Whoever heard of an ALT working hard?
Wow. It's been almost a month since my last post. That depresses me. It means I am way too busy at school. Come Friday (five lessons in a row day) I am so bloody knackered that I get grumpy and pissed off at my teachers who just take and take and take. Ha. I know it's kind of ironic to complain about having so many lessons when last year I was complaining about having so few, but really this is ridiculous. I've had two years as an ALT with a work-style that involves a couple of lessons here and there, maybe a spot of lesson planning, but mainly days composed of reading books, drinking tea, studying Japanase, surfing the internet, drinking more tea, and sitting around. And it suits me down to the ground. So in my final year, when things really should be winding down, I find myself faced with 21 lessons a week, on top of lesson planning and English-room-re-decorating. It just can't be done.
Other quick news:
Miki is going up in the world: the Emperor came to visit the other day (but me being wiped out from a week at work was sleeping at the time so missed him). They also built a brand-spanking straight-as-an-arrow road through a big f*ck-off mountain and I was so happy. And then I got a bit depressed that such a thing would make me happy. So much for considering myself an environmentalist, in the end building a road that saves me time getting to work in the morning (in my petrol-guzzling cruise-mobile) makes me just as glad as the next commuter.
Kitten's doing really well. He has his own page on my school's website which kinda means I have to give him up for adoption soon. Can't say Midori will miss him but it's been five weeks of almost constant care and attention from me and I'll really miss the little thing, especially as in the past week his adorabubbleness metre has shot through the roof.
This weekend just gone was the big Autumn Festival in Miki. It's weird going for your third year. Definitely not as impressive as my first year but still, hearing the taiko drums and laugh-in-the-face-of-danger attitude towards fifty ton portable shrine carrying, you can't help but think, "Blimey, this is Japan".
My camera broke. I've had it two years and never really been happy with it so I'm not too upset. Just annoying as I've missed out on loads of good photo opportunities.
Shige and I are doing fantastically well. It's almost been four months together and we've had remarkably few problems. Just a little culture clash about men's role in the home (prior to my moaning he wouldn't do a bloody thing when he was over at weekends- not even help wash up after I cooked him dinner). Thing is I adamantly stick to my belief that the British way of thinking is not too dissimilar to the Japanese way of thinking (on the other end of the spectrum is America, naturally) so we've been getting on quite well. If there is one thing he dislikes about me it's that i moan too much. But I've been trying to get across that that's quite an English trait - we moan about such trivial things as the weather and having to go to work but it's practically a social custom and almost serves as social glue so you can start a decent conversation with some other miserly old English git. I rarely moan about meaty moan-worthy things. If there's one thing that frustrates me about him is that he doesn't have much "get up and go". Right now, for example, he is in the bedroom sleeping. He sleeps more than anyone else I know and as a consequence we regularly miss plans, are late for parties and events, and generally do nothing but lounge about the house all day. Yesterday we got up early and went with some friends to the onsen, got back at two and thought we'd take a quick power nap before going to the festival to watch the shrines go up the hill. Well, next thing I knew it was half five and almost dark and I realised we'd missed all the shrines and there was Shige still snoring beside me. Nah. I love him really. The issue of "What the hell am I going to do next summer?" is something I am putting off.
Other quick news:
Miki is going up in the world: the Emperor came to visit the other day (but me being wiped out from a week at work was sleeping at the time so missed him). They also built a brand-spanking straight-as-an-arrow road through a big f*ck-off mountain and I was so happy. And then I got a bit depressed that such a thing would make me happy. So much for considering myself an environmentalist, in the end building a road that saves me time getting to work in the morning (in my petrol-guzzling cruise-mobile) makes me just as glad as the next commuter.
Kitten's doing really well. He has his own page on my school's website which kinda means I have to give him up for adoption soon. Can't say Midori will miss him but it's been five weeks of almost constant care and attention from me and I'll really miss the little thing, especially as in the past week his adorabubbleness metre has shot through the roof.
This weekend just gone was the big Autumn Festival in Miki. It's weird going for your third year. Definitely not as impressive as my first year but still, hearing the taiko drums and laugh-in-the-face-of-danger attitude towards fifty ton portable shrine carrying, you can't help but think, "Blimey, this is Japan".
My camera broke. I've had it two years and never really been happy with it so I'm not too upset. Just annoying as I've missed out on loads of good photo opportunities.
Shige and I are doing fantastically well. It's almost been four months together and we've had remarkably few problems. Just a little culture clash about men's role in the home (prior to my moaning he wouldn't do a bloody thing when he was over at weekends- not even help wash up after I cooked him dinner). Thing is I adamantly stick to my belief that the British way of thinking is not too dissimilar to the Japanese way of thinking (on the other end of the spectrum is America, naturally) so we've been getting on quite well. If there is one thing he dislikes about me it's that i moan too much. But I've been trying to get across that that's quite an English trait - we moan about such trivial things as the weather and having to go to work but it's practically a social custom and almost serves as social glue so you can start a decent conversation with some other miserly old English git. I rarely moan about meaty moan-worthy things. If there's one thing that frustrates me about him is that he doesn't have much "get up and go". Right now, for example, he is in the bedroom sleeping. He sleeps more than anyone else I know and as a consequence we regularly miss plans, are late for parties and events, and generally do nothing but lounge about the house all day. Yesterday we got up early and went with some friends to the onsen, got back at two and thought we'd take a quick power nap before going to the festival to watch the shrines go up the hill. Well, next thing I knew it was half five and almost dark and I realised we'd missed all the shrines and there was Shige still snoring beside me. Nah. I love him really. The issue of "What the hell am I going to do next summer?" is something I am putting off.