Today was the first day of exams for the students, and for me, the start of the weekend. I had to go in to work, but there was really nothing to do. I had signed up for the teacher volleyball game in the afternoon, and until then I just sat around and talked with other teachers, read magazines, and did my budget for next month.
One of the third year English teachers came over to talk to me, a guy that had never even said hello before – kind of a nervous looking guy. I knew what it was about as soon as he came over – he must have drawn the short straw, and so he has to go with me to the mid-year conference. He was so nervous talking to me – I felt bad for him. I told him that I would do as much as possible on my own, so he didn’t have to worry too much, but I don’t think he was really comforted by that.
In the teacher’s office I sit with the ichinensei teachers, teachers that only teach the “freshman” high school students. There are about 15 teachers in my group. I was assigned to sit with that group because Mr. Hayashi is my master teacher, and that’s where he is. I may be playing favorites here, but it seems clear to me that most of the teachers in my group closely match my personality and I am very comfortable with them. Looking at some of the other groups, they are nervous all the time, they are bucking for promotions, yelling at kids, brown-nosing the principal and vice principal, and more.
In contrast my group for the most part has teachers that are done climbing the ladder, and are comfortable where they are. They seem to be more relaxed and easy going, and if you know me, that fits my personality well. All the teachers at the school care about the students, but the ichinensei group seem to extend that caring to coworkers as well.
It is perhaps due to this attitude that we got slaughtered today in Teacher’s Volleyball.
That said, we had a great time. Several times we were laughing too hard to really put up much of a fight. When we were behind by twenty points some of the teachers would goof around and hit the ball with their head. It was a lot of fun, but I think the other teachers were hoping we would take it a bit more seriously.
It ain’t easy playing volleyball in a foreign language. I probably should have figured out how to say “I got it!” in Japanese before stepping on the court. I just jumped up and down and tried to use my height to freak out the other team. I certainly couldn’t hit the ball to save my life.
At the end of each game we had to line up and bow to the other team, and I figured that out when everybody started walking away from me and lining up. I was left looking around like a tourist in Tokyo.
At the end there was a formal award ceremony (seriously!) and they gave out first and second prizes. We came in a very distant third (out of three) and so we got nothing but polite (and maybe embarrassed) applause from the other teachers.
I ducked out of school early, and hit the road.
