Going to Hakone!
My school has a residence in Hakone. Today all the teachers, including the new ones that will join, will go to the residence to bond. It’s a good way to celebrate the new school year as a staff together, but I feel sorry for some of the teachers. I feel as if they are always being dragged to come to these events, when I’m sure that they would just like to relax at home or have time for themselves and their families. We will have a BBQ and other exciting things. I guess I’ll update you when I find out more about it. I’ve got to get to school around 10AM, so I’m going to bed now. This is actually the first time I’m ahead of the game and not behind.
The first day and the first impression was quite remarkable. I was worried because all the other teachers had played it down saying that it wasn’t a hotel or anything, so I was expecting old styled cabins, but it was actually a pretty new and modern cabin. It was nice and had all the things that anyone would need, but that’s just the facilities itself. I mean it’s a hell of a lot better than some of the places that I’ve stayed on other trips that I’ve taken in America.
I also had a good impression of the new teachers that were coming aboard. They seemed very nice and really nervous about starting to work at my school. It was as if they were freshmen joining high school. They had the same looks and the same worries that reminded me of that. It was weird because I was no longer the bottom of the totem pole and that I actually had more experience at the school than they did. But they still had more teaching experience than I have. Most of them did, but a few didn’t. They were a bit shy with their English ability, but I think that they speak pretty well for being Japanese English teachers. They aren’t native, but then again, I wouldn’t expect them to be. Since they were all English teachers, I was warming up to them since I would be working with them a lot. I think that we all made a good impression on each other and that each of them are able to communicate better with everyone. I am acting as a bridge with the new to the older teachers. I think that if I would have had that when I first started working at my school, I would have liked it a lot better. But for me, joining half way through the year was an awkward situation.
We took a stop at a nice place to have lunch. The spaghetti was great there, and the service was pretty good too. I was sitting with all the new teachers so it was a great opportunity for me to talk with them. After that, some of the teacher split up and I had a chance to go to the Venetian Glass Museum in Hakone. It was quite interesting how they made things of glass that were just marvelous. But there is only so much you can see before you begin to become a tad bored. I think that it was nice to look at, but I couldn’t spend a whole day there. After that short little excursion, we went to the Hakone Residence. This would be the first, but definitely not the last trip to Hakone.
When we arrived the first thing that I noticed all the teachers were doing was cleaning up and getting ready for the BBQ that we were going to have. Most of the female teachers were cleaning the tables and setting up for all the food. All the male teachers were outside next to the Barbeque stoves and getting the fire going. In Japan, they use a different type of charcoal than we use in the United States. Not sure which one works better, but it works, so I don’t complain.
The food was pretty good and it was like your typical American style Barbeque. They added their own little flavor to things, but relatively everything else was the same. After that, we cleaned up and moved inside to have more to eat. That seems to be the thing at this school, eat and then eat some more. So we had a little more to eat while we were inside the house. That was fun and I got to talk to more teachers than I did before. I made a new friend with the high school boss and now that has really helped my position in the teacher’s office, only because we are the only two of the teachers that don’t like Natto. How odd, but fortunate for me. The teachers came up with a new name for me, meaning they showed me some better kanji characters for my name. They didn’t like the darkness thing, so they decided to offer me some suggestions.
After that, we split up and separated into the different houses where the teachers were going to stay. I moved to the first bungalow and guess what we did. That’s right drink and eat some more. I didn’t eat so much since I was stuffed already and I and a few other teachers were talking about how the other bungalow was haunted. It was pretty cool and I think some of the teachers were pretty freaked out though.
