holy moses march is almost gone! what a wild, wonderful, crazy, heartbreaking and fantastic month it has been. the cherry bloosoms are starting their show here and are waiting for a sunny day to make a real spectacle of themselves. i cant wait. it has been rainy in naru this week and today the sky the sea and the mountains at my favorite viewpoint from school are all the same hazy shades of violet and blue. in the absence of the sun it is still a spectacular sight and takes my breath away to think that i live here. yesssssss.
yesterday marked the real end of school here in naru for the year. i know that graduation was awhile ago now, but the rest of the students had to carry on with lessons while those who graduated ran around town playing all day. not fair right? well, i dont think many of them really mind because they all know that their turn will come soon enough. all of the kids will still come to school almost everyday while they are on "break" to have club practice and to study. its not a real vacation, but then again they never really have a real vacation here, so again, they are used to it. i, on the other hand, am not. and now i am going to have to find ways to fill my days for the next two weeks without teaching anything or anyone, because us teachers still have to come to school as well. this means i will be doing a lot of reading and writing and internet searching and such. if anyone has something good i should be checking out, throw me a line. i offically have time to burn.
the end of the school year here signifies big changes for all involved in the system. all japanese teachers who work in public schools are government employees and are subject to being moved at the governments whim. usually in high schools that means 3-5 years for a teacher of being in one place and for administration 2-3 at the most. in jr high and elementary it is usually around 2-4 i think. but each year at this time the government or BOE (board of education) hands down its decisions on who will move and where they will go and teachers and administration have no choice in the matter. they either accept the charge and pack up and move in one weeks time or they say no and loose their job forever. there is no coming back as a teacher for the government if you refuse to take your new placement. its sounds really harsh and i agree that i think it is, but it also seems to be much harder for some people than others. some people really hate living on this tiny island and want to get back to the city as soon as possible, and for a few others who have been here for their 5 years and now have to move on, you can tell they are awfully sad to be going. i am not subject to this moving and will only have to endure the ifs and maybes of being repositioned if i choose to leave. i am lucky. two teachers and our kyoto sensei (which is japanese title for the vice principal) will be moving to new schools in the next few days. keep in mind they just found out they were moving last friday and i think that they are expected to report to their new jobs by next friday. two weeks to move life. ive done that before and it sucks, but they do this all the time, every 2-5 years. super suck.
so last night was the goodbye party for them and it was nice. i am beginning to get the hang of making small talk at these things and have even begun to remember some of the japanese etiquitte which can be quite complicated and requires me to always be thinking and observing. the dinner was fantastic and consisted of nine, yes nine kinds of fish (king crab legs of COURSE!) all prepared in different ways, some sort of raw looking beef, (which i happily gave to the sensei sitting next to me) rice and a delicious strawberry/caramel/pudding sort of desert. top notch i'd say. looking forward to doing it all over again with the jr high/elementary teachers here tonight. i will keep you posted on dinner and try to remember my camera this time...
there is a great deal of hung over people around this office today, and i am so happy that i am NOT one of them. no one is saying a word about the transgressions that took place last night, they are all just getting on and muddling through. the high point of the day so far for me though (and it is a REALLY high point) is that i found a western toilet today!!!!!!!! its in the student bathroom which i never use, but did today because our teacher bathroom was being cleaned (by one of the teachers, we all take turns rotating weekly.) what a surprise when i opened the door to the last stall and saw that tall toilet smiling back at me. it really did make me laugh out loud and do a little dance right there in the bathroom. it's the little things in life folks that really keep us excited about living. today my excitement is a toilet. halli-jah-lu-la!
sorry to include so much info about pottys on this blog to those of you keeping up. i will try to avoid the subject from here on out. try...
mata ie ma sho! (see you later!)
beth
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