Just back to North-East England from TEFL teaching in Taiwan, Laura Carr has scored a job as a college general studies lecturer – starting immediately. Welcome to work It’s always daunting starting a new job, and since this is my first proper job in the UK, I’ve been feeling more nervous that I usually would. But I’m happy to report that things are going really well.
Loads of other people started at the same time as me, including quite a few girls around the same age who are in the office area next to mine. I’m eyeing them as potential friends, suggesting shared lunch breaks and dropping that tried and tested line ‘so, are you going to the staff party?’ - all the while trying not to come across as too desperate! Although I’m only one of two females in my office and on average a good 30 years younger than the rest of my teaching team, I’m happy to report that so far they’ve all been really lovely and supportive. Maybe they all have empty nest syndrome with their kids going off to university! My students?!As for the students, so far the whole experience has been a real eye-opener: Gothy, self-harming types who look like they’d be really bolshy and sullen turn out to be sweet and friendly. Louty-looking lads who tower over me apologise immediately when I ask them to be quiet. Trendy girls, who I assume will be bitchy to me simply for being young and female, surprise me by being really nice. Could it be that the youth of today are all lovely, open-minded individuals full of respect for fellow human beings, or are they being so well-mannered because they see me as a real adult? Nay, a real teacher? While I like to think it’s the former, I suspect it may be the latter, especially since I’ve been donning a rather fetching cardigan of the unfashionable type in an effort to appear old and mature. The realisation that I’m of a different generation to the students is really quite devastating! Career decidedSo, all’s well at work but… I can’t help but be a bit freaked out that I’ve made a career choice now, and other doors are well and truly shut to me. I was completely content with my decisions until I went to a friend’s housewarming party last week. There, I was surrounded by people doing such interesting things – a reporter who has her sights on London, but is currently spends her days doing random feature articles about the biggest truck in the region and such like, an editor of a national magazine, a couple of suave-looking lawyers. One friend has just packed up and moved to London in the hope of becoming a media luvvy. Even though I’m really happy with my job, and I find it challenging and rewarding and all those other things we all seek, I STILL feel like maybe I should be doing something more, well, glitzy. I’m not so much worried about the present, because right now I’m all enthusiastic and want to make a difference and all that, but I am worried about the future: I dread the thought that I might turn out to be one of those bitter middle-aged public workers who spends dinner parties getting that little bit too drunk and alienating all the other guests by ranting on about how they could have made it in some other, more highbrow profession. In the long runBut anyway, enough of career choices. I have to confess that my training for the Great North Run has been fairly pathetic to date. But my sister and I thought we’d redeem ourselves tonight by going for a jog-sprint-jog session. So off we went with our sports clothes and fancy New Balance trainers on, but just one hundred metres from the house our training session abruptly ended. We spotted a lost dog! We know she’s lost because we asked some other dog-walkers and they confirmed that she’d been hanging around for the last couple of weeks. The poor little thing was so scared, and even though we trailed her for ages, she was too scared to come to us. We didn’t manage to catch her, but hopefully we can get some rescue people out to catch her. So watch this space – in a couple of weeks, I might be making a special appeal on this very page. Have you got through a settling-in-and-making-friends phase at work? Do you enjoy taking a dog for a walk? Send your comments and experiences to Laura.See Laura's earlier writings | 
