[Entry 035] Pink Snow
Work has been tiring. This is my 5th straight week of parent observations and I'm just mentally tired, I think. Aside from that, I'm still somewhat recovering from my cold with a cough that won't go away. I've also gotten careless with my money this month already. There is a lot going in my head and that's what's making me tired mostly.
My regular work load is just as I expected it to be. But, one of the things I wasn't expecting so soon was the fact that one of the main Japanese teachers at one of the schools I teach at will be quitting. This school, which I'll just name Pink North, has had some problems in the past even before I started. When I first came in in June of last year, the Japanese teacher at the time had only been at the school for 5 months when she quit in July. Then, for four months, Pink North had random teachers from other schools cover the classes on an irregular basis so the students had a different teacher every week they would come. I felt that the inconsistency and lack of routine really hurt the students' morale and it made classroom management difficult. Also, a majority of the classes have lots of young, energetic, rude, and uncooperative students. It was kind of difficult on me as well since the different Japanese teachers who would cover usually wrote to each other in Japanese in our communication notebooks so I would never know of any changes or planned habits to use with the students aside from my own. I would see several students quitting, shifted in classes, or even a whole class being closed out that I'm not informed about until the day of teaching.
But, we finally got a new teacher for Pink North in November but I didn't expect her to be able to handle the students of this school very well. She didn't appear all that young or energetic to keep up with the students, nor did she have an authoritative deposition in order to control the kids. Every now and then on my non-teaching office days, I would help aid the new teacher with the difficult classes. I had a week of office days for Christmas classes and I spent them pretty much entirely at Pink North even though it's my furthest commute. I mostly did it in the hope she wouldn't leave. Then, we had parent observations together, which I could tell put a lot of pressure and anxiety on her. At least together were also able to rant and rawr about certain classes and students so that was fun, haha.
Last night, I got a private email from Pink North's teacher confirming that she's really quitting due to the job making her lose her voice. I expected it but I was hoping she would leave at least by the end of the school year. An unexpected part of the email was that she told me some of the parents reactions to her informing them that she was quitting. There is this certain young class of kindergarten children on Thursday that have been one of the troublesome classes of the school. This class has one boy and three girls. One girl is very smart, mature, and sweet while the other two are extremely selfish and whiny. Then, the one boy is super rough and pushy with the other girls. They're very hard to control and even harder on me when I can't use Japanese nor can I understand some of what they're saying. Anyway, the teacher told me that the parents of those students were angry with the company that their kids would have to go through another irregular rotation of Japanese teachers. They feel like their kids wouldn't be able to get the proper education that is equivalent to the price they are paying for the program. So, they requested they speak to the area manager of the school next week, which is the week I'm there to teach so... I don't know how that will work out. But, when the teacher spoke to the parents, they said that they like me! They said I was good at teaching and requested that I teach there every week. Mind you... this is the class that nearly brought me to the point of tears that I talked about in this entry before. Those same parents were watching me teach their unruly kids. They probably had no idea I was dying on the inside, haha. While it's nice to hear from the parents that I'm liked and my teaching seems effective, it puts a lot more pressure on me that I don't want, honestly.
Well, I teach at Pink North next week from the 10th to the 14th... and, in all honestly, I'll probably only have Tegomass in my head during that time. I'll be looking so forward to some Johnny's fun after a long time!
However, I still have to work a lot on my money management. OTZ
I knew I would be tight this month but still super girigiri! Though, one of the things I hadn't accounted for at all was the commuting costs of one of the schools I would be covering. It was my mistake in not being aware of the fact that the trains to that school were cash-ticket only and not the commuter pass I usually used. So, I put in a lot of money in my pass for the costs but in the end it's stuck there and I had to use most of my cash. I suck when it comes to things I don't account for at all. Especially fandom! I told myself less fandom this year! It didn't out all that smoothly when I found myself going to two paid BOYS AND MEN events and random goods like chekis! UGH, I just really have to keep being more mindful of how much I'm spending. Dx
Like, I'm no longer seeing multiple shows of one tour or stage run but... instead going to one show of different tours and stages. (Tenimyu and Tegomass are exceptions since I want to see them with different company~)
Ahhh... like, my schedule of events I'm sure/planning to go to already look a lot...
February 15th - Tegomass no Seishun concert in Osaka (with Lauren)
February 16th - BOYS AND MEN fan appreciation event (with Josie)
February 27th - Tanaka Shunsuke solo live in Nagoya
February 28th - Tenimyu meets TDC
February 28th - Tenimyu Seigaku vs Shitenhoji in TDC
March 1st - Tenimyu Seigaku vs Shitenhoji in TDC (with Angel)
March 2nd - Atami Battle Royal stageplay in Tokyo
March 2nd - Tenimyu Seigaku vs Shitenhoji Live Viewing in Tokyo
March 28th to March 30th - Tegomass no Seishun OR Tenimyu talk event
April 13th - Tenimyu Supports Club Premium Party vol 7 in Osaka
April 23rd - Tegomass no Seishun concert in Nagoya (with Josie)
April 26th - Tenimyu Undoukai 2014 in Yokohama
April 27th - Addam's Family in Nagoya
Other things I'm spending money on in the near future are...
- BOYS AND MEN cds/dvds
- Tegomass no Seishun tour goods
- Kato Shigeaki's "Burn" novel first release
- Kato Shigeaki's "Pink and Gray" paperback novel
- NEWS 10th anniversary dvd
- D-Boys short film dvd
- D-Stage boxset
And I'm already anticipating the future releases of D*Date's tour dvd, Arashi's tour dvd, Kanjani8's tour dvd, and Yamapi's tour dvd. -sobs-
Anyway... this was a weird mixed and messed up entry. Sorry! This is what happens when I actually have time for myself...
Goodnight!
P.S. It snowed for real for the first time this winter season in my area! I was happy until the rain made everything slush.
My regular work load is just as I expected it to be. But, one of the things I wasn't expecting so soon was the fact that one of the main Japanese teachers at one of the schools I teach at will be quitting. This school, which I'll just name Pink North, has had some problems in the past even before I started. When I first came in in June of last year, the Japanese teacher at the time had only been at the school for 5 months when she quit in July. Then, for four months, Pink North had random teachers from other schools cover the classes on an irregular basis so the students had a different teacher every week they would come. I felt that the inconsistency and lack of routine really hurt the students' morale and it made classroom management difficult. Also, a majority of the classes have lots of young, energetic, rude, and uncooperative students. It was kind of difficult on me as well since the different Japanese teachers who would cover usually wrote to each other in Japanese in our communication notebooks so I would never know of any changes or planned habits to use with the students aside from my own. I would see several students quitting, shifted in classes, or even a whole class being closed out that I'm not informed about until the day of teaching.
But, we finally got a new teacher for Pink North in November but I didn't expect her to be able to handle the students of this school very well. She didn't appear all that young or energetic to keep up with the students, nor did she have an authoritative deposition in order to control the kids. Every now and then on my non-teaching office days, I would help aid the new teacher with the difficult classes. I had a week of office days for Christmas classes and I spent them pretty much entirely at Pink North even though it's my furthest commute. I mostly did it in the hope she wouldn't leave. Then, we had parent observations together, which I could tell put a lot of pressure and anxiety on her. At least together were also able to rant and rawr about certain classes and students so that was fun, haha.
Last night, I got a private email from Pink North's teacher confirming that she's really quitting due to the job making her lose her voice. I expected it but I was hoping she would leave at least by the end of the school year. An unexpected part of the email was that she told me some of the parents reactions to her informing them that she was quitting. There is this certain young class of kindergarten children on Thursday that have been one of the troublesome classes of the school. This class has one boy and three girls. One girl is very smart, mature, and sweet while the other two are extremely selfish and whiny. Then, the one boy is super rough and pushy with the other girls. They're very hard to control and even harder on me when I can't use Japanese nor can I understand some of what they're saying. Anyway, the teacher told me that the parents of those students were angry with the company that their kids would have to go through another irregular rotation of Japanese teachers. They feel like their kids wouldn't be able to get the proper education that is equivalent to the price they are paying for the program. So, they requested they speak to the area manager of the school next week, which is the week I'm there to teach so... I don't know how that will work out. But, when the teacher spoke to the parents, they said that they like me! They said I was good at teaching and requested that I teach there every week. Mind you... this is the class that nearly brought me to the point of tears that I talked about in this entry before. Those same parents were watching me teach their unruly kids. They probably had no idea I was dying on the inside, haha. While it's nice to hear from the parents that I'm liked and my teaching seems effective, it puts a lot more pressure on me that I don't want, honestly.
Well, I teach at Pink North next week from the 10th to the 14th... and, in all honestly, I'll probably only have Tegomass in my head during that time. I'll be looking so forward to some Johnny's fun after a long time!
However, I still have to work a lot on my money management. OTZ
I knew I would be tight this month but still super girigiri! Though, one of the things I hadn't accounted for at all was the commuting costs of one of the schools I would be covering. It was my mistake in not being aware of the fact that the trains to that school were cash-ticket only and not the commuter pass I usually used. So, I put in a lot of money in my pass for the costs but in the end it's stuck there and I had to use most of my cash. I suck when it comes to things I don't account for at all. Especially fandom! I told myself less fandom this year! It didn't out all that smoothly when I found myself going to two paid BOYS AND MEN events and random goods like chekis! UGH, I just really have to keep being more mindful of how much I'm spending. Dx
Like, I'm no longer seeing multiple shows of one tour or stage run but... instead going to one show of different tours and stages. (Tenimyu and Tegomass are exceptions since I want to see them with different company~)
Ahhh... like, my schedule of events I'm sure/planning to go to already look a lot...
February 15th - Tegomass no Seishun concert in Osaka (with Lauren)
February 16th - BOYS AND MEN fan appreciation event (with Josie)
February 27th - Tanaka Shunsuke solo live in Nagoya
February 28th - Tenimyu meets TDC
February 28th - Tenimyu Seigaku vs Shitenhoji in TDC
March 1st - Tenimyu Seigaku vs Shitenhoji in TDC (with Angel)
March 2nd - Atami Battle Royal stageplay in Tokyo
March 2nd - Tenimyu Seigaku vs Shitenhoji Live Viewing in Tokyo
March 28th to March 30th - Tegomass no Seishun OR Tenimyu talk event
April 13th - Tenimyu Supports Club Premium Party vol 7 in Osaka
April 23rd - Tegomass no Seishun concert in Nagoya (with Josie)
April 26th - Tenimyu Undoukai 2014 in Yokohama
April 27th - Addam's Family in Nagoya
Other things I'm spending money on in the near future are...
- BOYS AND MEN cds/dvds
- Tegomass no Seishun tour goods
- Kato Shigeaki's "Burn" novel first release
- Kato Shigeaki's "Pink and Gray" paperback novel
- NEWS 10th anniversary dvd
- D-Boys short film dvd
- D-Stage boxset
And I'm already anticipating the future releases of D*Date's tour dvd, Arashi's tour dvd, Kanjani8's tour dvd, and Yamapi's tour dvd. -sobs-
Anyway... this was a weird mixed and messed up entry. Sorry! This is what happens when I actually have time for myself...
Goodnight!
P.S. It snowed for real for the first time this winter season in my area! I was happy until the rain made everything slush.