Boredom

Today I will spend 7 hours sitting in a large room all by myself. 2.5 down, 5 to go. I cannot leave because I have to be here. I have nothing to plan and nothing to do because I’m all caught up as far as lesson plans go.

Therefore, I have learned about things such as how to make compost, who is kissing who in Hollywood, what kind of ‘hair make over’ suits my face, the specifics of the Valerie Plame case and looking up cookie recipes. Not to mention, I updated my Facebook photo albums, edited all the red eye out of my pictures, made sure all my music in i-Tunes has the correct name, artist and genre tag, and drank 2 cups of green tea and 1 cup of coffee. It is true, I get paid well to do these things. It is also true that I am bored out of my mind.

I have made a list of things I can do during this time, blogging is one of them. Hence the post. Other things on my list include: write emails, send letters, send postcards, organize desk. The list is getting shorter and shorter and I’m not sure it will last me all day! Eek!

Why the free time? Now that the seniors have graduated it’s time to turn attention to the newbies. The graduating Jr. High schoolers who want to come to Tsurusaki High School. Those poor kids are entering what could be called the most stressful times in their lives.

I may have said it before, but starting from a very early age most parents fight to get their children into specific elementary schools because it may determine the course of their future. Good Elementary School = Good Jr. High School = Good High School = Good College = Good Job. This is the way it used to work, now things are changing, but you can still feel the immense pressure on these young people to perform. This week is the entrance exams for all the high schools in Oita Prefecture.

Let me describe the week so far to give you a picture:

Monday: We only had 2 real classes - 1st and 2nd period. Then, there was an hour long cleaning session. Then, the students were sent home so the teachers could prepare the rooms for the testing. They had to take down ALL the posters and empty the rooms of everything except the desks and chairs. All testing conditions must be the same down to the very last scrap of paper in each room. Luckily they weren’t using my room.

I never know what to do during these times...so I sat at my desk and observed. Teachers were flying around the school, running CD players here, partitioning off hallways there. It was quite humorous. Then they practiced what they would say over the loud speaker. They announce the breaks, and, I think, the instructions of the test over the loud speaker. They practiced time and time again because there is no room for error.

Tuesday: As I’m walking to school I see the cute little Jr. High School students hurrying to my school. Obviously very stressed. It was the day of the actual test and it looked like they could barely breath!

As usual, I didn’t approach this whole testing business with as much seriousness as it apparently warrants. Case and point, I show up to school in my normal dress, which is black slacks and a long sleeve shirt combination. I walk into the teachers room only to find that EVERY single person is wearing a suit. Even the women. Yes, yes, I am silly gaijin. Normally my desk neighbor keeps me informed of certain days when teachers are expected to dress up, but it must have slipped his mind. So, I slink in feeling all eyes boring into my skull.

All the teachers are wearing a pink ribbon to distinguish themselves as school staff when they greet the students. During the morning meeting teachers are synchronizing their wrist watches with the clocks on the wall (which the day before were synchronized to each other). The tests proceed from 8:30 - 3:30. The loudspeaker intermittently giving the students permission to use the bathroom (with a teacher escort, of course), to put down their pencils, etc. There are giant schedules and information booklets given to all the teachers (except me) that they reference throughout the day. Watanabe-sensei tells me, “We teachers are not supposed to smile or laugh in front of the students. We must be serious. Serious but gentle.” WOW. And I think to myself, “it’s a damn good thing I didn’t smile and say ‘good luck’ to the students I saw coming to school this morning! I would have ruined the facade!” (Really, I didn’t say good luck to them because I thought the kids might poop their pants and get even more stressed about their tests if they were confronted with a gaijin speaking English to them straight off the bat.) Oh, Japan.

So, the day ends. While the teachers are stressing about the events of the day and running here and there I do nothing, just like I’m doing right now.

Wednesday (today): I come to school assuming it will be the same as Tuesday. Another day of tests. Wrong. Today is the ‘grading day.’ Every single teacher hand grades the tests. Then, each test is checked by different teachers not once, not twice, but three times! So, right now every single soul is in the giant meeting room furiously grading tests while I am left here alone to sit at my desk and waste time. I feel very stupid sitting here alone when the occasional teacher pops in for a cup of tea.

Tomorrow I’m told the teachers will have big meetings discussing who should be let in to Tsurusaki High School, and then they will prepare the magic list to post.

I’m not sure what happens to the kids that don’t get in. Do they have a stand-by school? Do they take more tests? When? I have tried to ask these questions but they don’t understand my questions. So, I’ll work on that.

As for now, I must cross ‘write blog’ off my list and work on something else! Only and hour until lunch...that should be a fun break.