I can't wait for the day to be over

Today has been rather interesting.

My first day of work was technically not a day of work, but rather, a day of sitting in a chair doing very little. In my school, the first few days back from summer vacation are spent practicing for the autumn sports festival. This festival is a curious concept, indeed, it doesn't seem to serve a purpose beyond promoting competition among the students. Yet, they seem to rehearse for the given day, not just practice.

And today was a rehearsal day, so everyone goes through the motions of each event without really trying or caring. The race where you use a bowl to carry water from a barrel to a bucket for your team was practiced without water. I'll have more to say when I see the actual festival, in any case.

So I came to work today wearing a tie, expecting every other teacher to be wearing just a button down shirt, or something vaguely nice, but everyone here was actually wearing their workout clothes. Luckily, knowing I might be asked to do some sports stuff with the kids, I brought my own workout clothing, and was able to promptly change. I got through the morning meeting and my introductions to everyone while still wearing a tie, though.

I moved tents this morning. Then, I got a computer, and read up on my duties. I really haven't had anything to do, though. Oh, I did eat lunch with the special needs class, which was very interesting. I tried to talk to one of the students about his favorite comic, but he was unresponsive (though not untalkative). It seems that it'll take some time for people to get used to me, at the very least.

Tomorrow, I plan on constructing a lesson plan for my first classes, which will basically be all about me - a self introduction with a lesson's edge. I feel like my English ability has lessened throughout today.

Oh, and I looked at the curriculum. Apparently, Japan thinks its a good idea to hold off on teaching past tense for verbs until the second year of English instruction. Wouldn't it make sense for students to have the basic building blocks of a language mastered before they attempt to learn random things they probably won't use that often?

Also, lunch was terrible, and I got a little bit of sunburn.