on the new school year

in the middle of april, we started the new ecc school year. that means every teacher gets a new schedule, new schools, new types of classes, ect. for some, that means a change for the better, for others, a change for the worse, and for others, no change at all.

for me, it luckily meant a change for the better. heres what i mean...

sunday - off
monday - off
tuesday - nishiharu school, about a 10 minute train ride, 2 kids classes, 1 regular 80 minute adult lesson
wednesday - meieki school, about a 10 minute bike ride from my apartment, 0 kids, 0 regular lessons, all drop in/no prep classes
thursday - sakae minami school, about a 20 minute bike ride from my apartment, 0 kids, 2 regular adult lessons
friday - nishiharu school, again about a 10 minute train ride, 1 kids class, 1 regular adult lesson
saturday - obu school, about a 15 minute train ride, 0 kids classes, 1 regular adult lesson

so lets add that up...only 3 kids classes (which really require the most preparation and the most energy) when last year i had 5. 5 regular adult lessons (which require prep time but are much more fun than drop in free time lessons) when last year i had 0. and the rest is just free time drop in lessons which require no prep.

plus, the schools...nishiharu and obu are close on the train, while meieki and sakae minami are accessible by bike only. extremely convenient.

to sum up, i was quite lucky and have one of the easiest yet most rewarding schedules of anybody i know of. so the long and short of it is that my working life is going much better this year than last year. plus, im just much more comfortable with the task of teaching in general, so from the start of the year i actually know what im doing instead of just pretending that i actually know what im doing.