(Funny moments included) I got ready with plenty of time, I left early, I got on the bus, I made it to school. I had two class periods before I taught so I had already decided to work on one of my Thursday lessons. I pulled out my computer and realized I had left my cord that connects my phone to it at my apartment. DOH! I was still able to wirelessly use the internet but my time was thus limited as I was teaching another music lesson and all the music was on my phone! (Well, it's on my computer too but my phone is much more portable with the speakers I bought. (Even if I used my computer I'd still have to lug those speakers along so my phone is DEFINITELY more portable.) I also didn't have my laptop cord (which was fine - but it meant that I had to be smart about my battery). I got on the computer and put together the worksheet I blocked out yesterday. I then emailed it to Hashimoto-sensei and it was just about time to get ready for my class. I made my copies, got my things together, and then got inexplicably nervous. (Well, part of that can be explained - I was teaching with Toki-sensei and I'm still a little gun-shy.) He sent me on ahead and my hands were trembling for the first ten minutes or so of the lesson. I have NO IDEA why. I am a confident teacher. I had taught the music lesson already last week once so I had practiced it... I just was really worried. In any case, eventually that passed and the lesson went REALLY well. Mr. Toki especially enjoyed it. He really liked several of the songs I picked and was singing along with me. :)
When that class was finished, we had lunch early because of the Jazz concert we were attending. I had been hungry before class but afterwards I wasn't at all. I had decided to save my food for after until Kanamori-sensei came by and said, "Did you eat lunch?" "Not yet." "Hurry! You must eat it now!" Oh, ok... So I wolfed down my food and we left 30 minutes later. Sheesh! I wish I could have at least taken my time. However, I am grateful to her as she secured us a ride to the hall. The teachers carpooled over and the students rode their bikes! I told Kanamori-sensei and the young woman teacher (who was the one who had asked about my game boards) that in America, we would all have been bus-ed over. I felt loved today though. After Kanamori-sensei set us up with a ride, Hashimoto-sensei asked if I had a ride. Then one of the vice-principals asked Hashimoto-sensei who was going to take me over. :D I'm so glad they were trying hard to include me. AND OH MY WORD!!! The Jazz band was AMAZING. I was dying that I had to sit in my seat (still). Well, I was snapping and clapping and moving around. They were all Japanese men and there was a clarinet player, tuba player, drummer, and banjo player (he was the front man). They had INSANE skills. The guy on the clarinet especially wow-ed me. I wish you could have all been there - I was floored by their immense talent. (Not because they were Japanese, but because this is the first time I have seen this kind of talent in person.) They played old American New Orleans Jazz. I was in heaven. In Japan they don't clap after solos so each time one of the band members would impress me I'd start clapping really loudly and my students would all gape at me. Oops. I didn't want to ruin the show for them so I kept trying to catch myself. Most of the students and Kanamori-sensei (who sat next to me), fell asleep! I couldn't believe it! Kanamori-sensei told me that Jazz just sounded like noise to her. To quote Weezer, "Say it ain't sooooo!" I had an incredible time - although it made me miss home pretty badly. (I especially thought of my Papa and my Aunt Chantal.) Among the songs they played was Amazing Grace, The Mickey Mouse Club, You Are My Sunshine, and Close to You (Carpenters). All in all, the show was 100 minutes long and I didn't want it to ever stop! The front man seemed to be very congenial, but as I don't speak Japanese that well, every time he would do a little routine I was completely lost.
When we got back to the school I blocked out another worksheet that I will make tomorrow and helped Oikawa-sensei with some materials he was putting together. Then all of a sudden Oikawa-sensei stood up and made an announcement that felt serious and all the teachers got very somber and serious and I was like... "What just happened!?" After he finished as he was passing by my desk I said, "What?" He explained that there would be a big teachers meeting about discipline (I don't know if for a specific student or students or just in general) but he told me to go ahead and leave 5 minutes early as that's when the meeting would start and they would be locking the doors. So I said my goodbyes and went to wait for the bus. After the concert when I had been sitting at my desk, I felt terribly nervous. That actually was a little calming to me. I thought, "Well at least it wasn't just that class!" My body and mind kept trying to have a panic attack. As there was no reason that I could see to panic I kept trying to placate myself. "You'll do those lessons tomorrow. You have plenty of time." "The heat isn't so bad today." "Look! You made it through another day!" Even though a teacher hinted this might be the case, "You don't know if you'll be teaching 22 lessons a week come October, so no need to worry about it now." I'm not even sure I can work that schedule at all! I will have all 19 classes at Morioka Minami and have to teach them in 4 days! I mean, I'm physically up to teaching 5 classes a day, I'm just worried since I am getting my SLPs so late I am typically JUST ahead of the students in lesson planning and it doesn't feel possible to prepare that many lessons on so short a notice! I have 5 lessons I have to plan tomorrow for example. 2 of them I need for Thursday and 1 for Friday. I was ahead for a brief moment and it was glorious! Now I'm feeling a little harried (perhaps the source of my panic?).
When I got home, I was STARVING for having eaten my food so early. I ate some crackers (so I wouldn't eat too much of something else) then went out to go pick up my skirt! YAY! 10 days later! Still, it's wonderful - they did a beautiful job! On the way home, I grabbed some pain reliever as I have been getting a lot of migraines recently. So I felt all sorts of accomplished when I got home. Then I sat and wrote this. Hope you all had a great evening!
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| Reminds me of my first or second date with Jerod. After me chattering on as I usually do, he asked, "Are you nervous?" "No. Why?" "You're talking SO MUCH." *a few minutes later* "Can we just have some quiet time?" LOL |
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| The skirt and I are reunited! |
Yay for great jazz music!
ReplyDeleteOnce again, AGREED!
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