Pottermania & Free Drinks at School

Hello, hello! Sorry about the prolonged lapse in posting. I've been on a short sabatical, pouring over the pages of the new Harry Potter novel.
Pottermania Sweeps Japan
My friend Kelly lent me her copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows when she finished it on Saturday, but I was so tired on the busride to and from Fuji that I only made it about halfway through and finally finished it when I got home from Japanese class last night. I won't give anything away in case you're either currently or planning to read the book, but I am such a fan of that series and was impressed by the exciting (albeit very dark) ending. Thought some of it was a bit too cheesy, at least at the end, but overall I was impressed. My little brother (7 years my junior) subscribed to the series early on, and my dad and I inherited the trend from him. I think I read the first two books at folkehogskole in 2000* and the last, or 6th, book after forcing my brother to accopany me to the midnight Harry Potter Release Party at Borders in downtown Minneapolis (so I didn't feel so silly about being the only adult without a kid there). It's interesting how "Pottermania" has gripped the west since then; I don't think I would be shy about being spotted at a Release Party this time around! It's practically trendy. And it is also kind of funny to me that I both started and ended the series outside of my home country, while I was on adventures of my own. The only difference is that this was the first time I read the British version. The word snogging has practically become part of my vocabulary now!
From what I understand, the book has been doing very well all around the world, but the Japanese-langauge version (as well as Norwegian and other langauges) will not be released until next year (basically once they have been translated). Hopefully the next movie will come out around the same time as the special book releases, and we'll get to party down Potter-style all over again! Merlin's Beard, what fun! (ok, nerdy, I know...)
Slow times, Summer in the inaka...
Anyways, this week has been going by slow. As I mentioned, I was pretty sore yesterday, but I am feeling better today. My cough finally subsided after going to get more antibiotics last week (after a MONTH of being sick), but the Fuji climb (esp the thin air at the top) took a toll on my breathing. So I am back to taking it easy. I haven't been (seriously) running for about 3 weeks now, so I am worried I have fallen sorely out of shape, but the humidity is too harsh and I want my body to fully recover before applying more stress, so I'm just going to have to build back up again. Bummer.
Happy to See the Kids & Help with Summer Homework
As for work, I haven't had much to do in the mornings at school, but it is quiet. We have parent-teacher conferences at school right now (called "sanshamendan" - or three people meetings: 1.teacher/2.parent/3.student), so the staff room is almost completely deserted. The air conditioning is now on, however, and the PTA donated a rather large supply of drinks (energy drinks, cans of coffee and tea, and Japanese soda), so I am sitting happy.
Mori Sensei and Hayashi Sensei are in Australia with a group of 1st years right now (the rest of the 1st years and a lot of 1st year teachers are at an overnight study camp nearby), so Nozaki Sensei and I have been holding 30-min long scheduled appointments with the 2nd years in the International Studies Class to review their summer homework every afternoon. We're having them do a sort of "process-orientated writing process" (having drafts approved before building the essay more). The goal is to tell American students about some aspect of Japanese culture that they have researched. We spent time in the library choosing topics during the last week of classes, and I have actually been learning a lot and having fun seeing the kids. I met with a few girls that talked about their normal schools days today, then two boys that wrote about music and another one that wrote about kendo. They seem like simple topics, but I actually hadn't realized that every grade starts at a different time in the morning until today. Isn't that crazy?! The first years start homeroom first, then the second years 10-minutes later, and the 3rd years after that. I guess you earn a little more slack in the morning as you go through school... maybe that is why it seems like most of the shikoku (late or tardy) forms I fetch for the kids seem to be for 1st years. Hmm.

I have to mail a package and run some errands, so I should go (I get to leave work early in the summer but am staying a lot later for the meetings). It's gonna be a low-key night, though, partally do to the coughing and partially due to taxes - which I can now file (had to get an extension until I had lived here long enough to qualify for tax exemption in America). Fun times, I know!

Anyways, hope all is well with you and more soon ;)


*Jeg var kanskje litt av en lestehest d aret pga at vi hadde sa mye fritid; d a lese var oxo - pa en vis mate - pa mote...trives nok m d...artig...
**(ps - takk for meldingen, G. hadde ik peiling (mht RSS feeds)! laerer jo noe nytt hver dag!)