Is his days of covering over!?

That's what you might ponder to yourself after hearing about all the covering I've been doing here since the beginning of the year. I just finished up a full week at one of Ruki's old schools yesterday and I'm really hoping that's the last bit of covering I'll be doing for awhile. I'm thinking that because on July 10th there will be a new NT moving in (no word yet if it's in Ruki's old apartment), and she'll be taking over Ruki's schools. Yay! The new teacher is from America (Go USA!) and that's all the details I have. This past week we also had a staff meeting on Wednesday and I was able to meet the other new NT that came in and took over Marty's old schools. The new guy is Richard, from Manchester, England and he's pretty cool from what I can tell. I don't think he's too happy with his placement and where he's living but as they say, them's the breaks. I just hope these new teachers stick with it past the bumpy transitional period because if they retreat, that leaves me and the other NT's in a crappy spot.

So classes this past week went quite well. The new teacher is fortunate to be taking over there. From my experience, it has no real "trouble" classes, aside from that one on Friday where the girls just give attitude for no reason other then they think they're being cool. But hey, one class out of sixteen for the week is pretty sweet. I've also been a bit under the weather this past week. I can't really say what it is, but I've just been uncomfortable with the occasional headache, bout of nausea and fatigue. The humidity isn't doing much for my condition either. Maybe my body just isn't transitioning very well into Japan's brutal summer. I'm trying to lay off spicy foods and carbonated drinks (as best I can) because I'm getting a lot of heartburn as well. Basically I'm a mess. However, I'm hoping this is a passing thing.

In other news though, I've found someone that I really enjoy talking to. She's incredibly sweet and in line with me mentally on a lot of things and most important of all is that she's lifted my spirit at a time when I really needed it and has become a person that I just look forward to. I'm not saying we're in love or anything that serious, but it's definitely in the air and I'm excited about the potential and possibilities of what may be next. We'll see what happens.

Ethnic Bros. Mexican restaurant.

Ruki and Rachel.

How bout these tortilla chips?

Bueno!

The mega burrito.

Old dude's house he turned into a cafe.

Complete with reading section.

Cozy.

A Mid-Week Blog Post!? What the!?

In rare fashion, I've decided to make a post on a Tuesday. I usually wait until my day off, or the weekend to write something up but it's been a while since my last update and I have some time to kill. I got home this morning around 10am from my hotel stay in Usuki. As most of you know, I have a hotel night during my Usuki week on Tuesday nights. I get up at 8am on Wednesday morning to take the 9:03 train back to my apartment because hotel check-out time is at 10am and my first class on Wednesday doesn't start until 6:15. Can you imagine sitting around the classroom for nearly 7 hours? I don't even need that much time for a weeks worth of class preparation. So when I got back to my place this morning I just wanted to take a shower first thing. I don't shower at the hotel because I don't make enough time for it in the morning, I don't like showering at night, and I don't pack a change of clothes for my hotel stays. Now you know all my dirty little secrets...well almost all of them. An extra set of clothes would just equate to a heavier travel load, which I'm definitely not looking for. Anyway, I go to take a shower and there's no water. Imagine my shock and anger. Then I recalled getting a letter shoved in the crack of my door sometime last week. I thought, "ah-ha! It must've had something to do with this lack of water". I check out the paper (still had it...you know what a packrat I can be), and sure enough it says the water would be shut off this morning from 9am to 11am. A minor inconvenience all in all. I remember back in LA, they apartment building I was in would shut the water off REGULARLY and it would be an all-day affair.

My classes yesterday (on Tuesday Usuki hotel night), are my least favorite of the week as well. My first class is a headache because they run around yelling and fighting each other. There is a chemistry problem going on there. However, I may have cracked the code with these young-uns. I'm thinking they just need to be active constantly, throughout the hour. Idle hands being what they are. The normally angry boy, Asahi, was fine because he knew we'd be playing some dodgeball at the end of the lesson. You have to lure them like fish from time to time you see. Don't look too much into that analogy. After that I have an hour break and then there are my teen classes. These kids aren't bad but they're just so dang quiet! It's like pulling teeth to get them to speak up. I incorporated some good 'ol fashioned UNO into the lesson and it seemed to go over well, helping to loosen them up a bit. Thank God. Again, not my favorite day there, but I feel like I made a bit more progress with these students. We'll see what next month brings. To think, it only took 9 months for this miniscule breakthrough.

This month's schedule is pretty sweet, even with me covering at another teacher's school next week. I have weekends off for the entire month. That's pretty awesome in a job where most of the time you only get Sunday off and your other days are randomly placed. What I'll be doing with this ample time has yet to be determined though. More than likely, a return trip to Fukuoka for a taste of big-city living.

Oita.

At Kitsuki station. I just thought it looked cool.

Burn energy drink. Not too shabby!

Oita again.

Oita, one more time.

Fanta: tropical punch. Garbage.

I ride the bus sometimes.

Here's how I look doing it.

Straight up black pepper chips.