Hello from Osaka!
A lot has been going on here, so I’ll do my best to update you.
Last Friday marked the day that Scott and I finished training—finally! It felt like a gruelling process sometimes, but fortunately, we were with a great group of people so in reality, the 14 days didn’t seem so bad. On our last day, we received our schedules and the trainers also took us to observe some classes at two local schools near Tennoji station (about ten minutes from the company headquarters). We saw classes of all levels and really got a feel for where we’d be working. While we were at the Kids Tennoji school, I was introduced to the school director, who I’d be working with. On Fridays, I have a shift at the school and will be teaching at a kindergarten and also a private class!
In terms of our schedules, we work five days a week and have two days off as well as seven weeks of paid vacation. Scott and I decided to have one day off together and one day off to ourselves (I have Tuesday, he has Friday, and we both have Sundays). This was the only arrangement available unless we wanted to teach web classes—something we weren’t too keen on. Because we’re new teachers, we don’t have full schedules yet. Right now, we both have three full days of classes at various schools around Osaka and two “sub” days, which means we have to call the headquarters the morning we work and find out which school we’re supposed to go to. Basically, a sub shift is when a teacher travels to a school to temporarily replace a teacher who is sick or has taken time off—it’s like supply teaching. Sub shifts can be great, as Scott and I found out on Monday, but also very stressful, as we found out on Saturday—our first day of work!
Lucky for us, the trainers let us know on Friday night which schools we would be at. I was scheduled to be at Kids Tennoji, so I was pretty happy about that. Scott was scheduled to be at some school about 40 minutes away from our place. So when the alarm went off early Saturday morning, we rolled out of bed, got ready, ate breakfast, reviewed our lesson plans and did all the prepping that we could. Just as I was heading out the door, my cell rang and it was a trainer from ECC telling me that she screwed up my schedule and I would have to race to a school near the airport (about an hour from here). At this point, I was pretty flustered and didn’t really know where to go. Let’s just say it was an adventure. Anyway, when I finally got to the school around 12:15, I immediately had to teach two classes in a row of three year-olds. I had no idea what I was supposed to do because I didn’t prep for that lesson, so I winged it. After the two classes, I just had one more class—a free conversation class of teens and adults and it went really well. I left the school around 3:45 and headed home on the train. Although the day started off on a not-so-good note, I left feeling more confident and actually felt pretty good on the train ride home.
Scott arrived home shortly after I got in and we made dinner and concluded that we were too drained to go out with our training group. We were also pretty thrilled that Sunday was our day off!
Since we've arrived, we’ve both been talking about going to the Kaiyukan Aquarium—so we figured our day off would be the perfect time to do it! We got up early and made our way to the west side of Osaka, stopped at McDonald’s for lunch, and made our way into the aquarium as eager as the thousands of little kids around us. Apparently, the aquarium
is one of the largest in the world. It boasts 15 large tanks containing over 11,000 tons of water and shows species that are part of the Ring of Fire and the Ring of Life—from birds and reptiles to fish and mammals and the infamous whale shark! The Japanese word “kaiyukan” translates to “playing in the sea pavilion” and the architectural layout definitely allows visitors to feel as though they’re at one with the creatures. Too bad the thick sheets of glass get in the way! We had a fabulous time, learned a lot, and took more pictures than we know what to do with.
After the aquarium, we headed next door to the Suntory Museum—home of the IMAX theatre and famous art gallery. Scott and I had free tickets to see the “Toulouse-Lautrec et la vie parisienne” art exhibit because our company sponsored it. Although it was a small exhibit, we enjoyed learning about 19th century post-impressionist art. Personally, it made me think of home and brought me back to the days of art history class and life at 32 Wellington (where we had Toulouse prints all over the walls). Oh, the memories!
Scott and I ended up getting a deal when we were at the aquarium, which allowed us to see the latest IMAX film at a discounted price, so naturally, we did just that! The film, “Deep Sea 3D” complimented our visit to the aquarium and luckily, we were able to listen to it in English. Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet (the narrators) just didn’t seem to sound the same in Japanese. We also got to sport some wicked 3D shades!
On our way back to the subway station, Scott and I stopped at a little kimono shop where I bought a kimono for 3,000 yen. It’s not a real kimono—more like a casual one that’s made of brushed cotton and is shorter. Anyway, it’s pretty cool!
By the time we got back into central Osaka, it was packed and most of the streets were closed because there was a huge parade happening—the Midosuji Parade. Although we weren’t sure what the celebration was about, we accepted the fans people were passing out on the streets and took some cool pictures of the floats. After making our way through the crowds, it was pretty close to dinner and since we were in a good area to eat, we figured we would stop at a nice restaurant and celebrate a belated Thanksgiving. Our friends had told us about an American restaurant that they had been to, but when we finally found it, it was booked for a wedding, so we ended up eating at a cute little Italian place across the street. Japanese Italian food is hardly comparable to Canada, but it was still pretty tasty!
On Monday, Scott and I worked again. Scott was at a new school and I was scheduled to go to the same school as Saturday. I was pretty relieved that I didn’t have to figure out new directions in the morning and jeopardize being late on my second day of work. On Monday, we both had a full schedule and worked from 2:45 to 8:45—yes, it’s a late day, I know, but that’s what our typical schedule will be like from now on. We have about 10-15 minutes in between each class to prep for the next one or to grab a bite to eat, so it’s not too bad. Scott and I both had really great days and had a few laughs over the things that happened—from little kids eating their boogers to singing songs like “Make a Pizza.” It’s weird how those catchy little tunes get stuck in your head...I caught myself singing it a few times during the rest of the night! I also taught two private classes on Monday—one student was six and was extremely gifted. She could not only speak English fluently, but also listen, read, and write accurately. I was blown away! My other student was an older business man and he had a great time telling me about the cosmetic company he works for as well as the Hanshin Tigers!
So, tomorrow it’s back to work for me and I’m really looking forward to it! I’m sure Scott will get on here and talk about his first few days of teaching.
Hope all is well back home! We miss you!
xoxo
Jo & Scott
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