Japanese people are a seasonal people. Every season brings harsh changes in the weather, various festivals, new seasonal snacks at the conbini (this may be the most important change to Jeffu), and more. Spring has come to Japan, and with it come the sakura (cherry blossoms) and the tradition of hanami (sitting under the trees with friends or co-workers and getting shitfaced in honor of surviving an awful winter and seeing the beauty of the trees). Another important change that comes with spring is that practically every teacher in Japan gets a completely different job! After a week of wonderful vacation, I came back on Monday to say a rushed goodbye to my departing teachers, and have an “oh shit, I barely remembered the old co-workers’ names, now I have to remember NEW ones?!” moment.
Teachers get changed around schools regularly in Japan. I am not exactly sure why, but for some reason they believe it isn’t good for them to stay in one place for long. I feel the opposite way, but whatever. Anyway! I knew that new teachers would be coming, but I wasn’t sure how many, or who was leaving. In fact, the teachers that left didn’t even know until a week or two before they did so. So, on Monday I showed up at work, praying that we would get hot new teachers and that Fujii-Sensei, the hottest Japanese teacher in the world, wouldn’t leave. Needless to say, Monday was a bad day!!! Sigh.
I came in Monday morning and saw Fujii’s desk empty except for his Puma bag (I swear he single-handedly keeps Puma in business). Although I prayed that he was just thoroughly cleaning his desk, I knew better. Fujii and 21 other teachers (!!!) left on Monday and got replaced by 17 new teachers. Satou Sensei, another cute one, left, too! Of the 17 new teachers, only one is cute….hello, NOT a fair trade! I think I need to be in charge of the teacher bartering next year.
Not only is a third of the staff new, but the teachers that are staying are all teaching new grades, too. In other words, no one has any idea what they are doing. This is a nice change, as usually I am the only one that doesn’t know what is going on. Now people are asking ME questions, wtf! I don’t know the answers to any of them, but still :)
Along with the staff changes, we all moved our desks yesterday, as well. It was one of the most amusing moments at Yabuchu so far, as Japanese people actually acted like normal dirty people! There were people ALL over just pushing desks, getting dusty, being loud and chaotic as possible. It was like I was in a different country! I made the executive decision that there is such a thing as TOO much help, so I just watched and laughed. Yes, I’m sure they love me. The new English teacher (a 23 year-old attractive girl who just graduated from college…teaching 2nensei…at Yabuchu….I fear she may be eaten alive) arrived in the middle of this chaos, and I am sure wondered what the hell kind of school she got placed at.
The good news about the desk change is that I got a NEW desk where I don’t have to suck in my stomach and scoot my chair in every time someone walks behind me. I also have my monitor facing the windows so not everyone can see what I’m doing on my computer (I assure you it is ALL teaching-related). ALSO, I have the best people-watching desk in the office! Hello, this is great! I also have a view of two cute teachers to stare at when bored (alas, if only Fujii were here!).
So, even though Jeff doesn’t adjust to change very well, these seem to be good changes so far. Yay, spring!
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