Last Day of Work at Poly
Today was my last day of work. I’m now officially on maternity leave. It’s … weird. I remember Joanna’s ( my co-worker/friend's) last day. She was really sad about leaving and thought so much about it beforehand. There was so much sadness about leaving the students and being gone. For me it was very different. I think that’s because I’m not going anywhere - I’m just not working there anymore. I felt like today was like any other day of work - nothing different. I logically know that I won’t have work next week or next month, but I don’t think I really feel it yet. It hasn’t sunk in. I really thought today would be harder. I thought I’d be sadder. It turns out that I was only sad because some of the students were leaving to go back to their countries, and I knew I wouldn’t see them for a while (if ever). Every time that happens, that kills me - especially when it’s students I love, and I had a few this month I really loved. So that was hard for me - others leaving - but not me. I know I’ll be back to visit and hang out - but now I don’t need to worry about my awful boss anymore. I will miss seeing the students and teachers on a daily basis, and having the challenge of teaching new people, but I’m looking forward to being a full time mom for awhile. It’s always been my dream, so it’s amazing to me that that dream is so close now. It’s very, very odd.
I’d like to back up and say that I went to dinner with some of my students yesterday (and Greg came too). We went to Yardhouse for happy hour. We ate tons of food and the total was $8 per person for food, tax and tip (plus we needed to pay for the drinks). At dinner, my students gave me a thank you card and a gift - they bought me a spice rack and some Japanese snacks. Honestly, I was expecting a baby present when they pulled out the bag, but they’re so sweet - they said, “We’re coming to the baby shower, so we wanted to get something for YOU, not the baby because you are the one who taught us.” They are so wonderful! The people at dinner were Chisa, Daiki, Paul, Amy, and Fukutaro, but the other students also signed the card (and chipped in?): Jun, Erica, Alizee, Ikumi, Nozomi, and Sewon and Youka from the office.
For the record, today was very long. I couldn’t focus on grading essays last night, so I got up early to grade them even though I had very little sleep last night. I graded a few and kept working on them throughout the day - as well as the writing journals and idioms papers I needed to correct and hand back. My first class was good, but we needed to rush through the rest of the chapter to make sure they got everything before the test. The second class was looooooooooooong - we had a test - 74 listening questions (various styles) then a speaking test (done in groups - I just listened). I'll also add that Scarlett was NOT HAPPY during the listening part; she kept kicking and kicking me! Then I had lunch, but lots of students wanted to talk to me, so lunch was really about 10 mins long. I then had grammar, and again, we needed to push through the book to make sure they got everything. (Past perfect all today!) I hope they do well on their test. Next, I had my afternoon reading class, which is such an awesome class. We talked about non-class stuff for a bit, which forced us to move fast to make sure to finish. Finally, I had idioms class - we finished up the section, had some laughs, and were done. I had a bunch of students talk to me throughout the day (and say goodbye to Scarlett! They all asked to rub my stomach!); Don gave me a drawing, and Amy gave me a cute card, which I really appreciate. One, Cecil, couldn’t make it to my baby shower, so she gave me a gift card and a nice letter today. It was so thoughtful of her! After class, I had to stay and grade tests, so I left work at 7pm (I got there at 8:50). Today was long. I’m happy to be home. I think I’m going to sit in the bath and read for a bit.