2001-07-10
Baltimore!, posted at 1:27 p.m.
Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com I drove to Baltimore over the weekend, and accepted a contract to teach with Baltimore Public Schools. I fell in love with the city, and am excited about moving there. I'm basically content and satisfied with my decision. The salary is very good, about the best I have seen for a first-year teacher anywhere except California. The perks are are also good, with excellent benefits and tuition reimbursement. The city is sure to provide me with much of what I'm yearning for - more culture, being near the ocean, lots of things to do. I suppose that with any decision, there will be things in my mind that nag at me. I would have loved to have been close to my grandparents. Richmond, VA seemed like a really cool town. I'll miss Michigan somewhat. But I think no matter what I would have decided, there would have been things that I regretted. Gale and I left on Saturday for Baltimore, and we arrived at around 1am in the city. We stopped off at the first motel we saw, thinking we just wanted somewhere to put our head. Well, we chose the worst exit imaginable. It was nudy bar, motel, nudy bar, motel. We chose this disgusting place that wasn't worth anywhere near the $50 we paid for it. There was mold everywhere. It was almost as bad as the hotel with Tiffany in Chicago that we stayed at. The lock was busted so, and we were at ground level, so I pushed my bed against the door. During the night, we heard glass breaking and people shouting, but luckily the car made it through the night. We wasted most the day Sunday because Gale refused to take a shower in the gross motel room (probably a good idea), and we had to wait until 3pm when checkin at other hotels was occurring. We hung around, using up time at the Towson Library and I.H.O.P. while we waited for Day's Inn to allow check-ins. That night, we checked out the Baltimore Inner Harbor area. This is what sold me on the city. It was gorgeous, with tons of people and lots to do. Gale and I took the Clipper City cruise around the harbor, which was sort of boring and overpriced but relaxing nonetheless. We ate at this wonderful Indian resturan in the middle of Little Italy (who figured?) and checked out a number of the bars and shops in the area. We got the feeling we didn't see hardly any of the area. On Monday, I called the director of hiring for the schools at the prearranged time. At this point, I knew I would enjoy living in Baltimore, but did not know if Baltimore City Schools were for me. The told me to call him first thing in the morning, at 8am, and he would have schools and principals set up to talk with me. I called him at 8am. He wasn't there. Called again at 8:30am. Wasn't there. This repeated until the receptionist hated me, and then long after that (I didn't have a number to reach me at, so I had to keep calling). Finally, he got there at around 11, and had not set up any meetings for me. Ugh. He told me to come in, nonetheless. Right away, he tried to send me to the pre-employment meeting to get my urine tested, to sign my contract, to fill out forms, etc. I'm like, "Well, you know, I'm not sure if I want to teach here or not. That's why I called you last week to set up meetings for my 9-hour drive down here." He apologized, and said he was trying to salvage my trip by having me go to the meeting. After a brief discussion with Gale, I decided to do it. I wanted to finally know where I was going, I knew I'd like the area, and just wanted to get it over with. I went to the pre-employment meeting, where everyone was nice and there seemed to be a lot of young teachers from all over the place. The drives there and back were okay. Gale proved herself a worthy travel partner again. We got in more fights (that's a strong word for them - let's call them "discussions") than usual, but I guess that's okay. Now, the time has come to let everyone know my news. I'm dreading telling my family and my grandparents. But it has to be done.