KONNICHIWHAT!?: I can finally breathe!

Well the day has come and I've completed my two weeks of training. Like the title of this post says, I feel like I can finally breathe after two longs weeks of intense training in which sleep felt like a distant memory. I'm always posting this right away but I'll post some "catch-up" stuff after this. I just thought I'd write about this while it was fresh on my mind. We all got up early today, got dressed in our nice clothes and headed down to the Osaka main office where our trainer Konrad was waiting for us. He gave us some information on how the sales side of the company operated and then we had thirty minutes to do some last minute preparation for our test. The test was 150 questions and we had to get at least a 70% to pass. The test lasted an hour and a half and I'm happy to say that I got an 85%. Not too shabby right? Konrad's goal for us was that we all got over at least 80%, so I'm happy we could all do that for him because he's a cool dude. After the test we all had our one-on-one's with Konrad in which he was able to give us the feedback from the various trainers we worked with throughout the week as well as what he observed when we gave our demo lessons in front of him. Konrad told me a lot of good stuff and said that he saw a natural leader in me and I was the "glue" that brought my training group together. Also, he said I have this, again, natural warmness and way about me that makes people feel comfortable around me and that I already have that solid foundation built in that can take a good teacher to excellent levels. He said that a lot of people have to work hard to get at that level but that I'm already ahead of the game in that respect. Needless to say, it made me feel good. In terms of my faults, I have to be more assertive with the students in order to have better classroom management. This didn't really come as a surprise to me because I knew that during my teaching this past week. I have a hard time being confrontational and loud with people in a serious manner and it's especially a challenge for me with the kids because I don't want to cross that fine line between being assertive and being frightening. It's a work in progress for sure.

After the feedback, Konrad took us all out for Nomihodai, which is basically all you can drink for two hours for a set price, and it comes with a multi-course meal. Those that know me know that I don't drink alcohol, but I had a ton of ginger ales and I still had a good time with everyone. Mostly laughing at Thomas "the Tank Engine", one of my fellow trainees, who had about fifteen drinks. Yeah, there's more on his over-the-top consumption levels to come. After we finished Nomihodai, some of the other trainees and Konrad went out to a second bar, but Logan, Erica and I decided to head back to Takatsuki. Erica went back to the hotel and Logan and I went to the game center to play some games. So, that was my day in a nutshell, and the two weeks of Peppy boot camp are finally at an end. I get a much-deserved, if I do say so myself, tomorrow and I believe me and some others are going to Kyoto to sight-see. Should be fun. Here's some pics of today's event!