Tuesday, February 7, 2012

In the Saddle Again

Tuesday February 7, 9:20 a.m.

Yesterday morning, at the bleary-eyed time of 7 a.m., I went to work for the first time in 6 weeks (Mr. Moriya aside). Started my new position as sub teacher at a downtown school. And my new boss didn't hesitate to load me up with lessons. They were just 2, but both were 3 hours each.

The morning session had 3 students, a couple of young Japanese and one very young German. It was a good class to start with; they were a young but amiable group. A few stumbles but a good start all things considered.

The second class was a bit more problematic. Again three quiet but amiable students but also quite jaded with it all. Somewhat more of a struggle to get through, but classes with The New Yorker, a VERY quiet but amiable student for 5 years, gave me that shield to get through. Basically, it was The Dancing Bear routine. I noticed that the two regular teachers had informed me that there would be more students but I figure that on hearing that a substitute teacher would be teaching, the absentees took that as a chance to take a day off. In any case, I was pretty beat after getting home.

I've got a couple more of those 6-hour days coming up tomorrow and Thursday. Not sure what the immediate future will hold for me. I know that I probably won't take those early wake-up calls for long so I'm not sure if full-time will be the thing for me but we'll see.

In any case, today I'm off. I'll be seeing The Egg and The Wild Guy for lunch. On the search for good ramen in Toronto. Today's target will be Ajisen up in North York.