Oh no! Text only post!

As the name would imply, there won't be any pictures this time. Alas. I was running a bit late this morning and didn't take my camera along with me when I went to work.

Japanese autumn is kicking into gear here, with the weather getting somewhat cooler, and notably greyer (the leaves haven't changed yet, so there's nothing to neutralize the grey). I may have mentioned that Niigata-ken gets more rain than Seattle in a previous blog, I cannot remember. In any event, it does, and it follows that we have a lot of cloudy days here, especially during the winter months. Another fun fact- Niigata gets more snow than anywhere in the world outside of the arctic circle. Anywhere. Sometimes the fall from a single storm (and storms are frequent) will have to be measured in meters. it's not snowing yet, but obviously I'm having to get ready for it.

I invested some yen in a nice new kotatsu- a table with a heated underside. There's nothing like them in America, but in a country where houses have basically no insulation (or in at least one house I can think of in Newton, KS), they can be quite nice.

After a month at my various schools, I'm also getting settled into the rhythms and idiosyncrasies of my new job. One thing I'm learning is to take it easy on the Elementary school planning- I was very stressed about the lack of constructed curriculum and set schedule, but then the school started canceling and switching a number of classes, sometimes on the day I had them. If anything, it was a relief to me, because I know now that aren't expecting and English performance extraordinaire, but just a decent lesson covering some aspect of English (maybe- mostly just a decent lesson covering something...).

I'm going home soon, to snuggle with my kotatsu and maybe read a book. A fellow JET happened to have some Tom Robbins on their shelves (Another Roadside Attraction- in case you were curious), so right now that's what I'm reading. I'm trying to study some Japanese every night with my denshi jisho in hand, but the brain gets weary after a while and needs something soft to gum at. Gum gum.

I'll try to cobble together something about Japanese culture or something in a bit here- the particles from the avalanche of moving here are re-freezing into a solid mass again, and I don't have as much chaos in my life to write about just now (blessedly). Once I've done a little more reading (read-translating), a little more playing of games, and a little more living here in general, I'll have more to say. For the time being, I'm going to go get some groceries (hot chocolate mix if I can find it) and settle down for a quiet evening. Oyasuminasai!