hey all,
So earlier this week, I finally got the 6th graders at one of my problematic schools to snap into line, and they actually started enjoying the classes as well.
It turns out about 5 years ago, this school area was famous for boys gangs. The principal showed me a hand-made shiv, like basically a 3 inch long exacto blade with one end wrapped up (as a handle). He said one of the students was showing it to people and saying he'd cut them open and pull their guts out. Which I guess is better than actually doing it, but still. The 6th graders are 11 or 12 years old. Are boys this age this messed up in Chicago, New York, Detroit, and LA back home?
From some of my friends back in Saitama, I have stories like the ALTs actually know the police by first name, because that's how often the police have to come to their school. But that is junior high, and I know I sure raised some hell and then some in junior high.
Despite my reservations about this week, it has actually gone OK so far. I put in a whopping 10 job applications a few days ago, and on Monday I've got yet another meeting with a kids eikaiwa. This will be my third meeting with them, and it looks like they want to hire, but I've told them that I'm not quitting my current job until I can sit down with them and get everything straight in my head about working conditions, etc.
I have to say that this has been one of the harder times I've had in Japan. For the last two weeks I've been finding myself going into stores and gazing longingly at the food/snacks/games/whatever that I'd like but can't afford to buy. Don't get me wrong: as the fruit salad recipe shows (umm, succulent), I'm still eating well. But I can't go out and splurge once a week like I did last year. And I can't go rock climbing almost every weekend, I can't do my yoga classes, I can't take the trips I want to take, etc. Just going grocery shopping has become a major pain in the butt: figuring out what I can afford to make, and what is too expensive.
As I wrote several months ago: doing this part time job actually entails doing more work for less pay. That's one of the things I want to avoid for my next job: this eikaiwa seems nice and all, but when you get down to it, they're only offering me a full time version of what I have now. The pay rate is almost identical, if not slightly lower, but I'd be doing a bunch of work. Granted, I'd be working full time, and so I'd be making more money (than now) overall. But I'm a much better teacher than last year. Surely I deserve better pay. So if I can't talk them into a slightly higher wage, then I'll stick it out until I find a company that wants to pay me what I'm worth.
Cheers,
