Today I got up early and made lunch for Kuniko and I, and then jumped in the bath. Once I finished I did a little bit of studying until Kuniko woke up. She had trouble again sleeping last night, so it was a challenge to get up and ready on time. We had a quick breakfast and then hit the road.
Today at school I spent a couple hours pondering my future instead of pondering Japanese vocabulary, and organizing my thoughts. Despite how I felt yesterday, I already have a general sense of what I want to do; it is just a matter of carving out a path in that direction. And, do a better job of communicating it to the people around me.
In the late morning I got a big package of papers from Yamamoto sensei – it was the information about our next ALT that will replace me in August. It’s a 20-something year old woman from Minnesota! More American accents for our students to pick up.
I went through the paperwork and it was in a way retro-embarrassing. I’m sure three years ago Mr. Hayashi and my predecessor Andy leafed through all my personal information trying to get an idea of what kind of person I am. I read through her application, her school transcripts, her passport photos, letters of reference, everything. I remember well pulling together all that information and getting it to the embassy in time.
Yamamoto sensei will be her supervising teacher, so we spent a little time talking about what we should do from here. I sent off an introductory email to her, and we’ll see what kinds of questions and issues she will have.
Other than that it was a pretty quiet day. I spent more time planning and thinking, less time studying, and hopefully the kick in the pants that I got yesterday will keep me working hard for a while.
I got a sad e-mail from Antoine, apparently he and his girlfriend finally had the big fight that broke them up. We’ll see if that holds, but Antoine sounded pretty sure that it was over. I think there probably is a lot of pressure on Antoine to get a job and stay in Japan, and maybe start thinking about a future together with Miwako. Maybe that pressure finally got to them.
I headed home right on time, and walked to the train station in the heat. It is starting to really warm up now, in between rain storms. Today I was hoping for air conditioning in the office, but I think it is still two weeks away.
I did a little shopping at IY for some basic supplies, and then headed on home. Kuniko should be home pretty soon, so I’m just hanging out until she gets back. I’m doing a little bit of research on the web, and trying to stay cool. It’s going to be another warm evening.
