TGIF. Had a helluva week this week. Yesterday and today we had citywide school observations and presentations to thousands of visitors, mostly teachers from other prefectures and from within the local board of education. It was quite a monumental affair, as they'd been planning for this event all year long. I had a couple of observed English classes which went pretty well. I think there was more pressure on the kids than on myself as they had to do most of the work in class. They did a good job though, which made myself, my co-teachers and my school look good, at least as far as English education goes anyway.
The most grueling part of the two day event was the lecture and panel discussion series all teachers had to sit through. Between both days, I had to sit through a whopping 7 hours of lectures in unheated gymnasiums. Absolutely senseless. We were freezing our butts off, and most of the audience was asleep at least through half of the lectures. At least the first big presentation I sat through yesterday involved a panel discussion about English education, which was of some relevance and interest, and although it was entirely in Japanese. I stayed awake and tried to follow as much as I could. But today, i had to attend another school's big presentation about math education. It made no sense why I had to be there, and I didn't understand a damn thing they were talking about, so I made an effort to sleep as much of the boring, freezing 3.5 hours away as I could. Even Yamada-sensei, who was sitting next to me, nodded off a good 2 hours worth. Afterwards he asked me was he snoring.
Not to mention my elementary and junior high schools had a joint drinking party last night. Schoolteachers getting drunk on the Thursday night when they have to be up early for work the next day doesn't make much sense, but hey, it's a Japanese thing--you wouldn't understand. And I still don't. Anyway, I went only because it was a special occasion, and it was the first time my 2 schools had a joint party--which was roughly 50 people. I already knew going in I wasn't going to get the 5,000 yen's (about $50 US) worth of food or drink which I had to pay to attend the 2.5 hour affair, but I didn't want to disappoint the elementary folks, plus, I kinda wanted to show off to the JHS teachers how well I got along with the elementary teachers.
As I expected, the food fare was meager, small servings of sushi and assorted delicacies--oh, everybody was served ONE crab leg. But outside of the beer, the sumtotal of all the food didn't put a dent in my appetite. Speaking of beer, there were plenty red-faced teachers that night. The designated drivers drank tall glasses of bland iced oolong tea, while everyone else cut loose on the beer. People kept refilling my glass, but I don't think I even got a good buzz. The principal of my JHS came over to my table all rowdy, slapping me on the back trying to challenge me to beer shots. Dude is like 65 yo. telling me he can down 10 bottles on his own. He filled my glass, we did a "Kanpai," then we knocked one back together, but not before he dribbled beer on his expensive suit. He had me cracking up. And not breaking the tradition of Japanese punctuality, that party ended precisely at 9pm.
Alas, it's Friday and I can finally relax. One more month til vacation!
