tiredSo tonight I stayed until 8:00, past many of the Japanese teachers. Even without having to change my home map assignment into a classroom map assignment (complete with word list and a carefully-drawn diagram with blanks) and subsequently glue it over the old page in 28 homework books (this put a damper on any enthusiasm I might have had for this having been the last teaching day of the term), I would have had to stay behind. This has been happening a lot lately, and it’s not like I don’t get work done during the workday – I don’t know how on earth everyone else manages to leave when they do without letting some things slide (which I suspect they do, albeit in a more adroit manner than I am capable of).
There are times when I really don't like educating children. There are just too many limits. People in general, OK. "Men must be taught as if you taught them not" is an easy enough maxim to put into practise. But children? Sometimes the experience can only be described as <headdesk>
Today it was also unbearably hot – it was 30°C in the classroom this morning – and unbearably noisy – the crews were back with their screws and drills and air compressors the size of Smart cars. Yeesh. To top it all off, we have to move everything out of the staff room tomorrow afternoon, as there are renovations waiting to be done to it, too. So much for having a few days to recover from the term and get things organized. But I guess it’ll be okay – it’ll have to be, and perhaps even for that reason alone we’ll manage.
And two weeks from now, I’ll be somewhere on Honshu. I’m really looking forward to it, even though I sort of just had a holiday, I’m always in the mood for more. =) Among other things, I can’t wait to march into Lloyds TSB in Tokyo and ask why those deadbeats haven’t sent me my welcome kit. Yeah! That’ll show ‘em. </ridiculous sarcasm>