Almost Done Working

Oh I dreaded it and dreaded it, but I did it!

I survived the busiest week at work: finished 4 teaching observations (one of which was at 7pm) and subsequent observation reports while keeping my regular office hours and teaching a 2-hour pronunciation class. The pre-pregnancy Kate would've snickered at a "light" schedule like this, but man.... Many times when I dragged my pregnant ass down the looooooooong LTTC hallway because I had to go to the bathroom for the 100th time, when I paused at the 8th word of a sentence because I was already out of breath, when my clumsy hand accidentally dropped a marker and 5 students simultaneously bent down to get it for me, I thought to myself, "Why am I still working? I'm too pregnant for this."

It has reached the point where I started feeling bad about my gigantic presence in the office because of how sweet and considerate people have been. Some of the guys are always ready to give me a hand or give up their seats or offer me a ride home on a rainy day. Our busy-bee secretaries at the front desk were instructed to "watch out for the pregnant lady" when they turn a corner or come into the office no matter how big of a hurry they're in. Our super sweet office manager, Candy, is always there to quietly hand me a mask when someone coughs, insist on sharing her fruit with me when I don't have any, and remind me not to run to my desk when the phone rings.

The sheer size of my growing belly has also caused some comical situations. I was talking to an English teacher in front of my desk one day, and the next thing I noticed was that 2 or 3 Japanese teachers were standing by their seats, staring at my belly, murmuring and nodding at one another, "sugoi, ne?!" (Note: すごい "sugoi" means cool, great, or amazing). Oh, and I think I'm slowly driving the cleaning lady crazy. I could tell her patience is running thin by the questions she asks me: At 32 weeks, she asked, "Teacher, aren't you tired walking around with that belly?" At 33 weeks, she asked, "Teacher, don't you get tired from working every day?" and finally just two days ago, "Teacher, when are you actually going to give birth?"

One more week of work and I'm officially on leave.

"You're so gonna miss us when you're staying home waiting to give birth, Kate. You're gonna miss all the jokes and drama that goes on in the office," several teachers teased me when I told them how I couldn't wait for the day I stop coming to work.

They didn't have to tell me that. I know I will.