WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29
Despite leaving with what I thought was plenty of time, I managed to miss the rapid to Nishi. This was not good. I missed it by a second, too. The doors literally closed in front of me and, had it not been so packed, I probably would have been able to throw myself in. I spent the trip in a panic trying to figure out how I'd get to school. I really, really didn't want to take the bus, but walking wasn't going to give me enough time. But last time, I'd been close-ish.
As I arrived, I didn't really decided and just walked. Not walked, really, speed-walked. I needed to cut at least five minutes off my time. And I booked it. And, I made it, which was quite satisfying.
I taught with the male Nishi teacher again and again there was no discipline in class. I kept my mouth smut, a smile on my face and continued to teach while no one paid me any attention. It wasn't that the lesson was too hard – they could do it when I smiled over them – they just didn't care. Instead they: cut the collar of the coat jacket of the boy in front of them, trimmed their eyebrows with scissors, texting, drew on eyebrows, put eye drops in the eyes of the girl next to them, pulled out a mirror and applied fake eye lashes, pulled out the chair of the boy next to them so he fell onto the floor, handed a mirror around the room, added glitter eye liner. So, they were active classes just … not really English related. Really, compared to everything else they could be doing, I'd almost rather have them sleeping. At least they're not disruptive that way.
I forgot to collect homework, so I'll need to do that. Park of me was scared at what I'd get back, but the female teacher (I need nicknames!!) said that her students were all excited and wanted to do well on it, so I'll be sure to get it. I don't think I'll give any more, though.
I had to make a practice exam for Nishi, too. Luckily, I had done a simplified version of Kogyo's lesson, so I changed up the exam a bit and it was approved. So, I modified it (made room for Japanese translations of directions) and reduced I to B5 size. The copiers at Nishi hate me.
Then, I was out of there, later than I'd ever stayed and really in no mood to stay more. Nishi involves getting up earlier, teaching more classes than my other schools, and working harder. They're not easy classes to teach and they're not fun classes to teach. It made me realise why inner-school teachers have such a high turn-over rate. I can barely handle this once a week.
I had a text from Elizabeth asking if I wanted to go out for a drink or make crepes. I texted back that I'd be interested, but had to run to Koko and do some errands first. I rushed home and grabbed my bicycle and biked to Koko. I knew the teachers would still be there and I came bouncing into the room to a few confused and amused looks.
See, I had had Mustache-sensei translate some more mail for me and all had been in order except my phone bill. My landline had to be paid in person the first month. I had been meaning to pay it, but I couldn't find the paperwork. I'm not the most organized of people, but I really, really try. (Meaning that I swing from hyper-organized in some ways and terrible in others.) And I couldn't find this paper. So, I guessed it was still at school, in my “to go home” stash. And it was. So, I nabbed that. I also bumped into Mama, and asked her about omiyage. She's very excited about this, so I'm guessing it's expected of me. She told me to write out an individual note for each one (there are 50!) and she'll announce them at the next staff meeting (Wednesday) and hand them out. I'm a little sad that I won't be there that day, but I trust her. So, that's what we'll do. I just need to hand copy out this note 50 times and we'll be good.
By this point, I checked my messages, and Elizabeth had texted back that she'd meant Friday, which made a lot more sense. When I checked the original message, it's true that she'd written “fri.” I just missed it. In my defense, it was separated across two lines, so it kind of vanished in a skim reading.
This was actually better for me.
But, I had a bill to pay. So, I rushed off to the store to do that. I brought my mail with me. I had a package to send, a letter, a business reply-mail to Yahoo BB! (which I hope gets there in time for me to get my discount. I was late filling out the paperwork – all in Japanese – because I was busy and my Gaijin card was late getting to me, which threw off the timing.), and a postcard to Minnesota.
A reminder! If you send me a postcard, I'll send you one!
It was a good time trying to get all that sorted out in Japanese. I held up the line a bit, but I let people pass me whenever possible. I filled out my first customs form of Japan, and, as I hadn't kept strict tally, guessed as best I could. I couldn't remember the phone number, so I left it blank. Luckily, they still accepted it.
Then, across the street, I went into a combini to pay my phone bill. That's right. You can walk into any convenience store with your bill, they swipe it and you pay it there. It's weird. I'd never pay my Verizon bill at Kwik-Trip. It was actually a very easy process.
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