As a fully hired teacher, one gets housing paid for as well as one plane ticket (round-trip) a year and a nice little nominal salary (around $500 a month). However, student teachers (like me) have to pay for their own air-ticket and we are supposed to get paid less. However, my paycheck at the moment is really comperable to the other NA's down here.
I'm not sure how long I'm going to stay here yet. My heart is here, but I'm waiting for God to open doors or shut them, one of the two. I'm currently speaking with my mentors about staying a second year, but this MAPS assignment is usually just for one school year. I think I read somewhere that second year teachers get a $100 a month raise, and although that's still not above the "poverty level" in the U.S., it's a 20% increase over the first year... and I don't know of anywhere else that tops that type of percent-increase. ;-)
The experience is something I wouldn't trade for anything. The city of Tegus is dirtier than I would have hoped... tons of smog and dirt and trash, etc. But then again, I haven't been to any truley big city in the US that doesn't have those things except maybe Boston. Most cities are by deffinition dirty. Of course it would be nicer in the country, but then again, there wouldn't be much opportunity to teach at a large city school if I was in the country now, would there? All around though, it's absolutely beautiful. I'm in love with the people, the culture and the language... and like I said, I would love to stay longer.
My favorite thing about student internship here is that I'm not really doing a student internship! I love the fact that this is actually my first job and that I'm not putting an entire semester of my carreer into building a music program that I will never be able to pour into again. I like the freedom of not having a guiding teacher, even though that makes it a little harder for me to get area-specific advice. But that doesn't bother me too much since I'm constantly emailing my college professors at Lee.
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