Training under the pink panthe...duck-bunny

   I've gotten a little more used to it now that I've been to Shinjuku station a few times (although it's still confusing). The various underground shopping malls that separate the different lines are so vast that at times I begin to wonder if I'm in a station at all. All the shops look so lovely... and cost a pretty penny. So, basically it's eye-candy, tasty tasty eye-candy. ~mmmm~ Anyway.... I surfaced victorious onto the streets of West Shinjuku! (The less crazy and more business side of town.) The throngs of people, girls in maid outfits handing out fliers, the towering buildings all were there-- the iconic image of Toyko, Japan.

My first office building =P

   I started for the school armed with my map-book and a page of scribbled notes to help me along. It was no surprise that I started in the wrong direction, but i was happy that it didn't take me too terribly long to find my intended direction- the Post Office. The Shinjuku PO is close in proximity to the school, however, it meant I had to go by main roads and about twice the necessary distance. (The small side roads that looked like bazaar were a much quicker route, but I didn't trust myself to navigate the turbulent sea of people and street venders.) It didn't take too long to find the building (I had already "walked" the route several times on google maps.) 

 

Fanciest School entryway by a long-shot!

A lot of office buildings have little more than a door in front of an elevator on the first floor. This one was very swanky with glass doors and a foyer. Up the elevator I went aaand there is was-- a sea of pink cubicles to welcome me!

There are proverbs on the walls. I noticed one was wrong. Blow up this picture and you can see "An ounce of prevention is a pound of cure."

   I was the first to arrive out of my training group (and with only 5 minuets to spare, I thought that it was a bit strange to be the only one). I started with legalities of contract signing etc. and not too much later did another kid show up. A recent grad and new to Tokyo, he was a nice kid who came off as the nerdy "boy next door" kind (glasses, straight brown hair etc.) After we were done with our contracts (which were different due to different employers? I think we have different employers.... or maybe it's just differing branches? I dunno.) Then guy number two shows up; wasn't sure how to peg him other than the kinda chubby type as he didn't talk a lot in the beginning. As guy#2 had already signed his contract previously, and seeing as how it was already 10-15 minuets into the appointment time, we started the training without the remaining two trainees.

   About 15-20 minuets later, as we were about finished with the overview of how lessons should be taught, guy#3 struts in brandishing a wide grin: the suave type. (blue eyes, curly blond hair and an omnipresent grin). This led to a short conversation which essentially went like this:

A: You're late.
B: No, I'm early.
A:They must have told you the wrong time.

   In fact they had told us all the wrong time, every single one of us was given a differing time table. In the brief convo we worked out just what exactly were the correct times. The realization of how the messed up schedule would affect me began to seep into my consciousness-- Damn! I had planned on the training only being a few hours and then spending the rest of the day transporting the second half of my stuff to the apartment. Now knowing that training was going to last all day, there was little chance it happening.

   Training continued for a few more hours until we were dismissed for a dinner break. On our way out the door, we were told that we were going to teach our first class when we got back.... say what!?

Yep, day one of training and we were already on our way to teaching! Unknown to us, this would be our only break all together, the next two days our shifts would be staggered. Guys #2 and #3 both had been in Japan for a little while were a bit more comfortable with their surroundings, they also both had the air of a  "one up" kinda personality and enjoyed competing, errr.. conversing together! So that left me and the first guy to have a much more relaxed conversations.

    As we returned from dinner our trainer informed us that we would be coming in at different times the next day and work in pairs. I was shocked by his choice of pairings only because it seemed like the worst mix-- and I'm sure that wasn't on accident. Guy#1 and guy#3 were polar opposites and had rarely said two words to eachother, while me and guy#2... well he just didn't seemed to be too interesting in talking to me for whatever reason. It was like the perfectly wrong match that made no one comfortable or happy. (I wonder if that was supposed to be a lesson or something?...)

   That aside, we had more important things to worry about-- like "Holy cow! We're actually gonna teach classes!!" The set up is that the trainee teaches while a normal teacher will just sit there and watch while checking off that you followed the appropriate steps, techniques, and timing. No sweat, right? You learned those things over an hour ago! Totally set....  I felt more set up for failure than anything else.

I've learned that if you feel wildly under-prepared for something they want you to do....

 you probably are.

Good luck, Sucker!

The proud NOVA ways: makes as much sense as our neon-pink, duck-bunny mascot

Back to the story: The game is on. The rules are set. 

Accomplish classroom objectives through a series of tasks... go! 

Phase complete? No.... Wait for it.... Now!! Next section, begin!

Task accomplished, very good- continue onto the next challenge.

Oooook... and class is over, we're done!

GG, everybody!

(lol It was a sort of game, navigating through the objectives and meeting time requirements.)

   Basically, I did everything "correctly," but I was told afterwards that's not exactly what they want. For the next several days I would hear something similar to "well you don't need to follow the book that much..." Sooo... you're telling me that the last 6 hours were nothing but a bunch of rules you don't actually follow? "Au contraire!" They would retort, "you need to know it for when you're being examined!" So, you are taught the rules then expected to adapt them to your own style, unless of course you're being watched by "the man." o.0; Oook, I guess?

• Initial Teaching strengths: achieving the lesson and timing requirements!
• Initial Teaching weaknesses: lesson introduction flow, communicating to students at their level

    Exhausted, I went "home," to the place I was visiting. It had been a cruelly long day, but I welcomed my half straw pillow and thin futon bed. (I also finally got a hold of a space heater so the room wasn't so cold.) I wanted to get up early and drop off the rest of my stuff before training in the morning, but with how physically and mentally demanding the previous day was... impossible. I got a little nervous as I thought of my alternative... a late night trip to my apartment. With my most recent attempt in the daylight going so... well, I feared what might happen if I tried it at night when all the friendly house-wives were inside and only the town drunks were awake to guide me! TxT

   The second day of training was much like the first and really the only thing of note about the day was that it was THANKSGIVING!! But you wouldn't know that because the only people in the entire building who cared were the dead tired trainees. (The rest of the staff were British or Australian)  After being forced together with guy#2, he finally started opening up so it wasn't quite so awkward. On break we headed off to KFC for some turky-ish food. Dinner was the only homage we paid to the holiday, as we headed right back to work with no more mention of Americana.

I had chicken pot pie that was sweet! XP But I'll bet the chicken leg I had might be even better than American KFC!!

    My workday neared it's end, but because of the shift pair-work I would now be coming "home" very late. On the train ride back it started to rain.. "Great just what I need,"  I grumbled. By the time I got "home" it was already so late that I feared if I messed up on the hour+ long train ride to my apartment at all I'd be stuck in the middle of nowhere because the trains would have stopped running. Or even if I made it there, the image of me lugging my things in the rain and still possibly getting lost... was intimidating.

   Normally under such circumstances I wouldn't even think about trying to make the trip at that time, but things at where I was staying were.... at times, unpleasant. I won't go over a lot about my experience there. Simply put: it depressed me. I thought that perhaps the brotherhood of faith would be there for me. Or if not that, then the camaraderie of fellow Americans striking out in a foreign land... maybe even just the understanding help of a fellow human? 

   I think I got a bit depressed because while I know I can do amazing things like carry my body-weight in luggage all over Tokyo for 3 hours and still make it on time to training an hour away, sometimes I just want it easy. Try as I might to rig the game so that it's easier, it just doesn't seem to be in God's plan. More like His lesson is: "You want help? Grow some balls and do it yourself. You need something? Go get it. It's just you and me, and I made you capable, so stop whining."

   So I did. I sucked it up, crashed for a few hours as my last night there, then woke up at 5am so I would have time to drop off my luggage at my apartment before going to training again in Shinjuku. I easily found the apartment this time with the help of my picture landmarks. Got more formally dressed and started to the train station for another day of work. Dead tired? Hell yeah, but I was doing it.

   I was getting more comfortable with going to the Shinjuku office, so that day I decided to cut through the side streets-- bad move. I got so lost that I had to call the company to direct me to the office and ended up getting there four minuets late. The trainer went went a bit berserk. Thankfully he chilled out when I told him I had called. I think he must have thought I was lying, I mean who gets lost on their third day?? I think I saw him later trying to verify my story with the staff.

   Another full day of training was ahead, this time focusing on language placement tests. I had heard if you failed the training-- they'd send you back to the States! o.o;; I'm not sure if that's true.... but I passed it, so I dunno.... It was the last time I saw the guys because the kids training that was scheduled again for the next day included everyone.... but me. I was scheduled to train for Geos kodomo (kids) at a separate location.  This was the first I had even heard that Nova and Geos were now one company instead of bitter rivals. So why was I getting Geos kids training and not Nova kids training? At the time I had no clue...