I started this blog full of enthusiasm for the possibility of motorcycle touring and my life in New Zealand. I am still enjoying the touring, but the Covid pandemic has meant international touring is difficult. It has also been difficult to enjoy teaching, and I have had two bad years. Those bad years seem over, and I am now in a very different teaching environment. I am no longer struggling with rude and reluctant secondary school students, but teaching online (largely) Chinese students (on the whole) the secrets of academic English for New Zealand university entrance.
In anticipation of a move to England in 2020, I sold my new motorbike. Within weeks, the move fell through, and I was left in a situation where I was due to leave my house in Hamilton, I had no motorbike, no job and I had sold or given away a lot of my belongings. I started to apply for some jobs, but then received a call from a school where I had an interview. It was an opportunity on a plate. I took it, moved to the town and started teaching. It was the same school I mentioned in a prior post and yes, the kids were difficult. I ended up losing the plot one day, when the students were rioting, and one was making monkey faces and gestures behind my back. I walked out of the classroom.
I spent several months doing delivery in a van for a supermarket. At one stage, I asked a former student, a neighbour, to baby-sit my son for the day, and she said I was a good teacher, but the kids were dreadful. When I was given that positive reinforcement, I looked for a new job in teaching, and found this place that is between school and university. I bought a second-hand motorcycle, basically with the money from the sale of my 'new' motorbike. My new job does mean a long ride through Auckland traffic to the centre of the biggest city in New Zealand, but I enjoy it. I feel it develops my biking ability and my resilience.
Another interesting aspect is that my car was stolen by my ex-housemate, so I now have only the bike and no car. The ex-housemate, of an ethnic group that cannot be criticised in NZ without being accused of racism, was being kicked out of the house for not paying rent. While I was away in Wellington, with my youngest son, on the motorbike, he went into my room, found my car key and took off with it. It was recovered a few days later, but written off by the insurer.
As a result, the motorbike is my only transport, and my pleasure for every day.
Daily use is interesting. It can be cold, rainy, even flooding one day. These winter days are also dark when I leave and return home.
