Monday, April 10th was
the first day of school with everyone together.
There were a few classes, but mostly it was freshman orientation stuff
and testing for the returning students.
I fixed up the last bits for my classes, which started the next
day. I don’t know how much I wrote about
this, but since I see some classes six times before the first exam and other
classes two times, I threw out the old syllabus and made a much more relaxed
and simple plan. I’m quite relieved,
actually, and it’s started off well, but I get ahead of myself. On this lovely Monday morning I left my
apartment on time only to discover that my bike wasn’t there! It dawned quite quickly that it was still at
the station from when I’d gone to church, but Adden had taken Kasai ,
Leslie and I all to my place after church.
Once again I was grateful that I usual get to school much earlier than I
need to because I had enough time to walk to the station and bike from
there. I scuttled into the main office
area just before the morning meeting (the first of the new school year!). Technically I was on time, but I felt awkward
since I had my coat and backpack and had clearly just gotten off my bike!Since I was ready for classes and
didn’t have any to teach yet but all the other teachers were going crazy, I
found myself in the rare situation of having little to do. Of course I could have studied Japanese or
done a number of things, but there was nothing pressing. I decided that I’d been at school too long
without meeting the new principle, but since all the JTE’s were busy I decided
to go meet him myself. I probably
wouldn’t have had the guts if I hadn’t know he was an English teacher at one
point, but still, it’s a good mark of growth from when I first arrived! I struggled to say “yoroshiku onegaishimasu”
to the old principle, and here I had just walked into the new principle’s
office alone (asking permission in Japanese, of course), introduced myself and
had a small chat – mostly in Japanese! I
may not be as good as I want to be, but it’s good to look back at where I’ve
come from. I just had to swallow my
pride when he expressed how good my Japanese was after “only” 9 months. Nine months!
Has it really been nine months and only today I learned the word for
“happy”!
Bible study was a bit
interesting. We start late for various
reasons, but it was a good study on prayer.
It was brought to my attention again that I give up to easily with my
prayers. I ask, but then quickly forget
and am not good about asking continually.
I probably would have forgotten again but the Lord gave me two
opportunities to learn to be persistent.
Though it was late from Bible study and late from chatting with Mark and
Adam (who was visiting Mark) I stayed up 40 minutes in bed praying for the two
situations that I am not free to publish on the web. It might be short in many a mind, but for
someone who is used to one-liner prayers (accept when circumstances really
effect me and my loved ones), it was a new experience to focus on two things
for that long. It was a blessing in many
ways, not just in answer to prayer, but for me also!
Tuesday, April 11th I
had my first class. It went pretty well
as far as first classes go, and quite well considering it was my first class
with Hirose sensei, and my first class with this group of students. Of course there were problems and as usual
I’d scheduled too much, but it worked out.
Students are in general still excited about high school and still have a
little joy left that hasn’t been stamped out.
My goal was to get through classes without spending too much time on
them so I could focus my energy on serving the kids and teachers in better
ways. I think it might work. It also helps me to run a class when I’m not
hoping for it to be the best class ever.
In general I’ve been less worried about student approval than in the
past, and that makes things go much better!
Most students will say hi to me in the hallway, and some even say hi
before I do! Some of introduced
themselves to me and expressed interest in ICC.
Wednesday class 1-2 was a bit dead, but not hostile like I felt 1-3 was
last year. Certainly 1-2 is not the
wonderful class 1-2 was last year! It’s
okay, they’ll get used to me!
Tuesday night I completely forgot
that I had planned to have dinner with Nikko
and practice for her music party. I came
home, fixed okonomiyaki and was munching on edamame when Nikko called so say she was here. I invited her up not knowing why she had come
and it wasn’t until she told me we had plans together that I realized we
did. I check my book and sure enough, I
just hadn’t bothered to look at it in a few days! Oops.
Luckily okonomiyaki is good the second day and I had practiced Sunday so
I was able to join her quickly and comfortably, though not just a little bit
embarrassed!
She showed me the proper way to
make rice and make onigiri (rice balls), which was great to know. We had coffee and watched her Il Divo DVD,
which I enjoyed then Nikko ’s
uncle came and we talked for a long while.
I finally broke up the party because I was tired and we hadn’t practiced
yet. It was good to play with Nikko (she plays flute)
and to play other songs that came to mind.
I do really enjoy singing through my oboe. If I’ve lost a lot of ability in this
sabbatical, ignorance is bliss. Of
course I’m not technically where I was, but I can get that back without
trouble, I’m sure.
Wednesday, April 12th I
already talking about classes, but I also made a breakthrough with my
juggling. I do a juggling demonstration
in my new classes, so I have to practice – really! Actually, the demonstration is about how I
can’t juggle, so I don’t really have to practice, but it’s a great excuse. Why am I juggling in class? To prove that mistakes are good. Japanese students are so afraid of
mistakes. I set up an illustration where
both the JTE and I are given three balls to juggle and a student keeps track of
the number of balls each of us drops. I
ham up my part and throw balls everywhere and rejoice at tiny progress and I
actually get a few laughs (remember, the Japanese don’t tend to laugh out loud
as much), while the JTE is pretending to be too scared to try. The point is that you learn from mistakes and
have fun at the same time, but if you don’t try to don’t get anywhere and it’s
no fun. It seems to go over the best of
all my illustrations.
After school I walked around the
sports fields to talk with students and practice kyudo. Some ichinensei girls were terribly impressed
that I knew enough to practice with a bow (though no arrow still). Hm, maybe they’re just impressed with
everything at this stage. The first two
weeks of school ichinensei watch various clubs so they can decide if they want
to join one. I got some good practice in
then went and talked to students in other clubs. I was happy that Ruka talked to me for a
while even though he got ogling looks from people once they realized they could
understand me and speak back. He’s a bit
embarrassed at his ability, so I’m glad he didn’t let it phase him and kept
talking to me. Maybe it even proved
inspirational to others, especially after I explained that Ruka has never been
in an English speaking country and his parents don’t speak either.
Well, I can feel myself
rambling. Once again writing four days
of adventure has taken a whole evening, and I barely feel like I’ve been able
to express anything. That’s it for now!
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