KONNICHIWHAT!?: Who needs a leap year?

Here it is, the 29th of February all because of a leap year. I for one wouldn't have minded a day being shaved off the month. Alas, here it is and it's nearly over so I'll stop whining. What a February it's been! Quite exhausting to be perfectly honest. That's mostly because I'm used to teaching three weeks out of the month but February saw me teaching all four weeks of the month due to covering for another teacher who was vacationing back in his home country of Australia. I wasn't really worried, and continue to not be worried, about having to cover for other teachers. I've adopted the mindset that covering isn't so bad because the kids can fall on one of two sides of the coin; they're either really nice and excited to see a new foreign face, or they may be rude and obnoxious because you aren't their normal teacher. Now why isn't that so bad? Well, if they're excited about you, the classes kick butt and the time flies, and if the kids are terrible little monsters, well guess what? You probably never have to see them again as the odds of covering for the same teacher at that same school are slim-to-none.The school I was covering at was a mixed bag. There were some classes where the kids were shy because they didn't know me, but once I showed them I came in peace, they warmed up to me and the lessons went well. This past Saturday however, I had a Lavender class (our classes our color-coded) with three students. Beforehand I told myself, "this will be no problem...three students, piece of cake", but alas, my motivational speech to myself was far from the truth. These three kids were some of the rudest, most ill-behaved, disrespectful children I've come across. They were lazy, they complained about everything, and the hour couldn't pass fast enough. For sure, when it was over, I thought, "thank God that's not one of my regular classes". It was a fairly easy week of coverage all said, and I walk away mostly unscathed.

As for my regular schools, I just finished up teaching at one of them. I know what you're thinking, "but Jason, it's only Wednesday. what's the deal?". Well reader, my schedule got all switched away due to my supervisor having a compulsion to mix things up for no good reason. So I have tomorrow (Thursday) off, when I typically have three classes to teach. Instead, my JT for this school is teaching those lessons. Huh? Then on Friday I'm taking the three-hour train ride to Miyazaki to cover for another NT who is traveling back to New Zealand for vacation. Another NT will be teaching my regular Friday classes at my regular school. Say what? So yeah, I'll be in Miyazaki teaching this NT's three classes, staying overnight in a hotel, then teaching two of his classes on Saturday, staying another night and then coming back to Oita. Again, I don't mind covering, especially since this NT is a cool dude and I actually like the hotel stay. It's a nice change of pace and the hotel is awesome (I've been there before, having covered for another Miyazaki NT months before). I know it sounds simple, but I like sleeping in a regular bed after having spent all this time on a futon. It stills boggle the mind having a teacher (me) commute three hours by train, requiring a hotel stay, for three lessons. I guess those types of decisions are outside my pay grade. Continuing on with the topic of coverage, I'll be teaching four weeks again this month, covering for another NT during the third week in March. At this point you must be thinking, "are you the only one they get to cover?", and I'd tell you, I'm thinking the same thing. It's a bit obnoxious at times, especially if I think too much about why they can't find someone else. All I know is that I'm planning to take some days off and someone will have to cover for me. It goes both ways.

So that's how things are shaping up and how things have looked since my last past. I'm passing the time with Fringe (almost done with season 2) and my new obsession, Adventure Time. That cartoon is awesome and I'm not really a cartoon guy. I also ordered FIFA 12 and Final Fantasy IV Collection for my PSP, which should be arriving tomorrow, so that the commuting is much more tolerable. Until next time.