Life as Usual (for now)

Now that the blog is (more or less) caught up with recent events, I thought I'd give you all a post about exactly what it is I do all day when I'm NOT sightseeing. I promise I'll go back to the more diverse posts after this one. My work week begins on Tuesday because JAFCO classes tend to meet outside of normal working hours, so my bosses decided that Monday would be their one day off a week. Also, University of Phoenix starts all their classes on Tuesdays, so Monday is the last day of the week there, too. As a result, Tuesday is the new Monday. So that's where I'll start.
On Tuesdays, I try to get up early enough to do some exercise at home before my first class of the week. Since class begins at 10:30, this means waking up by about 7:30. (For me, that's on the early side.) After exercise (if I get up), I get showered and dressed and then open up our kitchen table and add the leaves so that it will hold six or seven people. My Tuesday morning class is a private class consisting of six women who have been taking English together for probably about as long as I've been alive. They come over, I give them tea and they talk. I help with vocabulary and grammar issues. After an hour, they pay me. It's a nice gig. :-)
After class, I generally eat lunch, then head over to base to run errands. Tuesday is a good day for grocery shopping because the store on base is closed on Wednesday, so if you need something, you better get it ahead of time. My next appointment is 2:30 to 3:30 at the JAFCO central classroom where I teach a (much more intense) adult class. JAFCO's curriculum focuses on basics in pronunciation and vocabulary, so teaching these classes involves a lot of repeating words that start with F, L, R, Th, V or W with extremely exagerated pronunciation. Then I go home and try to get some University work done. Since Tuesday is the first day of the school week, I try to do the reading for the week, so I can be prepared to discuss for the rest of the week. Depending on the length of the chapters, I generally get through most of it. Tuesday evenings, I go to Japanese class from 6:00-7:30. As a result, I tend to make and eat dinner early. I generally come home from that wiped out, and if Zack is home we watch some TV until it's bedtime.
Wednesday morning is much less rushed, so I get up and generally try to go to the gym. (It's free on base, so why not?) When I get home, I go straight into school work. Usually Wednesday I write up my required discussion responses so that I don't have to worry about them later. My first actual appointment for the day is at 4:00 when I teach another JAFCO class at the central classroom. This one's a family class which means more children's songs and moving around, but the curriculum is essentially the same. Then I'm home again for dinner time and at 8:00, I go back to the classroom for an adult class.
Thursdays depend on the week. Twice a month I have the option of going to an event for either ILC or OSC. The rest of the time, I go to yoga at 11:00, so I spend the morning on school work, which at this point in the week generally consists of reading what other students have posted, responding, and researching whatever project will be due on Monday. At 3:00, I have a JAFCO adult class at my house. To get ready for that, I have to put a plastic green cover over my carpet (my bosses think it makes the room more cheerful) and get out little tables and the various visual aids that live at my house. I also have to get a CD ready to play the songs we listen to. After that class, I've got two hours to make and eat dinner before my 6:00 choir practice which runs either until 7:00 or 7:30 depending on how many people show up (usually, it's just me and may be one other person, so we finish quickly). When that's done, I head back to the JAFCO central classroom for another adult class at 8:00.
Friday morning I'm up bright an early to go to Nagasaki Junior College to teach my childcare English class from 9:00-10:30. This class is conversation based, so we do a lot of practicing using vocabulary that might come in handy when the students become preschool teachers or day care helpers. I always leave that place with a smile on my face. It's a great job. After that, the day is mine. I run errands on base or go home and work on school stuff. It's a very easy day for me. I like it when Zack's home these evenings because we generally have some time to play video games.
Saturday, on the other hand, is non-stop. I have my first JAFCO family class at my house at 11:00. After that, I get an hour to eat some lunch and make it to the central classroom for my 1:00 family class. I come home, try to spend some time with Zack (if he's around), and then head back to the central class at 6:00 for another class. When it's over, it makes sense to just hang around because my next adult class starts there at 8:00.
Sunday morning is church and then I get the day to finish up my University assignments. My only class for the day is at 8:00 pm. Then Monday is my day off. I got to the gym for a total body workout class and then yoga. Then I finish whatever didn't get done over the course of the week. And before I know it, it's Tuesday again!
Of course, Zack's schedule changes every day and every week and sometimes he's not home for months, but that's my general routine. JAFCO is still recruiting new students, so the goal is to have me working 40 hours a week for them by the end of July, but I have trouble imagining that. We'll see what happens.