The Old Man

I've alluded to this before, but it's official now. After 5 months since my starting date I am now the most senior teacher at our branch.

The company is famous for its high turn over, although fortunately in the case of our branch all of the other teachers left for external reasons and not because they couldn't stand the job any longer.

Nevertheless, it has been a bit of a shake up saying good-bye to 6 teachers in the past few months. Even when I first arrived I was already the old-man on the block in terms of age (English teaching in Japan is a young person's gig. It is mostly filled up of people fresh out of college or in their early 20s, like I was six short years ago)....but in the space of 5 months I've also become the old man in terms of seniority.

Because of all the teachers leaving I've had to work a lot of overtime recently. In fact between the overtime and the shift swaps I had to arrange so I could make it home for my brother's wedding, I do not have any more days off until I go back to America on July 18th.

Speaking of which: I will be back in Grand Rapids from July 18th to July 31st. Much of this time will be taken up with family activities because of my brother's wedding, but much of it will not, so start clearing out your schedules now, and let me know if you'll be around for those dates and would like to hang out.

Link of the Day
Via Tom Tomorrow

assume most of you have seen the first two articles in the Washington Post’s four-part series on Cheney by now. If not, set aside a little time and read them. Everything you figured was happening was, and then some.