Another freebie day off!

The last post was, of course, done for effect. Even when things go crazy, i try to just laugh it off and keep a good attitude. And yes, I do get frustrated. But I get over it.

Things have actually been pretty good, despite some minor annoyances and inconveniences. I won’t go into those now. On the plus side, I have another freebie day off tomorrow (Monday). Like last Monday, it is an unpaid (thus, unofficial) day off. That is a good thing, because I have plenty of hours already and they aren’t forcing me to use my precious paid days off to cover it. This is something new, and probably because I bend over backwards to help my company so much, I guess. (Or maybe just a change in policy).

Basically, I am supposed to work 23 hours a week for my contract. (I usually work more than that for my company; plus, with breaks between classes and travel, it is a full schedule, trust me. Add my private lessons to that, and I’m busy!) If I work more than that, I get paid those hours on an hourly rate. If I work less, I still get paid, but I have to make up those hours later, by working overtime and not getting paid.

Unlike some teachers, I rarely go below hours anyway. As I said before, I was shocked I had that short vacation off this year, because the last couple years, I didn’t get one. I always thought it was dumb that all of my regular company, school, and community center classes were closed the same week in August, but they didn’t just give me a vacation. Instead, I would end up being really short on hours and having to work a lot to make it up. This year, that didn’t happen. Plus, I have had two unofficial days off.

The bad news is that I have a ton of essays to correct. I had to give my college students at Toho Music College an essay assignment over the summer, because they missed about five weeks of classes. The school year started in April, but the previous teacher had to go back to the U.S. in May or June. So I am taking over the class until the end of the year.

I canceled all my private lessons this afternoon, so I could work on them. I need to get them done. Hopefully, I can finish all or most of them today, and enjoy tomorrow. I have a lot of things I want to write here, but I might not have time for a couple days…