I have already got a commuting routine down, thanks to Kuniko and Yahoo! Japan. As we settle into the routine, things start to get comfortable. Work is more and more relaxed, people are starting to get used to me, and all in all I’m feeling good as I start and end each day.
That’s not to say that shit doesn’t happen.
At work today I found out two things that interested me greatly about my job. The first thing was that I was part of a long line of ALTs that have worked at the school. Nobody has stayed longer than six months, because they apparently don’t use an ALT at any of the city junior high schools between March and August. That means, that no matter how much I love my job or they love me, I’ll be looking for a new job come March.
That’s fine – I’ve got no problem with that. March will be a great time to be looking for work, since the official school year starts in April. So, the result is that I’ll try not to get too attached to my school, because it is just a temporary gig and I need to remember that.
But it’ll be hard to not get attached to my school. I heard today that my school is the top school in Nishinomiya city – number one among 20 schools. All the teachers hope every year that they’ll get transferred to the school, and all the school’s teachers hope every year that they won’t be transferred away. The students are well-behaved and enthusiastic. The teachers discussing this with me made it sound like the Dream Academy of the Future or something. They clearly love their jobs, and every day I get to see why.
Today I had four classes, and every one of them was an enjoyable teaching experience. The students reacted really well, and the time just flew by. I taught with Matsunaga sensei for the first time. She’s a taco enthusiast and also one of the teachers that gave me so much information today. She’s also got a Costco card and promised to do some shopping for me in the future.
Her class went by the book, but we had a good time regardless. The students in that class were really noisy, especially two guys who just wouldn’t be quiet. But who can complain when they only use English. At that age they haven’t learned much English, so they used variations of what they did know to try to communicate. They were shouting out things like “I like food is hamburger!” and “Yes, me, yes!” Give them top marks for enthusiasm, and later I congratulated them in the hallways.
I made some macaroni and cheese for dinner tonight in an effort to whittle down the very large amount of macaroni that we have on hand. Last night the rice cooker died, so we had to make an emergency run to Kuniko’s parent’s house to pick up her old one from her days living in Osaka. It works fine, though, and our lunch boxes are back in business.
Now I’m heading to bed to try to get to sleep early. We’re getting up early every morning to make it an easier commute, but we end up getting tired pretty early in the evening. The hidden cost of commuting, I guess.
