Well, we’re finally back in school!
I’ve had really hard time adjusting back to the time for school. 1 am is my preferable bed time, because it gives me time to talk to people back home. However, in having to wake up at 7, it means I’m often running off no more than five hours sleep. Last night, I went to bed a bit earlier and managed to get six and a half, which made a difference. Still tired today, but not to the point where I feel like crying.
This should all change on the 20th. After a long, long, long wait (or what feels like one), I will finally be moving from Tsukuihama and into the bustling metropolis of Kurihama! Except Kurihama feels more like Prescott or Brockville, and Tsukuihama is like Athens. I’m excited, because I never thought I’d ever have to miss sidewalks, or street lamps that are more than just fluorescent bulbs that light about 3 feet around it. Don’t get me wrong, I did end up enjoying Tsukuihama. However, it just wasn’t for me.
One of the reasons it wasn’t for me were the bugs. Tsukuihama was a lot more rural, and therefore seemed to have a lot more bugs. Last week, I came home to find to find a spider the size of my palm on my wall. This spider, I later found, had no reason for building a web, because this breed is SO fast, it runs after its prey. Which are cockroaches.
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Needless to say, my already dangerously high fear of bugs has reached all new levels. I’m spraying places in my apartment as I pack. Some how, my fear of cockroaches, which use to be the number one scariest thing on earth, has been replaced with something far worse. The mukade. I have yet to see one, but if I do, it will probably be the thing that sends me back to Canada within the hour. Mukade are centipedes that are about a foot long. They travel in pairs, are poisonous, and aggressive. Just the thought of them makes me ill and want to cry. I’m wanting to ask my staff how common they are here, but I’m scared of the answer.
However, I have a feeling that if I were ever to see one, it would be at school, not home. I’m looking around the office and noticing there are new roach traps out. It makes me want to go home and fumigate right now.
However! There is much happier news to report.
As said, we’re back in school. It’s really nice to be back. The first six weeks here, I still felt a bit uncomfortable, like a guest. However, I came back feeling like a part of the staff. The teachers are more open to speaking to me, and we’ve got some fun stuff going on. Next weekend is sports day. Anyone unfamiliar with Japanese schools, sports day is perhaps one of the biggest days in the school year, for all grades. In my school, it’s just a fun day. The kids are in their house leagues, and they’re going to be lots of fun games. The younger grades are a bit too small for some of the crazier sports, so they’re doing a dance. I’m making the 3rd grade teach me their dance because it’s to one of my favourite songs at the moment, Truth by Arashi. However, the older the schools get, the more serious these sports days get. Middle and high school all have school teams. If ever you’ve seen a sports anime, the majority of them are set in middle school. It gets competitive. I’ve been invited to go watch the Akehama Middle School sports day this Saturday. I’m still undecided on the matter.
As well, we’ve started a project with another school! Before leaving for Japan, I went to visit Mrs.Marshall, who was my co-op supervisor when I was in high school. My placement at Westminster and in her classroom really influenced me. I never thought I could work in an elementary school before, and working with children with disabilities made me nervous. But it was such a good experience, I had no problem saying now when Interac offered Yokosuka. So I went in to thank her for being a reference on my application, and how much I still appreciated my time in her class. We talked a little about maybe doing a project between the schools. Well, over the summer, I thought about it, and after talking to the teachers at my school, and Mrs.Marshall, we’re going to do an art exchange! Since my kids are only learning conversational English, we can’t do pen pals. But all kids like to draw. So we’re going to send a bunch of art of what our kids think about Canada and Japan. I’ll take some pictures, write a big letter, maybe take some video so they can see the kids speaking English and other stuff.
I’m really excited about this for a lot of reasons. First off, it looks REALLY good on my part. I’m taking the whole internationalizing part of my job to a whole new level. Second off, it gives me something to do during lesson planning time. Because I plan lessons really fast. And third, it gives me a connection to home that doesn’t make me homesick. I’m really happy that I made a point of keeping in touch with teachers, because I’m now able to do stuff like this. I know teachers in other countries, in different age groups, and if ever I need advice on something, or want to do a project with someone, it’s nice to know I’ve still got that contact. Heh, I wish I could have done the same in scriptwriting!