Catching on Up

Life falls into those lulls every now and then. That's that comfort. That's that ease of day-to-day. That's a schedule you can count on.

It's routine.

But every now and then people choose to throw a monkey wrench into that day-to-day, that routine. Some call it stepping it out of your comfort zone, some say it's actually "living," others say they were just bored and wanted something different.

Teaching English to business owners 2 to 3 times my age is what I ended up doing. At this point it's not a "new" thing, and it has comfortably fallen into 7:30-9:00 PM slot on Monday nights. However, the beginnings were certainly interesting.

Rewind about a month and a half. Wait. Even more -- take it back to Xmas and seasonal tunes that leave your speakers smelling like pine and fresh snow on a dark night. My friend, henceforth "pachinko yatsu," tapped me on the shoulder one cold day and asked if I would be up for a teaching job. Done and done.

Following that conversation there were a couple of exchanges, mainly about scheduling and information for my "profile," or what I'm guessing he pitched people when trying to get me an English job. I'm actually not sure to what extent he went to get me this gig -- mental note to ask him. All I know is that eventually the pieces fell into place and there I was sitting with him in his car as he drove me to my first night teaching English. I have read my fair share about expat English teachers, either through blogs or other means, yet the majority of those focused on school kids in a school environment with schoolbooks and school chairs they sat in while learning stuff in school. There was this rough idea of "structure" imbedded in those stories and accounts that I read.

And yet there I was going to teach some random business owners in a stray building tucked away on a street that nobody would look at if it weren't for the 7-11 on the corner. *gulp*

*gulp, gulp*

Admittedly, I was kinda nervous. Nothing terrible, just jitters and butterflies, broken breaths and knee-knocking nervous nancy thoughts. The usual when you're about to try something unfamiliar. The good thing, though, is that I had tried enough new things to understand that feeling. I understood the nuance to the feeling in the pit of my stomach; my body was trying to tell me, "hey, you're about to do something that you haven't done before. It might be scary, but you'll probably learn and grow from it. Go for it, kid." Now, unfortunately, even though I understand this feelings better than I did before, it doesn't stop it from continuing. And so, up until I was actually standing in front of them about to start the lesson, my stomach was attempting to do somersaults -- I say "attempting" because it felt more like my stomach started the somersault, freaked out halfway through and then knocked its dome into the sides of my abdomen like a big headed kid with the spins.

"My name is Graham. I am an exchange student in Kanazawa right now, and I'm looking forward to teaching you some English. Let's get started."

Off we were. My first goal was to figure out where they were in terms of ability. Out of the three students there, nobody was on the same page.

*Graham opens a window in the classroom*

One showed some promise, giving a successful introduction, telling me his goals for learning English.
The next one to go looked at me with big wide eyes that said, "English is fucking scary." She then proceeded to give me her introduction in Japanese.

*Graham is putting a foot out of the window*

The next one to go pulled a deer in headlights.

Me: "So why do you want to learn English?"
Bambi:"Uhhh... Uh..."
Me: "Travel, just conversation, for fun, business?"
Bambi: "Conversation."
Me: "You want to have normal conversations?"
Bambi: ".........."

*Graham has jumped out of the window and is currently falling through the air. Maybe the bank of snow below will soften the blow. Probably not.*

And so began my first English lesson. I had three students, Business and Pleasure (B&P), Mama, and Bambi. B&P was the most proficient. His goals for studying English were to hopefully expand his business, either within Japan itself or to other countries if possible. I wouldn't say that he is at the point of learning business English, but then again, if he's willing to put the effort in I'm willing to teach him.   The Business part of his name probably makes sense, but the Pleasure part may need some explanation. That will come later.

Then there is Mama, who is an owner of a small bar in the downtown area. She wants to learn English to have basic conversations with customers that come by, helping the experience and making sure they enjoy themselves/buy more alcohol (the last part is just my guess, to be honest). Her name comes from her job position. In Japanese, her job can be called "nomiya-mama," which roughly translates to a female bar proprietor/owner/manager. I just lazily dropped the the nomiya and BOOM, there we go.

And, last but not least, is Bambi. She wants to learn English for travel. Nothing complicated. She wants to be able to ask for directions, recommendations, help, etc. Her name comes from the deer in headlights look she gets when I speak to her in English, as well as how "green" she is to the language. She's trying though, which is all I really care about.

Alright, I think I'm gonna call it a night. Next time will be about the class itself!