I vividly remember the very first time. I received a pay check after working for an entire month. That day changed my perception about money and you can say that I became more conscious about the way I spent my “hard earned money” hehe.
Some years back, I got the opportunity to temporarily teach at a primary school and I was really excited. I thought teaching a group of students was going to be a very easy thing to do, at least that's how my teachers made it seem.
Before resumption, the school's proprietress briefed me on the school's rules and regulations, the dress code and overall ethics.
On my first day as a teacher, I was very excited to meet my students. I remember properly ironing my outfit that day as I wasn't going to show up looking wrinkled or dusty on my first day.
The students all walked into the classroom, bright-eyed and ready to learn but I could tell that they weren't very comfortable with the new teacher, yet. After the students settled in, I introduced myself to them and they did the same. We spent their first day doing a recap of what they learnt in their previous class. This was also my way of testing each child's superficial learning ability.
I didn't realize that being a teacher was deeper than many teachers made it seem until the next day when more instructions were given to me. The most daunting was the fact that I had to write and submit a lesson note for at least 80% of the academic session before the next week and I didn't even know where to start from.
I asked for help whenever I could and my colleagues at the time were more than happy to help out. Eventually, I figured that part out but it seemed like whenever I figured one part out, more challenges just kept coming.
However, one thing I was proud of was the fact that the student seemed very free and open with me. This made teaching them a bit easier. On certain days, we had time for extracurricular activities and watching those kids display their creativity was always very fulfilling.
Fast forward to thirty days later when I got my first pay check. The second in command, the school's principal, walked into my class and requested that I come to her office at the close of work. If I wasn't of good conduct throughout my stay there, I would have probably started freaking out at this point but I remained calm.
At the close of work, I went into her office and she handed me a brown envelope, stating that that was my salary. She proceeded to give me a book to sign in a bid to signify that I had received payment, which I did. I thanked her for the money and walked out of her office. Once I stepped out, I celebrated properly. I was extremely happy. Almost immediately, I unconsciously started listing out the things I wanted to buy with my money but quickly forfeited the plan when I realized that I hadn't reached a point where I could spend “extravagantly”.
However, I treated myself to my favourite snacks at the time and that was pretty much it. My salary didn't go into catering for things like transportation or feeding because I was still very much under the care of my mom and my workplace was a walking distance from my home.
Overall, the experience was a truly wholesome one. One that taught me not only to respect money but to respect every single teacher who takes out time to impact knowledge on students.
*Images used belong to me and were taken with my mobile device, except stated otherwise.