questions and confirmation

In the past couple weeks my job duties have gone a bit downhill. But really, any change was going to be for the worse, since up until now I've been at my main school, my favorite one, every single day for a month. And it was great. I got to be with the new ichinensei from their very first English class, and after two weeks Yatabe sensei, the JTE for the first years, said "they think of you as a regular teacher," which made me quite happy. I also was placed in charge of the new 3rd year select English class. I got to go up with all the normal teachers and explain what the class would be about to all of the sannensei, and then the kids that wanted to be in my class lined up in front of me. That made it a lot easier to figure out who my favorites this year would be. ;)

But, I was informed last week by my BOE that from now on I would be visiting elementary schools at least two days a week, every week. Now, its not that I don't like the kids at elementary school, theyre funny and cute, but I just get tired of spending entire days teaching 10 words over and over, especially when I was just starting to actually matter at takachu.

A lot of that comes from the feeling of belonging at takachu. At takachu, the kids and teachers are used to having me around, and I feel more like a normal teacher, especially this school year for the reasons I said above. Contrast that to every other school I go to. From the moment I walk in the door and say my ohayo gozaimasu, I'm treated as some kind of special guest, offered coffee senbei etc. It's very nice, but it also puts every teacher in the staff room on a "this guy is not one of us" wavelength, and I once again end up suffering through small talk with the same people, again, about how good my Japanese is or how good I am with chopsticks. Thanks.

Of course, there are some things that make me feel good about continuing here. I was walking down the street and saw a group of high school boys. Turns out they were some of my ex students who had just graduated. One of them says to me, "Bryan! Gum! Last piece! For you!" I gladly accepted and wished them all good luck in high school. I saw another ex student at the train station coming from who knows what high school, who wanted to stop me specifically to tell me how much cooler I am than her new ALT. That made me feel good since maybe it means the kids dont like me just because I'm a gaijin. Then, on the day before my current third years went on their school trip, one student came up and asked what I wanted as a souvenir :)

Maybe this will turn out for the better though. I will have more control over what I teach the younger kids, and maybe seeing the teachers at the elementary schools will eventually give me a "normal" teacher status there too. I just gotta work at it! ...still wish I was at takachu every day though.