Progress
Some things have happened and words have been said and I'm feeling better. I'm still not happy, but I have accepted the situation and that is the first step. I have also accepted that there are a lot of things that I need to do and that I need to change about myself, so I am working towards that.
I'm going to try to report something positive. I think the only thing that I really like about my job is the kids lessons. I had a new Kinder class for the first time today, another class of 3 girls, and they were such sweethearts to me. At the end of the class, instead of giving me a high five as they left, each girl hugged me and waved 'bye!' and said 'see you 'gain!' so enthusiastically that I had this warm, fuzzy feeling with me the rest of the day. My orginally horrible Junior class has really warmed up to me too and I'm enjoying teaching them.
I had FUT yesterday. LOL, it sounds like a disease, doesn't it? FUT is what Nova calls the additional training that comes about mid-way through your probation period: Follow Up Training. It was basically a giant waste of time: six hours of being told stuff I already knew and was doing (personalize your lesson to incorporate student interests and meet student needs, provide both positive and constructive feedback, ect.). At the end we were supposed to do our CAT (Communicative Ability Test) training, which is a pretty big deal in Nove because you're not allowed to 'level up' students until you do the training. Well, low and behold, this training was just our instructor telling us to read three pages in the CAT manual available at our branch. Are you fucking serious? What a waste. I did use my newly "trained" skills to level-up a student today though, even though I haven't actually read the pages yet. Shh...
Yesterday was my sister Erin's birthday. Yay! My baby sister (excluding Zora) is 20 years old! It seems like only yesterday she was a huge tomboy running around fields and refusing to do anything with her hair or take a shower. Now... she's a giant hippy running around Austin doing basically the same thing, only with bathing. Yay, Erin!
I'm almost done with my applications for grad school. I just need to start/finish my academic writing sample. Technically I suppose I should submit something I did at UNT, but I've been doing a lot of research on Japan-North Korea relations here so I am putting that newfound information into a paper of sorts. I'm hoping to expand on it later in my graduate studies since there are many aspects of the diplomatic relationship between these two countries that Americans are not fully aware of. So we'll see. (^_^) I'm just exicted to be doing research and writing again.
And now it's only 9pm here and I'm falling asleep. How lame am I? Honestly.
Oh yeah, and it's apparently going to snow either today or tomorrow in Gifu. I hate the cold so much! :(
I'm going to try to report something positive. I think the only thing that I really like about my job is the kids lessons. I had a new Kinder class for the first time today, another class of 3 girls, and they were such sweethearts to me. At the end of the class, instead of giving me a high five as they left, each girl hugged me and waved 'bye!' and said 'see you 'gain!' so enthusiastically that I had this warm, fuzzy feeling with me the rest of the day. My orginally horrible Junior class has really warmed up to me too and I'm enjoying teaching them.
I had FUT yesterday. LOL, it sounds like a disease, doesn't it? FUT is what Nova calls the additional training that comes about mid-way through your probation period: Follow Up Training. It was basically a giant waste of time: six hours of being told stuff I already knew and was doing (personalize your lesson to incorporate student interests and meet student needs, provide both positive and constructive feedback, ect.). At the end we were supposed to do our CAT (Communicative Ability Test) training, which is a pretty big deal in Nove because you're not allowed to 'level up' students until you do the training. Well, low and behold, this training was just our instructor telling us to read three pages in the CAT manual available at our branch. Are you fucking serious? What a waste. I did use my newly "trained" skills to level-up a student today though, even though I haven't actually read the pages yet. Shh...
Yesterday was my sister Erin's birthday. Yay! My baby sister (excluding Zora) is 20 years old! It seems like only yesterday she was a huge tomboy running around fields and refusing to do anything with her hair or take a shower. Now... she's a giant hippy running around Austin doing basically the same thing, only with bathing. Yay, Erin!
I'm almost done with my applications for grad school. I just need to start/finish my academic writing sample. Technically I suppose I should submit something I did at UNT, but I've been doing a lot of research on Japan-North Korea relations here so I am putting that newfound information into a paper of sorts. I'm hoping to expand on it later in my graduate studies since there are many aspects of the diplomatic relationship between these two countries that Americans are not fully aware of. So we'll see. (^_^) I'm just exicted to be doing research and writing again.
And now it's only 9pm here and I'm falling asleep. How lame am I? Honestly.
Oh yeah, and it's apparently going to snow either today or tomorrow in Gifu. I hate the cold so much! :(