First Month of Teachering

I started teaching at my schools about a month ago. The way it works is that I go to my base school. From there I get shuttled to different schools by taxi every 2 weeks or so. As of now I haven’t even taught at my base school yet, just my satellite schools. I’m starting my first week at my 3rd school.

The teachers so far have been really cool. They speak pretty good English, but they have the standard Japanese teeth. I haven’t seen so much bling in someone’s mouth since Nelly’s music video Grillz. For some reason I also figured all of the teachers would be disgruntled and pissed, but they seem to enjoy their jobs, especially when the hit the kids. But in general, they are really different. Friendly to everyone and not too strict, from what I’ve seen, with the exception of assemblies. If the kids are called out and don’t say “hai” loud enough, then they literally get yelled at from the back of the auditorium. The first time I heard the scream, I raised my hands to the side of my head, palms toward the ceiling and said, “Oops, I crapped my pants.” I was so startled, that it deserved a longer than necessary story to describe the excitement, in my pants.

I was also surprised by the stories of kids getting hit by the teachers. Physical violence seems to be the norm, such as hitting someone on the back of the head. If that happened in the states, whew, all I have to say is, “Rodney King, LA, Riots.” You best berieve

Cultural Notes

1. Base school – the main school that we are stationed at. We go there everyday, and have a proper desk.
2. Japanese Teeth – Sooo many crowns, lack of braces, etc. Usually just the older generations though. I think that most of the kids nowadays get braces and see dentists regularly, because bright white straight teeth are the norm.