03/24/2009: "The joys of English teaching"

As I may or may not have mentioned, I work up to 29 hours a week before overtime kicks in. Certainly can't complain about that, though there's the one quirk: that's 29 teaching hours, which does not include waiting at the office, driving, or preparing for classes. I teach 33-34 classes in a week (though some classes are 30 minutes, so that's why I don't pass that limit yet), though they are unfortunately not one after the other. Sometimes I've got 30 minutes, sometimes I've got an hour. The problem comes in when I have an hour but I'm in another city teaching, so I can't actually go home.

This worked out to being a job perk on Monday, though (not being paid means I'm not on the clock and can do what I please between classes). I was still feeling bad on Monday (well.. even today on Tuesday, but that's besides the point) so after teaching kindergarten till 2pm, I was free until 4:30. It's a 15 minute drive home (and back, so 30 minutes driving time), so instead I opted to sleep in the office in the spare classroom. Didn't actually 'sleep' per se, but it was good to at least rest.

Until suddenly my phone rings. I check the caller ID (me? screen calls? Never..!) and it's my coworker (the Japanese one I meet on weekends). She's in a panic and says "I'm in the parking lot and my car's not working! Can you come and help??" So, as I head to the parking lot, it strikes me that though I have a decent theoretical knowledge of cars and understand how they work (along with basic troubleshooting at problems), I realize that I have very little practical car-fixing experience.

So, I arrive and the shows me that the ignition isn't releasing the key. It starts up, it cuts the engine, but power will stay on and the key isn't releasing. After consulting my vast repertoire of car problems, my best guess is that the car's not in park (why? Because it's happened to me). I check and, sure enough, the car's still in drive. Problem solved!

Seriously.. there's no end to the excitement in the life of an English teacher. Really.

Next up on the agenda is teaching at the Japanese air force base tomorrow, so seeing as talking isn't really working for me right now, and it's a two hour class, we're bringing a DVD to class: "Liar Liar" with Jim Carrey. Pretty good movie, if you haven't seen it.

Anyway... that's about it for now. I need to get some rest, but I'll write more later. Maybe soon I'll tell the exciting story of learning that my student's husband just died, right in the middle of class. Oh, and starts crying about it, too, because I brought the painful memory up. Yeeeep. Good times.

Later!


Jason