The One Before

It’s been a while since my last update, and I suppose a lot has happened. I settled into my new apartment, went to a hot spring with some students, had two cherry blossom parties, and the new school year in Japan started. I’ve had a number of schedule changes – gained a lot, didn’t lose much! I suppose that comes with the territory of being one of the more experienced teachers now.

One of my new classes is full of 5-6-year-olds, including two twin girls. I was told that their mother always had to be in the classroom with them, because they got upset in the foreign teacher’s half of the class. Near the start of my first lesson with them, one of the twins got a bit teary, but towards the end, their mother actually left the classroom for the first time. She went to the reception and told my manager that she liked my lesson. By the second class, the mum left the room just five minutes in – the twins were fine. Just before the third lesson, the twins were so happy to see me they grabbed my hands and literally pulled me inside the classroom so we could get started. It’s hard to not love kids like that.

The hot spring experience funny – it was outside next to the river, with nothing but a fence and a narrow strip of grass separating them. The cliff face on the other side of the river is right above you, too. At one point I saw a woman jogging past beside the river. I stood up so I could see over the fence, totally nude, and gave her a wave. I think she got pretty embarrassed because after that she tried really, really hard not to look in my direction.

Last weekend was my second cherry blossom party, otherwise known as Entertain Yuna Day. Yuna is my boss’s niece and also a student at the school; she’s six and she’s awesome. She came along to our picnic and the rest of us spent the day amusing/being amused by her. No kidding, she can throw a Frisbee better than me. In this photo you can see the cherry blossom trees in the background, with a layer of petals floating on the lake. Seconds after I took this photo, as I put my phone back into my pocket, Yuna slipped off her rock and stepped in the water, completely soaking her shoes and socks. It was totally my fault... but totally worth this photo.

The highlight of the day was when we went to the zoo, and Yuna found the parrot’s cage. She walked straight up to it and shrieked loudest, cutest, most piercing bird squawk I’ve ever heard in my life – and that was her greeting. Gees, it killed me.

Although I don’t know how much longer I’ll be here, I’ve got some cool things planned for the coming future – especially Thang Tang! Just 5 days to go!! ...What, you want to know what it is already?