back to school

so my long and beautiful summer finally came to an end, and alas, i'm back at school. so far, though, my schedule has been pretty light. last week (the first week back), my first two days were completely empty, and this week, because all my students are done taking tests and preparing for Sports Day this Sunday, there's been a moratorium on classes. i had one today, none tomorrow, and one again on friday. sweet? i think so.

so far, the highlights of my last week and a half:

- trying to teach my kids body parts and verbs to go along with it, such as stand up and sit down. when i tried asking them, what's [stand up]? a kid replies: "Stand down!"

- my largest elementary school FINALLY listening to me (and my higher ups) and cutting down not only the number of classes i have at that school, but the number of students per class. what used to be 6 then 4 classes on a wednesday and friday have now turned into 5 and 4 (only 1 class less, but you have no idea how less painful that makes my day there). also, what used to be 60-80 kids per lesson is now magically 30-40. all of this equals a MUCH happier evelyn.

- finally discovering that the evil, highly explosive propane powered shower of mine actually DOES have more settings than scalding hot and freezing cold. note that i have lived here since the beginning of may, and this whole time, i've been trying to find some magical button that will give me less than scalding water, while still maintaining the flame that warms my water (having that flame stay on is even less predictable than when a baby is going to take its next dump). and last week, just last week, i FINALLY found it. it was set to "medium" gas quantities till now, and it was hidden behind the hose that directs my propane to the shower. this WHOLE time it was RIGHT frickin there... arrrgh. anyway, i now enjoy lukewarm showers! granted, it's still not the ideal temperature, but i'll take whatever i can get.

- i discovered that i can kinda bake! in preparation for a BBQ, i made oatmeal raisin cookies, and they actually came out pretty well if i may say so myself. it definitely had the right amount of sweetness to satisfy americans (i wonder if it was too sweet for japanese people?...). they were probably a little too much on the soft side, but when i think about it, i really dont like hard, crunchy oatmeal cookies. so yeah... my soft cookies were a pleasant change =) although i have to admit, it's kind of a pain when my oven can only fit 4 cookies at a time.... needless to say, it took a slight while to bake all of them.

that's about all i have to say for now.... that and i can't believe it's already been 6 years since 9/11. that's kinda nuts... has time already flown by that fast?

and with that, i'm leaving you with a picture of my new ALT family (well, most of it):

Aaron, Mike, Mitch, Rob, Adam, and me at our Mexican Food Party!