well as it turns out that class was cancelled the other day.
as the foreigner here, I'm almost always the last person to find everything out.
The only reason I'm not alwasy last is because i hassle someone in advance to, e.g. translate the yearly/ termly schedule into English for me; or bug willing English teachers to do me a favour.

Yesterday, I had the feeling that I'd finally accomplished what I was always wanting to do here. Eg. I went to two art classes (learning alongside the students), went to home economics (cooking english scones together); & had recently had a lesson with 2nd years where I'd planned the class, just as I would had I been at a language school in Britain or somewhere else in the world....

But soon I dropped back to reality. Today, I've had free periods all morning. I'll go to art class after lunch, before an English lesson in the afternoon which I'm thinking might be slightly disastrous. (I'm starting to realise that there's no hope of successful team teaching if the Japanese Teacher doesn't quite understand the plan or the point to the plan. Now I know that sounds obvious, but I'm only REALLY starting to see how problematic this team - teaching with a Japanese teacher (who speaks a different language mostly and operates in a different cultural mindset) is. It's only been since teaching/ tagging along with the super duper JTE that I can see the problem. When I work with her, I really am the assistant. I often don't really know the ins and outs of what she's doing/ where she's going, but I'm confident in her ability to carry the lesson. So I just wait for her to tell me what to do/ don't do all that much/ sometimes have probs remembering the lesson plan which she made. I think this is how the people working with me must feel - every day. Oh no!)
I was hoping to continue going to this 2nd year class today, teaching the next part of the lesson in the textbook, using methods picked up from my CELTA course/ JET meetings. But when I asked the teacher earlier when I could next come along, he said next week- after he teaches 2 lessons by himself. [I'm really curious to find out what he does in these 2x 50min lessons in the mean time as well.] There are always blocks to plans and paths here it seems, not least in the workplace!
As a foreigner, I'm outside the group of the 'in' Japanese. Much as I know this, I sometimes get a false sense of security - like yesterday- and sometimes feel I've broken through: not through to the group so much, but into the area I can be most useful! Oh well. Instead I have until Tuesday to prepare this super lesson. I would print out the plan etc now, but the toner's gone on the colour photocopier and I don't feel ready to hassle one of the English speaking teachers who understands it, to ask how to fix it/ where the new toner's kept.

Earlier this morning, I thought , 'Well maybe I could have done a 3rd year here', but it's moments like this when reality kicks in. I remember that I'm going home - to a country where I can understand what's going on without having to pester people to get there; to a place where I can read what the buttons say on the photocopier; to a place where I can even understand all the functions on this page (my screen's all in Japanese); and to a place where barriers won't be put up automatically, just because I'm not Japanese.
Yesterday I found out out of the blue over lunch, that my farewell party at school is on Fri 15th June. Well it was nice for them to let me know early (still i do haev a couple of weeks)- at least i haven't got plans for that day. That'll be the first bye-bye event, and I'll need to write a speech (or copy it out of the handbook I got from the last JET meeting)...

Even though some people don't quite see what I go through here (am thinking of Japanese friends or teachers at school who sometimes try to be supportive but often just don't get it), at least there are 100s (of other JETs) in the same position; to whom we can talk/ be encouraged we're not alone in this weird job; rant and share ideas of how to be more effective. [It's crazy - did I say this before? At the last meeting, there was one workshop about 'Down time' - ie how to make the most of your boredom at work; and one of the specialist advisors said that one of the skills we learn on JET is life motivation - or something ridiculous. But the worst thing it, it's TRUE - we need these workshops on what to do when we have no lessons, becuase, well for me anyway, I have more free time than English lessons. And otherwise we'd go mad. Oh craziness. Right it's lunch time. I'd better go.]