hey all,
So I finally have my official schedule for the entire next year. Basically, I work 8:15 to 16:15, Monday-Friday. Most weeks, I work entirely at a junior high, but on some Fridays they have me working at a nearby elementary school. It looks like it is maybe 20 lessons total (for the whole year) for the elementary school, but I still don't know exactly how many classes I'll be teaching each day for junior high. Both junior high and elementary schools have about 6 50-min. periods (with 10 min. between classes) during the day, plus lunch. So although I "work" from 8:15-16:15, I might only have 3 or 4 actual English classes to prepare for.
I know that school ends around 15:00, so I'll be there for another hour after it's over. What one of the people at Heart said (a former ALT), is that this is a good time to join a club: computer club, web design club, chess, swimming, kendo, whatever. I think as long as I can find a club where I won't have to take my shoes and socks off, and thus revel my tattoos, I should be fine. Tattoos are still heavily linked to the yakuza over here, and are basically banned from being shown in public baths, schools, etc.
On April 7th, I'm meeting with my coordinator at Ageo-shi train station, and then she'll drive me over to my school and introduce me to them. The day after that, I start work. Since I have so much free time, I'd like to go and sight see some more, but I think just the cost of train tickets would start to cut into my funds.
