Mother nature seems to be having hot flashes. Last night it rained and afterwards it was so pleasant and warm outside. This morning, I was told it was -5 degrees celsius(whatever _that_ means!), and tonight it's freeeezing! I came home just now from Aikido, and I didn't want to get out of my car where the heater was nice and warm, so I drove around for 15 minutes after arriving home. Finally, I decided to brave the 15 minutes of cold it takes for my heater to warm my bedroom. Even after it's warm in here though, cold air leaks in through the windows and the floor.
Though I'm complaining, truthfully, it's nice to feel like it's winter again. On the walk to work, the daffodils are blooming in a nearby yard. Yesterday, the art teacher pointed out to me that the plum tree has a few flowers in bloom already, a month ahead of schedule. I'm willing to bet that an early spring will mean a hot, hot summer, and that might be harder than a cold winter. The reason I say that is because things(clothes, food, Aikido dogis) grow mold so fast when it's hot, and the bugs come out. At least in the cold things are clean and I can leave the compost in the sink for more than 5 minutes without three different kinds of ants finding it.
Okay, no more complaining. Da, da da daaa: I joined a gym again, at last. Membership starts tomorrow, and I'm looking forward to going as I prepare to take my 2nd degree black belt test in early April. (As an added perk, my membership gets me 200yen off at the bathhouse near my house. It's not a fancy bathhouse as far as they go, but they have a nice little outdoor bath, and a sauna. These are communal baths, you know. Like we all soak naked together(women and men are separate), just like Romans did, I guess. At first, I was a little shy doing it, but now I enjoy taking communal baths very much. Doing something routine with other people around makes me take that much more care to see that I've really done a good job washing before I get in the baths. Anyway, I'm going to start off easy, and work it up from there.
I can finally say that I'm enjoying teaching quite a lot these days. It became much different after the department started using the new textbook, and now they're letting me use two other textbooks I picked out for the other classes. Maybe they'd just been waiting for someone like me to show up and get the ball rolling on the textbook thing--I dunno! Besides that, some of the students and I have grow closer, and they brighten my world every day. That being said, I've accomplished a mission; I set out here to Japan to see if I wanted to become a teacher, and now I think I would like to become a teacher. Not necessarily an English teacher on Kyushu Island though... let's wait and see what the future could possibly have in store...!
I hope I've distracted you thoroughly for a few minutes. And now that you've been distracted, you have all the energy you need to go back to your work becoming like your favorite teacher.
I tell of my day-to-day experiences in a funky Japanese town from my American viewpoint. This blog could also be called 'Bizarro World', 'Notes From Kyushu, a Smaller Island', or 'Teaching English in Japan: Smash Your Ego in 10 Easy Lessons."
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
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1 comment:
Okay, I never wanted to be like my favorite teacher because I actually had many of them and taking on the responsibility of multiple personalities at such a young age was probably not in my best interest. Now, is a different story.
It sounds like you are getting some real direction jet. I remember back when I was a Tang Soo Do student. It probably gave me the only real discipline I still own today. Thanks to my Sensei Mike Flynn. I wish there were some good bathhouses in Missouri because I could sure use some good freshening up lately, not that I stink, but you know what I mean.
Keep on keepin' on jet.
Later....
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