today i went back to work. yay! It's been 6 months since i've left Okinawa and my job there. I spent four months traveling and two months back home getting back into the swing of things (one of those months i spent in New York, though, hanging out).
So since i got back from New york on the 20th January, i've been sending off my resumes and going through the hiring process for substitute teaching in some of the school districts around me. It turned out to be quite easy to get on the list of the middle schools near my house and even onto the list of my old high school, which is also a suburban school. Getting onto the Milwaukee Public School list took some time, a physical test and an on-line interview. When i went into the office this week to get officially added to their list and get all the paperwork sorted, i was told that i probably won't get called until next week. So this morning when my phone rang a little after 8am, just after i turned off my alarm and went back to sleep, actually, i was surprised to hear a woman asking me if i'd want to sub today. One of the things she said, though, confused me for a second though.. She said they weren't sure whether they could call me because on the piece of paper i signed on tuesday i wrote "immediately" where it said "start date". the woman said they weren't sure what i meant. ahem. ok. does immediately mean something else in another job jargon? i thought it was meant to show that i am ready for work as soon as possible. but whatever. she offered me three options for this morning and i took the ESL classes at a south milwaukee high school. I thought it would be a good first substitute experience as ESL kids are generally better behaved and it's something i can relate to and that was my last job, pretty much. I got to school on time, found the classroom and had a wonderful day. I taught three classes. We made Valentines cards 1st hour. 2nd hour i had the same kids as 1st hour pretty much, so that was nice but their 2nd hour was technically their Algebra class so i taught math today as well. Went really well, actually. Surprised myself. and was also surprised by how little math skills these kids had. But some of it could be language barrier as well, of course. So overall, a great day. But of course weird being back in an American classroom after my experience in Okinawa. I'll have to think through all the things that are different and startling about working in the States again but one thing i did notice is how few staff cars were in the parking lot when i came out at 4pm today. More than half the cars that were there in the morning were gone and that would never happen in a Japanese school on a regular school day.

And now i'm beat. I didn't have time to get myself lunch today; just packed some carrots and grabbed a banana and an apple. But i think pure adrenalin got me through the day. Will try and get to bed at reasonable hour today just in case i get another call tomorrow. :)

best
-e