Underneath my pantyhose, I’m wearing my support stocking. Almost invisible. The support stocking I’m wearing, bought in Spain, comprises 93% polyamide, 7% elastane, and silicon. It’s a thin, type 2, long support stocking, held up with a silicon band. The brand is Farmalastic. Because I’m wearing the same clothes as on March 10th, I used the same picture.
18 March 2020; A day that stays in my memory forever… This day would be the day I had to present my own made job prescription to the board and my supervisor.
January 20th, I got very excited about the assignment my supervisor gave me; What I could mean for my board in terms of collaboration, quality of education, or a different way of organizing education and present that to my supervisor and the board.
I was so excited; I made long days because, in my opinion, these three fields are connected. I really thought I could add value to the board I work for. If I could manage to do something in all three fields, that would mean a different education way. More fun, future proof, and sustainable. I even see possibilities in resolving the problem; the world calls “teachers shortage.”
February 11th, I was called to meet my supervisor at the office. The meeting took place one hour after the call. I was unprepared but had a lot to tell. With a lot of excitement, I told everything I did so far. My supervisor told me to continue and that it wasn’t needed for me to join meetings anymore because it could confuse others. After one hour, I left the office and went home to work on the assignment.
That evening I experienced: “you never know how wrong you can be” because I received an e-mail from my supervisor. The meeting about my job prescription was turned into a meeting to end our working relationship. From that day, I was deleted from the What’s app group and e-mail group. I wasn’t allowed to take part in meetings.
In shock, I called a lawyer who would help me. He told me to continue work, which was only possible if I continued working on the assignment given on January 20th by my supervisor. I tried. The first week I was still in shock, thinking this was some sick joke. At first, I was paralyzed, and nothing came out of my hands. I even felt ashamed I wasn’t able to concentrate and work. My supervisor didn’t want to talk about it till March 18th. So I needed to find a way to continue my work.
During the past months, I met and spoke to people in the Netherlands who look differently at our educational system. And I joint the presentation of one of my colleagues that went to Scandinavia to visit schools for my board. So I planned a working holiday in Europe that would strengthen my presentation for the board.
Visting schools in Europa was what I planned for a working holiday. Giving me the ability to work and give my daughter a nice time as well. We went on a trip to visit schools in Europe by train. We left on Friday, before the actual holiday, to visit BMS in Berlin in the afternoon. All the things I could find about the schools, I stored on my Ipad to read during our travels by train.
The day after I met a colleague teaching Dutch in Prague, I fell and tore my ankles. My supervisor responded to me calling in sick after two weeks. And some later, he asked me if I wanted to continue our appointment on March 18th. I did because I was waiting for answers since February 11th.
They sent a taxi to pick me up. With crutches, in support stocking, and under painkillers, I went to the appointment. I even took my presentation with me that day. There was I talking to my supervisor and board. Still overwhelmed, the board told me that the assignment “was too good to be true, but if I wanted to continue working for them, I could become a teacher, even when my supervisor told me in my face he didn’t want to work with me anymore…” After I told him that I was hired as a principal, that seemed an option too.
In tears, I went down. I felt so stupid. All this physical burden I was going through was caused by a fake assignment?! They really wanted to get rid of me?! The taxi disappeared, he was told to hold for 30 minutes, but the meeting took 90 minutes. I called the taxi company. While waiting, a homeless man came to me and told me to believe in the lord. During a conversation with this man, the taxi with an angry taxi driver came to take me home.
