Graduation Sign at school

Graduation at Yakumo Academy

Today was the ceremony for the graduating seniors. I need to make sure that I get something to eat before I go because it is a very quiet ceremony and my stomach will make noise and be heard if I don’t. I did buy myself breakfast and a snack in case I would get hungry later in the afternoon. Lunch was provided for us today by the school. I was rushing to get to school on time because I was working on last minute details for my UCSB application which seems to be in jeopardy right now.

I took the faster train on the faster line, but got to school about the time I would have normally gotten there, if I had left on time. I was dressed in graduation attire, which is a black suit with a white shirt and white tie. I talked to CP for a little bit because I was curious about her plans for next school year. It sounds like she might be taking fewer classes and only sticking around for a day or two during the week. She has gotten better offers at other schools, with the same pay, insurance half paid for, and fewer classes than she does now. I think that is good for her, and a bit bad for me. That would mean my class schedule will increase and the load of work would increase for me. I will probably be in charge of most of the classes and be responsible for making the schedules and syllabus for them. But the problem that I see right now is that she still hasn’t made her decision. She has a few more interviews and wants to go through them before she makes it.

The ceremony was faster than last year’s I think. It was only one hour and forty minutes this year, but it was raining. That does put a little damper on the day. The ceremony is really quiet, which is something that I really don’t like. I don’t like things to be that quiet. It was nice and I’m glad that I get to experience it. It has been wonderful teaching at this school and living in Japan. I am constantly reminded by the impact that I have on others by the students.

There are a few seniors that I do talk to, but only to say hi. But they have a lot of energy, which is a surprise to me because I don’t teach any of them. I only was a substitute for a few classes and that was a long time ago. I’m happy to see that they still remember and do make an effort to talk to me. It’s really great. After the ceremony, there was a lunch for the teachers and we were in the LL. That’s when the part-time teachers have their meeting and the people who will leave announce so. There would be four teachers leaving. One of them is a music teacher and that’s because she’s getting married. Another is a science teacher for the same reason. The third is an art teacher, who started when I started. And the last is an English teacher, who also started working at the school when I started. She’s leaving because she just got married and her husband is the head of a large temple and she’s going to be busy with all of that. It came as a shock to me that some of the teachers would be leaving. I wonder what kinds of people will come to replace them. I’m sad and at the same time, I think it will be refreshing and a new experience. There is also another teacher who is leaving the part-time teacher’s room, but going to the full-time teacher’s room. She used to be a student at the school, and I feel sorry for her because she will have four-times the work she already has now. But I think that it was her dream in high school to do it. I just find it sad that she’s going to be worked to death.

After lunch, I was stuck in the full-time teacher’s room till around 5:30pm. In the meanwhile, I was working on the plan for next school year. I would only be at the school till July or August. So I worked on the stuff that I already know and can decide so I could be ready for when more information comes to me. A lot of students also came up to me and asked me to sign their yearbooks. It was pretty cool. I think it was the only time that I got to learn their names and their interests. I think that many of the students were surprised that I knew their names. It started them off with talking to me more. I think that some of the students put me in a difficult situation. Most of them confessed their love for me in front of a lot of other teachers. I think that was because that was all the English they knew how to say. You know like, “I love you” and things like that. You see what MOVIES can do to people… Anyways, it was fun talking to them and working on my new plan for the next school year.

Around 6pm, we went to the shabu-shabu restaurant place that the school always goes to. I sat in a different group that I normally sit with and without any English teachers. It was all Japanese for me. I learned that my Japanese has really gotten worse. I could understand less than 10% of what was going on. I didn’t know what it was either. I just tried to enjoy the meat and vegetables as they talked. We had excellent crab and shashimi too. The dinner was really wonderful and when I go back to America, it will be one of the things that I miss about Japan. One of the teachers in my little section will be leaving the school because she is getting married next month. Most of the teachers pick on her a lot. They always say that she is in her own world. I thought that she was much older, but it turns out that she is only 25, which means she’s only a year older than me. Her homeroom class is one that I teach, but I feel sorry that they don’t like her. She’s very nice to me though and tries her best to speak in English. I felt bad that everyone was picking on her tonight. What was even worse for her was that her junior was making fun of her a lot. So the teacher that is younger than me was insulting her senior in her face, which is disrespectful. I did learn a lot tonight though. It was interesting.

I took the train home because the person that normally takes me home had some more work at school that he needed to take care of. I went on the train with the junior that was making fun of the teacher. We were talking a lot, which was a surprise to me. I think that sometime between the time I was at the restaurant and jumping on the train, my Japanese improved. I was able to converse with her the whole time on the train back to Yokohama station. From there we separated because we live on different lines. The walk back home was interesting too because it was raining. I liked it as much as I didn’t like it. I had been thinking a lot today too. I really feel frustrated with the school and want to rebel, but then again, I also want to leave a legacy behind that I was a great teacher. I haven’t given up on that yet. So I’m a bit torn on what I should and want to do.