Last day of term
6 am: Woke up, ate breakfast, boxed fudge (which I made at nidnight the night before) and showered within record time
7.15: Said goodbye to Katy who was staying and went to school
8.00: Arrived at school, thought up speech
8.15: Gave speech to entire staff to thank them for the last 3 years
8.30: Prepared for classes
8,55: Took tough class for English, had a lot of fun.
9.55: Gave present of homemade chocolate-walnut fudge (heart-warming? Or heart-attack warning? forgot how super-sweet NZ lollies are. Yummy though) to office staff, prepared for next class, organised details flight home
10.50 Had ceremonial ending of contract, Vice-Principals in attendance, with the Principal awarding us certificates bigger and more spectacular-looking than my university degree.
10.55: Took my last ever English class at SIT. Did f**k all. Got marriage proposal from students.
11.55 Gobbled lunch, talked to lots of students, gave out email address galore. Wondered if i should change my email address.
12.30 Supervised a group of 8 students in the Wa-Puro (Word Processor) classroom for the end-of-term Big Clean. Made 3 cheeky boys scrub the floor, They enjoyed it and so did I.
1.30: Gave speech in front of 1000 students and staff in Japanese, along with 2 other teachers. We all got huge beautiful bouquets of flowers. Didn't cry, just felt relieved to get through the speech.
2.30: Gave out presents of NZ manuka honey shortbread which I found being sold in Sapporo Eki last weekend. Gave the same presents to the caretakers as I did to the principal, not very Japanese, but blame my Socialist upbringing.
3.30 Posed for photos with students, talked to student who is back from Canada.
4.30 Bussed home, talked to Ma & Pa on the phone & caught up on the family gossip, changed into yukata (summer kimono), ate dinner of toast.
6.30 Went into town in yukata and geta (like wooden jandals) to the beer gardens to meet my old Japanese senseis and classmates. Drank 3 pints of Sapporo beer. Shouted conversations over noise of Japanese 'YMCA' and beer-chugging lambada-dancing Japanese party-people.
9.30 Teetered home on geta by subway. Wondered if I should clean the house when I got home.
Funny how the busier we are, the more we can get done. But if we have nothing to do, sometimes we can't even be bothered getting out of bed. I wonder if that's how Japanese students operate. They have so many things to do, they can keep up the momentum.
7.15: Said goodbye to Katy who was staying and went to school
8.00: Arrived at school, thought up speech
8.15: Gave speech to entire staff to thank them for the last 3 years
8.30: Prepared for classes
8,55: Took tough class for English, had a lot of fun.
9.55: Gave present of homemade chocolate-walnut fudge (heart-warming? Or heart-attack warning? forgot how super-sweet NZ lollies are. Yummy though) to office staff, prepared for next class, organised details flight home
10.50 Had ceremonial ending of contract, Vice-Principals in attendance, with the Principal awarding us certificates bigger and more spectacular-looking than my university degree.
10.55: Took my last ever English class at SIT. Did f**k all. Got marriage proposal from students.
11.55 Gobbled lunch, talked to lots of students, gave out email address galore. Wondered if i should change my email address.
12.30 Supervised a group of 8 students in the Wa-Puro (Word Processor) classroom for the end-of-term Big Clean. Made 3 cheeky boys scrub the floor, They enjoyed it and so did I.
1.30: Gave speech in front of 1000 students and staff in Japanese, along with 2 other teachers. We all got huge beautiful bouquets of flowers. Didn't cry, just felt relieved to get through the speech.
2.30: Gave out presents of NZ manuka honey shortbread which I found being sold in Sapporo Eki last weekend. Gave the same presents to the caretakers as I did to the principal, not very Japanese, but blame my Socialist upbringing.
3.30 Posed for photos with students, talked to student who is back from Canada.
4.30 Bussed home, talked to Ma & Pa on the phone & caught up on the family gossip, changed into yukata (summer kimono), ate dinner of toast.
6.30 Went into town in yukata and geta (like wooden jandals) to the beer gardens to meet my old Japanese senseis and classmates. Drank 3 pints of Sapporo beer. Shouted conversations over noise of Japanese 'YMCA' and beer-chugging lambada-dancing Japanese party-people.
9.30 Teetered home on geta by subway. Wondered if I should clean the house when I got home.
Funny how the busier we are, the more we can get done. But if we have nothing to do, sometimes we can't even be bothered getting out of bed. I wonder if that's how Japanese students operate. They have so many things to do, they can keep up the momentum.
3 Comments:
this took me back to the beer festival this time last year, and that amazing guy on the train home afterwards, who had clearly been at the festival for a while, and swayed around over the edge of the platform with great dignity and legs like the ones on Elvis Presley clocks.
おつかれさまでした。
I'm off tomorrow morning but I'll be checking your blog regularly so keep in touch eh. いままで楽しかった。また会ましょうね！
Three years. Where have they gone.
Jan, I'm thinking of you this morning! And I was thinking of you last night as I was labouring over a hot pan of boiling sugar til the early hours. All the best for the trip home.
おつかれさまでした。私も、この三年間は本当に早かった。また、どこか、会いましょうね！
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