I’m currently sitting in a train collecting my thoughts. This morning was the graduation and luncheon at the elementary school I work at. Regular readers might know that this is my third school year working here, even though I started near the end of that first school year. On the whole this school has been … More Graduation 2017
From around noon the weather shifted. At the start of the day it was reasonably warm, for early March, and the sky was decently blue. Then the clouds came and everything turned grey. Rain was soon to follow. This actually fits rather well with the day. It is nearing the end of the school year … More Tears and Rain
Yesterday felt rather bleak. I had worries that history was repeating itself in terms of work promises falling through. Really the only thing I had to hold on to was the knowledge that the people I work with are very special, warm-hearted people. My faith in their good intentions was never in doubt, but my faith … More (Re)Appointment
This is going to be a rather hard post to right because there is only so much I can say on this subject. I’m not strictly bound by confidentiality or anything like that, but talking too much might not be the smart thing to do. Not that I’ve ever let myself talk the the point … More Disappointment
It’s been a while since I’ve talked about the school I work at. Longtime readers might remember that I teach at a private elementary school here in Tokyo, and that the school is all girls. Recently we started work on the sixth grade English play. This is a yearly tradition that started well before I … More My School: Theatre Edition
Here in Japan the school year is on an April to March schedule. So, just as the cherry blossoms are in peak bloom a new set of lessons begins. I’m one of the lucky ones that actually gets a decent spring break. Combine that with the end of year and beginning of year ceremonies and … More Teaching is an Endurance Sport
The 6th graders had their final day as elementary students today. What a bunch a little cuties. Whenever I watch a graduation ceremony in Japan I think of the differences between the ones here and the ones I went to in the US. The individual elements are the same, but the order is flipped. The … More Graduation Day
Today was the last day of classes for this school year. I teach in an all-girls private elementary school here in Tokyo. I’ll admit I was reluctant to return to teaching at the beginning of 2015. I had been burned and was feeling quite jaded. But it has been a very good move. Today was … More Last school day of the year
Most of my adult life I have been teaching Eglish in Japan. Straight out of college I came over and taught in a Junior high school in a mid-sized city. After doing that for four years, and with various adventures and disasters that make up teaching spirnkled in, I moved up, or perhaps over is … More Teaching English in Japan
Deadly Troubadour 