Looking Forward to a Lowkey Weekend

Tonight is supposed to be one of the coldest nights of the year.
The rain that we’ve been experiencing for the last couple days is supposed to let up today (which is nice when you are trying to get back into training and run everyday anyways!), but after spending the last two hours in my unheated, currently-at-less-than-40-degrees-classroom, I still think I might just stay inside the whole weekend and hide in the warmth of my little room. If I had a kotatsu (heated floor table), I'd probably be there already.

I'm wearing less clothing today than usual (that's me next to the staff room heater to the left), as most days' outfits have consisted of a turtle neck, two fleeces, tights, pants, wool socks and maybe another pair of socks (or coat!) for work recently, but I really think being forced to spend hours a day in this weather is what's keeping me sick for such long periods of time. My lungs can't handle the transition from hot to freezing over and over :(

All that being said (or whined about...), today has been pretty fun so far. I had totally forgotten that we had another professor coming this morning, this time from Kobe Women’s College, until I showed up 10 minutes before class and had to scramble to help prepare.
The professor we had today talked to our 2nd and 3rd year international studies courses about the field of International Relations and then focused on a case study about the situation and political issues in Rwanda. The lecture was probably geared toward a high school level, but I found the topic interesting (or well-chosen for our kids) and I think the the students were really affected by the information they learned about.
I had talked for a while with one of the 3rd year boys a few days ago about the last lecturer we had come in and I think everyone was a little turned off by the professor himself. I can see how they would think he was a little eccentric (he was very "active"... which I thought worked well with his talk, actually), but I am glad that everyone seemed to at least understand most of the lecture - which was done all in English - and gain something from it.

I'm lucky to have been here when we started the International Studies program at my school. Giving these kids this kind of exposure to both the international community and university culture is so important, but I think I also get to experiment and be more involved as an instructor because of it, too.

Anyways, there's not too much else going on today. I have Japanese class tonight but am pretty drained from all the conference-related shinanigans from last week and late nights this week, so I might tuck in early. Actually, I think the whole weekend is going to be lowkey. I am meeting the old ladies tomorrow morning and was going to try to do a long run tomorrow (and then have the Harimacho 10k roadrace & an IFA event on Sunday), but I also need to spend some time working on post-Japan plans and just relax.

Hope all of you have a beautiful weekend. xo