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I finally heard word on the status of teacher transfers! –And I’m back from Korea, but I'll write again once I download pictures.— Every April teachers in Japan who have put in their six years at their respective schools are transferred to a new city and a new school. Who is transferring and when they go is all a secret up until 運命の日　(Unmei no Hi—Day of Fate) when they are announced by the school principal and even published in the local newspapers! Some teachers can’t transfer after six years because they like their school and request to stay on longer or are asked to stay by the school board, but the maximum number of years at any school is around eight years. This is to keep the atmosphere fresh and prevent corruption due to long term associations. And it’s rare, but some teachers are even granted early leave because of illness or family problems so who is transferring really does come as a surprise to most of us. Additionally, the teachers only get two weeks during spring break to pack up and move to their new location and have to be settled in by the time school begins in April. It’s a fast turn-around and a huge stress for most teachers, but this year I’ve been looking forward to the announcement because I presumed I’d be losing—or gaining, depending on how you look at it—two English teachers this year.

And today I found out for sure that both full time English teachers are leaving! That’s both sad and exciting. It’s sad because Hatakeyama-sensei, my favorite person and mentor at Nakako, will be going to Nagasaki Minami High School on Thursday and VERY EXCITING because Sasaki-sensei, my least favorite person and arch enemy at Nakako, will also be moving along!! Who cares where—just so long as it’s not here!! As Carrie would write, **does a little dance** Hee, hee!!!! I just met Hatake at the grocery store this afternoon and picked his brain for all the details on the new arrivals. Here’s the scoop…

Two new English teachers, one male and one female, both unmarried. The man is 36 and he went to the same university as Hatakeyama-sensei. They passed the teacher’s test in the same year—the year that only two new positions opened up in Nagasaki—so like Hatake, he has a reputation for being very good at English. He is assumed to be my supervisor, but I’ll find out for sure this week. The woman is 28 years old and currently supervises the ALT at Goto High School on Fukue (another Goto island). Apparently she is cute—and will live in the apartment above me!!!!!! I’m so excited that both of them are single because I can SURELY make friends with at least ONE of them!!! I have a really good feeling about this!!!

There are four others leaving, including Koichiro, the math teacher upstairs, the office manager downstairs and the school nurse. I’m kinda glad Koichiro will be out of here, but I’ll miss the nurse and Hirano-san the office manager. His wife is so great to me—teaching me how to cook and knit and cut fish whenever I asked. The nurse is also really sweet and we’ve had fun conversations in the health room when it’s slow. I don’t know any information on the replacement teachers or nurse, but I hope some of them are young and friendly. It’s really sucked working alongside Sasaki-sensei the past year and I’m ready to start afresh with new faces.

I think I’ll be meeting them tomorrow so I’ll report immediately how things go!