End of the semester

Hello there. Well, Kelly's been out of the country visiting the fam and getting ready for Anne's wedding while I'm still here in Fuji working like a dog. And by working like a dog, I mean a dog like Caspian whose only work involves sleeping, eating and licking. Yes, slow days these days at work. I had 6 classes last week and all were pretty easy and then 3 on Monday and 1 yesterday and now I'm done with classes until the new term starts in January. So these last three days will be pretty slow and boring so I am switching back and forth between studying Japanese and vegging out on the computer. And then every once in a while I go and supervise some kids during cleaning time which basically means me talking to them and showing them the cool things on my iPhone. :) Tomorrow is outdoor cleaning and then Friday is closing ceremony followed by the teachers' Bon-Enkai which is an end of the year party. It's at an onsen resort type place so I'm expecting some good food and relaxation and also planning to test out my Japanese on some of the other teachers who I've never talked to before. So that should be fun. I actually had an entire coversation with a guy in Japanese last weekend. It was pretty cool. Granted it wasn't about politics or the economy or anything tough like that. It was about food which is what the majority of my English conversations are about anyway. But it was still an accomplishment in my mind.

So as I have basically come to the end of my first semester of teaching in Japan, I'll give some thoughts. As most of you know I was a teacher at home for three years with a one year "let's see what else I can do--ooh I don't like sales at all" break mixed in. And I can say with confidence that I enjoy teaching here 10 times more than I ever did at home. Yes it is completely different because I'm teaching a different subject and I'm an assistant teacher, and I have less class time each week, but not having to deal with behavior problems and students who don't care about me or my class is such a relief. This is the first full-time job I have ever had that I didn't want to quit a month after starting. So that has led to my being much happier over the past four and a half months than I have been in a long time. Because you can have a lot of friends and a good family and a lot of good stuff going for you, but you spend so much time at work that if you don't like you job, you're going to be unhappy. At least that's how it works for me. So anyway, I love working here. The classes are fun and not too hard to plan or teach. I love the students and I love the fact that they actually want to talk to me and at least say hi when they see me. I like the way the school is set up and run, and though some things are very strange and would never work in American schools (i.e. the students all sitting in their classrooms unsupervised while the teachers have a morning meeting - try that at Channelview High School!), I've gotten very used to the routine and I feel comfortable with it.

As for problems I've encountered, it can be extremely difficult to get students to respond to you in class. I guess the only thing worse than giving an incorrect answer is giving an incorrect answer and using incorrect English while doing it. But sometimes if you can get one student to break out of their shell and volunteer an answer it helps everyone. It also can be a little taxing at times to work with so many people that don't speak your language, but considering that I was never really a big talker at my other jobs, that's not as bad as it seems. I guess other than that, the only other problem is that sometimes it feels like some other teachers don't take my job seriously or see what my purpose is. But the great thing is, I don't really care. :) I know what my purpose is and as long as I take it seriously, that's all that matters.

So those are my end of semester thoughts. I'm definitely glad for a 2 week break coming up in a few days. It will be nice to get away from work (I've only taken one day of leave all year up to this point - a record for me) and be able to relax and experience the holidays in Japan. But it will also be nice to not dread going back after the break like I always have before.

I'll try to fill everyone in on our vacation time and what we're up to, but since I probably won't write again before Christmas, I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and enjoys your time with friends and family.

ﾒﾘ- ｸﾘｽﾏｽ!!! 　

Christmas lessons, exam week, and junk food (but not too much)

So things are beginning to slow down now after a hectic past few weeks. Last week and the week before I was getting all of my classes in with their final lessons before exam week this week. I did a Christmas lesson with my first year Oral Communication classes. There wasn't a lot of oral communicating going on I guess but it was still a fun lesson. We did a white elephant gift game. You know, the game where you can keep your present or trade with someone else (that's my class version.) I made some of the gifts and bought the rest at the 100yen store. Before this job I would have griped heavily (and did) about spending any of my own money on stuff for classes, but I didn't really mind this time. It was actually kind of a treat for me. The gifts that were stolen from other people (or traded in this case) most often were the Dave Matthews Band and Coldplay CDs I burned, the Christmas card signed by me and Andrea (mostly stolen by girls), and the 100yen coin. I found this odd because it was just 100yen (roughly equivalent to $1) but these kids wanted that money. I guess they needed to buy something to drink at lunch. So anyway, that was a lot of fun and the students really enjoyed getting gifts no matter how small and inexpensive they were.

So this week has been exam week. It's weird because there are actually two more weeks of classes after this before winter break, but it's just one of those things you don't question because there probably isn't an answer. So I wrote all of my tests last week and have been grading this week. It's nice because unlike most ALTs (including Kelly) I have someone to split the duty with. But I graded 122 OC tests, 120 English II tests, and about 75 International Course tests complete with essays which are always fun to grade. It gets to the point when reading essays where I'm not even sure what's proper English anymore. Our OC students did the best by far. I actually thought the test was going to be a bit hard but they all did well. Well, there are always exceptions of course, but for the most part they all did well. So they've earned themselves a harder test next term! Haha!

Other than that not too much is going on. We had a Thanksgiving dinner last Saturday at a friend's house in Fujinomiya. We all had to work on Thanksgiving so we made up for it on the weekend. There were six of us there and we had chicken (no turkeys to be found in our city), mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes (made by Kelly), green bean casserole, dressing, homemade rolls (made by Kelly), and pumpkin pie. It was all very good. Then we sat around and played Wii and some other games for the rest of the day. Here's a picture of the food:

There are more pictures from the event on Flickr.

あの...other than that, I'm getting ready for a two week break coming up in a few weeks. One week that I'm taking off and one that I'm given off. Kelly is leaving next weekend to go on her trip through Abilene and Nashville. She'll be gone for 10 days so I'll have plenty of time to get myself in trouble. :)

Last few notes, I took my first test from the JET Program Japanese language course. You take it on your own but I didn't look at the book or any dictionaries or anything while I took it (even though you're allowed to.) After I finished, I checked my answers and only missed 2 out of 40. So I was pretty pleased with that. Now it's time to start on month two.

And finally, just to show how immersed into the Japanese culture I am getting, I realized today that my taste for sweets is not as it used to be. This morning I made my daily stop at 7-11 to get my breakfast and lunch and they were out egg, ham, and lettuce sandwiches (my usual breakfast.) So I looked around at what else I could get and saw some doughnuts covered with icing and sprinkles. I used to be a sucker for doughnuts, especially ones covered or filled with any type of icing or frosting, but as soon as I considered getting it my stomach turned at the thought of eating anything that sweet for breakfast. So I turned around and got a microwaveable ham and cheese burrito instead. Hey, I didn't say I've lost my taste for unhealthy food!