Hello and happy February to everyone out there keeping up with us!
It's Wednesday here in Japan. My students are currently in the middle of their フアナル テスト(Final Test) so it's been a rather boring week for me. I recorded the listening portion of the English test last week, and my voice is being blasted from the 4th floor's speakers as I type.
Mrs. Tsukada: Hello Jim! Did you have fun last weekend?
Me: Yes I did. I played baseball with my friends on Saturday.
Mrs. Tsukada: Oh, how nice!
Me, addressing the kids: Question. When did Jim play baseball?
Poor kids. Once the finished tests start rolling in, my fellow teachers and I will begin the long slog of grading.
For those of you who didn't know, the Japanese school year ends in late March and begins in April. The students will have about two weeks of vacation, then it's back for a new year of excitement. Jorden and I are also excited for this change of pace. We were eating at Pizza Hut the other day (gotta love globalism) and chatting with a fellow JET about the incoming class of students. He remarked that we'll finally have the "better footing." For the last six or so months, our students have seen us as the new foreigners in town. But starting in April, we'll be seasoned pros and our new students will be, well, new students.
With this in mind, March looks like it will be a very fun month. My third-year junior highers will move on to the high school and Jorden's high schoolers will go on to college (or into seclusion in defeated shame, if they don't make the cut into college). After final tests at the junior high level, all that's left is returning textbooks, year-end discussions ("What was your favorite memory from this year" English essays are already making their way to my desk for grading) and of course a settling of the score at my school's year-end inter-class basketball tournament. I'm pulling for class 3-B because they're the best at English conjugations, but odds are that 3-C will sweep the competition because they're the best at getting the ball through the hoop.
We're still in the bowels of winter, and if what we hear is correct, we'll stay huddled around our heater and sleeping in multiple layers of clothes into April. We're chomping at the bit for spring to come. We've heard almost unanimously that it's the most beautiful season in Japan, and especially on the west coast where we live. We still have vacancy in the Hotel Kenneston if anyone wants to join us!
We've also officially decided on our vacation to America this summer. We'll arrive in LA on the 23rd of July, and then return to Japan on the 12th of August. We'll travel first to Reno, then on up to Seattle, eating a ton of Mexican food and burgers on our way. If anyone out there wants to meet with us during that time, we'd love it! Let us know and we'll begin to work on our itinerary. If you're in Colorado, think of it this way - it's much cheaper to roadtrip to Nevada than it is to fly to Japan (although, and we can't stress this enough, you should totally fly to Japan).
Alright, I'm going to slip out of the office and run a few errands now. Thanks to everyone for reading, and we hope you're doing great!
-The Adventurers
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