Elementary School Madness

So yes, for those not aware, I put down my foot last year on elementary schools asking that they give me no more than 5 classes a day, and no more than 3 in a row (i.e. not all 4 morning classes). This I think somewhat worried them and put some 4 class days into the schedule along with 5, but lately it seems they have forgotten it and I've had a couple of 6 day'ers again, with already 2 more in my upcoming schedule.

Wow, this is seriously tiring sometimes. I really do enjoy elementary school, but sometimes think that the method in which my time is being used is as fruitless as trying to up-root telephone poles by hand. I will write a letter one of these days and shoot it off to my superviser, principal, and the BOE (Board of Education) at Tamano. When I do, I'll be sure to post it.

But another interesting thing happened to me yesterday on a day where I was to go to Ozaki Elementary School. I actually didn't put down in my cell phone which school and didn't have the plans, so decided that I would just go to the H.S. early and look for myself, then head off to wherever I had to go.

After finding out which school, I proceeded to putz around a little bit before heading out just after 9am, giving me plenty of time to head to Ozaki, about 20-25 minutes away. Right as I got on my bike though, I noticed a problem: My front tire was completely flat. Strange considering I had just biked to school a half an hour ago and had no problem. I must've gotten a flat just pulling in and not noticed, or a small sized leak.

I called Ozaki and explained the situation. Usually I carry spares and all the equipment, but just this past weekend on Saturday, biking up to Okayama, I blew two flats and hadn't had time to repair either of them. Also, I didn't have the patch kit or tire removers on me, so there was no way of getting the tube off, fixing it, then heading out. So, the VP of the elementary school came to my high school to give me a ride to the elementary school.

She seemed pissed about it too. I know since after school was over I told her I was ready whenever she was, implying any time to leave is fine, but my translation of said phrase into Japanese must've lost its sincerity. Also, my answer to "Where do you want to be dropped off, your house or school," where I said my house since it was more convenient for her being closer to school (implying the elementary school) got an answer in Japanese of "this isn't convenient for me."

Now I realize that yes, this is a hassle. But seriously, the previous JETs in my job position have all relied upon rides to and from elementary schools. I am the first to actually make it my own priority by biking there myself. On top of that, let's imagine I had a car and I got a flat tire, would the VP still have been as annoyed about the inconvenience? The way I see it, a flat tire is bad luck, and you shouldn't make any judgements on poor luck.

Maybe I'm wrong and she was completely understanding of the situation and held no grudges, but somehow I don't think that's the case given how Japanese people NEVER tell you how they feel or their opinions. If anything, I think it's a fair and safer bet to say that she was even more displeased about the situation than I even think, and that is truly disturbing.

Also, I think I may have posted this before, but another elementary school is asking that I show up 2 and a half hours before my first class. This is the only school asking that. I am tempted to ask for a ride to and from my house and lunch (which they also don't offer) to counteract this, but figure just showing up whenever I want to is a better idea.

This last post was also created in the bitter aftermath of interview tests with the first year's where they are specifically told to answer in complete sentences, yet when asked if their sentence has a verb, are unable to answer yes or no, and unable to identify which word is the verb if they did use one. Another fantastically surprising charasteristic of the Japanese student taking an interview test is the remarkable ability to mumble to one-self as if attempting to divine the answer while in reality just stalling, and stalling, and stalling. I could seriously take a nap or just wait out the rest of the 45 minute period and there is a good conceivable chance that the student would continue in this manner for the rest of the period without ever forfeiting and admitting that they don't know. Incredible. I wish they would take this hard-nose stance with actually studying, then maybe we'd get somewhere.