Times They Are A-Changin'

For me at least.

As of tomorrow, I am no longer a nanny. As of Monday, I am an after school teacher for 6th graders in Queens and an ESL instructor for Spanish-speaking adults. All this came about in the past three weeks.

It begins with, my year nannying was coming to a close and I was back and forth about staying. I love the girls and the pay is great, but being a nanny is not my career goal and can actually hinder me from getting jobs in the future (i.e., when I apply to jobs with groups of low-income youth and my resume is two years of nannying for only two girls in the Upper East Side, I may get laughed at). The job itself also had aspects that were difficult for me and I was struggling with the culture of the Upper East Side in general. So I decided to leave, but as there were only two weeks before school began and we were all under the assumption I was staying, I gave Linda a semester's notice, saying I would stay through December.

She was not pleased (or reasonable). Our interactions were far from ideal, but after about a week of stress, she decided to find a new nanny immediately and hired this great girl who I trained yesterday and think will be an awesome match (prolly better than me, for Linda at least, because she's more conservative and family-oriented and homebodyish than me). Even though I brought this on myself and am happy for the change, when Linda decided to find a new nanny right away, I freaked. Working with the girls for only two more weeks? What? I really love them and feel almost like I'm betraying them by leaving. And what would I do next?

So, after many resumes and cover letters and interviews in my $3 button up shirt, I secured a job with the Beacon Program, a nonprofit that works in IS-5, a public middle school in Elmhurst, Queens. I'm really excited to be working with this population and to be teaching adults, and love the people who run the program. It's really small, so there are only three people in charge who are all really sweet Latina women who are not afraid to tell you what's up but will then give you a hug after doing so. The program actually runs a lot of stuff for the community so they are overworked and basically live at this middle school, but what they do is awesome. Their services include free, after school programs for 1st-6th graders, fieldtrips, ESL for adults, hip-hop and step classes, ESL for recently immigrated children, homework assistance/tutoring, basketball coaching for 7th-8th graders, other sports activities for kids and adults, and just general space for people from the community that want to run karate or music or dance classes or whatever at no cost. I get to design what I teach and have an aide, this awesome high school girl who has her shit together like crazy. I'm really excited about the work and it pays well, but unfortunately by the hour. When I first begin, I'll only be working 22 hours a week so it won't be enough money, but the director is organizing a Saturday ESL program for kids that I'll lead, so once that gets going, the finances will improve. I'm still going to pick up a day at a restaurant or cafe or something to make sure I'll have enough money. But I don't want to be working over 30 hours a week because I'm so serious right now about focusing on my writing. I've been applying to local newspapers and blogs and online zines, and just generally writing my ass off. If I can make the extra income off of my writing, then I've reached my career goal of New York already: to work with low-income children through a nonprofit and advance my writing career.

I'm not counting on these writing jobs for my income though. They are wildly competitive and depend on connections more than talent. I'm already envisioning the late nights sitting around a restaurant full of drunks that just won't leave, clothes that smell like food and coffee no matter how many times I wash them, and achy legs from standing and walking for a whole shift. Is it weird to say I kinda miss it?

I guess I have to change my info box on this site. No longer am I nannying on the Upper East Side to make money, but I'll be teaching in Queens to make some money, while continuing to pursue the writer in New York thing. Wish me luck!