talk back

thanks for all the tags and comments! i really appreciate all the encouragement and support :) i will certainly stop being silly and embrace these opportunities! especially since i'm already very lucky that i'm in japan, in osaka city, and have people i can turn to easily if ever i need someone to talk to. *nods* i'm also apparently very lucky that i managed to retain my old school even if it's for only 2 days a week, as the ex-liason for my apartment says that our schools COMPLETELY change when we become liason. i really ought to be grateful then! haha.

li min, glad to hear that you're alive. you never replied to my message on facebook, which is why you're getting a special mention here!! i'm not done with you yet girl - one day i am going to call you, and i dont care if you're still working in the office! haha. hope all's going well!

regarding the JET situation in Osaka, the board of education just announced yesterday that they're reducing the number of ALTs in the city on JET by 4. this means that there'll be only 3 new ALTs next year, as there are 7 of us leaving this year. it's kinda silly because i dont understand why they hired so many in my year (16 or 17 of us i think), as it looks like they're going to have a very skewed mix of ALTs. the majority of us will be 2nd years come august, and i'm sure sure that there'll be a fairly large exodus in 2010 when people in my batch leave. it doesnt seem good to have just 3 new ALTs this year, as there's the danger that none of them will stay for a 2nd year! then there will be very few 'seniors' in the board of education.. but well. they're hiring the maximum number of new ALTs that they can this year, so i guess they've done their best. the japanese prefectural and city governments are all in huge debt, and JETs are very expensive to hire, so... :(

changes

so i just came back from a beautiful, relaxing, enjoyable week in okinawa last night, and went to the principals' meeting this morning.

its the first day of work in the new school year, and what happens at the principals' meeting is that all the osaka city JETs are given their school postings for the new term (and likely for the rest of the year; apparently there are few changes after this in the next 2 terms) and get to meet the teachers in charge at the schools they will be working in.

i dont think i've mentioned this before, but the JETs in the city are living in 3 different apartment complexes, and each apartment complex has a liason that 'looks after' the JETs in that complex. basically, those 3 liasons act as the go-between for the board of education and the JETs, help out with paperwork and admin duties at the BOE on mondays, chair the monday meeting and so on.

i've been elected liason for my apartment, which is nice because i get a variation in my responsibilities and job, but the unfortunate thing is that my schedule has changed! the brit is still at our school full-time, and i'm quite sure that it'd be the same if i werent liason. but since i'm liason, i'm only working there on tuesdays and thursdays, and have work at 2 different junior high schools on wednesdays and fridays each.

was quite disappointed when i found out about these changes actually. i really like working at my school and have developed a sort of relationship with the students i think, plus the fact that its so comfortable working there! our own private ALT room, being able to cycle to and fro from school, having nice teachers and being able to leave my stuff in school throughout the term, being able to wake up a bit later than the rest... one of the new schools i'm at is pretty far too! and i'm the only ALT at those 2 junior high schools, which means that while i had the brit to talk to in the past, now i have no one! it can be a wonderful opportunity to chat with the other teachers and get to know more japanese people, or can be an awful experience where i dont really talk to anyone in those 2 places at all.

sigh. i think i just dont handle change very well, and the cushy life i've had for the past 2 school terms didnt help i suppose. i think it means that this is the time i have to really put in effort at breaking out and interacting more with japanese people which is the aim of JET anyway and what almost every other JET has to deal with, rather than living in this little comfortable gaijin-bubble that being an osaka city JET has resulted in. at the moment i'm sort of afraid of what working in those 2 new schools would be. going to be teaching 3rd year junior high students in both schools; at least 3 classes in 1 school and 4 classes in the other. in fact, i'm really rather apprehensive of what's to come next week onwards!!!!!!!!!!!

:S :S :S

i need to be positive, and i need to be strong, and at the very worst i'll be whining A LOT. friends, beware!