Starting over... First day at school...

SPEED - Starting Over

As promised... Here's an entry on my first day at Okayama Gakugeikan High School...

I remember waking up really early in the morning to don my new suit (which I bought from Haruyama). After breakfast and a fast fag, I waited for Kentaro Sensei to arrive. He was kind enough to give me a lift from my hotel to the school.

The first thing on the agenda was to attend the teachers' meeting (which starts at 8:15 am daily) where I was going to be introduced. One must note that I've always imagined myself to be the 転校生 (でんこせい) but now it's different. I'm standing in front of not one but all the teachers. It's a very weird kinda feeling. Anyways, Kentaro Sensei gave such a detailed introduction of myself that I had nothing to say but "I'm very glad to be here. いまからよろしくお願いします." WTF! For all that I'd learnt, that was such a lousy self-introduction.

Thereafter, I was brought to 5 号室 where I was introduced to my office (国際教育センター) and fellow colleagues. It's a small office with just 5 staff - all ladies except one who happened to be a PRC.

First week of school (last last week) was rather boring as it was test week and the students were all either busy mugging or having their respective tests. Second week of school (last week) was better. I had both the opportunity to teach (not a formal class though) and to be taught. We even visited our neighboring Okayama Elementary School.

These are the kids I played with at the school. They are so adorable that I had to take a photo of them. They were very sweet too! Despite the language barrier, they really tried very hard to explain what they want to communicate to you, be it a subject matter or the rules of playing a game. Also when I gave one of them an Origami frog I made earlier, he was so appreciative that just before I left the classroom, he even tugged my shirt, looked me in the eye and thanked me again. I will never forget that look of his. I guess I really did made his day huh.

In all honesty, perhaps being a teacher here in ulu Okayama isn't that bad huh.. You're away from the city so there's no societal pressures to conform (eg. buying a big house/car). That means the pay is no longer a factor. So when you consider that there's no doubt that the teaching profession is a rewarding one, I don't see why not. In any case, I need to brush up my Japanese first.