Thursday, August 18, 2005
Evelyn and I went to the public transportation briefing today. We learned all about how to buy tickets and transfer from one train to another. Most importantly, however, they gave us a card that says, in Japanese, “I am lost, please help me get to Yokosuka Naval Base.” I’m thinking that will be a useful piece of paper! After the brief, Evelyn and I went to school to look for cars on the internet.
I think I forgot to write that yesterday, while I was at school, I ran into Victoria Mah. She is one of the other new teachers, and she is on my team. She really wants to teach Science, but got hired to teach either Social Studies or English. She found out recently that she was going to teach Social Studies. When I heard that, I wondered if switching with her would be an option. I’d much rather teach Social Studies than Science because I’ve actually taught that before! In the office, she said something again about hoping to switch to Science someday, and I asked is she thought it would be okay for us to ask to switch classes. She said she had been wondering the same thing, but had been hesitant to ask since she wasn’t sure how I felt about teaching Social Studies. We decided to ask Willette, the new AP what she thought since Mary was gone for the day. Willette thought it would be a good idea and that Mary wouldn’t mind us asking.
So today I tried to call Victoria and have her meet me at the school so we could talk to Mary. I couldn’t get a hold of her so I went in myself, figuring that the sooner we asked, the better. She is so nice! She hugged me when I walked into her office (I’m going to have to tell her not to do that!). We chatted for a minute and then she asked what I needed. I explained that although Victoria and I were so happy with our current spots and thrilled to be in Japan, we had been talking and realized that each of us might be better suited to teach the other person’s subject. Mary said that Willette had mentioned the possibility and that she had been thinking about it. She said that she didn’t see any problem with that and really just wanted everyone to be enthusiastic about what they were going to teach. She told me to let Willette and Jan know about the switch and to tell Victoria that it was okay. Woohoo! I am now the seventh grade Social Studies teacher!
Once that was settled, I called Josh. He was supposed to call me when he woke up, but he didn’t. He said that he would come over so we could do math. We got through the two lessons and then he said that he still hadn’t done any of the Civics. I told him to get his book and bring it back. He left and I didn’t see him again until 21:00. He hadn’t done any Civics or the English for the day. I just love these daily battles! I seem to be loosing this week. Hopefully when we get off the base, things will get a little easier since there won’t be as many people around to entertain him. It is becoming clear that the 90 day thing isn’t going to be enough. Guess we’ll have to figure something else out. I went to the legal center today to see if they had any advice, but you have to make an appointment or come to the walk-in time. They don’t do appointments after 15:00 so I’ll go on Tuesday after school during the walk-in hours.
The car search doesn’t seem to be going too well either. The cars on base are mostly minivans. I am hoping to go off base more this weekend and find something out there. I really need to find something before Friday and we move into the house. We shall see! For now, I’ve got to go to sleep so that I am bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for our new teacher orientation tomorrow. :)
I think I forgot to write that yesterday, while I was at school, I ran into Victoria Mah. She is one of the other new teachers, and she is on my team. She really wants to teach Science, but got hired to teach either Social Studies or English. She found out recently that she was going to teach Social Studies. When I heard that, I wondered if switching with her would be an option. I’d much rather teach Social Studies than Science because I’ve actually taught that before! In the office, she said something again about hoping to switch to Science someday, and I asked is she thought it would be okay for us to ask to switch classes. She said she had been wondering the same thing, but had been hesitant to ask since she wasn’t sure how I felt about teaching Social Studies. We decided to ask Willette, the new AP what she thought since Mary was gone for the day. Willette thought it would be a good idea and that Mary wouldn’t mind us asking.
So today I tried to call Victoria and have her meet me at the school so we could talk to Mary. I couldn’t get a hold of her so I went in myself, figuring that the sooner we asked, the better. She is so nice! She hugged me when I walked into her office (I’m going to have to tell her not to do that!). We chatted for a minute and then she asked what I needed. I explained that although Victoria and I were so happy with our current spots and thrilled to be in Japan, we had been talking and realized that each of us might be better suited to teach the other person’s subject. Mary said that Willette had mentioned the possibility and that she had been thinking about it. She said that she didn’t see any problem with that and really just wanted everyone to be enthusiastic about what they were going to teach. She told me to let Willette and Jan know about the switch and to tell Victoria that it was okay. Woohoo! I am now the seventh grade Social Studies teacher!
Once that was settled, I called Josh. He was supposed to call me when he woke up, but he didn’t. He said that he would come over so we could do math. We got through the two lessons and then he said that he still hadn’t done any of the Civics. I told him to get his book and bring it back. He left and I didn’t see him again until 21:00. He hadn’t done any Civics or the English for the day. I just love these daily battles! I seem to be loosing this week. Hopefully when we get off the base, things will get a little easier since there won’t be as many people around to entertain him. It is becoming clear that the 90 day thing isn’t going to be enough. Guess we’ll have to figure something else out. I went to the legal center today to see if they had any advice, but you have to make an appointment or come to the walk-in time. They don’t do appointments after 15:00 so I’ll go on Tuesday after school during the walk-in hours.
The car search doesn’t seem to be going too well either. The cars on base are mostly minivans. I am hoping to go off base more this weekend and find something out there. I really need to find something before Friday and we move into the house. We shall see! For now, I’ve got to go to sleep so that I am bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for our new teacher orientation tomorrow. :)
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