I have finished my first run at teaching over here. My last day of this year was Wednesday. So I thought I'd write a bit about each school and my general job at each along with a thought or two. This might bore you, but then again, you might be highly interested in it. If nothing else I can look back at this in the future to remind myself of what once was, not to mention that with a tweak or two I might be able to just copy this and send it to the person who replaces me when I move on. Not sure if I'll do all the schools today, have to see how detailed I get.

Mondays I go to Minobusan. This is a Buddhist school down near the town of Minobu and right next to a famous temple by the name of Kuonji. I usually stay at Amy's place on Sunday nights before heading down there the next morning. With the change to the train schedule in October, I now have to take an express train at 9:11am from Ichikawa-daimon station to Minobu. It takes about a half hour and costs 1,110yen (about $10). If I left from Kofu I'd have to catch this same train at the Kofu station at 8:51am, meaning I'd have to leave my place around 8:25am. Staying at Amy's saves me a half hour in the morning and I get to see my delightful girlfriend for an extra evening (isn't that great?).
After exiting the station I wait out front, where the taxis and buses are, for a school bus from Minobusan to come pick me up. I usually have to wait about 15 minutes and then another 10 or 15 sitting on the bus. I have taken to watching the hawks that hang in the air as a way to pass the time. They are quite beautiful. There are also usually about three others, all students at the college, I think, heading up there too. The bus driver is very friendly and smiles a lot. The ride up takes about 15 minutes and I am usually at the school by around 10:20am.
Kobayashi-sensei is the teacher I work with at this school. He is a very nice guy but of all my teachers speaks the least amount of English. I don't wish to knock the guy here but I have no idea how he has become an English teacher. Seems to me that if the teacher can't really speak the language he is teaching, then the students are only going to be worse. But far be it from me to point this out. Probably couldn't communicate my point anyway.
So upon my arrival I go to my desk and sit and quite soon Kobayashi will come over and go over the day's lesson with me. It seems that he wants to do the work regarding lesson planning. This is probably a good thing as it is only I, during class time, that end up being the one confused. If the lessons were mine, I imagine the entire class and Kobayashi himself would be lost. So I really just show up and do what he asks me to do. Makes my job easy, but it is rather frustrating at times. There is nothing like standing in front of a group of people that you readlly don't know with no clue as to what you are supposed to be doing. And yes, I do try to get it all ironed out with Kobayashi before class, but with his lack of English and my lack of Japanese, sometimes it is just hopeless. He sometimes, no, usually approaches me speaking Japanese. I don't know if he forgets that I don't know his language or what, but I just give him that same lost look that his students give me and then I can see his wheels spinning on English words. It is all quite interesting.
Anyway, we have two classes together. The first class is nearly always a struggle for me and the second class is a bit less of a struggle and a lot more fun. The second class students are much more prone to joking around with me and we have a good time. All the kids are nice, it's just that I don't think they, with the exception of one or two, really want to be trying to learn English. I don't think they give a damn and I really don't blame them. Many of them want to become Buddhist priests and don't really need to know English. I know that schools all over the world have to force kids to learn certain things but the Japanese government makes English mandatory for all junior high and high school kids and I wonder if it might be better to give them a choice. Perhaps these kids would rather learn Chinese, I don't know. Anyway, it can be a struggle for all parties involved when I go up there. But, it could be much worse.
So after the classes Kobayashi and I head over to the small cafeteria and have lunch. It's 350yen for a big plate of curry rice and it's actually pretty good. So we eat and try to have small conversations and by 1:00pm we are back in the teachers room where he gets on the phone to order me a taxi and I go to my desk to read or make notes about the classes.
The taxi then picks me up by 1:25pm and drops me off at a bus stop just down the hill in a small area of town (not Minobu, and I don't know the name of it) just outside of Kuonji. I wait there for about 15 minutes and board the bus when its doors open (it is usually already there when I get there) and before long we are on our way to the train station. The school picks up the taxi fare but the bus is on me (Kencho pays me pack though at the end of the month) and I pay 280yen as I get off.
Then I just buy a ticket for Kofu, 820yen, and board the train which leaves at 2:07pm. We make 21 stops on the way to my stop and it takes about one hour and fifteen minutes. It's a long ride and sometimes I doze off slightly but usually I look out the window and/or read. I get off at Kanente and then walk the fifteen minutes to my place which means I am home on Mondays by about 3:40pm.
So that's Mondays at Minobusan.

I'll save the rest for next week. I have something here I need to do and I just remembered I want to look up a few things on Shinjuku for my couple days down there with Amy starting Sunday. I am here at the Kencho three days next week so will have plenty of time to continue this.
Have a good weekend.