I had planned to skip school yesterday in anticipation of a day of medical exams. However, I had to work in the morning. After a morning of trying to type, my hand was getting pretty swollen. So, after I finished administering oral communication exams, I took the afternoon off ( Read more... )

This weekend, we had an Easter/Hanami party. Hanami is cherry blossom viewing. Every year, cherry blossoms signal the beginning of spring in Japan. Over the course of less than two weeks, the cherry trees bud, and the light pink blossoms bloom and die. To celebrate the beginning of spring and to take the time to appreciate the brief beauty of ( Read more... )

Last week, Mandy and I finished moving into our new apartment. She's doing an amazing job of making the place seem like home. She has planted some gardens and is decorating the house. You can really tell how much she loves cooking, too. The first room she finished was the kitchen. I have mostly been focusing on the upstairs room, which will be ( Read more... )

I found out today that I was not sent a bill for the residential tax. Instead, it turns out that it is the economic stimulus payment for Japan. A whopping 12,000 yen, aka. $120. So, as a result, I now have $240 more than I thought I was going to have at the end of the month! Hooray for money to pay for my new apartment's security deposit ( Read more... )

There are days when I am happy not to be a full member of the staff. The Japanese teachers have been in a meeting for three hours now. If I were there, I would likely be wishing for death because of how little I understand.

Today, the students who took the Miyazu High School entrance exam found out their results. It is a surprisingly big deal! There was a band playing, a Buddhist monk came to offer his blessings, and all the teachers stood outside to greet the new students. Naturally, it wasn't until the tail-end of the thing that anyone bothered to let me know ( Read more... )

This morning, I talked to the vice-principal of our school and he told me about his busy schedule for the day. Apparently, his first order of business this morning is to talk to a student and his parents about the student's smoking ( Read more... )

今週はつまらない。火曜日宮津高校で働いた。二じょうぎょうが二時間ざつあった。いちばんはＬＬ。にばんはＯＣＩＩ。田中先生はＯＣＩＩ前にぼくのじょうぎょうを好きじゃなかったと教えた。でもじゅうぎょうで学生がよく好きそうだった。水曜日かいよ高校で働いた。タイワンの学生が学校をうかがった。でもぼくがじょうぎょうに教えなかった。八時間でつくえですわった。たいへんにつまらなかった ( Read more... )

土曜日ではスコットとぼくが三つ映画見た。日曜日ではアマンダとカサとぼくが天橋立にいった。カサのはじめて行った。日曜日のよるでは私たちが雅子の誕生日のパーテイーに行った。レストラン山海屋に行った。二人てんいんいた。かれかがぼくの生徒です。生徒まえにはおかっし飲んでいた。火曜日ではあの学生がじゅぎょうでぼくの飲むことで書いた ( Read more... )

Golden WeekThis weekend was Golden Week. Golden week is a string of Japanese holidays that are one day after another. As a result, people tend to receive several days off from work during the week. Alas, this year, two of the four holidays landed on the weekend, so we only received two days off during the week ( Read more... )