Livin' in the Inaka

One of my most enjoyable moments during the week is my long drive through the mountains from my small elementary school every Wednesday. I only have my routine ALT duties at the junior high on Thurs and Friday so Wednesday after school is my midweek breather. This week on the drive home the air was so warm I rolled down the windows and turned up the music. The sunlight was reflecting off the muddy rice fields and the snow-crested mountains and I was the only car on the road the entire way :D This whole month has been comparatively warm but of late it's beginning to feel more and more spring-like. The cherry blossoms are predicted to bloom early this year and when they do I intend to enjoy every moment of it this time. 楽しみ～p(^-^)q I'll be there stretched out on the river bank everyday under the cherry blossoms with a good book, a bottle of wine or listening to my new ipod (on it's way ;). Only one more month of school remains before the new semester begins in April. The bloo...

I had a Valentine's Day lesson planned for my classes at Seibu Elementary today but just now was informed by my head teacher that all my students are out on a field trip :( So no lessons today. I was gunna let them try some of the "Sweetheart" candies my sister sent me too. I've been giving them to people to try this past week and every Japanese person says they taste "kusuri-ppoi!" (like medicine). I guess medicine in Japan tastes like chalky sugar. for those unfamiliar, Japanese Valentines wo setsumei shimasu... Valentine's Day in Japan is a lot less commercially hyped up than in America but is still celebrated, just a bit differently. In Japan ladies give the men chocolate- typically milk or dark. Receiving chocolate doesn't necessarily mean the person giving it to you is your friend, or even likes you for that matter... This chocolate is called "giri" chocolate, or rather "obligation" chocolate. It's not uncommon for women...

I can't go 3 months in Japan without getting sick it seems. I think it was last Sunday's workload that did me in. I agreed to be an interviewer for the annual ECC examinations, in which all the private teachers from the area bring their students in to be tested by a real "gaikokujin" in a one-on-one interview. Not that the interviews are terribly difficult for me, but after the first 60 kids or so I kinda wanted to hang myself. Many of the kids are far too young (some were as young as 4yrs old) or just too nervous. They tell us not to use any words or phrasing not specified in the test booklets, to ask the question 3 times if they didn't get it, and give hints for those completely clueless- I'd say about 70% of the kids I interviewed fell into the completely-clueless-category. Anywho, 8 hours with 300 kids... by the end of the day my face hurt from smiling and I was mildly delirious. Today I'm suppose to be at my elementary school which is prolly the worst...

Apologies for my lengthy absence... it's been a maddening first month to start the year and everything I've been anticipating or stressing about ends today- the greatest of these which has been weighing on my mind for the past 3 weeks is the big recontracting deadline for next year. What I thought would've been an easy decision ended up being much much harder when the time came to actually circle "yes or no." I could bore you with the details of my decison-making process but for now I'll just say no, I'm not coming back in August, and yes, I'm here in the inaka for another 18 months. I'll promise to come visit in the next 11 ;)