Dartboard

Okay, WHOOPS! Happy Mother’s Day, Mama. I totally forgot. I have no excuse for not remembering. I even get an extra day to remember because of the time difference, but I still didn’t. There hasn’t been a decent hour to call you since I got back, but I could have sent an email at the very least. I love you still! Thanks for being my mom!

I’m not ready to post the pictures from my hitch hiking trip. Don’t worry. They will come soon, but I have some “catching up” to do first. Being back at work today was really great. I was really busy and had to stay a little late, but it was better than not being busy. First years turned in their notebooks and it takes me hours to get through all them. I even brought them home, but I probably won’t work on them tonight. Had a great class teaching the different between “interesting” and “interested in ~” today. Too many of my students say “I am interesting.”

Today was one of my rare attempts to teach grammar in a lesson. I like to leave that nonsense to the Japanese teachers and stick to games, songs, cultural activities that reinforce grammar points. But actually, the students did really well with my lesson. Sasaki-sensei did a good job of helping me where I needed it—writing sentences or blanks on the board, but not translating into Japanese. That’s my biggest pet peeve about team teaching. Students can ignore me if they know it will be translated into Japanese right after I say anything. So that’s why I love to teach alone. Students know I’m not going to explain in Japanese, so they listen very closely from the beginning.

Anyway, I was happy it went so well. Many students wrote on my evaluation card at the end of class, “I was interested in English class today.” or “Today’s class was interesting.” I still got some that said, “I interested in class today.” but I made them change it right away. Some kids never learn…

Okay. Pictures. I want to post pictures from a long time ago. In alphabetical order, here they are.

ASAGAMI> Here’s Asagami. The awesome dentist and tennis coach who loves foreigners.

DRESSER> I got a new dresser and a mirror from a teacher who moved out in April. Mom used the dresser while she was here, but after she left I replaced my desk with the dresser and put everything into drawers. It looks and feels so much cleaner. The poster is from my goodbye enkai at Wakamatsu.

ELECTIONS> Elections were at the end of April. I like the way they put up all propaganda on a designated board like this.

HATSUMOMO> Some more pictures of Hatsumomo in a beautiful sunset.

This is the road that goes around her—clear from this side view—but I’m still not ready to try to find it.

LARGE> Are you sick of sunset pictures? I’ve only got a few more left.

LIVE> Dinner. It was still pulsing with colors as we took the sashimi from it.

MAMA> and a Komeyama sunset.

NORIMURA> This is Norimura Yoshikatsu, Satomi’s husband. Unfortunately he didn’t made office this year, but he fought hard!

OCEAN> The ocean.

ONSEN> A steamy onsen in a ryokan (Japanese inn) on Wakamatsu.

PINK> I painted my bathroom pink with white trim. Can’t see it really well, but here it is.

SERVE> Back to tennis.

SUNSETS>

This is the bay I can see from my school’s office window.

TAI> One of my favorite Goto fish: Tai. I don’t know what it is in English. They have huge bones though—including this bone that is like a turkey’s wish bone.

TENNIS> The tennis courts on the ocean.

VOTE> I wonder if this guy won. I would have voted for a fist like that.

WATCH> Asagami was fascinated with my mom’s watch.

Okay, that’s all the pictures for now. I’m going to bed.
Sierra

i hope it gets better than this