It’s snowing!!!!!!!
Last Friday I was shown proof that not all my students have been lobotomised…When I rocked up to class, a couple of students were debating my name (I so love it when they talk about me, forgetting that I can understand them!) and one of them (the loudest in the class) asked the JTE what my name is. She told him ‘Amber’ and he replied, no there was more, wasn’t it AmberLouise Tinney. I told me yes, it was and he had an excellent memory. The he asked the JTE what ALT stood for and she told him Assistant Language Teacher. He replied that he thought it stood for me because it was my initials. I explained that as AmberLouise is one name, technically ALT are not my initials but I was very impressed at the way his mind was working and that this was obviously something he’d been thinking about. A good note to end a blah work week on (must distinguish work from everything else cos elsewise twas a great week).
And added bonus today at work: there was toilet paper. Especially appreciated cos I’d forgotten my tissues.
happy amber!
Tis nice to be welcomed back so warmly to Nishiwaki JHS – my 2nd fave school, apart from the students! All the teachers said hello and seem pleased to see me which has made it a good start to the day. I should note at this point, considering how down on work I was last entry, that it is only work here that gets me down. The rest of my life is a lot of fun and I am really happy here. Helps heaps to have made some good friends to hang with, which happened after I let go of my ‘ I must avoid other foreigners and have only Japanese friends’ idea that I came over with. I wasn’t actually expecting to meet so many other foreigners that I would genuinely like and I was a lot more focused on improving my Japanese than I am now. Things always seem to be better the less set in my thinking I am. one day I will learn this enough to not get set in ways of thinking. In the meantime, at least it’s now taking me shorter periods of time to let go of thought sets.
Now I’m off to study Japanese and pray the soporific effects of textbooks doesn’t set in till I’ve done a couple of chapters!
Here I am, it’ 3.50pm and I have been doing nothing for the last hour. Nor has anyone else. The admin people are playing with their mobiles, two teachers are chatting, another is playing on his laptop, the vice-principal is reading a book and NO-ONE is working. Yet we all stay. why oh why. Surely it makes much better for your rep if you have everything done earlier and go home so you can do more useful things. I just don’t think whiling away the hours doing SFA at work is something to admire. Oh, one of the teachers has just joined in the mobile play circle. And I’m getting out of here! hooray for earlier finishing time – the rest of them wouldn’t dream of leaving before five.
post-cards from china rock!
And boy can i relate with the why bother being at work doing nothing when i could be home doing something useful and interesting.
I got talked at by my boss yesterday. He suggested that we both (he gets in late too) might want to make more of an effort to rock up at work on time. I pointed out that i suspect it’s more important to rock up on time when it’s actually term time. Because i’m sure the university is certainly getting its money worth with me spending most of each day here reading lj and playing online settlers. yeah i’ve been doing some testing and doco for XP lately – but that takes up approx one hour of my work day..
rather be at home in my garden… work politics are weird… I have a work ethic – and if i have work to do I will do it happily… but hanging around with nothing to do makes no-one happy or feel accomplished…
okay = rant over
biggest amber hugs!
Thank-you for the various expressions of sympathy and support. The friend who passed away was a family friend – the husband of someone who has been like an aunt/older sister to me and is one of the female rolemodels who features predominantly in my growing up memories. I knew he was going to go, he has been battling cancer for some months now. They got married at the end of November,knowing he did not have long to live, although they have been together for years and years. Still, knowing something is going to happen, and having it happen are two different things. It hurt so much not to be there. Weddings, babies, divorces, new jobs, new houses, these are all things which are missed but can be caught up on once I return home. But being there when a loved one dies is not something that can ever be caught up on. I think, hence the severe feeling of isolation and distance.
The last time I was in Japan, my grandmother died. It was worse then because I had no Tracy to hug me and be gentle with me. I was surrounded by people basically telling me to get over it, I must ‘gaman suru’ (persevere). I think that prolonged to mourning period.
Anyway, just wanted to fill people in a bit on what had happened, and that I’m feeling much better now. But it’s still not ok for anyone else to die this year, okay.
