Ahh, so I've finally started teaching. I'm in an interesting school -- in short, it's like Cafe ManBar all over again. All the teachers at my school (including a gent named Lindsay, who I had initially hoped was female) are men, and most of them have been here for more than a year. NOVA also teaches French/German (at a precious few schools) and, while mine is one of them, all these teachers are XY as well. This situation is rare for NOVA, and I wonder how I've found myself enmeshed in it. Have all the other females been frightened off by the quasi-adolescent atmosphere? Hard to say. Regardless, these peers (are they peers? I suppose they must be) are invaluable resources as most of them know Japanese

And, as I suppose is the first lesson for any at least partially aware teacher, I have learned a lot from my students. Here are some examples of all they have to contribute.

1) I have learned that Audrey Hepburn here is like God. Totally. GOD. She's highly revered, likely because of her resemblance to a twig and/or the similar resemblance of many Japanese women to same said object.

2) Things my students have identified with the United States: Rocky (during a discussion of Philadelphia), Las Vegas, Ground Zero, Reese Witherspoon (I had a very detailed discussion in Voice about the difference between Legally Blonde 1 and its sequel), corporate greed of sorts, and more Las Vegas. All in all, these four or five items make for a pretty well rounded country, no?

Mm, that's all for now. The teaching is fairly rewarding so far, and I think I'll come to enjoy it more and more as I become familiar with the lessons and allow myself to add to the lesson plans a bit. Yeah. Booya.