Morning came so quickly and I’m not even sure why body insists on getting up before the break of day. But, it’s not a complaint. It’s a sign of health and consistency. I started my devotion a little after 6:00 and ended by 7:00. There are many distractions in this world that would want to tell the believer that the prosperity of the wicked is not being noticed by God. But, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” Galatians 6:7-9 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/gal.6.7-9.KJV. May we do as God commands, as Pastor Stanley says and leave the outcome to God. May God strengthen us to do his will. I felt like I had so much time after my devotion, but I couldn’t allow myself to be deceived. I got my leg and back exercises done this morning and they were so welcomed. Of course I did the abbreviated versions. I was able to put away some laundry, but not too much. Following that, I had my shower then made my smoothie with the, mostly lettuce, vegetable salad from last night’s free dinner. This meant that my smoothie wasn’t green at all. In fact it was a pale orangey colour. At 8:05, I was still drinking my smoothie and I was going at a very easy pace. There was no rush for me this morning, even though I didn’t even know what part of the lesson I was going to teach today. I hadn’t seen the students in the first 3 classes, in 2 weeks. It has all been so confusing these days trying to keep up with who had done what. There is another high school in very close proximity to the private high school that I teach at. I cannot say however, if it is a private or public high school. It is very common in Japan to have multiple schools in the same vicinity. And so this morning, like all the mornings my path would cross with several other students coming from the opposite direction as I made my way too work. By no, you would have realized that I left out much later than normal. As I passed a group of five boys, who are evidently in their final year, I heard one say in japanese, they had 40 seconds before the bell rang. They were so calculated, down to the very seconds before school would start. I marveled because I could see such a similarity with myself in this regard.
I got to work at about 8:35, at my desk. It felt good not to go in so early. I hadn’t left my house until 8:10 and I was in no rush. When I got to my desk, I packed my work bag and took my personal bag with me instead of taking a gazillion things out of it and then putting it in my desk. At the end of the lessons I always had to put back those same gazillion things back into my personal bag to leave. Time is money so I better start managing it better. Today, I had all 4 classes. It felt so strange to have everyone after only teaching classes in the 4th period alone last week. Some students had finished some of their worksheets, while others hadn’t even finished the first one and they were in the same class! This creates even more of a challenge and disparity with trying to keep everyone occupied. I had to skip an entire lesson for the students who had missed the first to third periods because everyone needed to start writing their presentations today. It’s been a ride I tell you, but we are all coming through. Even though I have to push some of them. Once all my classes were finished, I packed my bags, cleaned the board, closed the windows, turned off the AC and the lights. That took me an extra 10 minutes or so because in between the 3rd and last class, I went downstairs and made extra copies of the worksheets. Being absent from the class, even though it was only one week, also impacted on the students. Quite a number of them had left the worksheets at home and today, like no other day, they could see I was visibly annoyed. Of all the days, today was not the day to have left those worksheets. Nevertheless, I ensured everyone had what they needed to prepare adequately. I made my way down to the staff room where I was expecting someone to assist me with the iPad. They had already been there waiting on my arrival. The next 20 to 30 minutes was spent starting out my ability to use the different functions of the iPad on the school’s platform. This meant that I could provide a copies of the worksheets instead of printing them out. It will take some getting used to, but I am happy for the most part to have gotten this opportunity which had sprung from me having to teach one class on Zoom last week. My iPad usually sits on my desk until I return to work. As a result of this it doesn’t get charged and is always struggling. Today I asked the teacher who sits in front of me to unplug the iPad and cover it’s in the box before they left, since I was leaving before them. He said I could take it home, but I didn’t want to. I’ve never had any discussions about whether or not I was allowed to take the iPad home, but in that moment, I didn’t want to take it home with me because I knew I would spend countless hours trying to figure it all out and uploading all sorts of worksheets to it. What I will try to do, is to go in a few minutes earlier and in between classes try to familiarize myself as best as possible with the iPad. Time is money.
I left work a little after 1:30, which was quite late, but I knew why. I was quite hungry and so as soon as I got home, I added some ice to the leftover smoothie, a little water and operated the NutriBullet once more. While I was doing that the fries, vegetable ball and a piece of chicken were in the toaster oven being warmed. This was food that I had brought home from my friends house which had been too much for us to finish after two separate orders. It was quite convenient to just warm up something instead of having to think about what to prepare. And the truth is, I’ve never made space for delivery and frequent fast food in my life, but it seems there’s a place for them. I will however continue to make them exceptions and not the norm. I enjoyed a few pieces of chocolate after my late lunch then responded to a few messages and emails once I had settled down and kept reminding myself that I have work at 20:00 tonight. I still had some laundry to put away and so I proceeded to do that. I know that I will have to remind myself of the student that I will have online this evening and prepare accordingly. As always, when the days are full, there is much that needs to be talked about.
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