Monday, May 18, 2009

Back in the J-A-P-AN.

You don't know how lucky you are, boys.

So, I'm back. In Japan. And it's been hard to get back into the swing of things here. Visiting Vietnam and Cambodia re-opened my mind to what other countries in the world are like. To be totally honest, when I felt like I was in a particularly sketchy part of town, I would often think "Hey, this is just like Chicago," a thought that really never occurs to me in Japan. It's just so ... safe.
For instance, it's the fashion for young men to have really long, leather billfold wallets, and have these wallets hang out of the back of their back pocket a few inches. In America, that is an open invitation to get pickpocketed. But in Japan, even Tokyo, you can rest assured that your wallet is safe - any hour of the day. It's crazy, really.

But, life hasn't been all relaxing and adjusting since I got back from my trip. My friend Eric came from the states to visit for about two weeks, and I've been keeping busy making sure he's got what he needs to have a good time in Japan. In a way, it's been really great having him around, because I'm keeping busy and I have someone to hang out with more days than not (it's definitely helping me ease out of my vacation "I'm-with-my-travel-partners-24-hours-a-day" mindset). So, it's been awesome. And also, it's been hella good to see him - it seems like years since I saw him last, actually. He's still the same old Eric, and I'm glad he's having a cool time here. Yesterday, we spent all day around Tokyo and made a good day of it, hanging around Harajuku and Shinjuku mostly. I'm glad to spend time with someone who can make me laugh so hard with regularity.

But, oh, work has not been so great lately. I mean, I've started the new schedule and things aren't horrible. But, my workload at the Jr. High has doubled every day, because I'm spending only Monday and Friday there. Which means, all the classes on Tuesday-Thursday I used to teach have been finagled into Mondays and Fridays. And Tuesday-Thursday is just laughable. It's actually really hilarious. I've succeeded into losing all the anxiety associated with my job at the elementary schools - because I had to.

For instance, Monday afternoon at the Jr. High, I still had no idea which school I was going to the next day, let alone what the schedule would be like. I had to stay late to wait for the schools to fax me some schedules, and only 4 of 6 elementary schools even bothered to send one. So, the next day, I arrive at Miniami-Sho (south elementary) with no idea what I'm expected to teach. And, unbelievably, the 6th grade teacher pulls out a book I've never even seen before! Of course, it's in Japanese as well. Apparently, my Board of Education, on top of being just total assholes, are also just simply incompetent. Every step along the line, when the BOE has bothered to communicate anything to me, it's always last minute. And when they fail to inform me of changes in my job, the elementary schools are always surprised that someone's not doing their job, but unwilling to tell the BOE what they've forgotten to do. So, with little recourse, I just had to laugh and work with the teachers there, and roll with the haphazard classes. ...Which is what I'll be doing at every school, since no one will even let me borrow the new textbook outside of school.

So, I succeed in doing what I said I would in January and February. I merely shrug my shoulders, try to have a laugh, and do what I can do teach. But, I'm not sweating this one. Not at all.

On a final note; today was an incredibly strange day, as far as poor student behavior goes. I had mentioned previously that the new 3 grade students (with the Whitney Huston mullets!) were pulling fire alarms and generally being poor company. Today, a group of 5 or 6 other 3rd grade kids pulled some prank involving toilet paper, and two teachers went absolutely apeshit. When teachers start yelling at my school, other teachers crowd around and look angrily at the student offenders, to create a "wall-of-shame" effect (much like Spector's "Wall-of-Sound"). When I took my place in the shame-line, I saw a teacher knock two desks over, on his way to yell at a student. When he got here, he was shoving him around, and generally going nuts. And then, another teacher that had showed up with me started screaming and yelling, holding a fistful of toilet paper, and going to each of the offending students (now standing and receiving full doses of verbal abuse), and shoving it in their faces! It honestly looked like he was punching them in the face, actually. One kid was knocked off his feet.

To be honest, the whole thing definitely shook me up. I'm not sure that what happened was within legal boundaries, on the one hand. On the other, the behavior is really disruptive, and there aren't any tools at the teachers' deposal like suspension, detention or expulsion. I guess it's humiliation and threat of violence that they're using to keep kids in line, and both of those sit poorly with me. But, then again, I can't fully understand what the situation was, so ... I guess I'll just keep out of it, and see what happens. What do you guys think?

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