First Week Down!

The longer I'm here, the shorter five months sounds. 20 weeks. 16 sessions per class. That's it. A day's schedule may be busier here, but life is slower. Five months at home? I'm missing birthdays and moving and changes changes changes. Here, little will change. The Japanese culture is difficult to break into. Building relationships anywhere takes time, but it seems that especially here it will take a long time. Five months? That's it. It makes me question why I was so hesitant to commit to a year when SEND first asked me wayyyyy back in August. Life is comprised of these "hindsight moments," I suppose.

I have officially held one weeks worth of classes. Each class was more and more enjoyable, but perhaps that's because I felt more comfortable and had more of an idea as to what was going to happen. I had a few minor difficulties in feeling out each class (and beleive it or not, it wasn't the language barrier!). Most of them had to do with the previous teacher. She finished last term and left, leaving behind none of her curriculum or materials. That in itself is not so bad, until you walk into your first class and they already have their text books out ready to pick up where they left off. So much of school is rote that its difficult to break into or out of the repetition.

The first class on Tuesday night was perhaps the most challenging, though even challenging is a strong word. They are all beginners (or "pre-intermediate" according to the textbooks they all brought) so communication at first was definitely feeling out one another.

The class this morning was at Chuo Church, as was the one on Tuesday night. Chuo Church is my church. I have an open schedule to add more classes (hopefully one for children!) and I'll be attending Sunday mornings. I love this church already. Kim Sensei is so loving and so welcoming. The 5 ladies on Tuesday night are more advanced and want to focus on conversation and pronunciation. I think pronunciation will be the most difficult for me because I'm not sure how to teach it effectively. It's interesting listening to myself read outloud for these classes because my enunciation becomes impeccable. So many words I find myself slurring--"for," for example, usually comes out "fer." It makes ME shiver every time I say it, but I apparently don't care enough to put energy into changing the habit. :P :)

Tonight's class was most enjoyable for me. There are 7 students, including Tomita Sensei, and they are all advanced. Leading this class tonight seemed so natural and easy. I'm looking forward to preparing these lessons. I'm going to pick one subject each week and I'll bring in articles or stories surrounding that topic. I'll read to them, we'll read together, and then we'll discuss--the topic in general as well as any questions they had about the reading. There is one lady who is a Japanese teacher and one who mentioned wanting one-on-one time: two open doors right away! I left Saginuma tonight encouraged.

The only downside about traveling to Saginuma is the trains. I end up traveling during rush hour and the sheer volume of people is horrible. Well, horrible from my point of view, I suppose. So many people. And these are not even downtown trains. Close, but no cigar. As much as I'm looking forward to helping out at HiBA on Thursday evenings, I'm not looking forward to facing those crowds! HiBA is right outside Shibuya, one of the largest train stations in downtown Tokyo. People people people!

Tonight I am considerably less tired than I was last night and I think this is that latest that I've stayed up since I've been here! Cheers! Tomorrow Anne Marie is taking me downtown so that I can practice the train route to Shibuya. We may even break from Japanese food for one day and get T.G.I.Friday's for lunch! That may be a good thing after the frustrations I had this evening with my ricecooker! If Michelle Mikoski isn't even sure how to use it, there is little hope for me! Haha!