New School Year

The new school year just started. The new teachers are here. They seem pretty nice, but I think I preferred the teachers that just left…

The new principal is cool. He was the principal at one of the elementary schools I teach at, and he would assist me with the fifth grade classes. The new vice-principal seems a little weird. He could be nice though. The jury’s still out on him. The new secretary is really shy – painfully so. The new Japanese teacher seems like a real goofball. He bows really deeply and has a weird smile. He’s a young guy, so I’m not sure why he’s so uptight. When he introduced himself to the students he told a story (a fable, I think) that seemed really rehearsed.

Anyway… I was sitting in the staff room this morning, minding my own business – doing some research on where I should travel during the Golden Week holiday – when I notice that most of the teachers in the staff room are gone. This is not so strange – I frequently find myself alone in the staff room. But, the only teachers there were the new teachers. As soon as I realized this, a buzz came through on the intercom, and everyone got up to leave. They motioned that I should come with them. I followed them to the gym where the rest of the school was waiting to welcome them. Awkward. I should have been in the gym when they arrived, but no one told me about this ceremony. I did a quick social-awkwardness calculation. If I jumped ahead of them, and entered first, it would look weird – as everyone would start clapping when the door opened, and then it would only be me. If I entered last, right after the last new teacher, it would look equally weird. So, I waited a couple seconds after the last teacher went in, and then I quickly went in and took my place among the other, not new, teachers. It’d be nice if someone had given me a heads up…

So now, I am, once again, alone in the staff room. I was helping the music teacher out with preparations for the new students’ arrival (it was great, someone actually asked me for help, and I had a task to do) while the students where cleaning. When I finished, I looked up, and realized that the staff room had emptied. I walked around the school thinking that the students were in homeroom. No one was around. I think everyone’s in the gym, but the vice principal is hosing off the stairs that lead down there, and I really don’t want to a.) get hosed b.) get asked to help hose, or c.) slip and fall down the wet stairs.