Dreary Tuesday
Today has been a gloomy day, both outside and inside. Despite the slew of social issues cropping up amongst us as of late, it seems there have also been a string of smallish tragedies and/or at least punches to the soul today.
Grades are due this afternoon, so I am basically just lesson planning (I hope these kids like ‘War Is Over’ by Lennon; they are about to get a lot of it!) and entering grades for submission... Which gives me a lot of time to think.
I talked to Mike last night (Monday morning his time) and his dad had just gotten into a really serious car accident. There is a lot of ice on the road in Minnesota in the winter, and his car swerved into a ditch and rolled a few times. Mike said he looked pretty beaten up and they were doing tests to see if his back was broken, but from an email I got this morning, it sounded like he will be ok. My prayers and thoughts are definitely with them.
Then this morning, the teacher I sit next to, whom I would say I am close to, told me about the recent death of a former teacher/mentor who she recently reconnected with. The man was now a principal in the area. He was 60.
Shortly after that, my vice principal came over this morning to tell us that Hayashi sensei’s father had just passed away. Hayashi has definitely been there for me and has served as both a mentor and friend in the short time since I arrived in Japan. He has a daughter my age, so I sometimes feel like he takes on a fatherly role, but he definitely treats me as a contemporary. He is extremely good at English, very intelligent and I enjoy our candid conversations. It made me sad to hear about his father, especially since I know it was really hard on his kids when their family dog died last month. I plan to attend the funeral with my coworkers.
With all of this dreariness surrounding us today, it does make me think about how lucky I am and how much I have to give thanks for in this holiday season. We take a lot for granted. Even though I was not always happy with my situation in Minneapolis, for example, I was so blessed with all of the wonderful people surrounding me. I have my own cute little apartment (in Japan!), more than enough food, experiences to keep my challenged and let me grow and access to enough food, heat and water. I wish I had spent more time with my family while I was living so close to them, but even though I cannot see them, I know I am really lucky to have them. My parents being only children, it has always been just the four of us for holidays, and this will be my first Christmas without them, actually.
Anyways, I guess I just have to keep my head up and keep running (literally) for my sanity in all of this. It’s hitting home a bit, but everything happening today (and people’s negative attitudes lately) just reminds me again how lucky I am.
Grades are due this afternoon, so I am basically just lesson planning (I hope these kids like ‘War Is Over’ by Lennon; they are about to get a lot of it!) and entering grades for submission... Which gives me a lot of time to think.
I talked to Mike last night (Monday morning his time) and his dad had just gotten into a really serious car accident. There is a lot of ice on the road in Minnesota in the winter, and his car swerved into a ditch and rolled a few times. Mike said he looked pretty beaten up and they were doing tests to see if his back was broken, but from an email I got this morning, it sounded like he will be ok. My prayers and thoughts are definitely with them.
Then this morning, the teacher I sit next to, whom I would say I am close to, told me about the recent death of a former teacher/mentor who she recently reconnected with. The man was now a principal in the area. He was 60.
Shortly after that, my vice principal came over this morning to tell us that Hayashi sensei’s father had just passed away. Hayashi has definitely been there for me and has served as both a mentor and friend in the short time since I arrived in Japan. He has a daughter my age, so I sometimes feel like he takes on a fatherly role, but he definitely treats me as a contemporary. He is extremely good at English, very intelligent and I enjoy our candid conversations. It made me sad to hear about his father, especially since I know it was really hard on his kids when their family dog died last month. I plan to attend the funeral with my coworkers.
With all of this dreariness surrounding us today, it does make me think about how lucky I am and how much I have to give thanks for in this holiday season. We take a lot for granted. Even though I was not always happy with my situation in Minneapolis, for example, I was so blessed with all of the wonderful people surrounding me. I have my own cute little apartment (in Japan!), more than enough food, experiences to keep my challenged and let me grow and access to enough food, heat and water. I wish I had spent more time with my family while I was living so close to them, but even though I cannot see them, I know I am really lucky to have them. My parents being only children, it has always been just the four of us for holidays, and this will be my first Christmas without them, actually.
Anyways, I guess I just have to keep my head up and keep running (literally) for my sanity in all of this. It’s hitting home a bit, but everything happening today (and people’s negative attitudes lately) just reminds me again how lucky I am.
posted by Brenda Ann Elizabeth McKinney @ 4:18 PM
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