HackCoughOink

Nigh on two weeks after my last post, and am finally updating blog. Sorry. But I was seriously homesick for a while right after training...writing stuff on this blog for the people that I missed and who were where I wanted to be was tough. But ever since work started for sure, it's gotten a lot better. Any kind of stable routine helps a lot. Also, have finally got all my living arrangements/cellphone/rail pass stuff sorted out, so I feel more settled.

One week observation was last week, no problems there. I started kids classes which I can't say I enjoy yet. Hopefully that will change. My office (Hikari no Mori branch) is really nice, in the middle of a mall (YouMe Town). The Japanese staff are nice to the point of being angels; the day of the typhoon, one of them gave me a ride home because the trains had stopped running. She is now known as Mari-sama. Another one (my branch manager, Ryoko) calls me by my Chinese name sometimes ("Riane no Hong Kong namae wa nan desu ka?") ever since I told her about it and my parents being from Hong Kong.

Coworkers are fantastic; there are about five of us "Hikari kids". Soon to be six, since there's another newbie joining the fold in about a week. It's really funny, because there are some Nova teachers who are obvious newcomers (me & Lyd for example) and there are some that I see as old teachers. But in reality, there are only a handful of "old" teachers who have been here for a year or longer....all the rest have been working for 6 months or less. I guess in the Nova career path, anything longer than 6 months makes you a long-time employee.

My students vary from fantastic and lots of fun, to a pile of sludge. It's great because I can recognize students now. So there's Tae Kwan Do Guy With Killer Red Glasses, Confused-Looking-But-Actually-English-Genius Girl, the juniour high school kid with bad teeth but a good attitude, Honda Man, the guy who never stops grinning, Silent Peach Girl, and The Sludge.

The Sludge (or Slug, I haven't decided on the right name) comes in almost everyday for two lessons, it seems. I've had him one of my classes almost everyday I've worked so far. He has completed every lesson in his language level at least twice, but has only passed half of those. He is silent as the grave and taciturn as a grumpy llama. If he wasn't such an odd duck I'd hate his guts (one of my coworkers already does, and, being newer than I am, has only had to teach him three times), but he occasionally smiles and looks interested when new vocab/phrases are introduced so he's tolerable. It's a bitch to try to choose lessons though, because he's done them all to death. His textbook is full of notes that he's made from all of the lessons he's taken, so at least he's (sort of) paying attention. Let's hope he remains tolerable or I might just deck him with his own textbook one of these days.

Social life is rolicking, as usual. Yeah, I can hear you all laughing out there. Had two days off, went out last night with a bunch of other teachers to an all-you-can-eat-or-drink (tabehodai/nomihodai) barbecue dinner. Mmmm....meatfest...pretty much like the Korean BBQ in downtown Toronto. Tried umeshu (plum wine/liquer), three glasses of it. I was told it's not very alcoholic, but Wikipedia claims it's 10-15% alcohol. Mike from near Melbourne, you are a lying perambulator. You are still the king of the grill, but you lie like a rug!

Everyone went out to karaoke afterwards, but I'm sickish, so I went home first, on Emer's (fellow Nova teacher & Romansque Shinmachi-ite) brand new bike. My last time riding a bike was well over 5 years ago, so needless to say I was a little nervous. But it was 2AM and virtually no traffic, so meh! Smooth ride, need to get one myself. Hopefully this Thursday can go buy a used one from another Nova teacher.

Aside from my pig alarm clock (see below) I also have Biku's Pig Hat, and a squashy pig cushion from the 100 Yen shop. Oink!