tissue time: bye bye higashi

Leaving school was like ripping off a bandaid.  I’ve known about my last day for weeks (technically years) and especially since my last round of classes started, it had been hovering over me, and every time I walked through the halls, I thought about how I’d have to walk through them for the last time [...]

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leaving: i’m finally writing about it

Leaving is incredibly difficult.  Not like I’ve never left things before – high school, college, my childhood home – but leaving here is unlike anything I’ve really experienced before.  Every day here has been an adventure, and this foreign land somehow became my home.  But it’s a home that takes upwards of 20 hours to [...]

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a tiny fail: brought to you by heke

The other day we had a staff meeting where we got a big sheet (top secret) of all the kids’ allergies and other ailments so everyone knows what’s up.  I was flipping through it while people were talking, because staff meetings are outrageously long and boring and though I really like hearing updates on how [...]

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namaste

Well, today was not the day I expected when I woke up this morning.  I went to school, business as usual, but little did I know I’d get to enjoy more language fuckery than you can shake a stick at, and an intercultural meeting that (cheesy as it is) I can never forget.  The first [...]

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wonder kids and …not so much

I had brand new students today – something that hasn’t happened in a long time.   Of course I’ve spent 2 Aprils here, which means two new classes of first graders in elementary after the initial newness of arriving – but they’re pretty predictable, the first graders.  Start from scratch.  But at my one school I [...]

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the magic word

I haven’t written in what feels like ages.  I have an excuse! My mom is here.  We’ve been out and about, touristing and just taking in small-town life.  It’s been lots of fun and I’ll have more to say once it’s all over, but here’s a short story for you cos I know it hurts [...]

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garlic + teacher = no.

Yesterday I learned a very important lesson.  If you are a teacher, do not eat garlic bread for breakfast.  Don’t do it. There are many reasons for this. The first is, who even eats garlic bread for breakfast?? That is insane.  Have you no sense of appropriate breakfast food items? The second is, you will [...]

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gettin busy, doin stuff

The school year is in full swing and I’ve been teaching a ton, preparing a ton, going to teacher parties and spent the last week with a former JET who came to visit (miss you!).  Needless to say I’ve been terribly busy, cranky, exhausted, sleep-deprived and haven’t gotten to post this entry that I wrote [...]

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stereotyping: imma do it.

Let’s enjoy stereotypes.  Yesterday the kids showed off their clubs in an assembly to try to get the first years to join, and I thought I’d share some observations on what kind of kids join what kind of club.  This doesn’t go for all of Japan or even all of Shiso – I’ve heard in [...]

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love connection!!

My little kids are getting all grown up!  We played a game today where kids are randomly picked to ask each other questions, and so as a joke I put on a few silly ones like “Do you have a boyfriend?” “Where is the toilet?” and “Do you like me?” and they can ask whatever [...]

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