October 13th: staying late yet leaving early

1999

The vice principal at the elementary school is driving me nuts.

Not only is she incredibly enthusiastic about everything, to the point of being somewhat creepy and sinister, but she also comes across as being so nosy, trying to find out information from me about the teachers at my other schools; I answered most of her questions with a diplomatic “I don’t know.”

2000

Despite not having much work to do at school today, I stayed until after 7pm. Even then, I was one of the first teachers to leave.

Staying late has improved my standing with the other teachers; I think they see that I’m making an effort to be one of them; it seems to be all about looking to be working hard, even if there isn’t that much work to be done.

Every time anyone leaves the school to go home for the evening, they say osaki ni shitsurei shimasu, meaning “I am being rude for leaving earlier than you.” I feel better saying this if I stay at school until at least 6pm .

2001

There was another enkai last night, this time for the English teachers from the three junior high schools in the town, plus their ALT’s (myself, S and A).

We drank everyone under the table; we even took three big bottles of Asahi beer with us back to S’s apartment afterwards, where we spent the night.

I woke up on a futon, still wearing my glasses. At first I thought my poor eyesight had been miraculously cured; I was wrong.

I spent three years teaching English in Japan, from 1999 until 2002, as a participant on the JET (Japan Exchange Teaching) Program. I’m telling my story based on journals that I wrote at the time. Each blog entry will focus on the same day, repeated for each year that I was in Japan.