Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello and Happy Thanksgiving!

So I am apparently not even missing a turkey at home this year. My brother’s vegan and we don’t have an extended family to cook for, so my parents and bro are doing everything BUT turkey. One of my coworkers (that lived in America for 5 years) was sort of worried about me being homesick since I am missing such an important family-centered holiday, but we’re not that traditional and I'm doing OK.  Knowing that I'll get the traditional meal (ok, or just the bird) here does help, though!

I don’t know how I didn’t see this coming, but my "quiet week" has also literally been anything but.  It's been such a whirlwind!  Read on for details...

Monday was a holiday (spent in Okayama), but on Tuesday, a professor from the Osaka Women’s University came to two of my classes.  Both the principal and vice principal sat in on one, too. The classes went well, my colleague (who invited the professor) seemed pleased, and afterwards, I had a nice talk with the guest.  He really wanted me to come to visit his university's campus and attend one of his lectures sometime (after learning we had similar interests, he even invited me to join their study trip to Bangladesh).  His English was amazing and his brother used to live in Minnesota (worked as a doctor at the Mayo Clinic), so I did want to talk more, but I unfortunately couldn’t stay too long because I had Japanese class in Kobe and had to leave school (almost 2 hour commute!).  Maybe I'll actually attend a lecture sometime when things are going slow at work...hmm.  

On Wednesday, I had three interview tests in the morning and then bolted over to the local Junior High to teach a grammar class there (like a reverse open high school –-> showing the kids what high school classes are like). The coworker that accompanied me called it a "catering lesson" since we were catering in a class instead of them having to leave their school to see us. I thought that was a clever way to put it.

Anyways, I was such a spinning top all day that I am sure the beginning of the class looked more like a Horse-and-Pony-Show than an actual academic lesson, with my coworker and I running and joking around for the first 10 minutes. The junior high teacher seemed a little scared or intimidated by me/us, but the kids liked it and a huge group of them wanted talk and see more of my prizes (mostly pennies from America) after the lesson. 

My coworker had driven both of us to school and had to get back for a lesson shortly after we finished, but I was having fun talking to the kids (interesting how much you can say about pennies...), so I decided to stay for a bit longer on my own and just walk back to our high school. 

Well, after talking to the kids, I said my goodbyes, did my bows and was on my way out, when the principal stopped me and asked me to come to his office.  We had tea and talked for a bit (pretty standard), but I thought it was a little bizarre when the man proceeded to give me one of his homemade business cards (homemade meishi…えええ？！), wrote his personal contact information on it and wanted to hang out on the weekend.  I had club activities so I actually had to leave soon after that comment, but I wasn't exactly sure what to think of that one.

In hindsight, as educational as it was for me to visit another school (especially another level altogether), I have to say the whole experience was just a little weird.  Junior high students are obviously going to be different from high school-age kids in Japan (particularly because they're still a lot more talkative in class), but in the end, the "catering lesson" really made me think about and appreciate the work situation I have had over the last two years.  It's definitely a good fit.

Yesterday was just more testing at school and I gave a lecture about Singapore this morning (to the second years going there in January), but otherwise I have been spending all my other free time during the day writing tests (almost finished with number three!).  I'm trying to study for my test next week in the evenings, too, but, yeah, that's about all there is to tell.

I hope all of you are having a wonderful day and HAPPY THANKSGIVING to everyone in America.  I am definitely grateful for all of the beautiful people I know who read this (miss you guys) and for all of the opportunities and chances I have been given in my life!  Cheers.