The Lighthearted Wanderer

Not typical by any means, but I promised my bestie Sonia that I would write one of these, and today seems as good a day as any :) So here is my today... 6:35am Woke up to my alarm and immediately looked out my sliding door to see if the weather was rainy or or not. Just clouds at that point, but looked like it could open up to rain any time. Usually I wake up at 6:50/7ish, but I woke up early today to look at the weather. And so I waited, why? 7:00am Because I was waiting for my vice-principal (kyoto-sensei) at my visit school (the one I go to on Tues and Fridays) to see if the school's sports festival would still be held. Due to weird liability/travel expenses, I wouldn't be able to go to the school's sports day and would instead be sent to my regular school. But if it was raining, they would reschedule sports day and I would go to the visit school and teach my classes. But alas, it was simply cloudy, and the sweet kyoto-sensei informed me that I should just go to m...

A post that I know will do very little justice to all the amazing festivals that I have been to in the past 2 months...but better late than never! Sorry in advance that it's very picture-heavy... Fireworks in Kobe Harbor - August 6, 2011 The first time I got to hang out with some Hyogo ALTs since Orientation :)  And I know this is super creepy, but isn't she so adorable?? To-kae Festival in Nara  - August 13, 2011 Fields and fields of candles in paper lanterns in pretty designs...the great surprise was coming across these giant bamboo poles with carved out holes, it was really quite beautiful when in the summer night. Daimonji or Gozan no Okuribi Festival in Kyoto - August 16, 2011 It was one of the hottest days of the summer, and the crowds and crowds of people added to the heat. But there was something really nice about chilling on the river bank with a chuhi and some buddies just watching the flaming kanji burn itself out... ...

Slow day. Same story. Typhoon warning, no classes. All the teachers in the staff room talking but I don't understand anything unless the nice librarian who comes to sit next to me during staff meetings clues me in on what's going on. But at least I remember what I actually wanted to write about today. So by now, you've probably seen/heard/read of this  NY Times article  about education and whether schools should be focused on building character and what does it mean to have good character. I'm linking it here not because this post will actually be referring to it but that while I was reading I remembered what I meant to write about. And also because you might as well go read it if you haven't already...even though I'm only on pg 5 at the moment, many have called it a worthwhile read. I would finish the article first and affirm or deny that claim, but when I remember what I want to write about, I tend to want to stop everything else that I am doing so I ...

Today it is looking like classes will be cancelled for the whole day. Good for me because I literally hopped off 3 trains and 2 buses, changed my shirt and tried to look work-presentable. Also good for me because I get to plan some lessons that I should have planned over the weekend. But slightly frustrating because I again have that feeling that I have not been productive and haven't contributed to the school environment. And so I will blog. Just about the travel part of my trip this weekend, because I really want to add my pictures to the post I will write about the places I have visited. This blog is supposed to be about my "wandering travels" and so here is the story of my travels back to Kobe. I left Yokote (here's another translation bit for you, yoko=horizontal, te=hand; so for some reason the town where my boyfriend lives is called "Horizontal Hand") around 3:20pm to take the JR Ou line to Omigari, one of the hubs for train transportation in Ak...

I'm super amused that my 3rd year class is super talkative. It might get tiring after a while, but this first class being filled with laughter and outbursts was a fun way to alleviate some pre-class jitters. The first thing I hear when I turn the corner with my teacher---"HI, I LOVE YOU!" Response from me, "That's nice!" *sarcastic amused looks while putting my hand over my heart* (female students giggle upon seeing my sarcastic response)...Japanese students totally pick up on subtext :) That pretty much sums up the proceedings of that class. Later, looking at written self introductions that the students handed in to me, I couldn't help but smile... "I like cheese." "I like Pokemon too! Let us talk about Pokemon."  "I look forward to teach you." "I fell in love you. Nice to me to." Nice to meet you too :)

But for the first time, not as a student. A bunch of my new friends in Japan have been out of school for a little while, so for a moment I almost forgot that it is noteworthy that the calendar changed from August to September and I still haven't moved back into Young O, or had Meik Orientation, or met with my new group of first years, or tore apart the course catalog looking for just the right class to round out my schedule. It wasn't until I looked through my fb newsfeed, or some other unexpected reminder of the sort, when I realized that that this September is a very different one than the ones that I have had in a long long while... However, the change from August to September did bring about other sorts of school-related anxiety. I gave a speech in front of the teachers at their welcome-back staff meeting in both English and Japanese. Trying to figure out my class schedules and realizing that I'd been stressing out over making lessons that weren't for another week...