how does a promise ever grow old*
Well, hello, blog. It's been a while, hasn't it? I see August 22nd is the last time I updated. Sad that it has been over 2 months, but by no means surprising I suppose. Well, in honor of NaNoWriMo I've decided to update either this blog or my LJ every day during the month of November (full days without internet excepted, of course). What this means is that there will probably be a fair few entries that are completely boring. Apologies. :)
Tonight is cold and rainy in my little town. The rain is ebbing and flowing like waves; one minute pouring, the next just sprinkling. But it is all very rhythmic and regular. It rocks a person to sleep like a cradle.
Perhaps it only has this effect on me because of the particularly tiresome day I've had. I taught 4 elementary school classes today. The theme was Thanksgiving. I only visit each elementary class once a month, so October's theme was (of course) Halloween and next month's lesson will be about Christmas. I've found that doing crafts with the students is a good way to bond with them in a non-verbal way. So today we made pilgrim hats (for the boys) and bonnets (for the girls) and then half the class was Native Americans (which, by the way, they still call "Indians" here :/) and made simplified feather headdresses. While it is stereotypical, it is the most one can do with 45 minutes and very energetic students. I made sure to teach "Native American" as the word used to describe the indigenous people of North America. So at least there is that. But 4 classes of the same thing for grades 3-6 totally wiped me out, physically and mentally.
In other news, not much is happening. I have mostly finished getting my old, drafty house ready for winter. The only windows left to cover with plastic are the big patio doors. For that, I am waiting on a special shipment of heat-sealing plastic from my parents.
I've also switched out my summer wardrobe for my winter one. Oh, how I've missed wearing sweaters and cardigans! I'm very happy to wear those again. In switching out my wardrobe I discovered something about how I've been dressing pretty much my whole life: for comfort and ease. Not for, say, style or what makes me feel or look good. So I've decided to venture into the land of the moderately-stylish and upgrade my wardrobe little by little. I think it would be impossible to change completely, but I think upgrading to items that have long-standing classic styles, don't easily show sweat (this is important in Japan, where during the summer there is no air conditioning and during the winter they heat their classroooms and office rooms (note that I didn't say "buildings" - central heating here is non-existent)), flatter my figure and are comfortable would be good. Also, difficult - which is also good because if I first ask myself if an item fits this description, chances are the answer is no and therefore, I will save money. :D So you see, it all works out.
That's about it. Oh, and I've also been learning kyuudou (Japanese archery) for the past month and hope to keep that up as well. It is interesting and challenging. But yes, I think that about wraps it up.
*Robin Hackett - "Hard Left"
Labels: in tribute to nanowrimo, life in japan, teaching