Work has come at last.  Even though I still don't have a visa (though I'm legal to work while I wait for final confirmation), I've gone back to the daily grind.  How is it?  Well, not so bad, put simply.

Shane have turned out to be pretty reasonable.  It's fair to say I wasn't expecting much from them and yet they've not been too bad.  Corporatism isn't really encouraged, we've had a fair bit of prepping on how to deal with kids, the books are OK and we don't have to use the Shane ones if we choose not to.  It feels like I expected a teaching job to, and I have quite a lot of autonomy, which is key.  So all in all not too bad.  However, the basic rules of English teaching in Japan still apply.  Essentially, this is not the best place in the worl to be in this particular profession.  There's a stigma to the job, the hours are unsociable and the conditions of employment pretty poor.  Still, my school is not one of the worse ones (possibly even one of the better ones?) and the pay is decent.

I'm enjoying the teaching itself, actually being in the classroom.  Whether that continues is another matter.  I'm not so sure about kids.  I don't feel entirely comfortable teaching them at the moment.  Maybe I'm being snobbish, maybe I'm being uptight but I just feel a little silly clowning around.  Underlying all this is the suspicion that we're taking money off parents for a useless service.  All of that aside, it's true that it's quite sweet teaching little kids who tug at my sleeve when they need help or explode into rapturous joy at the prospect of throwing a ball around and shouting the alphabet.  When at Disney I procured some Disney stickers which have gone down a storm so far and I expect to be able to use as homework bribes.

Adults are much more fun.  Although I prefer teaching the higher levels, I'm enjoying all the students I'm dealing with.  Some of them are fascinating.  I teach a heart doctor, a motorcycle racer and ex-J-league player, a hula dancer, a rock singer, a voice coach and a tea ceremony specialist, among others.  It's geniunely rewarding at times (considering that some of these students need to learn English to improve their lives) and often very interesting.  I'm now aware that few Japanese people know the difference between England/Britain/UK/Celtic countries.  I'm also aware that Oasis are still surprisingly big out here (the horror) and that Bristol is naught but an afterthought to many Japanese tourists who flock to Bath.

The teaching is fairly easy, mainly because I enjoy it.  Some of the lessons can get dull with repetition but generally speaking, that simply means a challenge and therefore it is nice to solve said challenge.  I don't have any students who are exceptionally weak for their level, so usually the work is appropriate and doable, if somewhat tricky at points.  Plus, any adults who do well can have a Disney sticker too, so motivation's easy.  They're surprisingly popular among all ages...

So all in all, I wouldn't want to be here for ever, but I'm not at all apprehensive about the prospect of teaching to earn a living.  Whether I'd want to (or be able to) do it in Britain at a normal school teaching proper subjects, well, that's another question entirely.  For now, though, I'm happy.  At least I don't get rained on for hours at a time...

Oli