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Published: August 30th 2006
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Yoshioka Onsen bus stop
This is where I get on and off the bus everyday to go to school. Wake up between 5-6am, shower, make breakfast (this can vary, if I sleep in a little I just have toast, if not, I have toast and eggs or leftovers or miso and rice). I take the 7:20am bus to Yoshioka where Konan chugakko (JHS) is. The ride takes about 25-30 minutes and I almost always nod off in the morning and in the afternoon when I'm riding the bus. It passes by Koyama pond, which is supposedly the largest pond in Japan, but I think they are fooling themselves by calling it a pond because seriously...it's a lake. I've seen enough lakes to know what they are and Koyama 'pond' is definitely a lake. I pay ¥520 and get off then walk about 3 blocks to Konan.
Enter school, take off shoes and change into the shoes in my little cubby with my name on it. Go into the teacher's room and say 'Ohayo gozaimasu !', everyone answers me then I go to my desk. By 8:10 it's time for the morning meeting, we all stand at the beginning and bow and say something...I think they're saying 'Ohayo gozaimasu' again. Hirao-sensei (science teacher) runs the meeting usually and he has
Near Konan
The bus stop is on the right. the agenda on the board in the front of the room. Then he calls on whoever is talking about what, for example, Oka-sensei had to talk about the schedule for today so she stood up and did her thing. Kocho-sensei (principal) sits in on the meeting, but he mostly just reads the paper in the back. 8:15am we stand again and bow and say something then start working.
There are 6 periods total and each lasts for 50 minutes. English class doesn't happen everyday I have a schedule of when lessons are. Also, the schedule can change so I constantly ask my JTEs what is going on today so I don't miss anything. I ask for every kind of schedule they have so I know what's going on and I won't show up to school when no one is here, for example.
Depending on whether or not there is a lesson, I mostly sit at my desk and study Japanese, check emails, randomly talk to teachers, or just browse the internet. The actual work I've done so far has been to prepare my self introduction materials. I blew up photos of my parents and our house in St.
On the way to Konan
This is what I pass by after I get off the bus. Paul and pictures of my travels to show the students. I also made a quiz/worksheet about myself for the 1st and 3rd year students. Other than that...it's been pretty boring at school. Once we have to do lessons from the text book I should have more to do.
There are only 6 classes at this school. 2 classes for each grade: 1st year = 7th grade, 2nd year = 8th grade, 3rd year = 9th grade. Three of the classes, 1B, 2B and 3B are the classes for the handicapped students. There is only one student in 2B and two in 1B, and 1 in 3B. The rest of the class sizes range from 16-24. There are only 63 students total at this school so it should be easier to memorize the students' names. They also made name cards for my benefit, with their names written in romaji on one side and hiragana on the other side.
Teachers eat together with the students in the lunch room on the 3rd floor. The lunch gets delivered to our school and the students serve it. There is a handy assembly line system set up for getting the food and throwing trash away at the end. This week I am sitting with the 2nd year boys and Hirao-sensei. Yes, at lunch there is a seating chart too. Next week I'll sit with a different grade. I wanted to sit with the girls but I was put with the boys who don't really even try to talk to me at all. Hirao-sensei mostly asks me about things in America or cracks jokes that I sometimes get and sometimes don't have a clue.
After lunch teachers brush their teeth in the sinks along the hallway. Then it's cleaning time so usually I'll go up to where the 2nd years are and clean with them. They wipe the floors, sweep, dust everything. Everyone cleans, even the teachers so you have to do it! My day usually ends around 3:30-40pm because I have to catch the 3:50 bus going back to Tottori eki. I holler, 'shitsurei shimasu!' which means 'excuse me' but is generally used as a greeting when you are about to leave.
After school I'm free! So I will usually run errands, go on a bike ride, or start text messaging the other ALTs in the city and see how they are doing. Depending on my mood, we will set up dinner together or I just go to the supermarket and get food. If I don't feel like going out, I'll do laundry, download Korean dramas, or just hang out at home.
Not too eventful so far, but this weekend should be fun because it is sports festival time here at Konan! The kindergarten, elementary school, and jr. high school all come together for the sports festival. More info on that after the weekend passes.
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Aria
non-member comment
ha, i'm replying to all of the entries!!
And turns out I'm not reading them in order, but thats ok! The whole school system is so....different! Seems that everything is much more organized.