Work! and students and minor freak out...

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Work! and students…and minor freak out.


April 7th- April 9th

I am going to be teaching at 3 schools this year. One is a Junior High School (JHS), and the others are Elementary Schools (ES). The JHS is my base school, and I will go there most days, but the ES’s I will visit only 10-15 times in a year. The JHS makes the schedules for the ES’s so at the moment I just go there, but soon (hopefully after I get my car) I will be heading to the other schools.


Monday 7th:

Today was the day I met the principals of the schools I will be teaching at. I also went to meet the Board of Education (BoE). Scary stuff! At the Board of Education I was actually put at ease about my day, because after we met the BoE, we somehow got to talking about my lack of transport and lack of apartment, so 15 minutes was spent on discussing my need for a bicycle! They kept saying things like ‘I have a bike, but one of the tires is flat’, or ‘My son has a bike, and he only uses it during the holidays’… I assured then that I didn’t mind the walk. It is a 40 minute walk from the school to the hotel, but I walk past Minakuchi castle, and there are many cherry blossoms along the way. I think we just went there so they could get a look at the people they had hired….we didn’t really talk about anything important in relation to the school. One of the men we were talking to actually turned out to be the ex-kocho sensei (principal) of the other girl’s JHS! He also had connections in the apartment business, so he called them, gave some information to Fujikawa-san and we went to see the apartment in the afternoon! (but I’m getting ahead of myself here!). After the meeting, we all stood up, and another man walked over. We introduced ourselves to him, and shock of all shocks, he turned out to be the ex kocho sensei of MY JHS! Apparently it was he who picked me out of a bunch of resumes sent to him…..funny how these things happen.

Anyways….we went to the JHS, and at the entry you take off your shoes and put on some very (un)sexy orange slippers. Then you shuffle down the hallway to the Kocho-sensei’s office. You take your slippers off, head inside, introduce yourself and muddle all of your words up and when to bow…..well at least that’s what I did, and then we all sat down on a couch and I played Japanese tennis while they all jabbered away……It goes like this: everyone in the room speaks Japanese, and you sit silently with a big genki grin on your face and swivel your head back and forth, depending on who’s speaking. AT one point, kocho-sensei leaned forward to me while Muratta sensei and Fujikawa-san were chatting and he said ‘I’m sorry…. I don’t speak English’…so I leant forward and said ‘I’m sorry….I don’t speak Japanese’. He’s a really nice man I think, and I wish I could actually have a real conversation with him. After the meeting, I went out and met the other teachers and did a little spiel in english which was basically ‘Hajimemashite. HI. MY NAME IS NIKKY. I AM FROM PERTH, AUSTRALIA. PLEASE LOOK AT THIS BOOK ABOUT MY COUNTRY. I AM HAPPY TO BE HERE. Bow…mumbleonegaishimasu.

This ceremony was repeated at my Es’s as well…and at one of those schools, my kocho-sensei is actually a woman! She’s very smiley but doesn’t speak a word of english….it seems that’s a common occurrence around here. (^_^) I got really good at another game by the end of the day….It’s a variation on a very well known english game, but I call this version ‘Fujikawa-san Says’. Basically…….she bows, I bow, she says hajimemashite, I say the same etc….very simple game….. The problems occur when I have to do it my myselkf, and I end up saying ‘mumblemumble mumble gozaimasu’…..or ‘yoro-ohshitiveforgottenmumbleonegaishimasu…..’ and bobbing up and down like a chicken….I laugh about it now but believe me, when you’re in a suit and everyone is in a suit and you’re feeling like everything is in Japanese……..BECAUSE IT IS! Then it’s a lil bit stressful. I got tea at the ES’s…but I learnt well at training. DON’T TOUCH IT even when it’s put down oh so temptingly in front of you….wait for them to say ‘dozo’ and point to it… And you also don’t sit down until they specifically gesture for you to do so…and even then you gesture for them to sit first. At one of my ES’s I didn’t get to specifically meet the kocho sensei. They were all in a meeting, and so I got to walk into a room of 40 teachers. They said This is Nikky sensei, she is from Australia…and then they all clapped and I left the room……odd.


Tuesday April 8th:

Today was the ‘entrance ceremony’ day for schools in the area. It’s basically a big assembly where they welcome new students to the school, lots of important people go to watch, you stand up and sit down about 8 times during the whole thing, bow a few times, sing the school song, and if you’re a new teacher *lucky me* you walk up on stage, listen to someone saying nihongonihongonihongonihongoNikky-senseinihongonihongoAustralianihongo and you bow. (nihongo means Japanese). At the ES the older students of the school (grades 2-6) sung a song for the grade ones (who are so kawaiiiiiiii cute that you just wanna put them in your pocket-Danilo we’re adopting a Japanese baby)….the song they sung was from the Miyazaki movie Totoro (Kathy you’re probably the only one who knows what I mean)…I even got to sing along because I learnt a bit….It goes Totoro Totoro……Totoro Totoro……. And that’s all I know.

It’s actually a good thing they make you stand up and sit down. It wakes you up. I kept nodding off and had to shake my head to wake up a bit. One teacher in the row ahead of me actually dropped off to sleep in his chair! About 6 people got up to speak during the ceremony…and had such loooonnnnng speeches that I couldn’t understand a word of. Painful. Obviously I want the only one who felt that way.


Wednesday April 9th:

Had a minor freak out today. I moved into my apartment last night….with NO internet. I freaked out because I fe;t a bit cut off. Before, I was chatting every day so it didn’t feel like it but this made it hit home. Cut off from everyone, surrounded by people speaking another language. And then when told to plan a lesson, it is said in basic english so there aren’t many pleases or no nuance of kindness…more like I want you to do this. OK? SO that was a bit….welll…Meh. Loving my apartment, thought it’s quite empty. More on that later.

On the plus side......there are about 40 students at the school who speak portuguese/spanish.....BONUS! And bonus points too?

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Comments

[Kathy]

Yay! The totoro song- aren't you glad I introduced you to it before you went??? Sounds like you did well during your first days, chica. Ganbatta ne!