So week one of training is officially over and I’ve already started week 2... yay! From what I’m hearing, training is way more work than I will ever do in my actual job so that’s pretty exciting. I observed my first class on Friday which was great because I was able to shift my focus for a bit (I received some devastating news that morning about my uncle’s passing and needed to try and occupy myself so that I wouldn’t go crazy). It’s hard being so far away when stuff like that happens. Thankfully my trainer let me bypass my demo lesson that day and so I took off for my school fairly early and managed to grab a quick nap in the back room before anyone got there.... I was only 3 hours early :S
Once the teacher got there it felt like no time before the kids started rolling in. They all looked at me wearily at first but then just went on playing. And here I was all worried I’d freak them out... gayeka gayeka! One girl did however come in crying which quickly turned into screaming and crying, which then turned into snot bubbles, which then turned into the teacher asking me to watch her?!? but only after she had tried to make a run for it :S Yikes! I tried not to stare at her snot bubbles... I really did... but they were just sooooo big! So after about half an hour of screaming her head off, she proceeded to pass out sitting up... funniest shit EVER... she kept falling forward and then sitting back up. All I could do was put my arm around her so she wouldn’t slam into the wall. The teacher then thought it’d be a good idea to wake her up so she could lie down but this was promptly met with more crying before she lay her head on my leg and fell asleep. Cutest thing EVER! Snot bubbles and all! I also learned one very important thing.... I think it’s the magic phrase to make upset kids forget all their troubles... ‘let’s colour’. No word of a lie, the little girl sat up and walked right over to the table and started colouring as if nothing had ever happened. She was fine for the rest of the class. By the end of the lesson, the kids worked up the nerve and came to show me their pictures. Japanese children are seriously the cutest kids ever... or so I thought... Shiobara will be discussed shortly.
That same day I watched another class but this time with older students... around 10 I believe. There were only 2 girls and they were pretty good. When they were leaving, they kept saying something to the teacher in Japanese but like a good teacher, he ignored them... hahahaha. We aren’t really supposed to acknowledge Japanese or that we understand it (super easy for me!!!). He later told me that they were telling him I was cute... I love those 2 girls! lol
Ok so the next day was my first experience actually teaching. I went to the school and met this SUPER nice Aussie guy (who’s moving back to Australia next week so don’t go thinking anything). He was there to observe my lesson and then I’d observe his. He was seriously the best help ever and so I felt pretty confident going into the lesson. It wasn’t long before the kids started rolling in and I got a few weird looks as I checked their homework but most seemed to embrace the teacher switch, at least a tiny bit. Hard to compete with the Aussie though. Everything was going great until HE arrived... Shiobara. We’re starting our lesson which took long enough because he wouldn’t come sit down or stop talking and I pull out the flashcards to review when he, all of a sudden starts grabbing them out of my hands and sitting on them with this smug look on his face. If you only knew what was going through my mind at that point. I tried to joke around with him... big mistake because it only got worse and so he made my class a living hell. He even ran out at one point to the bathroom without asking. Thankfully, the rest of the students were decent and so I did my best to ignore his behavior with the hope that he would just stop. He didn’t but thankfully my lesson came to an end and he left. He made it out alive and that says a lot, lol. The next class went by quickly since I didn’t have to teach it and we were out of there pretty fast.
We did, however, get stuck in a torrential downpour which was apparently a light shower in comparison of what Japanese clouds are capable of. Not looking forward to that :S Someone send rubber boots!! Burberry preferably! I’ve gotta keep up with the stylish-ness of all the women here (that will be discussed in an upcoming post as I’m still in the observation stage).
I also seem to have somewhat mastered the subway system although I got off a stop early without realizing it and had to walk in the rain :( I also managed to trip the bottom LCI on my phone (gasps from the Apple crowd) :S The open pockets in my lulu bag were also full of water... if only I had a straw....
I got up early today to talk to the family on skype for turkey day. It was so nice but depressing at the same time. My family hasn’t all gotten together for over a decade and they managed to do it when I wasn’t able to be there. Everyone was there!! Frank, mom, my aunt (who I don’t think has ever even been in my mom’s house before today), my cousin and her fiance (squeal!!) from BC, my other cousin, his wife and their son AND.... my uncle from Poland who I haven’t seen since I was 7 or so! They all took turns rotating seats and Charlie even made an appearance. It seriously made my morning!! I also managed to catch Michelle who I haven’t seen since I left :) Oh the things you miss when you get all adventurous!
One last thing... I got the address to my place!!!! Check FB for it :)
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