A Day in the Life: How are things? Let me tell you!

More to answer my mom's question than anything else, I thought I'd just spend some time letting you know how I'm doing.

First, thanks to all of you who read my blog! While it's the least-trafficked of my three blogs, it is my most personal, despite the lack of posts.

Let's start with my mornings. I sleep on a futon, which isn't too uncomfortable, actually. It's a good bit firmer than I'm used to, but that isn't a problem. However, I think my pillow is too firm for my sleeping habits, and I'll probably go to Ikea and get a softer one. I try to get up around 9 now, though I slept in until 11 this morning (I've been quite tired). I fold up my sheets and pick up my mattress to lean it against the wall. This helps it dry out to avoid mold. I've been doing this since day one, as I had been warned that it can develop mold. (At my recent follow-up training, I heard from one of the other trainees that she had not been doing this and already started developing a mold of some sort! The fix seems to be some kind of bleach spray, followed by vacuuming. I want this spray just for a precaution.)

An old picture, but I still fold my blankets up.

I've got the water temperature set just right, and I really like the unit bath. I don't have a water heater in the traditional sense. Instead, I have something that instantly heats the water to the right temperature as it travels to the bathroom or kitchen. I can set the water temperature to whatever I prefer (41 degrees Celsius for regular use, and I turn it up a bit when doing dishes). I don't run out of hot water and don't have to mix hot and cold to get the right shower temperature! The unit bath is perfect. I don't have to worry about a shower curtain or getting water on the bathroom floor. I have a small mat outside the bathroom instead of having one outside the tub/shower. I just take my normal shower, turn the water from the shower to the sink, and brush my teeth while dripping onto the floor before drying off.

And then I get dressed and head off to work! The train is only about a two minute walk, so I usually grab a light breakfast at the 100 yen shop. I might pick up some lunch, too. Convenience store food is quite convenient! The train ride is short. It's still amusing seeing people rush to the station (though I've done it myself on a couple occasions). Other than the background train noises, it's a quiet, isolated trip. People don't talk to each other on the train. I use the time to read my emails, the news, and everyone's blog posts. I eek out some time for a game or two on occasion. I've been playing Words With Friends; if you'd like to play with me let me know!

I usually catch the 11:41 or 12:41 train, and I'm at work by about 12-til. Yes, it's a five minute train ride. If I have a lesson at the next hour, it's busy-time for me, as I change shoes, put on my pin, nametag, and tie clip, and prep the lesson. Otherwise, I take my time and start prepping for the day.

Teaching English is easy for me. I use it all the time, and teaching comes fairly naturally, of course. Unlike teaching high school in America, 99% of my students are motivated, do their homework, and practice hard in class. Each student and each class has its own dynamics, especially with my childrens' classes. At times, it can be frustrating, but it's certainly more rewarding as I can see all my students' progress each week. The smaller class sizes (maximum 8, though I've never had a class over 7) make it easy to work one-on-one with the students.

I've got my work routine down to a science, too. I can prep a day's worth of lessons (about 7, though it could be much fewer depending on the day) in 30 minutes or less. The rest of my planning time is spent doing attendance or other paperwork, prepping kids materials, or helping out around the office. This usually involves folding fliers to prepare for distribution. Sure, it's simple work, but I'm not sick of it yet. It's kind of nice to have something easy to do to relax my mind between classes - it especially helps me unwind after teaching some difficult kids lessons before heading on to the adult levels.

I love all my students, and as the academic year is drawing to a close, several of my kids won't be returning next year - it's kind of sad. I wish they were staying! But next year, I'll have a new batch of kids students. I could see myself doing this for several years, if it wasn't for the money. My paycheck is enough to enjoy myself on the weekends, but certainly not enough to make a career with.

I usually eat out for lunch. I will usually eat gyudon or some other form of fast food or bento box. I sometimes worry that I'm not making healthy food choices, but then I remind myself that I've lost a good bit of weight, and I'm eating what many healthy, fit Japanese people eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

I head home around 9pm most days (7 on Saturdays), though I tend to stay a little late at night to help clean, or to answer questions from my students, put away my materials, and sometimes do a little prep for the next day. While I have been cooking more, recently, I still tend to pick something up on the way home from the convenience store. I'll tell you more about my cooking experiences soon. I spend my evenings catching up on internet stuff and generally relaxing.

My weekends are similar to my weekdays in that I'm usually up around 9am, though I try to get out the door by 10. I came to Japan to explore, and I try to spend one day each weekend visiting sites or exploring a neighborhood in the Tokyo area. I have yet to have a bad weekend day out! My other day off is spent doing laundry. If I don't do laundry on the weekend, I have to do it on Tuesday morning. I also vacuum and change the bed sheets frequently. I have a tiny apartment, and despite taking my shoes off at the door, I still manage to accumulate a good bit of a mess over the course of the week. I like to get out even on the other day off, so I'll just hop on the train to the mall at Shin-Misato or head to another nearby town for some minor exploring and window shopping. I think it's pretty important for me to spend one day a week without any major plans, though, when I can.

While there is a serious language barrier, and it can be frustrating at times, I'm always able to work things out. And while I'd like to hang out more with people around here, I've always been a fairly independent person. On the other hand, I have been able to spend some time with friends. It's great to see Ellie, Eiji, and Tora about once a month, and I've hung out with my training mates too. One of them is in a band and I saw her perform last weekend. I met a bunch of expats there, and one Japanese woman who lives near me (one train station away, actually)!

I'm very happy here! I'm looking forward to Golden Week (April 29-May 7). I'm headed off for a (relatively cheap) road (train and bus) trip down to Hiroshima and Kyushu. It'll be my first overnighter outside Tokyo, and one of the highest-priority trips in Japan. I'll hit two amusement parks, see two baseball games at different parks, and visit four cities. Thanks to cheap lodging and a bus pass, the trip isn't terribly costly. I'm expecting things to be pretty crowded, though. I'm also planning two other exciting trips this month: Fuji-Q (the "most important" amusement park in Japan for a coaster lover) and my first Japanese baseball game. In fact, April will be quite the busy month for me as I prepare for the trip, work one Sunday overtime, and attend another training session towards the end of the month.

So that's a look at my life these days and how I'm feeling. I'm surprised I've settled in so well, but I think I knew what to expect and was well-prepared for the experience. Granted, not everything is sunshine and roses, but usually I just feel crappy after teaching a horrible lesson. I'd like to cook more, as I feel like I'm eating only a few different meals over the course of a week, but I think I'm better at getting fruits - at least through juices, plus bananas a few times a week. Anyway - thoughts? Comments? Questions? Concerns?

What a day.

I was observed today - The first time since I started really teaching. It wasn't a formal observation but it still ended up being fairly nerve racking.

First, in my kids class, most things want pretty well. I have a few areas to work on, but the lesson went fairly smoothly and the kids were pretty conducive to learning the lesson (as with all my grade school classes, the students are pretty good).

I taught a low-level grammar class next, and I know I messed some stuff up big-time. Mostly due to nervousness, I think, I put in the wrong cd (a first time for me) and I did part of the lesson wrong. And I know I messed some stuff up like not using student names and probably giving proper praise.

The last observed class was a low level discussion type of class, and again I did a few minor things wrong and I know I didn't use names at all during the lesson (I botched that up at the beginning and just basically said "screw it" from then on). But then I nearly ended the lesson very early - I recovered well enough and finished with a decent ending lesson.

I know I teach better than I did today, and I know from the feedback I've received that they know anything I did seriously wrong today was probably a fluke. I know there are areas to improve and I look forward to some of the feedback I'll get tomorrow but I don't know why I can't perform well when I am being observed. I'll tell you more tomorrow after the meeting (it's a long one, scheduled for just about 2 hours). I had a drink and talked a good bit with one of the other teachers to relax so I should get a good night's rest and I know there isn't too much to really stress about anyway.

Meanwhile, while writing this post I missed my train station. I hope there is another train going back!

Update: I had to take a taxi back to get to my station. Ugh. However the meeting this morning went pretty well. There are some small areas to work on and some aspects to change but it wasn't too brutal. I'm pretty tired today, though!

My First (Practice) Adult Lesson

This post was written Tuesday evening.

I taught my first adult lesson today. Unlike the kids lesson, where I felt unprepared and I feel like I bumbled through many parts of it, I remembered most of the structure and points to note. I think I hit every step needed, and there were only a few points the trainer brought up I needed to address. I still need to relax! I’m not sure how I can address this problem, because no matter how many times I tell myself to relax, I still get anxious and it’s debilitating at times. The rest of my problems were minor, but I’ll certainly make a point to work on them.

We also practiced interviewing prospective students today, and while I did much better the second time through, I still don’t feel certain of my skills in this area. I’ll have to practice this more once I reach my school. Speaking of which: in one week, I will be working in the actual school! I visit the school on Monday, but I think most of the time will be spent greeting the staff and other teachers, moving my luggage to my apartment, and applying for my resident alien card and completing other paperwork. I won’t be teaching the first few days, either. The teacher I’m replacing will probably teach next week (at least some of the lessons; I’ll find out soon!) and I will be introduced to each class and start preparing for real teaching!

On a side note, we had a decent earthquake this morning (maybe a 3 or 4? I can’t look it up while writing this post, though I might remember to check once I reach the internet cafe). Nothing was damaged or even fell. I’ve mentioned there is a large amount of construction going on in the building behind us, and that tends to shake the ground pretty violently, but I was able to identify the shaking as an earthquake pretty quickly. Nobody panicked (remember, most of us have been in Japan or at least earthquake-prone areas).

I’ve not put much thought into what I’m going to do next weekend. I hope to meet up with Elizabeth and Eiji, but if that doesn’t happen I have several options worth exploring within my current budget. I’ll need to repack my bags, which I’m not looking forward to! I haven’t accumulated much extra weight, but it was a challenge getting everything properly organized the first time. Meanwhile, I’m off towards the train station to post this and my other topics to the blog, and I can grab a bite to eat as its 8pm, which means dinner time! I’m thinking curry! That stuff was awesome.

My first Demo Lesson

It's been almost a week now. Today is Saturday and I just finished teaching my first demo lesson.

I taught a lesson designed for 4-5 year olds and it went fairly well. I have plenty of areas to improve on though. I've been exhausted the past couple days from training as several of the activities have been quite kinetic in nature. I went to bed at 9pm last night, I was so tired.

The sleep certainly helped as I was refreshed this morning after my shower and ready to teach my lesson. As I said, there are things I need to work on, and I could not remember the starting points of the songs. My mind was a total blank. Ugh!!! Plus, I kept saying "good job" instead of giving specific feedback. And I kept forgetting to elicit responses for the words. I tend to over think and overwork things and that's how it comes back to get me. Plus, I know I am very unsure of myself right now and that shows. I also think I didn't get enough practice with the last parts of my lesson with "students" there to help the flow. It's ok though, I suppose. I was energetic and gave some good gestures. Hopefully I'll rock the adult lessons next week.

Because I've been so tired and busy I haven't really left the building these past couple days. We have a bit more time tonight and I think we're going out for dinner and then I can go to the Internet cafe and publish this post, catch up on my reading and such, and relax for a while.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to go explore a little but of the city. I'm being as careful as possible with my money so I think I'm going to a couple museums and I can explore Akihabara. I don't want to stay out too long tomorrow because we have class again on Monday. Hopefully I can get a quick post together for tomorrow night. Not having local internet is a pain because it means I have to walk about 30 minutes to the train station area to sync my blog posts and read all the posts everyone else makes.

Meanwhile, I need to get back for the second half of today's training. There's some deconstruction going on behind me which makes quite a racket from about 8am until 5pm, which since it's 2:30 is in full swing. No midday naps for me! They finished demolishing the building on Wednesday and are now picking up the mess.

My working schedule and classes

As I mentioned recently, I received my working schedule and details about my apartment and such on Wednesday. Once I get to my apartment I'll be able to share more details about the size and layout, though it looks like it will probably be about the same as the room I'm in now (posted earlier this week).  My schedule will probably be the same until April, when the new school year begins. For now I'm working Tuesday through Saturday. I will be teaching 8 kids classes and two middle school classes, 14 adult classes, and four private lessons. That's a total of 28 lessons per week, each 45-50 minutes long. each class will probably have 6-8 students (private lessons have 1 and some of the adult classes could have over a dozen).  Of the kids classes, three groups will be three-year-olds, with a 4-5 year old group and the rest being 9-12 year olds. We have been doing kids training today (written Thursday afternoon) and they are very energetic and fun lessons, with a lot of work involved in preparation and teaching. By Saturday I will have planned and taught my own young kids lesson and I should have a good grasp on the expectations.  Sunday is our first full day off and it looks like we won't have to worry much about homework or anything so I should be able to get out and do something fun. My training mates are all girls and they were talking of going to Shibuya and a butler cafe. I don't think I'll join them if that is the case, but I'm still at a loss as to what I want to do first. I want to be frugal with my money this month but I want to have a great time too. Decisions decisions!