It's the First Day of School

Well, first day for me at least! It is actually the first day back from summer vacation - Japan's school year starts in April, not September, so today was just return from break, but not the start of a whole new year.

But it was my first day with all the students, finally! Real classes don't actually start until tomorrow though. Today they held the Opening Ceremony. The Japanese almost always have official ceremonies to mark the beginning and end of everything, and I have already been through a handful since arriving. This one was fairly short - student awards were given, the principal made a speech, teachers checked to make sure no one had short skirts or dyed hair or painted fingernails (seriously), the band played, the psuedo - cheerleaders performed, and the new staff, including myself, was introduced.

It's funny, seems no matter how many times I have been up in front of a class full of students, any sort of different context still throws me off. I was so damn nervous!! I was up on the stage with the principal, in front of a sea of Japanese high school students sitting on the floor with their identical uniforms, and I had to make a less than one minute introduction speech. I would have been fine, but the principal went through her bit about me first, which seemed to take an enternity, and of course during that wait I got all panicky and had visions of myself passing out in front of the whole school on my first day. But there was no passing out. I was fine in the end, and was told by the VP afterwards that my speech was `very appropriate.` Alright!

The principal's introduction was a bit of a surprise though. I wasn't able to understand most of it, but I did glance at her note page, which was written half in English, half in Japanese. Essentially it was a summary of my resume - with a list of all my colleges and every job I have had going back over 10 years! I couldn't tell how much of it she told the students, but I wonder how impressed they would be to know that I was once a supermarket bagger, or a phone bank supervisor, at some point in my life? I also heard her listing off the other places I had visited when I came to Japan before. So I guess they just pulled details from my JET application to share with the students. I didn't expect that...

Once the Opening Ceremony was over, I pretty much had nothing to do the rest of the day, given that I have planned as much as is logical at this point. But I have to stay until 4:00 ... all the students have gone home by now ... just teachers doing work or pretending to work. One of the big differences between Japanese schools and American schools is that teachers here are contracted until 5 p.m., meaning that they have to stay on campus, even if they have nothing to do. They are also required to be here during the summer, from about 10-3. Most of them master the art of looking busy, and I have heard some pretty hilarious stories. There is a fair amount of paper shuffling, book browsing, wandering around with paper in your hand, and of course, computer time. It is so silly by Western standards - why not just let people go home once their work is done? But in the Japanese way of thinking, simply being present is very significant - that is one of the major ways that commitment is demonstrated. Of course you have to do your job well also, but putting in the standard number of hours is super important, regardless of whether or not you are actually being productive.

So I am contracted from 8:20 to 4:00 every weekday, even though I only actually have about 15 teaching hours a week. There will be a fair amount of down time -- what a contrast with teaching back home, where I could barely find time to go to the bathroom on some days! But I can use that time to do internet or study Japanese, once all my planning and grading is done. I'm sure that I too will master the art of looking busy!


Tomorrow = first real day of classes! But I have yet to have my annual `start of the school year dream,` which I have had every year that I can possibly remember, right before the start of school. When I was a student, the dream involved me being super late, or not being able to find my classes. Once I became a teacher, it was the same, except it also involved my not being at all prepared for the first day and having to totally wing it. But I have not had it yet this year...I think. I did have one dream a few weeks ago right before I had to start coming to school, and it was about being super late and making a bad impression, but I am not sure if that counts. Hopefully tonight I will have the REAL start of school dream, because it would somehow seem incomplete without it!