College's Most Meritorious Worker
One
day, a friend of mine said this to me, “Being a shidouin is an honour thing to do.”
W-wait a minute
What is shidouin, Shane?
What does a shidouin do, Shane?
Why being a shidouin is an honour thing to do, Shane?
Okay, I will tell you everything I know,
my dear readers.
Based
on jisho.org, 指導員
(read: shidouin) means instructor;
advisor; adviser. Like a teacher or a lecturer, a shidouin also teaches a certain subject, but he/she also gives a
certain training/seminar to his/her students.
In my
place, Japanese Literature major, Padjadjaran University, shidouins teach how to write hiragana
and katakana beautifully–since the
lecturers in my place are really hate when seeing bad hand-writings–how to do aisatsu in front of senpais, and more to the freshmen. They also introduce them to some
popular Japan cultures and sing a Japanese children song together. Fun fact,
these shidouins are the 2nd
and 3rd year senpais.
I remembered
when I was a freshman year (which is last year) and had to engage the benkyou pagi (a kind of introductory class–I think) which always
starts from 6 AM exact-_-. To be honest, that is approximately the time I get
up and because of this introductory class, I had to get up around 5 AM and went
to college 30 minutes after. It was very tired
as f*ck-_-. And aside of this class, there is also the mentoring sore (a kind of campus orientation seminar and/or
training–I think). For me, it was the most tiresome and sucks thing to do. Since
I also cannot sit cross-legged for a long time, I had to straighten my legs
sometimes when the seminar and/or training was over.
Okay, let’s forget about those miserable
orientation days and back to topic.
Talking
about the introductory class, there are two shidouins
that will handle each group–and I am too lazy to tell the specific number. It must
be two people so in case where a shidouin
is sick, his/her partner must take place–and yes, he/she will be alone. In my
case, there were two shidouins called
B-senpai and F-senpai, and thankfully they were never absent. I think the two of
them were teaching energetically. Even when the class was turned into a hectic
place, they patiently waited for us to become silent and focus on track. As I already
mentioned before, they taught us how to write hiragana and katakana
beautifully, how to do aisatsu in
front of senpais, and more. They also
introduced us to some popular Japan cultures and sang a Japanese children song
together to relieve stress after studying.
Back then,
I was so amazed at the shidouins who are
trying to let go their drowsiness in the dawn, stay happy and energetic to meet
the freshmen and teach them everything–though I hate getting up in dawn and
like to stay in bed until the sun comes up. Because of that, this year, I
decided to become a shidouin to meet
the freshmen. Aside of that, I want a new experience from becoming a shidouin, both from its joy and its
sorrow.
The day
when I had to do the shidouin training,
I must say, it was so tiresome. I must do this and that, and must not do this
and that in front of the freshmen. If I am getting caught after doing a single ‘don’t’
thing, the freshmen will surely questioning my actions–and I will totally die for
it if they knew. Even though the training is troublesome, I mostly enjoy it and
for me it is a ‘worth it’ thing to do.
Now that a year has (nearly) passed and I will be a senpai for the freshmen. There
are two months left before I and the other shidouins–and
the other orientation staff–will meet them from different community,
tribe, race, and religion. Hope I can make it this year :).
いやぁー、恥ずかしいですね。
-Shane Tommo
July 06, 2018; 08.02 PM (West Indonesia Sea Time)
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| Picture: from the last year orientation's staff (feat. VSCO) |
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