Everyone goes back to school on September 1st. Until then, I and the rest of the assistant language teachers have little to do. I can only imagine that it is because the city does not want us wandering around aimlessly, that they require us to be in the office everyday this month. So for my 35 contracted hours each week, I show up to the Board of Education office in a government building that is 25 minutes train ride from my apartment.
Orientation has been a small portion of this time. So mostly right now I am studying my Japanese with Rosetta Stone software (thank you friends), learning the Hiragana alphabet, playing cards, and passing the time.
Most of the ALTs are using vacation time now, as it will be difficult to use during the school year. Fortunately I have five days of summer vacation that must be used this month. Plans are coming together for a Mount Fuji trip.
Not much more to say than I spend my days in a room. They shift us around. Sometimes we get windows, sometimes not. Some rooms are larger than others. All of the rooms have squeaky tables that slide when you try to put your feet up, but you still try.
I feel unprepared for the classroom, but quite ready to get out of this current storage locker situation. I am happy, but it does not matter which country I am in… four walls look the same everywhere.
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2 comments:
I'm enjoying the white glow/washed out effect that appears in most of your photos. Whether or not you are trying to define a theme here, I think that it works well with the white/clean blog design.
BTW - I also got a new bike, although not like I thought I would... turns out Steve was getting rid of a GF 'Napa', so I'm now (again) riding a bulky mtn bike to work. Free is free.
dav....just got back from guatemala and checked out your photos and blog. sounds like you're going through a mixture of my traveling to a new country (guatemala) and now returning to teacher training---just all put together. take care, and don't let japan steal you. that's not cool. :)
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