10/18/07 Work... Argh!

Work has become a bit more taxing as of late. There is an English speech contest for the students coming up, and I am being asked to do a pretty substantial amount of work in a pretty small amount of time. In addition, I have another demonstration lesson looming ahead that another teacher and I are preparing for. On top of that, I have had to give three solo lessons in the past two days. The teaching part of it is fine, I can handle the lessons fairly well. Keeping them quiet and in their chairs is what I can't handle. The material I was given when I arrived clearly states that I am not supposed to take part in disciplining students. I am not a trained teacher. I don't know what the rules are in Japan in terms of dealing with trouble makers, and the students can barely understand what I am saying to them in the first place. Today a fist fight broke out in the back of one of the classes I was teaching by my lonesome. I had to separate the two little hoodlums and then take them up to the teachers room to have someone yell at them in their own language. Not a big deal, but its all quite exhausting. One day this week I fell asleep at 6:30 in the afternoon.

Today at lunch we had some whole fish that had been battered and deep fried. Fine, I can roll with that. The crunchy batter means that I don't have to look the damn things in the eye while I eat them. Oh, but this time was different, friends. I bit into this thing and I knew something wasn't quite right. It was filled with a mass of little white eggs! These weren't just entire battered fish, these were entire pregnant battered fish. A new low in the downward spiral of seafood despair. I thought to myself, just because an animal will fit in your mouth, doesn't mean you have to eat it. Its OK to pass on some things, people. Sometimes I feel like we are eating like refugees. I think a "no pregnant animals" rule has just been added to my list of dietary guidelines.

Here are a couple random pictures from around the school.

This is the staff entrance that I use everyday. Just inside the door is where I change from my outdoor shoes to my indoor shoes. The hieroglyphics on the wall there read "Ashikaga City, Yamabe Junior High School." Surprised?


This is what I guess you would call the great seal of the school. It is on several on the outside walls and on official documents and whatnot. The mountain part I get, but what's the other thing? Giant dragonfly? I should remember to ask someone about it.

That's all for now. Hopefully I can survive to complain another day.