The weeks keep rolling by. I admit that I am busy and I am teaching a lot of classes here. When I was in Tahara I usually taught about 15-20 classes a week, sometimes way less. Many times it seemed like I didn’t teach much at all since I didn’t design any lesson plans in Tahara and basically was a very basic backup to the teacher.
Here in Toei, it’s a whole different ballgame. I have classes of my own, and about 20-25 each week. Of those, at least 8 are elementary school classes, which I am completely on my own. Most of my kids are great, and my only complaint with a few is that they are too excited. I don’t have the problem that some teachers in the big city have where the students don’t want to learn and sleep at their desks. My kids are pumped about getting to spend time with the foreigner, and some of the little kids don’t let me leave school without playing with them for a long time, and even then sometimes it is a fight to get away.
Of course as summer draws close and I hear (and read) about friends having fun at home I long to be back in KY. Nate has always said that there isn’t anything better in the world than a summer in KY, and I think he’s right. It will be great to be home this summer and have at least a month to relax and hang out with friends. For sure I am long overdue for some fishing, and I can guarantee that more than a few nights will be spent with the boys on the third floor talking about old times.
It rained like the dickens this morning and now it humid as can be. I walked to the elementary school from the junior high and now I am just wet with sweat. Nothing gets you into a good mood to teach some rowdy kids like being sweaty and hot. Of course schools in Japan aren’t heated or cooled, which I still believe is cruel and unusual.
I’ve been running after school in the mountains behind my apartment. So far this week I have seen two dead snakes on the road, one of which was the biggest snake I have ever seen in the wild. I am half glad that it was dead when I saw it, cause I think it could have eaten me otherwise. Near my apartment this year I have seen pheasants, quail, a weasel, a Japanese raccoon, and tons of other creepy crawlies.
I miss all of you at home and hope to be there sometime in the end of July. I have to renew my visa, which of course isn’t a process that Japan makes easy. (not that anything here is ever easy!) As soon as my new visa is in hand, I will be on the next plane home!!