Rocket Tree-Houses

FRIDAY, AUGUST 20

When I went to bed last night, I had no e-mails in my in-box. When I woke up, I had 31 new e-mails. I checked all those, then went to school. When I got back, I had 32 new e-mails. Thank you, guys, you make me feel so loved.

Work was good today. There were lots of teachers there and everyone seemed to be in good spirits. I'll be teaching my first lessons next week, at a Junior High School days event. Junior High School kids (and parents!) interested in Koko will be coming to experience classes. So, I went over the schedule and my lesson plan with Mountain-Sensei and Mustache-Sensei. We then went to the English room, rearranged some stuff, and did a run-through. I think it'll be good. Fun, at least and educational, if not immediately grammar driven.

I chatted with Mountain-Sensei a while about Nishi. He worked there for 13 years and I think misses it. Teachers here are moved around frequently by the Board of Education. You don't really get to choose. I mentioned that all of the teachers there loved him and that they said he was “cute.” Well, oh my! Mustache-Sensei jumped right onto that. Laugher, laughter, laughter. With Mountain-sensei, not at him, of course. So Mustache-Sensei kept cracking jokes about Mr. Cute all afternoon and, you know, it's the first time I've laughed I think since coming to Japan, certainly at work. It was good.

I had plenty of teachers come talk to me throughout the day, so that the time didn't seem to pass so slowly. I found out that the teacher who sits next to me will be out on sick leave for the rest of the year with severe mental depression. Which was all spelled out for me. Back home, we'd not be able to give a reason, but that kind of privacy doesn't happen here. And, honestly, just having seen him one day, it was obvious. I've never seen someone who looked so depressed before. They might send us a long-term substitute teacher.

I revised some lesson plans with with I learned at orientation and am thinking of more. I also drew a sketch that will eventually accompany a sentence in a later class, “Micky Mouse and I traveled to the moon in a tree-house with my dog.” It's awesome, I promise. Although I feel odd about sketching myself. Really, it's just a girl with pigtails. I'll ink it and color it next week.

One of the disadvantages of actually posting entries in a timely manner is that it gives me less chance to go back and add something I might have forgotten earlier. So, I will add now that the night I got internet was awesome in another way – I had grilled cheese for dinner! It used about six of the slices of cheddar-gouda cheese to cover a single slice of bread. And there were only 16 slices to start with, (which cost about $4... these numbers are getting frightening.) So, it wasn't the cheapest of meals, but it was wonderful.

Chatted with Olivia a lot while I debated dinner. One earwig was removed from the sink. I ended up staying up four hours past my bedtime catching up with friends from home. Thank you Matthew, Alan, and Lonn.