Up (to) date

So yeah. Japan is great! We live in a small rural (and I mean rural) town in the Ibaraki prefecture (like a Japanese state) called Namegata. There are rice fields as far as the eye can see. I'll probably post pictures of them later when we get internet access at home (hopefully at the end of May). Right now I am posting from our local library. I have seen one white person here other than Tessa and I since we have been in Namegata.

It is the start of Golden Week in Japan, which is three seperate holidays conveniently placed at the start of the week, so including the weekend, we get 5 days off in a row. We probably won't be able to do much during this time (money is still a bit tight until we get our first paycheck) but at least we'll be able to relax. There is a really nice aquarium in Oari that we'll have to visit sometime.

In case I hadn't said yet, I work at two Japanese Junior High Schools, one three days a week, and one two days a week. Basically, my job entails planning games and worksheets to be used in the classroom during my planning periods, and providing a native English speaking example in the classroom. Everyone at both schools has been very nice and accomodating. I like both schools for different reasons. Sakuragawa JH (which literally means "Cherry Blossum River") is very small, but very new, clean and high-tech. It's easier to get to know the teachers and the people there because there is less of them to know, and I'm there more often. Edosaki JH on the other hand is HUGE, 2-3 times larger, which is nice because I can blend in a bit better, and there is another ALT there too. His name is Lito and he is from the Phillipines. He's very nice and has a wealth of knowledge about living in Japan, which he has done for 7 years. The children at both schools are great. They are always very excited or embarassed to talk to me, and most of the time very curious. The Japan JHs have 3 grades: first year, second year, and third year, which by American standards would be 7th, 8th, and 9th grade. The fist years have little to no English experience. They are very eager to learn, though. The second years are somewhat eager, and the third years...not so much. Some of the third year students blatantly do no work at all in the class and either sleep or sit there and stare.

That is all for now, hopefully I'll be able to post one more time during the holiday, maybe even some amusing stories and annecdotes! Ja, ne!