THE SUBTITLES WORK ( Read more... )

Today I don't have any classes due to midterm testing, so I took a vacation day because I just couldn't stand the thought of sitting in that office with nothing to do. (This is going to come back to bite me in the ass when I'm sitting in the office near the end of my contract and desperately needing time to pack, but you know, I live in the moment ( Read more... )

I'm convinced that I've caught the devil's cold. It has consumed me and is transforming me into a demon. Hopefully this transformation comes with demon powers beyond coughing all through the night and thus getting no sleep ( Read more... )

I was talking to one of the elementary teachers as a group of my most loyal first years were, quite literally, hanging off me. The teacher said she'd read my article in the town news letter about my difficult decision to stay in Japan or return home ( Read more... )

Funny stuff happens when I go to elementary school.

"Here, take this," a teacher said. She was holding a big paper mask with the image of a classical Japanese oni (demon) painted onto it. "Put it on ( Read more... )

Forgive me if this entry seems a bit messier than my usual writing. I spent eight hours today teaching cooking class and now I am so beat that I can barely move. It's nice though that I got a day and an hour of daikyuu. I think I'm going to have to use some of it tomorrow to go home early, though, which kind of defeats the purpose of gathering ( Read more... )

So before this high goes away and I get smacked with another good dose of gaijin reality, I would like to report that my lessons today and yesterday were moderate successes. No one was clamoring for me to stay and teach more English, but I didn't feel like jumping out the window and taking off for the airport either ( Read more... )

I came home with a whole bag of omiyage (a word meaning souvenir, usually edible) today. Don't be fooled--no one really went anywhere. These omiyage were bribes.

Some of my coworkers cleverly disguised the fact that they were bribing me: "Marie, have you ever had a manju cake? They're very delicious and Kochi has the best. Please eat it and ( Read more... )

On Friday as I was leaving elementary school, a group of second and third years caught me outside and jumped on the hood of my car to keep me from leaving. I told them I had very important things to do (like go home and sleep for 13 hours, as it turned out) and they finally crawled off my car. One of the girls gave me a persimmon seed and told me ( Read more... )

Because of my debilitating illness (that I'm just now getting over--sheesh) I never journaled about what a complete and total success the Dead Man game turned out to be, both at Kuroiwa JHS and Ogawa Elementary. It was scary for everyone, even the 3rd year JHS kids. As it turns out, all these kids are really easy to scare ( Read more... )