New School Year

hey all,

Tomorrow is the first day of the new school year. I will be sharing the duties of teaching the youngest students we have in the morning group lessons: 2-3 years old.

My morning class will be one hour with one set of students, then I switch with another teacher and teach another set of students for one hour. That gives myself and the other teacher about 1.5 hours of extra prep time, which we will need since the young students need lots of flashcards and lots of activities.

To be honest, I was afraid I would get the students who I taught this last year again. I really tried my best with them, but I'm not happy with where their English or their behavior is after a year of effort.

Outside of work, things are OK. I've gotten to use my kendo armor twice in class now. I still need some pointers on knots and wearing some of the gear. But since I have the armor, I get to scream at the top of my lungs and try to whack other students now. Which is a lot more fun then getting asked "And what do you call this part of the sword?" every class like the little, little kids.

We had last week off from work, and I mostly played video games and caught up on anime a little bit. The new season of HBO's Game of Thrones has started up, and it looks to be another awesome season. For some reason, South Park will be starting up in September instead of now, so no new South Park for a few months.

I also finished my re-read of Wheel of Time, and the new book comes out in two days, and I've been forced to avoid all the wiki's and guides because spoiler information for the last book has started showing up there.

Cheers,

Absence

hey all,

Here are my excuses:

• I've been re-reading The Wheel of Time series.
• One of our teachers was absent for two weeks due to a stomach virus, and I've been exhausted from teaching extra lessons.
• I've been worrying about classes next year.

But really what it comes down to is that I feel my life is boring now. When I first came to Japan, I wrote this blog almost a couple times a week. I took pictures of all the strange and interesting things I was seeing and eating.

Well, I've been in Japan for four years now, and have just started the 5th. I've been dating Michi for a little more than three, and we've been living together for almost two years. My job, although it can be emotionally, mentally, and physically trying, is mostly fulfilling. Michi is probably the best thing that has happened to me and I don't regret coming to Japan.

But what exciting adventures have we been having recently? Not really any. At school, the other teachers and myself worry about organizing classes, and motivating students, about preparing materials and getting results. At home, Michi and I cook, clean, argue, make up, and watch movies. Yes, I have my kendo classes on Sundays, but I decided that one of my goals for 2013 would be to climb a 5.11c. However, we have gone rock climbing one time so far and 2013 is already one quarter finished.

I wanted to ask the principal for a raise, as I have a certificate for curriculum design now, but the Yen is very strong right now, which is always bad for the Japanese economy, and the government has decided to increase the sales tax (which is necessary, but will force the middle class to cut luxuries, or things perceived as luxuries, such as expensive English lessons), and the number of our students will be decreasing pretty dramatically next year. The principal has actually been debating firing a teacher, though who or whether she actually will is unknown. So, I haven't asked because I don't think I have any chance of receiving it.

Today is a national holiday, and we had planned on going on a short hike, but cancelled because the weather didn't look ideal. We went to see Cloud Atlas instead, which was an amazing movie, but I feel like in the past we would have taken the chance and gone hiking anyway.

Hopefully, 2013 can be salvaged.

Cheers,

Re-reading

hey all,

I've been re-reading all the previous books in the Wheel of Time series, and I'm way ahead of schedule. I was supposed to finish book 13 around the end of March or beginning of April, but I'm already on book 10. As I was reading through book 9, I realized that I just didn't remember maybe 80% of what happened. Book 10 has been the same way so far.

This weekend I took a rest from my kendo class. A cough has been bothering me the last few days, and the last thing I want to do is run around and shout at the top of my lungs.

Today, Michi is taking the interview section of her English test. We'll have to see how she did in a couple weeks.

Cheers,

Sportsman

hey all,

A little silly, but last weekend I had my kendo lesson as usual on Sunday morning, and then on Monday (which was a holiday) Michi and I went rock climbing, which was the first time in what feels like forever.

We also bought a stick blender, which I'm pretty pumped about.

That's all for now. Oh yeah. Screw North Korea.

Cheers,

Snowy Day

hey all,

The snow is really coming down here in Tokyo. Luckily, it is a holiday and we didn't have major plans anyway.

The last book of The Wheel of Time has come out, but the Kindle edition is not out until April. Which is fine by me. I've just about finished reading The Eye of the World, which is the first book in the series. I'm going to try to pace myself so I don't finish too much before the last book is released. I've got 13 weeks to re-read about the same number of books, which is just about right. Plus I have some teaching books that I'm working through.

Cheers,

Lucky? Gods

hey all, So I've been at home today and yesterday. On Sunday, Michi and I went to visit the Seven Lucky\Happiness gods around Tokyo. As you might remember, previous trips have not proved so lucky. On the first trip, on our way back, Michi forgot a kimono on the train. On the second trip, she got bit by some mosquitoes, and we called it off because it seemed like an extreme allergic reaction. The third time I went by myself, but got rained out 2/3 of the way through. Well, after visiting all seven of their shrines without incident, Sunday night I threw up around midnight, and spent the whole night with one end or the other over the toilet. The doctor said it was an "intestinal infection," but that could mean E. coli, salmonella, rota virus, norovirus, or many other friendly bugs. In any case, I received the day off, took the doctor's medication, and spent the whole day sleeping. Today I'm feeling much better, just a little queasy and light-headed. I've asked for one more day off, just to be sure the symptoms have passed, and hopefully I can get back to work. Cheers,

There and Back Again

hey all

So this was a really tough trip. The distance we traveled was not so great or far compared to other trips, and our bags were not as outrageously heavy as for other trips either.

We didn't have to hike 30km to get to our destination, or anything spectacular like that.

View New Year's Day Trip 2013 in a larger map

What we had was -10 degree temperatures (that's 14 degrees for y'all in the States) with us in a tent. I thought I knew what cold was, but apparently that was just a child's feeble imagining of cold. 

But I get ahead of myself. Why did we do this? The video explains.

And how cold was it?

But I reckon it was worth it. How many sunrises like the one below do you get to see?

Happy New Year!