Opportune

I went to dinner with some ALTs on Saturday night. One of the things we talked about was showing up to school on any given day and being told of a change in schedule, specifically the kind where scheduled classes have been rescheduled and our workload for a day reduced. We all agreed it was a nice thing to experience.

This is what happened to me today. I showed up to school this morning and found the weekly schedule on my desk. Two classes for every day of the week, plus an additional three elementary lessons scattered throughout the week. But this week is 学年末テスト(gakunenmatsu tesuto) “end of term test” week, meaning the junior high school students have tests for three out of five days, so half of the scheduled classes are periods during which the students will be taking tests (no need for me). Those classes scheduled before the tests are being used for test review, which apparently means I don’t have to attend.

So my two classes today, while not canceled, don’t need me. I’m using the time to write this as well as to study Japanese. I should just ask for the day off and go home and make some bread, go for a run, do some laundry, whatever. But in Japan (and only in my experience as an assistant teacher in elementary and junior high schools), work doesn’t seem to be about doing a lot. Rather, it seems to be about being seen a lot. This was kind of true for me at the Fed - I would fly through work that would take my counterparts a full week to do. I would find myself taking nice walks through Chicago or reading a lot in the library on the 11th floor. I got to do my work and have some leisure time as well. Maybe you’re going to tell me I should have asked for more work to do, but I am a highly devoted member of the “work to live” club, not the “live to work” club. When I’m dying, the last thing I’m going to wish I had done was more work.

It’s 9:50. I’ve got about seven hours to go. I wonder if I could get away with one of those long trips now.