Half Day

It’s about 1:30 on Friday afternoon and I’m at home right now. I went to work this morning and even taught a class during second period, but this nasty cold I got had turned for the worse. So, here I am, resting at home. The plan is to head to the doctor when they open around 4 (for some real meds!). I guess one of my second-years (from the International Studies Course...probably the kids I know the best) went up to my coworker yesterday and asked them to "make me go home or take a few days off to get better." I’ve been trying to ‘ganbare’ through school (basically, fight through) even though I didn’t feel well (very Japanese thing to do), but when the students tell you to go home… it’s probably time to hit the road.

I may be a little henko (stubborn) at times, yes, but this was a hard week at school to miss. Lena and Kelly, two of my close friends here, have missed three days themselves and Kel went to the hospital on Wednesday because she’s been so ill. I did leave early two times this week and have been napping after school, but I couldn’t afford to stay home...

OPEN HIGH SCHOOL
First of all, I needed to plan because we have Open High School next Monday and Tuesday, where Junior High School students come to get a taste of our school and decide if the want to apply. In Japan, high school is not mandatory and you have to take a test and apply to the schools you want to get into. Student bodies are decided by ability-level, not by geographic location… so our lessons help them distinguish what schools they are interested in (each school has a different entrance exam). I am giving two English lessons, both for over 20 students.

I didn’t have a voice on Monday morning either, but I made it through classes alright, but Wednesday was also our big ESS (English club) Halloween party. It lasted for over 2 hours, but we had 5 boys come (a big deal!) and all the kids dressed up and were good about participating in the funnier events like the mummy race (with toilet paper) and bobbing for oranges (sorry folks, apples cost over a buck each here so I opted for manderines…).

HANSEN-SAN COMES TO SCHOOL
On Wednesday afternoon, we also had a special guest in my Eigo Hyogen (English Expressions) class: Bjarne Hansen, the Danish hotdog guy from town! We've been learning the lyrics to and singing a song by B'z recently (eigo de) so we had him come in to talk about Denmark and his relationship with the lead singer of the group since they've been friends for over 20 years. Nozaki sensei bought hotdogs for all the students to share and Hansan-san had be speak a little Norwegian (with his Danish), so the kids really liked it. It was a really successful lesson overall, but we ran into a few students on the way out that Hansen told I was his girlfriend to... so I'm sure there are even more rumors swirling around that will hit sometime soon (the kids are cute, but the boyfriend and age questions never cease!).

I have also been doing a lot of outside work during my downtime at school. I'm happy to say I finally submitted the first grad school application on Wednesday (to my top choice), but I still have more research to do on other schools. I make it sound like pushing a button, but it really is a huge process and has been somewhat stressful... so I am glad that first one is done.

SAD NEWS...
Oh, on one last solemn note... we've had some bad news this week (I saw the red ring around the moon again on Monday...hmm). First, I found out from Monday's paper that the place that we held our Halloween event last weekend BURNT DOWN just hours after we left. The owner went to the hospital for smoke inhalation, but otherwise, I think everyone was OK. There was a transe party after ours, so I am not sure what the scene was at the time, but the fire was apparently caused by a kitchen fire around 4:30am.

I also got some sad news from Minneapolis this week about a girl named Katherine Olsen that was found in the trunk of her car. She was a year younger than me and we went to the same university. I didn't know her, but I do know her best friend and the 'Ole' community is pretty tight. I guess Katherine was meeting someone she found on Craigslist about a nanny job (she had done the same thing twice before... once for a job in Turkey), and the meeting turned out tragically. I can't imagine anything like this happening to the people in my life (it really shouldn't ever happen to anyone) and I am praying for her friends and her family. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers, as well.

Well, I should probably get some rest before the doc since that's why I'm home, but I hope your weeks are going better than mine so far. Adios!