Did I say Monday...yes...Monday. Unfortunately this has been one of those madhouse weeks- I have not had 2 consecutive days off of work in the last 10 days, and I'm starting to feel the burn. As such, I've been focusing more on keeping my head above water than anything- but this weekend will be more relaxing, and I'll have a chance to take lots of pics (at least...here's hoping).
Here's a quick update- today I'm at Kanaya Shogakko- my once-weekly elementary school, and I've got 1st, 3rd, and 5th graders in the queue. This is very much a country school: the children are, by and large, the offspring of farmers and small business owners from the small town of Kanaya. Some of the youngest have not even heard of Sakamachi- (5 minutes away by car) where my apartment is. My bike is parked next to a big bag of rice and some farming implements (in a shed on school property), and smoke from burning rice fields is blowing in the windows. The view out of said windows is onto an expansive vegetable garden and set of greenhouses. I think Beethoven's 6th is playing somewhere in the background as well...
This weekend I will be attending a musical audition for the Niigata-ken charity fundraiser musical. I won't be singing myself, but I'll be doing sets and tech and they said it would be a good idea to attend. The musical raises money to build schools in fairly remote parts of Papua New Guinea- for whatever reason, it seems like different developed countries take on different pet aid projects- the U.S. has much of Africa, and Japan focuses a lot of energy on New Guinea for some reason. In any event, musical participants, once the show is ended, get to travel to Papua New Guinea for a 2-week service project to help build the school for which the money was raised. Oh yeah. I've always been a little bit fascinated by New Guinea after seeing a Nova special about it, probably narrated by a wheezing David Attenborough. In any event, it looks like I'm going to get to go. Moreover, I'm going to get to see places that I wouldn't "officially" be allowed to see as a normal tourist.
Alright- I'm going to scrape together some lesson plans now. For some reason (probably lack of familiarity do to infrequent visits) I'm still nervous teaching at this school, and it takes a little more gumption to get up and do the lesson right. The school's culture (children and teachers alike) is also palpably different- still very friendly and wonderful and all, but people just respond to things a little differently here. Hmmmm...
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1 comment:
Hey you! Cool that you get to go on the trip with the school----for some reason that surprises me! Cool tho! Very. Excuse my fragmented sentences...I find myself talking in a lot of those over here! In regards to your post, I still get nervous too before teaching here...I almost feel like it is a performanc. Glad to hear things are continuing to go well for you! Sounds like you are in a peaceful spot...which can be good in bad. Either way you look at it however, it sounds like you are making the best of it! Hope you have a good week!
Denae
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