Sutorenjaa In Japan

Back in the Saddle Again

I have returned to my post after a 3 week absence. The vacation home was a blast. Thanks to all who were able to make it out at some point! For those who couldn't, we'll have to catch up when I come back. :)

The flight back was good. Very smooth, but quite long & VERY boring. All I can say is that crosswords are a god-send. I watched the Corpse Bride, The Brothers Grimm & K-Pax. They were OK. Brothers Grimm was pretty fun... aninteresting creation from Terry Gilliam. Hmmm... but only gets a 5.9 out of 10( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0355295/)

First day back is pretty uneventful. It's been snowing on and off and patches of sun. Luckily its not as cold as I thought it might be. High 30F 's during the day and it looks like sun is predicted for the rest of the week! YAY!!!! Maybe I'll actually get to play in the snow! Despite the pleasantness... its still DAMN cold! I'll be shopping for extra heaters and an electric blanket or bed warmer tonight. What a pain it is to live in such weather. Well, at least now I have snowboarding to look forward to. :D

No classes today. Opening ceremony was held in the morning. Students lined up with their classes, stood around and listened to the principal give a speech and other teachers making announcement for this term. It's the last term... in Japan I guess there are 3 terms (kind of like in the States) but they start the new school year in Spring. So, winter is the last term of the year. Kind of saddens me cause it means my 2nd years (my fave classes) will be moving up to 3rd year and I won't have classes with them in the spring. Awwww! Poor kids though. Especially the girls- they still have to wear skirts and no tights allowed!!!! It's SO cold in the gym (you can see your breath). They have 2 enormous kerosene heaters blowing warm air but it's so futile. By the time it starts to warm up, the assembly is over. Well, after the announcements, the kids get inspected... uniforms & hair. It's still a bit of a weird sight for me to see. The teachers are pretty meticulous... they kind of part the students' hair & really look at it through all angles to make sure its not dyed or too long/ short. I hope all the kids have clean hair on opening ceremony day. How nasty would that be to be lookin through some kid's hair and it was all greasy or it had lice!!!!!LIIIIIIIIIIICE!!!

The rest of the day has been spent trying to work on fixing this temp computer to my liking. In case you hadn't heard, the technology gods took a dump on me this winter and I had to get a new computer & iPod. :( Big ole expenses. And a royal pain in the butt. Oh well. Yay new stuff, I guess. The teachers are running around doing stuff and getting exams. I guess today the students had to take English and Japanese exams (government ones? I'm not sure) and tomorrow morning they have to take a math exam. Lucky them. Hehe... really lucky for me though. It gives me time to get my stuff together. The OC classes are pretty much planned for the next 6 weeks (my job is so easy here! It's insane) but I think I have to do more planning for the writing classes. They'll be doing debates in a few weeks. Good times. Finally a chance for them to speak! This should be interesting. Lastly I have to write up my presentation on grading for something. I guess my teachers have to publish things every year??? Nothing really significant (it could be anything from my reflections on japan, a story or poem to lesson plans and classroom observations). Eh. It's just extra work. More good times. At least it'll get me thinking again! Yata!

Here are some pix of my school in winter.

Till tomorrow...

posted by KidBach @ 2:21 PM