Hello! I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get this up. I've had some computer trouble and will not have a reliable computer until July 22nd when I'm back in the States. Therefore I will be updating via my cell phone. This means posts will probably be shorter and it`s also a lot harder for me to edit, so please forgive any spelling and grammar mistakes. It`s only for a few weeks so please bare with me! I`m also not sure how pictures will work. My phone has trouble uploading them and the school computers are unreliable, so if there are no pictures now I will go back and add them after I get back to the States.
I've had two great weekends since my last update. Two weekends ago I spent a lot of time with my friend Kikumi. We had two dinner parties in a row watching both Japanese and English movies. She taught me how to make ギョザ (gyoza), 春巻き (harumaki, spring rolls), and タコ焼き (takoyaki, fried dough and octopus). It was so much fun! We had a great time hanging out with her and even made some new friends! I will see her agiain tomorrow and probably at least once more before I leave for the US!
I also went to my first 女子会 (joshikai) or a girls-only gathering. Although I was at Ishimine the past two weeks, the teachers at Shinozaki called me and invited me out for a joshikai! That week the students were doing testing for three days, so we went out to celebrate the end of the tests. We went to a really small restaurant behind the Kokura trian station and had a blast. The English teachers all ended sitting on the opposite side of the room as me (seating is always random to make sure no one feels left out), but I was still able to be part of the converstaions all night! I know it`s been a year and I shouldn`t be surprised anymore by things like that, but I still always feel very accomplished when I can go out, especially when drinking, and still speak and understand everything that`s going on. It was a great first joshikai and I hope to go on another again soon!
Although I have had a great time on the weekends, my weekdays of the past two weeks have mostly been spend at Ishimine. I`ve been grading tons of tests and teaching five classes a day. On top of that I`ve been staying late to go to the chorus club after school. It`s been a lot of work, but I love so much of it! I updated the ALT board in the hallways to talk about summer vacation and included some worksheets the students could take if they were interested. It`s nothing too difficult, just a word search, connect the dots using numbers instead of letters, and a writing practice activity. I had done this for the previous board, but not many students took them. This time, though, as soon as I announced there was a new board up with new activities almost all the students went out and grabbed papers after class! I even had to make more copies before the week was over! I put a lot of work into the ALT board, didn`t expect many students to pay attention to it, so I`m really excited!
The chorus club has also been great. Even though I ended up staying two hours late after school everyday, I`ve never missed a rehursal since I first started going. The students are always so excited to see me and I`ve even taught them a few warm-ups in English. I`ve started learning a lot of vocal words, i.e. breath support and round your vowels, and it really cheers me up if I`ve had a bad day at school. The chorus teacher, Mr. Teshima, bought sheet music for All I Want For Christmas Is You (probably the most popular Christmas song in Japan) and wants me to teach it to the students after the summer break. I`m so excited!
Finally, this weekend I had a great time with a new friend. Mika, a new teacher just out of university this year, is an aide in Ishimine. She majored in international affiars and wants to become an English teacher. She is really nice and always wants to hang out, but I`d always been busy. This weekend we finally got the chance! We started with dinner at 鉄なべ (Tetsunabe) before meeting some friends for karaoke. We sang out hearts out for two hours then moved to a small bar for a few more drinks befor heading home. It was a great night and I even ended up seeing Mika the next day. We went to a chorus concert together where we heard students chiors (including a few of my Ishimine studuents) as well as professional Japanese opera singers. It was really cool!
That brings it up to today. I`m back in Shinozaki for my last two weeks of school before vacation. I have a lot of lowkey plans to hang out with everyone before I leave for the summer and I`m so excited to be back stateside for a visit. I can`t belive I`ll be getting on a plane for home in a little over two weeks! Only two more weeks of school (maybe less if the typhone that`s predicted come in on Wednesday) and I`ll be on my way!
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