Heya peeps,
It has been too many years without a post. I first started this blog as study abroad students nearly 7.5 years ago. That is too many years to comprehend! Now I am closing out my fifth year of teaching and looking forward to the start of my sixth year!
With that being said, let me tell you about the importance of winter and spring in Japan. Unlike in my homeland, the Japanese people end and begin the new chapters of their lives together, as if the nation's yearly clock struck midnight. This happens when March turns to April. Students graduate in March and begin their next level of education in April; College students finally finish school and go into the career; our respected elders say goodbye to their colleagues and hello to retirement. Everyone turns in unison; everyone celebrate together. Even the fiscal year begins anew on April 1st. It is rather cool to witness as a foreigner. Yet, much like how dusk heralds the night sky, there is much to be done ahead of the nation's yearly goodbyes.
At school, we have just started the final trimester of the academic year, yet the buzz of graduation has already begun. Graduation is not just a family event, it is a school wide celebration. Depending on the student population size, Japanese schools try to include every student in the graduation ceremony. Starting in preschool, the younger students memorize cheers, messages, and endearing songs to share with their graduating peers, thanking the graduates for all their help and leadership, while encouraging them in the next endeavors. In fact, the last month of school is dedicated mainly to everyone's practice and involvement in the ceremony. We will have many campus-wide graduation ceremony practices, while classes and grade levels will hold individual practice times instead of some regular. Because there celebratory songs sung during graduation, many pop songs have become mainstays in graduation and will continue to evoke tears for many years to come.
While graduation is being organized at school, college graduates and some career people are preparing for their new jobs. I say 'some career people' because the Japanese are known for pledging their loyalties to one company and only one company for life. Of course, this is new entirely true for public school teachers. We may remain in the same city for our teaching life, yet we are moved around every few years. Even retirement will officially begin on April 1st.
Because the high volume of new jobs, the grueling hunt for apartments starts as early as January. Fortunately for us English teachers in my program, we do not have to hunt for apartments typically. We are provided them through our employers...however,...we are not exempt from moving schools nor apartments. For those living in company apartments, each time we are moved to a new school, we get moved to an apartment near that new school. So, the race to clear out our apartments and sell off our belongings begin in February- if we are leaving the program...
Let me explain that caveat: as teachers, if we are being moved to a new school, we are NOT allowed to tell anyone of the move until it is officially announced to the faculty during the last week of the fiscal year- March 23 through March 31. Then, on the last day of week, all the students-including the recently graduated students- will gather for one more ceremony: the faculty send-off. It is a truly special ceremony in which the leaving faculty share a few words each, given bouquets of flowers, then paraded around the school and handed gifts from students and parents alike as we are escorted off the campus and literally sent off on our next adventures (except for me when I switched schools. I can back in and spent the rest of the workday prepping my desk for the new English teacher).
With that being said, the English teachers who are moving both schools and apartments are not allowed to distribute a list of sales and giveaways to the other English teachers until it is officially announced at our program's last English Teachers meeting of the year- which is in early March. That is when all goes wild for us. We are selling and buying things among our friends, setting up moving dates to help each other out, receiving contact lists for the incoming English Teachers and arranging gift baskets and spearheading communications for them, it is nuts. Not to mention all the dinner parties for our schools, our friends, ect. And that is just the end of the year, then comes April.
On the first workday in April, our new co-workers come. At Japanese schools, the new faculty are immediately corralled into the principal's office and treated to teas and snacks, similar to how guests are treated. Then, with the official start of the work day, they are filed into the faculty office in order of how they will be seated in front of the current staff. They introduce themselves one by one and will soon be shown to their desks. In some schools, all the desks are rearranged after the Faculty Send-off the week before; at other schools, the rearrangement occurs after the new staff are introduced and a short meeting occurs. Regardless, the final pieces of the new year preparation will be set and away we go.
For the English teaching program, our in-coming teachers arrive during the middle of April due to visa and business paperwork processes. While the new teachers are saying their final goodbyes at home, the current teachers are prepping for their arrival. As teams, we are appointed as 'buddies' to an in-coming teacher and are busily making our schedules to help the newbies with the setting up their new life here, that includes supplying their apartments with basic necessities ahead of their arrival. And, of course, around the time our new English teachers come, our schools will have welcome dinners for all the new staff and PTA officers. It is a busy time for us...and expensive!!! >.<;
As the plum blossoms bloom in the heart of February, we start our sprint towards our final goodbyes. Then, with the opening of March's cherry blossoms, one chapter closes while their falling petals herald in the next chapter of life.
Until next time, see ya, my peeps!
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