Good evening from Bogota

It seems I am getting lackadaisical (sic) and missed posting last night. Maybe thats because yesterday was exactly the same as today ...nothing.
The days seem to drag.....as I have no classes and no work. The nights seem longer than normal and I find myself longing for the clock to reach around 10.00 so I can go to bed ... that way when I wake its another day.

I have a feeling the school are in some form of financial difficulty. This is just a general feeling tied into various little things that are and have been going on.

I asked if the 1 million (£300)sodexho vouchers I am due to get on the 27th of July could be given in cash instead of vouchers (Since thy can only be used in Colombia and I will have only 1 day to spend them..) The school said No it couldnt be done.. In effect I have no complaint as it does state it clearly that sodexho vouchers are part of my contract. However other schools in the area allow staff to cancel them. The English School don't.

The school have cancelled the contracts of 3 staff have accepted the movement of another 12 staff and are also losing 4 of the Senior Management Team. To add to that they are looking at cutting back on Heads of Faculty and Heads of Department, All these are seen as cost cutting measures.

So you can imagine the staff who are staying who were given their new contracts today only to find out that although their salaries go up about £750 a year they end up being anything up to £50 worse off than this year due to the Dollar Exchange rate.

The payment of Dollars is seen as an advantage to International staff a sort of guaranteed safety net over less solid currencies like the peso. That is until the recent loss of the dollar which has caused serious repercussions to those staff who are remaining. Would you work for another 12 months after being given a pay increase in one hand and watching it being taken away by the other hand on the reasoning that the dollar exhange rate is so low.

It is times like this I am happy I am only on a 1 year contract and it is petty well nailed down..BUT I am still not convinced about the amount that will be paid in supposedly by next Friday Lunch time. Bearing in mind the school closes at 12.00 there is NO time for me to complain or seek advice. I am in effect going to have to accept whatever they give me.. You can imagine I am not exactly ecstatic about this even though I have obtained an "estimate" of the net amount to be paid which is close to what I would expect. I can still see it going awry on the day. Such is the total lack of confidence in the Administration!.

So with 1 week to go and the countdown to leaving now in single figures the relative stress level is still fairly high and will no doubt remain so up to the last hour of the last day.

Tomorrow is another day.... and only a half day finishing at 12.00
More tomorrow night