It has suddenly turned to winter and has become a little chilly. The teachers now all cry "sumui, sumui" (cold, cold). We had some sleet today and even a few snowflakes. Last week I was a little cold so I bought a jacket on my way home, just in time it would seem.
School has been going well. I was finding I was getting bored during the day when teachers weren't taking me to their classes, but I have discovered that if I start reading my book someone always asks me to do something - even other teachers who don't speak English! (The PE teacher invited me to watch the year 9 students' dancing performances). So this week has been very busy. I have also been doing more things in class and creating worksheets. I guess it just took some time for the teachers to trust me. The teachers seem happy with the worksheets I create (especially if there are pictures on them) and what I've been doing independently in class.
It has been interesting marking student's work and identifying problem areas. So many students don't leave any spaces between words. There are no rules about leaving spaces, using full stops or capital letters in Japanese writing, so while I understand why these problems keep cropping up I still find it frustrating. The teachers have really enforced using capital letters and full stops, but even they don't seem to recognise the importance of spaces between words. When I briefly talked about the importance of spaces between words the teacher was surprised that I recommended they should leave a little finger's width between words. I also tried to explain that if you write the words "to me" without leaving a space you get a completely different word. I think a few students understood, but it's still a work in progress. Soon I will start marking things wrong if there are no spaces between words.....
At home we're beginning to remember which days which rubbish goes out and remembering to take it out. We're becoming more competent at using our electrical appliances and learning how to do to really tricky things like using the timer on the kettle and rice cooker so it's ready when I wake up in the morning. Other people's noise is still frustrating at times, but we're probably not the quietest neighbours to live with either. I haven't played the saxophone much, I really don't want to give the neighbours a good reason to complain about me, but I have discovered that I can play on the weekends without disturbing others. At least, everyone else is really noisy on the weekends, so I figured that I can be too!
I really miss you all, and I miss Australia, especially the space and clean air. I'm sure that when I return I will have a new appreciation for those things which I've taken for granted.
2 comments:
Oh look at me I have a blog too now! (Ok actually Dan is one of the very few people that may find it slightly interesting)
Dan: Arrrgh - I hate thinking about eyes being cut up/operated on, etc at the best of times... I was the only one in our science class to chuck when they dissected an eye - and that was before it even came out of the plastic bag!!!
It's really made reading the Jack Ryan novels (Tom Clancy) painful recently - couldn't they have given his wife a different occupation!??!
None the less - yep - I'll definitely keep up to day (once I can make myself turn off the 'eww' factor and read it :) ). GL mate :)
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