So what the hell? I am back. Short easy day for me today and I got a couple hours before I head downtown to meet Tomoko and Dilek for a hoto dinner. Mmmmm....hoto.

So about that teacher at JAA (aviation academy). Every Thursday I go out to the academy and find a small note on my desk telling me what my schedule for the day is. Usually I have 3 classes and it will say something to the effect of "2p: Ito 3-1," next line, "3p: Goto 2-3," next line "5p: Ito 1-3," or some such thing. What this means is that 2nd period I teach with Ito-sensei and the class is the 3rd grade (our 12th grade), classroom one. Then the 3rd period I teach with Goto-sensei and the class is 2nd graders (our 11th grade), classroom 3. So you can figure out the pattern, I assume. It gets quite confusing at times due to the fact that Ito's 3rd period class might be the exact same students as are in Goto's 4th period, for example. But slowly I am figuring it out. It just kinda sucks to not know exactly which class is which and what activities I have done in what class, etc. But I'll get there by April, I assume, just in time for the new school year and a total change. Ah well.
So anyway, last week I get out there and there is the typical note on my desk only it has a name on it that I don't recognize: Wakao. So Ito comes over and introduces me to Wakao-sensei and informs me that I will be teaching a class with her this day. "Ok," I think, "no big deal," after meeting her and exchanging pleasantries. So we head off to her class and have a short chat about where I'm from and what we will be doing in her class. She is very organized and had plenty lined up for me to do so that I didn't have to think about anything other than introducing myself to this new class. So it was a nice short chat, nothing out of the ordinary.
But the instant we entered that classroom, nice little Wakao-sensei turned into a raving, yelling drill sergeant. She was screaming at her class, about what? I have no idea. But she was loud. It seemed as though some demon had suddenly possessed her. At first I just stood there, in shock, wondering what the hell the class had done to piss her off so much. I wondered if perhaps they had failed the last test, or if they had made a joke about her that she had overheard, or if they had egged her house last night. I had no idea. And those students responded to her. I've never seen a class sitting so straight, eyes forward, not a smile in anyone's face. It was madness. They all raised their hands in unison (and all right hands) when she asked them something, they all stood on her command, and they all bowed and sat as if flying formation. "What the hell?" I thought.
Then after about three minutes of this, she turned to me and said, in the voice reserved for me, I guess, "Ok, will you please begin now?" So I nodded, still wondering if this was real, and began my introduction. At this point everything was back to normal and the class went well. That is....up until it was time for the activity she had planned. At this point she comes back up to the front of the room and explains to them about the activity using her drill sergeant voice. "Man," I thought, "this lady's nuts."
So that was that and I truly thought that maybe that class had screwed something up and not to her liking. But this last Thursday we had another class together. This group of students is one I have seen many times before, usually with Ito-sensei. So we are chatting in our normal voices on the way to the classroom and everything is going fine when we come around a corner just before the classroom and there is this girl from the classroom bent down, getting something from her locker in the hall. Well, obviously this was too much for Wakao-sensei to take and she just laid into this poor girl. I have no idea what she was saying but it must have been something like, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THE HALLWAY? YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE IN YOUR SEAT AND READY FOR CLASS WHEN THAT BELL RINGS! YOU WILL NEVER DO THIS AGAIN! YOU HAVE SHAMED OUR WHOLE SCHOOL IN FRONT OF OUR MUCH RESPECTED TEACHER FROM AMERICA!" And it wouldn't surprise me if she had added, "YOU LITTLE BITCH!" to all that. It was crazy and I felt sorry for this girl who had obviously merely forgotten something in her locker (it wasn't like she was smoking or kissing a boy, which, by the way, are probably offences that are punishable by death in this lady's eyes).
Funny thing is that I know this class pretty well and I've seen them out of the presence of this teacher and they are not usually like they were. We followed the little felon of a girl into the class and the rest of the class were all sitting up straight, eyes forward, and obviously on edge. We went to the front of the room and she, true to form and foaming at the mouth, laid into them. I thought, "Ah shit. Not again." But yes, again.
And that's just how she is. She is very nice to me, speaks in a normal voice, jokes with me and the other teachers. But put her in front of a classroom and something happens. I've never seen anything like it. And it was funny after this last class because after yelling and raving and just generally terrorizing the entire room, she and I walk out and she turns to me and says, "Thank you. That was very fun. I had a good time."