it started out as a bad day
i had a really hard time getting out of bed this morning...i've been so tired lately. i even got to sleep in an extra hour (start later at primary school) and i was in bed by 11 last night. i grumbled through the morning, getting my things ready, thinking about the day that lay ahead. usually at primary school i don't necessarily expect a lesson plan though i do expect a schedule which shows me which classes (what grade) i'm teaching and at what time so i can properly prepare. yesterday i'd faxed tennou PS and requested this but was told i'd get it this morning. perfect. there is a certain someone who works here who fumie and i refer to as "you know who", who is the most unorganized and scatterbrained person i have ever met. imagine. and he's a primary school teacher (he's also about 100 years old). it is the most annoying thing to know that you can show up at a school in the morning (one which you have to be very 'genki' in order to handle all these 5-10 year olds), arrive at your desk with out even so much time as a coffee, and within five minutes be led off to a class to teach which you have no idea the level or subject of which you are about to teach. i've learned to always have several ressources and back-up game plans in my head for such occasions.
i left later than i should have and grumbled while i was stuck behind dump truck after dump truck, and the 14 construction sites which held me up on the drive. i'd forgotten to eat breakfast, didn't feel my coffee kicking in, and was just not looking forward to the day ahead of me.
when i pulled up into the parking lot and stepped out of my car at 8:55am, my mood changed. tennou primary school is a 15 minute drive out through the rice fields, at the base of the mountains. even for the time the weather was warm, and i could hear birds singing and smell the smell of spring. after such a long winter it's the best smell/sound in the whole world. i walked into the teacher's room to very pleasant chimes of "ohayo gozaimasu" 's, and had a nice jinglish chat with the kyoto sensei. i then saw on my desk a copy of not only today's schedule (i'm not teaching until 3rd period) but also an actual lesson plan which means i don't have to stress out about last-minute plans.
AND i have internet at my desk today which usually doesn't happen at primary school. she's going to get through, folks...
i left later than i should have and grumbled while i was stuck behind dump truck after dump truck, and the 14 construction sites which held me up on the drive. i'd forgotten to eat breakfast, didn't feel my coffee kicking in, and was just not looking forward to the day ahead of me.
when i pulled up into the parking lot and stepped out of my car at 8:55am, my mood changed. tennou primary school is a 15 minute drive out through the rice fields, at the base of the mountains. even for the time the weather was warm, and i could hear birds singing and smell the smell of spring. after such a long winter it's the best smell/sound in the whole world. i walked into the teacher's room to very pleasant chimes of "ohayo gozaimasu" 's, and had a nice jinglish chat with the kyoto sensei. i then saw on my desk a copy of not only today's schedule (i'm not teaching until 3rd period) but also an actual lesson plan which means i don't have to stress out about last-minute plans.
AND i have internet at my desk today which usually doesn't happen at primary school. she's going to get through, folks...
posted by Justine at 7:05 p.m.
4 Comments:
oh the joys of shogakko! i feel your pain, eh? now just imagine *IMAGINE* everyday was genki-tastic...it's a painful living, but somebody's got to do it! see you in exile!
Funny story for the day... As many of you know, I livei in the Japanese version of the twilight zone where everything seems that little bit different... Anyway, last night I had my enkai... Beautiful restaurant, beautiful food (things you would expect for \10,000) but it all just started to go pear-shaped ten minutes in... I challenged two girl teachers (me vs. both of them at the same time) to a tennis match where-in, if I lose, I will be forced to take every P.E class in the school for two weeks... Whilst I was doing this, two other teachers managed to get to boozed to survive the rest of the evening and one all but fell asleep before the dessert arrived and the other feigned illness and went home... And this is in a restaurant with crystal glasses and delf plates etc etc... Anyway after the dinner we leave and everybody is a bit rowdy... Many of us have to walk back to the same train station and so we set off into the wilderness that is Furumachi... By the time we had got to Hakusan I had been forced to physically restrain one of my teachers who, in an uncharacteristic fit of eccentricity had run into the road and started knocking on stopped cars windows shouting `hello`... Actually had to run into the road myself, pick him up and bring him back to the pavement... Once everyone had calmed down, we headed off towards Hakusan Park(you walk through it to get to the station) where-in my teachers began to talk to monkeys... Hilarious... `さる。。。さる。。。こんばんわ `... The surreal nature of your life strikes you when you are sitting in a park with 4 Japanese people attempting to coax the ugliest monkey I have ever seen to the wall of its cage by softly chanting `Good Evening`... Honestly wouldn`t have been surprised to turn and see clocks dripping off trees... After that we almost got in a fight with two business men cause the teacher who ran into the ran started laughing and ringing the big rope at the shrine as the two guys came to pray... Somehow got home and to school today but with my tennis tournament looming the events that transpired last night are coming back to haunt me earlier than expected...
Well, as enkai’s go I must say Egbert, you pounded it but I notice a characteristic chain of events in these harmless (well not your case ol Egg) erratic social gathering of people who work themselves into the ground. For every bite you take it is equivalent to 1000yen in your ridiculous 10 000 yen price tag just for attending the function. And the pitiful size shape of glasses- come on!!!! Im not a child!! As for the speeches, they just go on and on and on. One day im gonna make a speech and recite a famous speech- a long winded one like Martin Luther Kings or Gandhi and claim it as my own. Genius I Know!!!! As for the monkey- we modest Hindus have a Monkey god so beware Eggy- he might Kidnap you one day and take you to his fortress up in the Himalyas of mother India and teach you a few things about antagonising monkeys. In Hindu scriptures, the monkeys led by the leader HANUMAN saved Sita (the kings wife) from the EVIL Ravana- demon god. Makes all those Disney fairytales look like Bugs Bunny Cartoons.
Right- let me spread some love
Jussy- I understand your predicament but like you said Spring is in the air. Have a great time in Sado. Hope to see your sexy Italian ass soon.
Kit Kat- money is sorted –pay me back whenever. Did you know that the day we fly out is St Patricks day! Lets get wasted 52 000ft above the Japan Sea and ill instigate a terrorist hoax on board (cos I look like an Afghan) then we’ll be forced to make an emergency landing in North KOREA. That would be amazing.
Egbert- Party ON.
Shina- I forgot what I was gonna say.
Have a great weekend.
i'm really not in the shogakko mood today
i want to go home
i'm not in a good mood
i'm feeling a bit down...why?
it's friday. c'mon, snap out of it...
at least your enkai story was funny ryan
bex i feel for you - couldn't do this everday
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