Spring has sprung

Or so it would seem around these parts. The weather has been a little schizo, with signs of warmth hitting me one day and then cold and rainy the next. Wait, is that what spring is like? Anyway, I for one am glad to see winter coming to an end. I certainly dealt with it much better this year than I did when I first got to Japan. I was in a better mental state this time around and just better prepared in terms of warmer clothing. This year has been pretty good so far in regards to my teaching job. I'm happy to have parent observations behind me and I won't have to worry about that pressure for a while. The only thing I have to deal with at the moment is the impending schedule changes starting in April. A lot of new classes are starting up, a few new students and in general, things just just being shaken up a bit.

My far-off school is going to be my most brutal. It's officially a six-day school now, Monday through Saturday. Tuesday night, I believe, is going to be a hotel night (it was previously a Wednesday night), and a couple of days that week are just going to be longer than they were before due to more classes. The school in the town in the middle of nowhere ends up having the most enrolled students...go figure. Whereas my school in the middle of the city has a significantly smaller amount. Having looked at the attendance sheets for the new school year, I'm happy with some of the changes and confused at some of the others. I guess I've been here long enough so that I can look at who is going to be in which class and determine how well they'll do in that mix. Sadly, I don't have any say as to who is in which class.

As of today, I'm in the middle of a coverage week (big surprise), in Beppu for the Australian NT that's leaving at the end of the month. Luckily, the students at her school have been pretty awesome and from what I've been told, Thursday and Friday classes are no problem either. We (the NT's), got our April schedules a bit earlier than usual and again, big freakin' surprise, I'll be covering for another teacher in the third week. This time, at a school I've never been to. I feel like I've taught at just about every school in the area but apparently not. This doesn't bother me too much because there's always potential for them to be super awesome kids. Or it could just be a hellish week for me. We'll see. Enjoy two completely random photos!

Katsu curry. Yummy but crazy high calories.

Happy trails Buster, ya big lug.