The Spring Shuffle
Every April sees the ‘shuffle’ of staff throughout Japan. Old teachers wanting a transfer for whatever reason can put in an application and, by April, move out to new posts with no seriously career-ending consequences. It’s a way, I think, to prevent conflict within the office place, as the staff generally don’t fight or engage in passive aggressive chicanery, so anyone dissatisfied with their current job situation can get an annual chance to move out if they so wish. It’s also, I have been told, a way to prevent unionisation of the workers, which is probably more plausible than the government caring about worker happiness. I wonder if it’d catch on elsewhere… 1st of April, or April fool’s day to the rest of the world, is a day when everyone working for the municipality gets their new contract, signed by the Mayor’s incredibly huge personal ‘hanko’ or seal/stamp. I have one too, but it’s tiny and insignificant when compared to such stationery prowess as the village mayor. Anyways, I got a new shiny contract (ending in July 29th, much against protocol I’m sure), along with the rest of the office drones, and it’s now sitting somewhere in the bowels of my desk. I should probably find it as proof of my first salaried occupation since leaving university…
Back on track, this week saw some 21 new teachers entering Sarufutsu, of whom I have met but a few. At the Junior High we have borne witness to the first proper art teacher at the school, which is cool, and a replacement science teacher. I quite liked the old guy, Shin-sensei, as he could speak pretty good English for Sarufutsu and was quite active academically in writing and researching Chinese air pollution patterns across into Hokkaido. The new science teacher, however, also seems to speak decent English, so that’s OK. I must ask him sometime if he too is writing journal articles for environmental science journals.
On a good note, it seems my fax issued to the elementary schools has borne results, as I now am happily scheduled to teach in them until July, which is great. It also means I have to learn all the new teacher’s names. I had barely just gotten my head around the old lot, some of whom I STILL cannot remember. It should make for an interesting last few months in Japan!
Still no new pictures, unfortunately, as the camera place in Sapporo sent me the wrong charger for my battery, leaving me with no option but to resort to Amazon.com to get the right one. SIGH! I had hoped to get some pictures of Nayoro and so on, but alas this was not to be. Perhaps the next time I head there I’ll have a camera with a charged battery!
