First Day of School
...written on 2000-10-14, @ 23:46:14
Monday Oct 2, 2000
Today I went to the Frontier branch which is in downtown Ogaki. I taught three classes there. The first class I had a young boy named Masaki. I showed him pictures of my family and my apartment and then Hide taught him some description words. Masaki had very good English pronounciation. He was very shy too of course. Hide kept writing the English pronounciation in katakana. He told me the boy couldn't write in English. No wonder.
The second class had two boys, one twelve, the other fourteen. They introduced themselves and then I told them about me and I asked them many questions and then I taught them what Hide taught Masaki. What threw me off in this class was that Hide kept helping them out in Japanese.
The next class was the high school class. There were 5 students, 4 girls and one boy. Two of the students had been to Athens. They introduced themselves, I did my thing and then I went over restaurant etiquette with them. Then Hide came in and showed them the Mrs. Doubtfire video and left me to teach the rest of the class. This group could read English very well and I had them read the menu from the Hard Rock Cafe. Then I pretended I was the waitress and took their orders.
After the classes we went back to the Main office and Hide let me check email. Fred then brought me home. I was hungry, but very sleepy and told him I didn't want to eat, but when I saw what Mama-san had cooked, I changed my mind. Asparagus rolled in yummy meat, yummy corn soup, potato salad and rice. Now I'm sleepy and have a full stomach. Which reminds me, that is what will be difficult about this job--juggling the eating schedule. Once I get my own apartment it won't be that hard, but til then . . .
Hide said that after I settle in my apt for a month or so, maybe I would like another homestay. He said other teachers are interested in hosting me. I asked him if I would have to pay both rent and the homestay. At first he said yes. Later he said that maybe I could get the homestay for free, but that I would have to pay rent since the other American teachers are paying rent. Ok, but I'm not paying both an apt and a homestay. I told him a homestay would be a good idea for Chad, but he said Chad stayed 3 weeks with his parents a few years ago and didn't have a good time of it. I told him I had learned a lot.
In fact, in just 3 minutes tonight, Mama-san taught me the days of the week, which I had been resisiting learning!
I am very anxious to establish a regular private email connection. I am experiencing, not culture shock, but a culture revulsion. I can't believe I can make it a year! It'll pass, I know, but I'm really curious at how frazzled I feel. I can't communicate fully with my support network bascially, I don't know if they are feeling the same, but I am definitely out of sorts.