School

I've written a nice little paragraph of two about my kindly neighbors and about the weird banking system in Japan, but I can't post it just yet. So I will talk about school for a bit.

Right now it's summer vacation, so there's not too much going on. I come to school every morning at 8:15 and stay until about 12:15. During the school year I will be here until 4:15, and I will eat a healthy and delicious school lunch.

I've met almost all of the teachers at my school. We share one huge teachers' room (one of the only air-conditioned places in the school) and all our desks are put together. I will be co-teaching with three teachers until at least October, when I will start teaching with four--at least, that's how I've understood it. Some days I teach 2 classes a day, some days I teach 5 (out of 6 periods). In my free time I'll be doing lesson planning or studying Japanese. So far I get along with everyone. I think it's because I brought them candy; a little bribery never hurt anyone.

The school is bigger than Warren County Middle School (the only one I can compare it to) and they have a ton of clubs: tennis, judo, brass band, art, basketball, soccer.....almost every student is involved in at least one club, and there are some teachers who work 7 days a week between regular classroom work and club activities. There are three floors to the school, and the teachers are the ones who change classes, not the students. However, there isn't as much technology as you would think--there is only one computer in each classroom, although there is a big computer lab on the 2nd floor.

Classes are divided into rooms and years. They call them First Year, Second Year, and Third Year students, what would roughly be 7th, 8th, and 9th grade in the U.S. So classes are called 1-1, which means they first year students in classroom one, 1-2, in classroom two, etc. etc. My schedule looks like 1-3, 1-4, 2-5, 2-6, etc.

We also can't wear outside shoes inside, so I take off my shoes when I walk into the building, put on my inside shoes that are waiting for me in my locker, and go from there. When I leave the building I put my inside shoes in my locker and put my outside shoes back on. Of course, the floor is still a little scuffed up...

On another note, I'm planning to go to Mt. Fuji this weekend and climb it, but I have no aspirations higher than just to see how far I get. If I pass out in the middle of it, at least I can say I tried. I'll be going with a group of ALTs and whoever else is there at the time. I'll let you know of my success or failure when I get back!

Sorry this was kind of disjointed; I'll try to write more eloquently next time!