My dedicated audience,

I am so sorry for my long leave of absence.

A combination of being super busy and not having the mental capacity to even send a package has brought us here. But now I have time at work and can send a very long and thorough recount of my first two months of working.

When I last wrote, I had just returned from a short trip to Wajima. The following week was our school’s cultural festival! If you know anything about Japanese school culture, then you’ve probably heard of this before. It’s essentially a time for students to put on games, shows, restaurants, etc. for other students, teachers, parents, and members of the community to enjoy. Unfortunately, I can’t share too many photos in order to protect my students’ privacy, but here are a few!

At my school, the first year homerooms each put on a different activity or game. This included a casino, a haunted house, an obstacle course, and a handmade seesaw that the students pushed us around on, to name a few! The second years each hosted a food stall with all sorts of different foods! These kids came out with grills, fryers, and freezers to make their food and it was delicious! Finally, the third years each wrote and performed a 30-minute drama with their homerooms. This was impressive in and of itself, but they also all created huge backdrop paintings that they would change two to three times during the performance (by huge I mean probably 20 feet tall and 50 feet wide. 

I had such a good time because 1. I got paid to eat and play all day and 2. I got to meet several more students and even some of their parents!

The next week, school started. This has been where most of my time has gone. I teach 16 classes per week. 10 first-year Global English classes, 4 second-year Reading Skills/Practical English classes, and 2 second-year and third-year Science English classes. I lead almost all of these classes and create the lesson plans with my co-ALT for all of the GE classes. It’s a lot of work, but it’s also very fulfilling! The students can be very shy, but they’re also brilliant and love to talk once I get past the original wall of shyness. I host “English Chat Time” a couple of times a week which gives students the opportunity to talk to me one-on-one which has been a great opportunity to get to know a few of the students on a deeper level. 

Another aspect of my job is helping out with the English Speaking Society club. This group is maybe 20-30 students who want to improve their English by competing in competitions and playing games outside of school. Since school has started, I’ve been helping them prepare for an English debate competition (which was last month) and a drama competition (which is next week). For debate, students are given a topic and prepare affirmative and negative arguments and then compete against other schools in the area. It is INCREDIBLE to me that these students are intelligent enough to 1. Put in the time and effort to research the topic so thoroughly and 2. Compete in a second language by giving speeches and preparing attacks and defenses against what their opponents say. I am also very proud to say that my school had 3 teams compete and two of the teams came in 1st and 3rd place!! I was so proud.

For drama, the students write and direct a drama in English, complete with props, costumes, and spotlights. We’re in the final countdown for this competition now, so fingers crossed for a successful performance on Friday!

I also took a trip to Osaka with some friends from this area. It was not nearly enough time to explore all that the city had to offer, but I did have a lot of fun exploring, shopping, and visiting with the friends I came with. Osaka is a very young and hipster city, so it was so interesting to see the contrast between the very traditional city I live in and the more business-minded city of Tokyo. I can’t wait to go back.

Early in October was also the Kanazawa Special Meeting (a large church meeting, for those who aren’t familiar :)), so I was able to meet some of the other Workers here in Japan, as well as from India and Korea. It was a very special time!

In between all of this, I’ve just been exploring Kanazawa more and spending time with some of the other ALTs in the area, as well as some Japanese friends I’ve made along the way, and eating lots of yummy food. Some friends and I dressed up as the Powerpuff Girls for Halloween (which is, in fact, celebrated here).

Now, we are fully in autumn here in Kanazawa, with highs around 60 deg F. This may not seem to be too cold, but a Southern Belle such as myself, I have already broken out the heavy coat. On the bright side, the autumn leaves and flowers are beautiful!!!

I apologize for the large gap in posts, but hope to post more updates soon! Let me finish with a sushi train!