VENT

It all started before I left for my spring break. The teachers classroom is organized in a way that all the teachers desk are clumped into groups. There's 1st year teachers in one clump, second year teachers in another, then the 3rd year teachers. The vice principal sits in the middle of the room. Every school year the teachers move up with their students. So basically you have the same teacher 3 years in a row (unless the teacher changes school... which I'll get into later...)

I don't move, though. The JET will always stay in the 2nd year area because the JET teaches all 3 years of students. I was informed that I'd be moving to a new spot in the 2nd year teachers clump.

The conversation didn't go smoothly, it was along the lines of this...
"Clean out your desk completely, today... and move it."
"Ok, where is the new desk?"
"We don't know."
"...ok... where should I put my things."
"Umm... ummm just please clean out your desk so it is clean and empty."
"Yes, I understand. Do you have some boxes I can use?"
"No, we have no boxes. We will get a desk for you but we won't have it until after you have left for spring break."

I wanted to say...
"Let me get this straight... you want me to empty my entire desk and move to another nonexistent desk without using boxes? Is this a brain teaser or some team building exercise?"

I sat back down at my desk and decided whatI was going to do. I'd clean off teh entire top of the desk and fill up the drawers as much as I could then just move the drawers when I was ready... if they got my desk. All the desks are the same there's no reason that shouldn't work.

Later the Vice Principal came up to me and said "Did you move your stuff?"
I explained the plan. "No, that won't work." He said.
Ugh...
In my head, I knew this would work. In fact, I noticed that a few other teachers had done the same thing.

"I think it will work," I said.
"No, we can't do that." He replied.
"Well what should I do?"
"Let me ask someone else."

He asked another teacher who said "Tell him to fill up his drawers and then we'll have someone move them while he's on vacation."

Done and.... done. Another point for me and my problem solving skills.

Then I went on vacation.

...10 days later...

On my first day back I got to the entry way of the school. There are a bunch of small lockers for shoes since you have to wear indoor-shoes while at school. Before I came my mom bought me some really nice shoes that I was in love with. I am super picky about shoes so this was a good find for me. They were super comfy, looked nice, and were really light and easy to walk in.

My locker... was now claimed by another teacher. "Miyazaki" it read on the locker. I opened it up to find some womens sneakers. I looked around for locker with my name on it... there were none. My old locker didn't have my name on it because apparently they didn't put a name on the JETs locker because we change all the time. I found a blank locker and opened it. No shoes. I looked in a whole bunch of lockers... no shoes. My supervisor walked by, "Is everything OK?" "Yeaaaaaaah... well my locker is gone." "Hmmm." He opened my old locker and started looking for my shoes. No luck. At morning announcements they explained the situation and asked if anyone had seen the shoes. People gasped but no one had seen them. A billion teachers asked me if I had found them throughout the day. Eventually I was told that someone probably threw them away... WHAT? who throws away SHOES? Especially nice leather dress shoes!?!? My feet are bigger than most of the other teachers here so it's not like they took them. I don't want to think that someone did it on purpose but sometimes... I wonder...

In Japan, teachers change schools regularly. You work at a school for 2 - 8 years and can be switched to a new school whether you want to or not. It always happens at teh end of a school year, but it can be stressful. Teachers are informed they will change schools in earlier in the year so they can prepare to move, but they aren't allowed to tell the other teachers at their own school until the day before the school year ends. (The school year ends at the end of March and begins the first week of April... scheduled with the Cherry Blossoms... I'm telling you, the Cherry Blossoms are a BIG deal here...) If it's a teacher's first school gig, they will 99.9% of the time be switched after 2 years, after that they stay about 4 and then after that it's just kind of random. People suddnely have to say bye to collegues they worked with for 4 years and may never seem the again... it's crazy. So right around spring break a whole bunch of teachers leave and a whole bunch of teachers come in... My school lost a bunch of teachers and got new ones. When the old ones left they probably took the names off of their lockers and someone probably thought one of the old teachers had forgotten their shoes and tossed them... that's my hypothesis. No one will admit to tossing them, though.

Next came scheduling...
I wanted to know what day I started teaching again and with what teachers. I asked my some teachers and no one knew. There are two other part time ALTs at my school who I work with in English class, they didn't know either. In fact, the school hadn't contacted them once over break to tell them when they should come back to work. I did research and found that we MIGHT be having a class on wednesday (I found this out on a tuesday.) When I got to school wednesday they said "No classes for you today, but we will have classes tomorrow." "Ok great, can I have a schedule?" "We didn't make one." "Ok... well do you know which teachers I will work with." "Well... no, there's no schedule so... no." "Well what am I supposed to plan for tomorrow then?" "I don't know." "Should I even bother making a lesson plan?" "Yes, please." "What should the topic be?" "I don't know." This is pretty much how the whole day went. I informed the other ALTs that they should come to school on Thursday... because the school never contacted them.

How is it that my base school, known for it's great academics and strict study schedule for students is the most unorganized place in all of the world? Nothing makes sense here. It's like once when I was yelled at for not coming to school because no one told me that the end date of winter break had been changed.

"Today is a work day, you cannot miss work on a work day."
"Oh! I'm sorry, I thought we started back the 7th."
"We changed it to the 4th. Please never do this agian."
"I'm sorry, no one had informed me."
"Yes, I'm sorry, we forgot to inform you, but please never miss a work day again. We must take the day out of your paid vacation hours."

It's like... what? I don't understand that thought process one bit...

Done venting.... NOW.

I'm excited to go home and make some mexican eggs.