flying solo

Since I began teaching at the highschool, I've team-taught every class with a Japanese teacher. But today, one of the teachers had another appointment and I had to teach the class alone.

Now, I teach English classes alone all the time -- for anywhere from one to about seven students.

Now picture a room full of 41 Japanese 15-year-olds, some of whom don't respect any of their teachers... and picture me walking in alone.

Without the Lord's gift of patience and boldness, I would have failed miserably. This is just another to add to my list of: "If you had told me in college that I would be... [ ]... I would not have believed you." Here is as much as I can recall from that list:

Teaching
Teaching kindergarteners
Enjoying teaching
Living in Japan
Driving in Japan
Climbing mountains in Japan
Skiing on real mountains
Speaking Japanese fluidly (although not yet fluent)
Talking about: God, grace, sin, the Gospel, the Holy Spirit, prayer, protection, etc. to non-believers, in Japanese
Trying to pray in Japanese
Performing a solo concert in a hospital lobby... in Japan

Belonging to a band where all the people and all the rehearsals are held... in Japanese (The extent of the English: one conductor actually says "One, two, san... " before starting us up.)

Having those band members joke that I am Japanese

Belonging to an amateur orchestra that practices weekly with professional dedication... and pays a professional conductor largely from the proceeds of their concerts.

Leading a horn class for eight Japanese Junior high girls (last winter)
Playing horn octets in concert (last winter) and for fun (recently) with Japanese people.
Playing an alpenhorn quartet for fun
Realizing that some Japanese men are tall... and attractive
Commuting to a different place every day and loving it
Teaching at a university (last year)
Teaching at a high school (recent)
Experiencing a nearby flood and nearby earthquake in the span of three months (2 years ago)
Playing soccer, tennis, air hockey, darts; doing archery and batting cages; and rollerblading all in the same building within the span of three hours (tonight)

But I'm getting ahead of myself. The solo high school class was really not all that different from teaching with someone... or from teaching my elementary age kids! :-)