Today I went in to school at the normal time, but we were just doing a closing ceremony and trading rumors about staff transfers. I found out that several teachers I like are leaving, some I don’t like are leaving, and a couple that I was afraid were going to transfer are staying.
Mr. Komuri is a member of the union, and somehow gets advance notice who is going and leaving, and even who is replacing them. He shared the confidential information with me, even though they aren’t announcing them officially until tomorrow.
Mr. Komuri himself was rumored to be leaving, which would have been a big bummer for me – he’s a great personality to work with and is a big highlight of my workday. Luckily he is staying. Miss Kotera was a surprise transfer – she is going to have to teach night school somewhere. From her attitude today I think it’s a rude shock to her, and not a good transfer at all. She’s really nice – but she must have pissed somebody off.
Miss Yamamoto is being transferred, as she suspected, so we’ll have a new English teacher to replace her. Another English teacher, Mr. Momoki (the teacher I escorted to the mid-year seminar) is leaving too. So we’ll have two new people to “break in” next term. I’ll be teaching with each of these people quite a bit, so I hope they are nice. The bad news according to Mr. Hayashi is that they are in their 40’s, which means they probably are really conservative when it comes to English learning.
I had promised my ESS members that we would watch a movie after school today, so I brought in my Tomb Raider 2 DVD that Miss Kageyama had given me and we watched that on my classroom’s player. The player is top end and the TV is a flat screen monitor – somebody’s budget took a hit somewhere along the line. It’s only the second time I’ve used it.
We had a great time with the movie – we watched it with the Japanese subtitles on, but the students kept asking me what this or that meant during the movie. People were talking and everyone was snacking on chips and goodies – it was a lot of fun. We decided that we’re going to watch Pirates of the Caribbean next. It was a popular meeting, and I think I might be able to win over a few more members with meetings like this.
After school I came home and decided to make maki-zushi. I made some at the school librarian’s house a while back with her help, but this time I did it alone, and it turned out great. I made mine just with egg – I didn’t have any crab laying around. It was so easy that I’m going to try to pick up some ingredients next time I’m out and make some more.
While I made sushi I was listening to John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, and shuffling around my apartment in slippers sipping iced milk coffee. It’s a nice lifestyle that I have here, and I’m trying to appreciate these moments while they’re here.
Miss Kageyama called a few minutes ago and told me all about her new job. It turns out she’s going to be a homeroom teacher, which means lots of hours. She’s also going to be working in the guidance office, which means long hours, too. She will be working six days a week, with Friday off. She is one of eight new English teachers that the school has hired, and I think the workload probably contributed to eight of them leaving at once. All this means that I’ll be seeing a lot less of Miss Kageyama in the future.
To remedy that, we’ve got a couple of things planned in the near future. We’re talking about a trip to Tokyo, and also I’m trying to get Antoine, Yasu, and Miss Kageyama together on Sunday to see a free concert in Kyoto.
