IrishOboe

Since Monday and Friday were holidays (Friday was the autumnal equinox), this was a wonderfully short week. I love my job. I find it fulfilling and I am useful, but still, I think 40 hours a week is too much. Rather, I think 40 hours of my required presence whether or not the work has to be done at school is too much. But that’s for another time. Now I must write about this week since it is now last week and this weekend is proving to be as busy as last weekend, which of course I haven’t written about yet. So, even though it’s an hour past my bedtime I’m writing about this short week. Hm, maybe you can tell by the writing that it’s an hour past my bedtime. I think Andy B. will have plenty to poke fun at this time . . . (More)

We had our first holiday weekend due to the Respect for the Aged national holiday (Monday, Sept 19). I enjoyed it a lot, though again I came into the week more tired than I left it. I have much to learn about this holding a job thing.

Let’s see, Friday (16^th) was an okay day at school as far as I can remember. I got a kick in the pants that reminded me of why I’m here. For a random reason I was in the student hallway during lunch and a group of my male students addressed me. I’d like to say I engaged in conversation. But I don’t know any Japanese for these situations and they can’t really speak English either. After much Japanese and laughs from the crowd and a total of three English sentences (“I don’t speak Japanese.” “You’re cute.” and “Japanese joke.”) I went on my way frustrated that not only do I not know my students, but I’ve been here two months and I don’t know how to make any conversation in Japanese! It’s a vicious cycle of I can’t speak Japanese so I don’t speak to people and I don’t speak people so I don’t learn Japanese. I’ll get there! It was nice to have this reminder to get me thinking about what I want out of my time here. (More)

Hello!  As you can tell it's been a busy week!  I had a wonderful three day weekend last weekend, then we only had three days of school before another three day weekend this weekend.  That left me with a lot of adventures and even less time to write about them!  Coming soon: Kiyosato (including my own glass museum experience), church BBQ, and Sumo in Tokyo!  I'm still doing fine and having a great time.  This week is exam week so I only teach four classes.  I hope that means I'll be less tired when I get home from work and can catch up with the blog soon.  I love you all!

-Janet

Wednesday was another day at school. If something interesting happened I’ve forgotten it. It was, however, the first day that I was itching to go home and couldn’t wait until the clock struck 4:15. Hey, it happens to everyone. During the day I’d got an email from Fred suggesting that we go out to dinner again tomorrow evening so that he could give me back my umbrella. I had plans to go out with Mie and her students (which was later canceled) so I suggested tonight instead. He agreed, and that was great for me because I knew I didn’t have much time after I got home from school so I used it very efficiently. I finally cleaned up all of my kitchen table (it had amassed all kinds of things that don’t belong on a kitchen table) and tackled some of the cupboard mess that my pred. had left me. I made some good discoveries and made room for my stuff so that the floor was no longer necessary to use for my groceries. Don’t ask me why some things have taken me this long . . . (More)

Sorry I haven’t written in a while. It’s hard to believe so much time has passed. I left off last Thursday, so I’ll begin with Friday. I think school went fairly well and I left ½ hour early because I’d been doing overtime all week. It was nice to have the little extra time because at 6:30 Naito sensei picked me up for my welcome party. I’m glad she did, because I never would have been able to find the place on my own! The entrance was an unmarked door that even the short Japanese people had to stoop down to go through. It was a nice place, though, and I had a good time with the seven English teachers who were able to make it. We got a course of many various dishes that everyone shared. They kept coming and coming and coming. Mostly they were some kind of chicken: Chicken breast, chicken salad, chicken skin, chicken cartilage on a stick, fried chicken cartilage, and much more. We also had liver. (More)

Finally! The moment you have all been waiting for! Here is a link to my pictures. You do not have to sign up to see my pictures, but you do if you want to post a comment. Here's the link, and have fun! It is still under construction, but I'm getting there.

Well, it’s hard to believe that almost another week has gone by! It’s good that the week doesn’t drag since it means I’m not bored or tortured at work, but it also means that this year is going to fly by!

The week started out rough due to my lack of sleep and exhaustion from climbing Mt. Fuji. I rushed to school realizing too late that I had to be there early for the Monday morning meeting. Rushing meant that I didn’t put on my rain pants, which I thought would be okay because I was wearing casual clothes and had my work clothes to change into. Hahah! It was really raining and my bike has no tire guards so I arrive at school wet from head to toe! (More)

Before Starting

The Mt. Fuji adventure started as I rode home from school and realized that I had planned practically nothing for the trip. I had to buy some gear (like a headlamp, gloves, food snacks, and some casual pants if I could) and at least I had a list from some bit of thinking and research I did. When I got home I checked the bus schedule to Fujiyoshida and noted that the last bus was at 8pm then I noted the last train to get there in time would be 7:20 which meant leaving the house by 7pm. Given the fact that I got home at 5pm and hadn’t packed and needed to shop, I was in a bit of a panic. I rode my bike to the D2 (deh tsu if you’re Japanese) and got what I could, but wasn’t very successful. I went to the grocery store for food (nuts and dried fruit) and stopped at the Lawsons to get a pair of gloves for 80 yen. I didn’t feel bad about that purchase even though I have tons of gloves coming to me . . . (More)

Sorry, but I have to go chronologically or I’ll never get everything down. Wow, was it really my first Thursday with classes? It seems like I’ve been teaching for at least a month! Thursdays I have three classes in a row, which is a bit tough when you’re not used to it. My voice was a little weak by the end of it all. Of course, then I’m “free” the rest of the day, which is nice. This time there was an earthquake drill in memory a huge earthquake that happened Sept. 1^st a number of years ago. We all stood outside for some speeches. It is hot in Yamanashi! (More)

This is a test post, part of an effort to solve Janet’s problem with random font changes showing up in her posts, unwanted. Hidden from view are many other weird formatting statements in the underlying HTML. She correctly identified the source of the problem as the fact that she writes her posts in Word, then cuts and pastes them to the blog.

This is a second paragraph saying nothing but doing its job being a second paragraph.

First I’m going to post this strictly cut-and-paste; then I’ll repost it after saving it as a text file, which I think might do the trick.

We’ll see.

Webmaster

I will post about the Mt. Fuji climb later, but felt my need to write this override my need to go to bed.

I have been blessed with many healthy loved ones and have only had to say goodbye to a few, so maybe that is why this weekend was the first time that I felt very close to someone I hadn’t been near in a long time. This weekend I climbed Mt. Fuji with my mother’s father, my grandpa. Even by the time I came along he was still traveling the world and climbing mountains, though he often pushed himself beyond what his aging body could handle. As I started the climb up Mt. Fuji’s forested slope I thought of the task ahead of me and how my grandpa would be so proud and excited for me. I felt him looking down on me and cheering me on. I thought of him many times while going up and coming down that majestic mountain. (More)

I wish I could post the whole story of the Mt. Fuji climb now, but that will have to wait. I wanted to say that I’m home alive, but I’ve never pushed myself so hard in my life. It took 22 hours (none of which was spent sleeping) from the very base (2:30pm) to the top (4am) to the base again (12:30pm) and I didn’t get back home until 7:30 last night (Sunday). Rather than write a post I washed my clothes. If you could have smelled them you would understand. I was in bed at 9 and didn’t get up until just before school. My brain still isn’t fully functioning so I’m going to bed soon again. It was an incredible experience and I’m glad I did it. I just wish I’d had a little recovery time! Oh, I wish I could write about it now, but I’m so behind in things here and at work. I love you all and I’m working hard to get things under control so I can keep in touch as much as I’d like to.

Love,

Janet