Suddenly, babies!

So what have I been up to at work these past few weeks? I've been collecting babies.

So the first week of October is the beginning of a new term. And we are at a point where all baby and preschool/kindergarten aged kids are renewing and or starting new classes. Ont he business end of things there was a campaign to bring in more babies. And bring in the babies we did. Starting tomorrow (Tuesday) I am going from having one baby class to having four. Three new students, three new classes. Two new lesson plans to have to do.

I didn't even like the one baby class I already have. I feel super awkward, and the class seems pointless to me... This kid doesn't even walk/talk. He just sits there and puts things in his mouth. Two of the babies I am getting are slightly older, allowing for more interaction. I have been warned that one of them actually prefers to run around. Just what I need, another class where my student run around me in circles. On the bright side, I am going to waste less time every week twiddling my thumbs with nothing to do. And I think I have enough teaching hours to regularly pull in over time. Yay! Let's see how this next week goes... maybe the baby classes wont be so bad.

A JT and I had to do a model lesson to prepare for our new baby classes. So everyone gathered in a room and we taught our lesson to one of the teachers with a doll. I had glowing reviews and only have to rearrange a few things. That was reassuring. But then they started to review the JT, who I felt was at the same level as me, in fact, she went first and I stole a few of her ideas. They nit-picked her for almost 45min! They were going for so long, they told Briana and I that we could leave. I felt bad for her for one, and for two I started to worry that I wasn't as strong as I thought I was, but that since I'm a NET they go easy on me. That's really annoying, I want to be the best teacher I can be! I have already come an incredibly far way learning about patience and flexibility. But if they just brush me aside saying, "yeah, that's great!" every time I'm not gonna learn much.

On that same vein, follow up training is coming up in a month and I am pretty excited! The actual travel and training part of it is going to be tedious. But I will be reunited with a lot of fun people from my initial training group, and will get to meet new people and make new friends. I love making new friends! Like a creeper, I've already scoped out two people who are going to be at training that live near Ogaki. Hopefully we get along, and can get together on weekends. My knowledge of the area isn't extensive, so maybe some fresh faces can introduce me to some new adventures. Briana assures me that everyone parties and hangs out and that is generally a pretty fun time. Yay!

As far as non work related things go, there isn't much to write (excluding Briana and I's three day weekend in Kyoto, but that's for another post). Been going to Miroku and having fun. I have been talking to the regulars more often now. And even go and sit and drink with them at times. Ryo (despite his insane work schedule) told me that he is studying English so he can communicate with us more effectively. his motto is, "One day, one page." I've decided to do the same thing. A couple pages a weekend simply wasn't effective. We have also met up with the foreign guys more often. They are pretty fun to hang out with.

The shining moment from this last week, however, is when I got hit by a car on my bike. I was approaching a road that runs N/S from the east. I was on the south side of a car waiting to turn left, but I was turning right. Keep in mind that in Japan they drive on the opposite side of the road than they do in America. I forgot this, and so I cleared my left side, and then rolled forward a bit to see past the car on my right, and BAM. There was a south bound car RIGHT THERE and we just happened to both be hidden from each other by this big ass car waiting to turn left.

Luckily the car hit my front wheel and not my body. For a split second I thought I was going to manage to stay upright, but that fantasy was crushed when the ground suddenly came rushing up at me. My bike frame was slightly bent, the light was messed up, the basket dented, and the chain popped off. I felt fine, but I was terrified and shaking. The woman who hit me pulled over and rushed over to check on me. She spent 10-15 min trying to fix my bike chain for me all the while fussing about how scared/shocked she was, and how sorry she is, and how she feels bad for making me late for work. I was also very worried about being late for work. Eventually we stopped an old man riding by on his bike and asked if he knew how to fix the chain. Which he did in under 30 sec. WTF dude? That was awesome!

I hopped on my messed up bike and awkwardly made my way to work as fast as possible. I got there with about 5 min to prepare for the special event we were having that morning. I got ready and entered the lobby and then found out that no one had signed up for that particular time slot. Relieved I went and sat in my spot in the teacher's room and just stared at a wall, shaking and trying not to freak out. I told on of my fav JTs what happened and then the room exploded in concern for me. I assured them I was fine, and then Miki (the JT I originally told) and Satomi helped me to find a bike shop near by where I could get everything fixed. I took my bike there on my lunch break and the old man who ran the place fixed everything but the bent frame for pretty cheap. Lucky!

All week I've been finding bruises, bumps, scratches, and sores all over my body. This week was exhausting and painful because I was so sore. I have about nine bruises in various places. It could have been considerably worse, so I won't complain. One thing I will complain about, however, is apparently you are supposed to exchange insurance information and the woman who hit me's insurance company would have ponied up some cash. I didn't know any better, and she probably took advantage of that so that her insurance rates wouldn't go up for hitting someone. I can't blame her, but I still feel cheated a bit.

Well that's all from me for now. Stay tuned for an update about my trip to Kyoto and pictures from it!
matta ne!
~寒