning here in Timișoara, similar to the mornings you get in Geraldine. My parents currently have Mum’s younger brother staying with them. He’s 66 and has recently given up the monotony of selling insurance. (He’s very quick-witted and would have made a great teacher.) I’m sure he’d like to give up the monotony of his marriage too. His wife never lets him do anything, apart from play golf and watch sport on TV. He’s never been further than Australia. But now he’s surprised everybody by booking a trip to Europe to attend my brother’s wedding. Good on him. He’ll travel around the UK with my aunt, Mum’s older sister.
New Zealand has a new government. I didn’t vote in the election, but would have voted Labour in a heartbeat had I done so. (I wouldn’t have voted Green except perhaps as a tactical vote; they’ve lost their way a little ever since Russel Norman left.) I’m happy, albeit surprised, that Labour were able to form a government. National were competent enough, but I was never convinced that they really gave a shit about people. Maybe Jacinda Ardern’s new government will work out, maybe it won’t, but we all need to keep an open mind.
Both Mum and Dad now think I’ll never come back to New Zealand. Never is an awfully long time, and I’d feel terrible about abandoning my parents in their old age, but they’re right that I won’t be leaving Romania any time in the near future.
