so busy i could die
it's been over a week since my last update.... i keep wanting to post to lj but then i'm either too busy or too tired. now there's so much i could/would like to update about that i can't fit it all into one entry. i'm exhausted (as always) and just don't have the time...!
to summarize...
last week was my last day in training. i spent every day shadowing the person i was replacing and on top of that i had special training sessions to attend and lots of stuff to prepare for my new classes. the school teaches baby and children classes based on a theme which changes every month, so as it was nearing the end of November i had to start learning things for December's lessons on top of the November stuff i was shadowing/mimicking. during the course of the week i was supposed to gradually take over some of my predecessor's classes to get in more hands-on practice... but in the end i didn't really ever do that because the situation was rather awkward. my predecessor had/has a very.... unique (to put it mildly) personality and way of teaching that really doesn't jive with my personality or how i do things, so trying to inject parts of my teaching into his lessons was too awkward (on my part anyway). watching and taking notes (on what to do as well as what NOT to do) was enough for me..!
this past Saturday i finally moved into my apartment...! i can't even describe how awesome it is to finally be in my apartment... not only is the apartment nice, but it feels like it's been forever since i've had a place of my own that i could call "home". i imagine it's hard to understand how it feels to truly be "homeless", figuratively speaking, unless you've been in such a situation... it really sucks. i take it back when i said "home is where you're stuff is" because it totally is not!
anyway, the apartment is really nice... maybe twice the size of my apartment in Kochi. i'm going to upload an (obligatory! and shitty!) apartment tour video tomorrow morning and i'll insert a link here when it's up. it's up!
after recording that video i went shopping, blowing tons of money in the process but getting a lot of things that i really need. first i went to D2, which is kind of like... Home Depot and Walmart combined?? it was recommended that i go there as it's a very large home improvement and housewares store that literally has some of everything at decent prices. i literally spent almost 2 hours in the place because it was so big and had so much stuff.... also, it took me a lot of time to dissuade myself from buying things that i don't immediately need. by the time i walked up to the checkout counter the clerks were like "D: ...THANK YOU FOR SHOPPING WITH US!! *bow* *bow* *rushedly scan and bag like mad*" ...it was apparent that it's out of the norm for someone to buy as much as i did. :P next i rushed over to NITORI, which is basically Japan's answer to IKEA. it's literally the same thing in every way except possibly even a tad cheaper than IKEA. the store was so massive that even having spent 2 hours there i have yet to explore a third of the first floor or the entire second floor. it finally got to the point that i had to just stop where i was and go checkout because i had so much stuff and i knew i could spend another 2hrs there if i didn't leave..... i'm ridiculous, i know. D;
anyway, i've spent lots of money getting stuff to setup this apartment even though the apartment was furnished by the school. that night i had a million lesson plans to work on because the following day was Monday (yesterday), so i haven't even had time (or energy) to unpack and setup most of the things i bought. :/ i doubt i'll have time to do any of that until saturday...
yesterday was my first day teaching on my own and it was R.O.U.G.H. omg. at one point early on in the day i wanted to crawl away into a corner and not come out it was so rough, but thankfully the older the students got and the later in the day it became things got better. it's sooooooooooooooooo completely different teaching at an eikaiwa vs a public school.... gone are the days when i can use over half of my game/activity repertoire because all of those games require a largish number of students, where as now many of my classes are only TWO students and are at most SEVEN. everything has to be done planned completely differently. on top of that, students come to eikaiwa lessons in a completely different frame of mind vs having a class as part of a normal school day. getting students to actually focus and stop joking around is an entirely different beast. i've found myself using far too much Japanese in that regard...
on top of how the students and the lessons are different, the hours and work environment is also completely different. i'm still finding it hard to adjust to my current work schedule.... starting work after noon and not getting home until 10pm is entirely different from what i'm used to. i've only just gained access to a kitchen, but even so getting home so late it's really hard to will yourself to make dinner or do any of the normal things that i would do when done with work. plus most things are already closed.... i never used to run errands or buy groceries before work, but now that's the only time i have to do those things. IT'S LIKE LIFE ITSELF HAS TURNED UPSIDE DOWN-- AHHHHhhhhh...
anyway, back on topic. today was day 2 of teaching on my own but day 1 of teaching at one of the branch schools. thankfully today went MUCH better than yesterday.... i'm learning from my mistakes, i guess. tonight i had my first adult group class which is called "Eishinkai". it's a very special class, even in terms of classes at my school in general. it's held at a local community center and the members of the group have a reputation at my school for being very particular about how they like things done.... so going in today i was extremely nervous. ^^; thankfully the lesson went well and was rather laid back, but i hope that that wasn't a one-time-only thing on account of it being my first day... i hope i can keep doing well with this group because if i do something they don't like they WILL let the school know. D;
after the lesson they invited me out to dinner as a welcoming thing, to which the school said i could go (i have to get permission from the school to do anything outside of class with students!). we went to Coco's, an "American-style" family restaurant, where they proceeded to ask me loooots of questions while i ate. this isn't something i'm unfamiliar with as i've had such....encounters(?? lol) before in Kochi, but it was interesting to say the least.
i just got home not too long ago and now i have five lessons to plan for tomorrow ranging from a "mom & baby" class to adults... plus i have a meeting to attend in the morning. i swear, this job requires a level of flexibility and adaptability that is bordering on insane! i feel so exhausted and sleep deprived... ;( i canNOT wait until the weekend-- which is only Saturday afternoon through Sunday now because i work Saturday mornings.
ugh!!
to summarize...
last week was my last day in training. i spent every day shadowing the person i was replacing and on top of that i had special training sessions to attend and lots of stuff to prepare for my new classes. the school teaches baby and children classes based on a theme which changes every month, so as it was nearing the end of November i had to start learning things for December's lessons on top of the November stuff i was shadowing/mimicking. during the course of the week i was supposed to gradually take over some of my predecessor's classes to get in more hands-on practice... but in the end i didn't really ever do that because the situation was rather awkward. my predecessor had/has a very.... unique (to put it mildly) personality and way of teaching that really doesn't jive with my personality or how i do things, so trying to inject parts of my teaching into his lessons was too awkward (on my part anyway). watching and taking notes (on what to do as well as what NOT to do) was enough for me..!
this past Saturday i finally moved into my apartment...! i can't even describe how awesome it is to finally be in my apartment... not only is the apartment nice, but it feels like it's been forever since i've had a place of my own that i could call "home". i imagine it's hard to understand how it feels to truly be "homeless", figuratively speaking, unless you've been in such a situation... it really sucks. i take it back when i said "home is where you're stuff is" because it totally is not!
anyway, the apartment is really nice... maybe twice the size of my apartment in Kochi. i'm going to upload an (obligatory! and shitty!) apartment tour video tomorrow morning and i'll insert a link here when it's up. it's up!
Click to viewafter recording that video i went shopping, blowing tons of money in the process but getting a lot of things that i really need. first i went to D2, which is kind of like... Home Depot and Walmart combined?? it was recommended that i go there as it's a very large home improvement and housewares store that literally has some of everything at decent prices. i literally spent almost 2 hours in the place because it was so big and had so much stuff.... also, it took me a lot of time to dissuade myself from buying things that i don't immediately need. by the time i walked up to the checkout counter the clerks were like "D: ...THANK YOU FOR SHOPPING WITH US!! *bow* *bow* *rushedly scan and bag like mad*" ...it was apparent that it's out of the norm for someone to buy as much as i did. :P next i rushed over to NITORI, which is basically Japan's answer to IKEA. it's literally the same thing in every way except possibly even a tad cheaper than IKEA. the store was so massive that even having spent 2 hours there i have yet to explore a third of the first floor or the entire second floor. it finally got to the point that i had to just stop where i was and go checkout because i had so much stuff and i knew i could spend another 2hrs there if i didn't leave..... i'm ridiculous, i know. D;
anyway, i've spent lots of money getting stuff to setup this apartment even though the apartment was furnished by the school. that night i had a million lesson plans to work on because the following day was Monday (yesterday), so i haven't even had time (or energy) to unpack and setup most of the things i bought. :/ i doubt i'll have time to do any of that until saturday...
yesterday was my first day teaching on my own and it was R.O.U.G.H. omg. at one point early on in the day i wanted to crawl away into a corner and not come out it was so rough, but thankfully the older the students got and the later in the day it became things got better. it's sooooooooooooooooo completely different teaching at an eikaiwa vs a public school.... gone are the days when i can use over half of my game/activity repertoire because all of those games require a largish number of students, where as now many of my classes are only TWO students and are at most SEVEN. everything has to be done planned completely differently. on top of that, students come to eikaiwa lessons in a completely different frame of mind vs having a class as part of a normal school day. getting students to actually focus and stop joking around is an entirely different beast. i've found myself using far too much Japanese in that regard...
on top of how the students and the lessons are different, the hours and work environment is also completely different. i'm still finding it hard to adjust to my current work schedule.... starting work after noon and not getting home until 10pm is entirely different from what i'm used to. i've only just gained access to a kitchen, but even so getting home so late it's really hard to will yourself to make dinner or do any of the normal things that i would do when done with work. plus most things are already closed.... i never used to run errands or buy groceries before work, but now that's the only time i have to do those things. IT'S LIKE LIFE ITSELF HAS TURNED UPSIDE DOWN-- AHHHHhhhhh...
anyway, back on topic. today was day 2 of teaching on my own but day 1 of teaching at one of the branch schools. thankfully today went MUCH better than yesterday.... i'm learning from my mistakes, i guess. tonight i had my first adult group class which is called "Eishinkai". it's a very special class, even in terms of classes at my school in general. it's held at a local community center and the members of the group have a reputation at my school for being very particular about how they like things done.... so going in today i was extremely nervous. ^^; thankfully the lesson went well and was rather laid back, but i hope that that wasn't a one-time-only thing on account of it being my first day... i hope i can keep doing well with this group because if i do something they don't like they WILL let the school know. D;
after the lesson they invited me out to dinner as a welcoming thing, to which the school said i could go (i have to get permission from the school to do anything outside of class with students!). we went to Coco's, an "American-style" family restaurant, where they proceeded to ask me loooots of questions while i ate. this isn't something i'm unfamiliar with as i've had such....encounters(?? lol) before in Kochi, but it was interesting to say the least.
i just got home not too long ago and now i have five lessons to plan for tomorrow ranging from a "mom & baby" class to adults... plus i have a meeting to attend in the morning. i swear, this job requires a level of flexibility and adaptability that is bordering on insane! i feel so exhausted and sleep deprived... ;( i canNOT wait until the weekend-- which is only Saturday afternoon through Sunday now because i work Saturday mornings.
ugh!!