40 minutes and my last EVER class with 11th graders

I woke up earlier today since I knew that it was 40 minutes classes today and I needed to prepare things in case CP doesn’t show up. The weird part about that was because we all had mentioned it to her so that she wouldn’t forget that classes started earlier today. I had reminded her a few times, and so did a few other teachers.

But low and behold, she forgot. Fortunately for me, I knew what we would be doing today for 7th grade kiku. It was the first time I took the lead of the class, so the students were a bit weirded out by it. But I got things started and figured that she would stumble in class a bit late and she would take over. That’s exactly how things turned out and the sad part about that, was it was all expected. But the few things that I didn’t expect were the complaints that I got from her on how I had organized things. Like having groups of four instead of three and making more copies when she had already made some, but since we were in a hurry and didn’t know where any of her stuff was, we just went with it and sort of said, you weren’t here and it really isn’t my responsibility. That’s how the day started and I wasn’t sure if it would carry on throughout the whole day.

4th period was with 8th grade ran and they were just presenting their “My favorite souvenir” speeches.

5th period was exactly the same as the previous class. I think that the difference between yuri and ran, is that yuri really is higher level. Most of the students in this class did better, and seemed like they practiced more and were better prepared.

6th period was my last class that I would lead at Yakumo. It’s sad actually. Things were setup during lunch and it didn’t take me long to get everything going. I had a visitor come see my class since it would be my last and things went perfect. Everything went smoothly and there wasn’t a problem at all. Things went too smoothly actually and we even had time at the end to go around the world… via Google Earth. I showed them places and I think that really impressed them.

I stuck around to clean up for a little bit. The winners of the game today chose postcards instead of chocolate, which was quite surprising since both the other classes chose chocolates instead. I stayed at school till around 8pm studying Japanese, and bothering the other teachers. I was checking a lot of tests to make sure their English grammar and spelling is all correct. The main problems that I saw on the tests were the spacing. But that was it.

I stayed at school really late and it was because I was helping another teacher with questions for my sayonara party and helping another teacher get acquainted with her newly bought computer. She has had an old computer, but bought a new one and really didn’t know too much about it. So I showed her and taught her how to use it. I think that was pretty cool.
Then I ended up meeting with another teacher for dinner and some tea. The tea wasn’t that great and I will be glad to go back to San Diego to get some real milk tea instead of the tasteless things here. But it was nice and we were talking a lot. The problem here was that there were some students on the second floor of the café we were at. That’s a problem because they aren’t supposed to be there and especially so late at night. We should have said something, but it just brings about trouble that no one wants, so we just ignored it and hoped that we didn’t get spotted because it would have been bad and we would have had to say something and write them up. We don’t like being the mean, bad teachers you know? I only had a sandwich for dinner, which really wasn’t much. I wished I had more to eat, but I was tired and wanted to get home. I would have to get up early tomorrow to go to a Canada day festival.

Screwed up royally

I had four classes today and half of those, I would lead. So it was a chance for me to show off some of the cool stuff that I had planned to do for the 11th graders.

The first class was with 9th grade yuri and this wouldn’t be my last class with them because I have another one with them next week. We had the test on Directions today. We also had some parents come by and check it out.

The second class I had today was with 7th grade ume and we worked on English Olympics, which is what CP came up with for a review program.

I ate lunch really quickly and headed to the LL to get everything set up, since my class would start about 15 minutes later. But I guess that it wasn’t enough time to get things setup. For some reason, I had everything in place, but I couldn’t get anything to show up on the screen. I know that it was the settings that was the problem and I didn’t have enough time to adjust it and make it correct before class started, so I had to do it the ghetto way.

5th period with 11th grade yuri would be my last one with them. They started going into the class early and I was distracted with the setup and couldn’t finish it on time. So I ended up writing it on the board. I didn’t like that since it made things harder for them and for me. I used the computer anyways, and thought that I could fix the problem before the next class, but that never materialized. I think that the students still enjoyed it since it was a fun game (English Jeopardy) and many students participated. I even gave out awards at the end and made my announcement that I would be leaving the school and Japan this summer. It was a bit sad, but I was still pissed that I couldn’t get it to work.

During the break, I was still working on it, but more students kept on going in the room and I was again distracted, but it was students from the class that normally is there, since I asked to have them move to a different location. I still wasn’t able to get it to work though. I think that it was really regretful since parents from the open school came last period and checked it out. It made me look bad, which is really rare and the worst way to end my career at the school. So I was pissed off that I had blown my best opportunity to impress everyone and even myself. This class, 11th grade fuji was struggling with everything though. I really had to go really slow and get them to participate because they simply didn’t know. They really aren’t the sharpest tools in the shed, and that’s a sad fact. They are indeed a very special class. And I didn’t get much help from the assistant teacher since her English isn’t the highest of quality either. So that was how I ended my classes with these students. I was miserable and fucked up royally. The part that really really pissed me off was after the class, I was able to solve the problem. And it was a very simple thing that I missed too and it would have worked for both of the previous classes.

I stayed after school like usual and stayed there really late. I started cleaning out my desk and getting ready to leave the school and I wanted to return all my books and stuff. So I brought all of it to the department chair and just went there back and forth dropping miscellaneous things off. I made disks and extra copies for things that I think they will need for the next semester and for years ahead since I won’t be there. I had the foresight to include things that I know they need but they don’t quite realize it yet.

I had dinner at Yoshinoya since it was late and I needed a quick meal before I got home. It was a bit hot and I left my computer at school. I figured that I didn’t need it tonight since I was tired as hell and was sleeping on the way home too. I have been spending too much of my energy and I really feel fatigued. It has been a bit too much for my body this week. I came home and pretty much died right there. I wanted to catch the soccer game on TV, but doubt that I did, since I don’t remember it.

2 classes

I only had two classes today and it started from 5th period, so it was nice that I got to sleep in especially since I slept late last night. I left my house early enough to get some brunch before getting to school. I ended up going to the Sukiya restaurant near Toritsu-daigaku station. There was a long line there and when I got a seat, the people working there were swamped so it took them a long time to wait on me. I was really hungry at this time since I haven’t been eating too much recently because of the heat. It makes me sick.

I finally got to school around 12:40pm. It was right when lunch started so everything was busy and things were going on. I just sat there realizing that I only have a few more days left and I wouldn’t be required to come to school anymore. That’s such a weird feeling for me to have. I’m almost finished with what I came here to do.

The first class that I had was with 10th grade yuri. They were working on the review of the past experiences paper. We went around the room calling on students to hear about their experiences. It was interesting.

The last class today was with 8th grade fuji and they had their test to give today. It was on “My favorite souvenir” which turned out to be interesting since they took a little more time than the other students.

I had dinner at mos burger tonight because I was in a hurry. I was able to finish the book I was reading too. That was nice since I didn’t want to take it with me anymore and since I will have to take my laptop to school for the next few days. It would have been a hassle too.

The beginning of the end

I only had 3 classes today and it started 3rd period with 10th grade fuji. Some of the students in this class knew that I was leaving the school. We were working on past experiences the paper that we had from last week and then we started another one interviewing the classmates on past experiences.

4th period was with 11th grade ran and we had a test today. Not the best way to end my teachings with them, but the schedule dictated that. They were ok, some were great and others need more work. I made my announcement at the end, even though I wanted to play a game with them.

5th period was also tests, but with 8th grade kiku. They started off very impressive and almost perfect scores.

After school, I stuck around only to study Japanese.

I had dinner at the curry place because on the way home I smelt curry walking with some co-workers.

Talking to family

I was able to talk to family today, which was a nice change of things. We finally resolved the issues with the payment of my housing so I’m happy to report that.

I was also talking with YSki today on skype although we were having a lot of problems because her voice didn’t come in clear. It was weird because it was very clear using Windows Live Messenger and using the webcam. But then again, it could have been just her computer.

England vs. Ecuador

I didn’t do all that much today. I think the biggest accomplishment I achieved today was pay for my UCLA housing. I found out that the card that I have isn’t usable because I have a newer card back in the states. Once I got that information, I was able get it through. But this wasn’t till around midnight my time since she just got back from Las Vegas and told me all of this. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to take care of any of it. It was nice that I got it taken care of two days before the deadline, although that is pretty close.

I also did some laundry which was nice. I really didn’t need to since I have tomorrow off from work too, but I thought it would be nice to get it done a day ahead of time so I could give my clothes an extra day to dry. Even though I think it might rain tomorrow, at least it will have another day to dry though.

I also made dinner tonight. It wasn’t so hot, so it was perfect to get some cooking done and get some of the clutter out of my kitchen in a nice move to get ready to move back to the states. I made mabo-tofu, which is one of my favorites. I made enough to last me till tomorrow too, so that was nice.

I talked with one of my best friends today too. YSki and I were speaking mostly in Japanese for the beginning of the conversation and then we changed to English later. I was really happy that I was able to understand a lot of what she was talking about and she could understand my Japanese. Well at least I thought she could.

I didn’t end up watching the England vs. Ecuador game till 1am since that’s when it started around. I only caught the second half and it seemed as if that was the half that was more interesting anyways according to the highlights. I saw the only goal of the match from David Beckham’s free kick. It was pretty cool that I caught that too. He really is a good player. I never knew since I really haven’t been a soccer fan for too long.

I was sewing, or hemming up my pant leg on some of my pants that are a little too long. So overall I did get some things done. But I didn’t work on any of the things that I wanted to get finished for work. For some reason I seem to be really lazy about that. I have a lot of things to accomplish tomorrow since I didn’t get it finished today.

I was having a cell phone conversation through email today. I was talking with CHda as she was riding the train back from her parents’ house in Chiba. I thought it was weird when she started sending me messages about nothing in particular. It was weird but nice since she’s the only person that really does talk to me in Japan. I mean I’ve gotten used to living alone and not needing anyone in my life, but it’s always nice to have someone there to talk to. I thought it was very interesting that she would do that though, although it’s a nice gesture. I was thinking about asking her to hang out tomorrow, but I know that I will be too lazy to actually go out and do something. I have a lot of work that I need to get finished so I should do that tomorrow since this week will be my last week at school officially as a teacher.

England vs. Ecuador

I didn’t do all that much today. I think the biggest accomplishment I achieved today was pay for my UCLA housing. I found out that the card that I have isn’t usable because I have a newer card back in the states. Once I got that information, I was able get it through. But this wasn’t till around midnight my time since she just got back from Las Vegas and told me all of this. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to take care of any of it. It was nice that I got it taken care of two days before the deadline, although that is pretty close.

I also did some laundry which was nice. I really didn’t need to since I have tomorrow off from work too, but I thought it would be nice to get it done a day ahead of time so I could give my clothes an extra day to dry. Even though I think it might rain tomorrow, at least it will have another day to dry though.

I also made dinner tonight. It wasn’t so hot, so it was perfect to get some cooking done and get some of the clutter out of my kitchen in a nice move to get ready to move back to the states. I made mabo-tofu, which is one of my favorites. I made enough to last me till tomorrow too, so that was nice.

I talked with one of my best friends today too. YSki and I were speaking mostly in Japanese for the beginning of the conversation and then we changed to English later. I was really happy that I was able to understand a lot of what she was talking about and she could understand my Japanese. Well at least I thought she could.

I didn’t end up watching the England vs. Ecuador game till 1am since that’s when it started around. I only caught the second half and it seemed as if that was the half that was more interesting anyways according to the highlights. I saw the only goal of the match from David Beckham’s free kick. It was pretty cool that I caught that too. He really is a good player. I never knew since I really haven’t been a soccer fan for too long.

I was sewing, or hemming up my pant leg on some of my pants that are a little too long. So overall I did get some things done. But I didn’t work on any of the things that I wanted to get finished for work. For some reason I seem to be really lazy about that. I have a lot of things to accomplish tomorrow since I didn’t get it finished today.

I was having a cell phone conversation through email today. I was talking with CHda as she was riding the train back from her parents’ house in Chiba. I thought it was weird when she started sending me messages about nothing in particular. It was weird but nice since she’s the only person that really does talk to me in Japan. I mean I’ve gotten used to living alone and not needing anyone in my life, but it’s always nice to have someone there to talk to. I thought it was very interesting that she would do that though, although it’s a nice gesture. I was thinking about asking her to hang out tomorrow, but I know that I will be too lazy to actually go out and do something. I have a lot of work that I need to get finished so I should do that tomorrow since this week will be my last week at school officially as a teacher.

Tennis

I tried again today to get my housing things taken care of, but it didn’t go through again. I wonder what the problem is. But anyways, I got ready and went to school. It was hot as a mother today too especially in my apartment.

I got lunch at 五十番, which is a Chinese restaurant I frequently go to. I got fried rice there, which was fairly average, nothing really special. I then arrived at school around 1:15pm. I meant to get there at 1pm.

I did more coaching today than I probably have in the past. I wanted them to take practice more seriously and I think that they all got yelled at by the coach today too. It was a bit embarrassing because of their behavior in front of some other teachers. So they needed to shape up.

I left school around 8pm again tonight because we practiced late and I was talking with a few other teachers and students.

I got dinner at the Chinese restaurant place at Shin-Sugita station that I like to go to. I had tan tan men, which was ok, but there wasn’t enough noodles to make me full.

On the way home I stopped off at the grocery store to pick up some food for the next few days so that I wouldn’t have to leave the house, although I might end up going somewhere.