It’s a beautiful day, too beautiful to bitch. Besides, some guy giving a lecture apparently said that as a short-term visitor to Japan, I spend way too much time objectifying, exoticizing and otherwise demonizing as a would-be expert on Japan. Well maybe, but it’s mostly self-preservation okay?
Anyway, I come to you today with the following […]
Ball-sports day; played on the sensei volleyball team against the winning class of the student tournament. We lost. I’m sure I cost us a few points, having a) forgotten my contacts and b) no idea where the ‘out’ and other important lines were on a court full of incomprehensible scribblings.
Being yelled at and not […]
Ahh, it’s a beautiful day in the inaka. My worst class of the year is officially over, how can I not be happy?
One bit of sad news: the names of 4 or 5 leaving teachers were revealed, among them one of my favorites, a Japanese teacher of English and team-teacher who was always quiet, but […]
15:30
The air is thick. Everyone is waiting today, laughing and chatting like nothing is happening, but I can feel anticipation.
Today the principal went to the central BOE, and soon he will arrive back at school knowing which teachers will go and which will stay.
It’s the same every year, the whole prefecture of teachers plays musical […]
Another day at the desk, making sure the computer doesn’t get lonely.
Did my taxes, read my book, ate a salad lunch in preparation for a swimsuit vacation, haven’t cracked my Japanese yet.
Looked at my giant pack list, which got me sort of excited, but not past the swimsuit hurdle. Ugh, why do I have to […]
Came to school this bright lovely morning to find a parking lot full of bright baby junior high students, all ready for their entrance exams. Some of you will be mine, little kiddies, come to me!
Creepiness aside, I had a good eyebrow raising moment this morning when the vice principal made a special announcement during […]
Spent last weekend in Tokyo. I hadn’t been back since the insane days of job orientation I vaguely recall from when I first arrived in Japan. From out here in the middle of nowhere inaka, north of Osaka on the Sea of Japan, it’s a 10-hour overnight bus ride.
Ever more the master of sleeping […]
Sat through the freezingness that is graduation today. The strange formality was just like last year, the kiritsu! rei! chakuseki! (stand! bow! sit!), the fact that students give their speeches at the podium facing the stage instead of the audience, the fact that we all willingly sat in just-above-zero temperatures for an hour and a […]