Every two weeks on Wednesday, I have a really busy schedule. Today was hectic, and it reminded me what other teacher’s normal schedules are like. The good news is that I did all the preparations earlier, so things went really smoothly.
I met with Mori sensei today, and gave her my draft for our next lesson. We’ve had differences in the past on how a lesson should run – I won’t get into it here. She looked it over, asked a few questions, and we decided to try it as is. Let’s hope it works!
In my three years in Japan I’ve noticed one thing that would make you cringe if you knew it… Japanese men usually don’t wash their hands after going to the bathroom. I know, I know, there are exceptions, but I have noticed that most guys at my school or people in public bathrooms rarely wash their hands when they finish up their business. It’s enough to make you want to never shake another hand at a party. Luckily bowing is more common here – I’ll stick to that. Seriously – is it a strange cultural phenomenon? I told Kuniko and she wasn’t so surprised. What’s the deal?
We had a really boring meeting in the afternoon, mainly talking about a new performance review system that sounds a lot like what I dealt with back in the U.S. It’s a new idea here in the Japanese public school system. Traditionally here you just get older and your pay goes up. It explains why so many teachers sit around playing solitaire and sleep through meetings. I’ll tell you this – those same teachers were paying very close attention to our meeting today. There is some concern, but underneath it I think that everyone believes that basically it will end up being the same system, with a new coat of paint on top. Since I’m outta here in a few months, I didn’t really concern myself too much with it.
It’s taco night here at the Fredricks’ household – as soon as Kuniko gets home we’ll spin the tortillas and get the party started. I’m seriously craving Mexican food…
