Today was a good day. It was one of those days where I felt like I had a purpose being here; where I had no doubt in my mind that I made the right decision moving to Japan. Actually, in almost every sense it was a regular day--nothing really spectacular of note--but it was completely satisfying. Some days you go home feeling like you coulda done something better or had a different attitude, but this was like baby bear's bowl of porridge--juuuuust right.
That's also the first and last time I'll ever make a goldilocks reference in writing.
So anyway, got up at dawn and it was still snowing from the day before. Over the weekend, it dropped from a record 19 degrees to -2 this morning. Showered, got dressed, threw on my kanji tie, ate breakfast, and then headed out to meet my ride at APIC, the local mini-strip mall (...?).
When we got to school (junior high) the kids were all really friendly. It had been snowing sideways so the scenery through the windows of the school was completely white. It really reminded me of Canada, especially with the near-constant drivel of snow/hail/snow & hail covering everything.
I "taught" two 3rd grade classes (15 year-olds) jeopardy, which was awesome, cuz they have great english AND they were in to it, which is a huge plus. I love how 15 year-olds still love getting cute lil stickers as prizes. Kids were talking to me after class (i.e. "I saw you walking out near city hall 5 days ago!!!" and stuff) and in the hallways, and I even had a "conversation" with one girl who is taking an english proficiency test on the weekend. It was hilarious how nervous she was. I told her, "Look, you live in the countryside. Talking to a real-life foreigner is a great chance to work on your english. So let's chat: what's your favourite colour?...", and then moved on to other equally sophisticated topics.
I also did the special ed class, where the kids are always horrifically behaved, but they're awesome outside of class--they just hate the structure of learning lol. So I buttered them up with cool Canada souvenir pencils, and they were still horrible, but I did reach a couple and we were able to really get on with the activity more than I've been able to in the past.
After work I went to my language club, which is always a blast, and drilled one of the members on answers to english questions that they'll get asked by Americans when abroad (like, "so, are you chinese?" or "how come you're not wearing a kimono?").
Afterwards I made my way home in the quiet, dark Daishoji night, threw snowballs at some people, ate some ice cream, and here I am now. This is the life.
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