Kashiwagi

I was lucky to have found a job as an Assistant Language Teacher at a high school near base, Kashiwagi Gakuen.  The job gave me a set routine and somewhat sense of normalcy, allowed me to learn more about the Japanese culture, paid well, and introduced me to some awesome people.   The job itself was rather simple.  I worked with several different Japanese English teachers.  They were of course the main teacher, and I was mostly used as a pronunciation expert, occasionally planned lessons, made worksheets, and graded speaking tests.  I worked  5 days a week, but only a few hours each day.

For most of the time I worked there, I would take the train 2 stops down and then walk one mile north to the school.  I later decided that I'd prefer biking.  It took me about 25 minutes.  I liked to change up my route.  Sometimes I took the main roads, sometimes I winded through the back streets, through farms and parks. It was quite enjoyable except on days where it was pouring down rain or it had snowed.  The last few months I had to change to driving since I was pregnant.  I worked up until about a month before Emily was born.

This is part of the outside of the building.

They had just finished building a beautiful new gym as I was getting ready to leave.

This is where the teachers parked their bikes.  I wish I would have taken a picture of the kids bike parking area.  So many!  Most mornings there was a teacher out greeting the students and helping them park the bikes super close so that they could make them all fit.  

This is the teacher's shoe cubby area.  I changed out of my regular shoes and into a pair that I kept at school every day.  The students did the same downstairs.

This always made me giggle.  Just inside the door is a welcome area where these little uniform models sit.  

There are actually many part-time teachers.  Here is our office.  Fortunately for me, several of them spoke English (even teachers of other subjects) and were always helpful in translating posted signs and schedule changes.  

One of the main hallways.  And yes, it is true that Japanese students clean their own schools.  There seemed to be one lady who did some regular cleaning, but there were many days where the kids were cleaning.  They also had to go pick up trash along the roads that they walked from the train stations to the school.

Some of the posters in the hallway.  In case you are looking closely, the one on the left is encouraging kids to not make poor decisions just for the sake of social media pictures.

Yuki was so sweet and made me a poster of love from all of the students in her class.  They were a fun group!

This was taken on my last day with one of my classes.

It is pretty normal for students to wear a health mask.  They wear them because they are sick and don't want to spread germs.  One Japanese friend told me that it's also common for shy students to wear them more often, as more of a way of hiding behind it.  

Kawaii girls!

More sweet students.

These are the sweetest ladies!  Ayako, Suzuki San, and Miwa.  Nami was also fun, but not in this picture.  They all looked out for me (and my lack of Japanese language skills).  They also planned an amazing baby shower for me full of gifts and delicious food and this going-away dinner.  Arigatou gozaimasu, ladies!