February 25, 2008
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Points Of Authority!
This is gonna seem kinda familiar, for anyone who also keeps up with
Matt’s Xanga (which is all of you, I believe…?) But it seems Matt’s
problems from about a month ago have now become mine to. I refer to the
fateful decision of whether or not to remain in my current job or seek
employment elsewhere. Ya see, my potential transfer to Toyota-shi,
Aichi-ken, is no longer potential. Or literal. The word is from the
higher-ups that there are no spots open for transfer and I’m looking at
another 12 months up here in Takaoka. Nice enough a place as it is, and
as much as I enjoy working at my 2 schools, the very real prospect of
being here for another year as made realise; I don’t want to be. I’ll
say more about 4 hour train rides to get to Matt, and being all but cut
off (time and expense considered) from everyone else right now before
Calex weighs in with his Hokkaido situation which, admittedly, is
worse. But he seems content enough to stay put and happy with the
company WoW provides….. Me, I just don’t think I can do another year
of living only for my job and 1 weekend a month down in Toki. So, I am
biting the bullet and planning to move on. Scary stuff, especially
since I have just signed papers to vacate my Leopalace apartment come
the end of my contract, in a little over a month. Scary prospects of
being homeless and unemployed in Japan creep into my mind and scuttle
around like weird spider-like creatures that aren’t spiders but look
like spiders but definitely aren’t spiders! Still, I have not been
idle. I have applied to a couple of ALT companies and a pretty cool
looking private teaching job (2 storey house provided) in beloved
Nisshin among others. There is still the possibility of transfer with
Interac too, which would make things much easier and less
pants-crappingy! All things considered I definitely don’t wanna leave
Japan just yet. I would like to spend the next 5 years or so here at
least…. but I definitely need a life outside of work! I didn’t come
back to try and recapture NUFS but I did come back to start a new,
post-NUFS chapter for us all. I came here for work and to kick-start
some kinda “career” too…. but I need to be able to have both.Anecdotes. Another familiar Matt-like bit from me. But….. I did the
anecdote thing first so technically I’m only stealing it back! Anyway,
a couple of stories from my schools. 1 is quite simple and mainly for
Balex. At Kuniyoshi, my 2nd school where I spend Tuesdays, there is one
1nensei class with a few
Resident Evil (Biohazard) fans in. One of these kids, just before
winter break, instead of making a Christmas card with something, well,
Christmassy on decided to make a card with the Umbrella logo emblazoned
upon it. When I checked it out an said “nice, but it really doesn’t
have anything to do with Christmas….” his response was “I know, but
it’s cool.” I agreed. Anyway, this class was supposed to be doing a
listening exercise where they tell me who I’m describing on a picture.
I say “wo is playing tennis” and they yell the name of whoever’s
playing tennis. For some reason the boys in the Resi group started
yelling names that weren’t on the picture, with one kid yelling “Chris
Redfield” over and over! OK, you had to be there. But….. same class.
Something hilarious happened. So hilarious it made me break into my
high-pitched, yelp-like laughter I sometimes do on the rare occasions I
am compelled to “lol.” The kids had moved onto text reading and we’d
made it a role-play thing. They were reading the parts of a family in
groups of 4. One kid, named Takahashi, decided to put on a voice to
read the grandma’s part….. The thing is he sounded exactly like
Bruno! Or one of us impersonating Bruno. It was hilarious. Well, it was
for me…..!OK, my anecdotes weren’t as good as Matt’s. Well…. so’s your face!
One cool thing though; I actually led the class today. It was for all
of 3 minutes whilst my JTE retrieved some worksheets, but it felt kinda
good. Especially cos it was a class of 2nensei,
pretty disobedient 13 and 14 year olds who like to try and distract me
by pulling faces or getting me into Dragonball-style pretend energy
attack battles. But they totally obeyed my commands and everything. I’m
sure this ain’t so impressive for Rob (who seems to teach classes alone
all the time) and Balex (whose job is to do so anyway) but it was the
first time I’ve been unsupervised in the teacher role and it was kinda
cool! I certainly get something outta this stuff and would like to stick with it….Anyway, I’ll sign off here. I”ve posted a few keitai-quality photos on my photoblog of a recent trip I took to a nearby temple, Zuiryuji. Once a year they get out fancy lights and light it up! It was really nice. Atmospheric. It’s great to be here to see this stuff, but it still reminded me nothing, no place or sight or activity can substitute for doing all those things with friends….
Night kids. Be good! “Should’ve said something but I’ve said it enough… by the way my words were faded, rather waste some time with you…”
Comments (10)
Haha, dookie. Dookie is a funny word. Wouldn’t it be total dookie if, despite having read the whole post, I decided to comment on nothing other than the title of an album?
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Okay, I just can’t bring myself to do that. It’s fun connecting with students in ways that most of their teachers don’t, mainly in terms of video game/anime knowledge. I had a few first year boys naming off a bunch of characters and games and getting excited whenever I displayed my familiarity with them. Just makes you feel like you could be such a cool teacher if you were on your own in the classroom. Hopefully, we will be eventually.
The lit up temple thing looks cool. Wish I could have made a trip up to Takaoka some time, but I’ll be much happier to see you setting up camp in Mizunami or something.
weird spider-like creatures that aren’t spiders but look
like spiders but definitely aren’t spiders? awersome
Well 3 minutes is a good start. I will have 5 hours of teaching unsupervised this week. I get to do whatever I want too. Thats 3 hours more than an average week. I think I’ll get the kids to write stuff in the speech bubbles of web-comics.
Those spidery things remind me of a song… are you familiar with “The Becoming” by NIN?
Good luck with it all anyway. I hope you find something good.
I dont know. If I read correctly the toyota position is a no go and you’ll be up in takaoka. I would try keeping your current position for at least a year. Just so it looks good on your resume. I hear that assignments usually stay the same unless the schools ask for a different AET or an AET has been at their school for 3 years and wants some change. If you really wanna move around Ask if there are any senior AETs who are changing schools and if you can take their assignment. If all else fails ask to transfer to the Yokohama branch :P
Dookie…. It is a funny word…. I prefer the shortened version, “Dook”
Good luck with all of the applications! As for the “weird spider-like creatures that aren’t spiders but look
like spiders but definitely aren’t spiders” – kick them in the face! I’m sure you’ll be okay. The temple looks beautiful; it makes me long for Japan all the more.
I hope for the best for you!
finally got those pix up eh? bout time
good luck on getting into a place where you can settle into and feel more ‘at home’
Yes, I must second Jeremy’s little nudge above – don’t forget about the existence of Yokohama as a place to live! Also, yes, I uh… *ahem* teach more than 25 hours’ worth of classes a week.
I too get to be the fun teacher once a week with a couple of the kids I teach – last week they practically jumped out of their seats with excitement when I simply asked them if they’d played Biohazard Umbrella Chronicles yet. ‘My favourite character is Jill Valentine!!!!!’ ‘Good choice, kid. But we all know Wesker is the best.’
praying you will make the right choices!
i also know, as evidence from NUFS, that i would rather know people from the start when i have the option >_< i reckon it will work out alright, with me getting to see him once or twice a year for the first few years of his life. we’ll probably be back in the states by the time he is richard’s age. probably. i really don’t know what the future holds, but i know that he was born a few days ago and i’ve yet to meet him. i’ll most likely be fairly torn up about that until i do.
I dont know if I’d consider myself “happy”…
I am still not sure about my decision to stay here in Hokkaido, but I have alot of debts to pay, and the prospect of cancelling what I have here, when I’m still just starting to get used to it for the CHANCE to MAYBE be able to find a job in a better location…
I remember when I was still in college and i ended up quitting my job because i didnt like it, telling myself I’d find something better… I ended up piling up quite some debt before finally ending in a job I hated as much as the one I had left.
I’ll admit that I’d prefer to me in middle or high school. I had to plan a class here and it was a total flop becuase the games i tried to do were too hard for the kids (the 6th graders cant spell, read or write, but are too old for the simple games you do with the younger kids). I actually asked the kids to give me ideas for activities (games they liked or stuff they wanted to learn) and got nothing. So i kinda improvised a class, and some complained that it was too hard and they didnt want to participate. Well, shit. They give no ideas on games or contents they would like to do, then still complain when I prepare stuff … Plus I wasted my money on team taught pizza, because 97% of those activities require being able to write, read or speak english at a level above that of my students. Theres a limit to what I can pull outta my ass effectively when all they potentially remember is how to say the words of a few fruits, vegetables and animals (they way the conversation is taught.. They forget it the week after).
So basically the 6th graders dont respect me. I’m pretty sure they think im just some weirdo. One of the girls is snobbing me, etc. So, I dont feel adequate for the job. And in a way, it dosent help that everyone else seems to be seen as the super cool guy and connecting with all their students.
My only escape from all this is my Taiko class once a week, and the 1-2 times a week, during weekend, when I can play WoW with my friends from back home.
On the other hand, the lower classes are fun, and the kids are cool. Its the 6th graders I have trouble dealing with.
So.. I wouldnt consider myself “happy with my situation”, but I have debts to pay and my situation could be far worse. If I had a guaranteed job somewhere near you guys in Honshu I’d probably take it, but throwing what I have here for a chance at perhaps maybe being able to land something better….. Dosent seem concrete enough.
Does this mean you might not be able to pay me back at the date you said you might?
David Moss! You’re the next contestant on “Come Visit Toki!” Come on DOOOOOOWWWWNN!