First, I would like to apologize for how long it has been since my last update! It has been a bit hectic lately but in a very nice way!
Work
First I want to update everybody on how work is going! I have been in Japan for just over 2 months now and I have really settled in well at my school. The teachers are all very nice and patient with me. My Japanese is not very good but they see that I practice regularly and that I have already improved. I've been told that my Japanese is "Jouzu", which means that it is very good. I'm sure they're just being nice but it's still very nice to hear! My vice principle practices English with me every day as well with small conversations. She is the sweetest woman ever and is always so excited when she remembers phrases and it makes me feel very welcome to be able to have such patient people supporting me!
For the first month or so, I hardly went to classes and I spent most of my time desk-warming. I was beginning to feel bad and a bit useless with how often I was just at my desk but things picked up, I approached my JTEs about classes, and I've been able to go regularly now!
After I first arrived in August, I only went to 4 classes for the entire month and I had 12 classes in the month of September, which was a nice change. As of right now, I have already had 30 classes for the month of October and I will have even more coming! It keeps me busy and I am often very tired when I come home (hence the reason I haven't updated!) but I really think it helps the day go by much faster and I love seeing my kids.
Right now, I mostly teach first years and I have gotten very close with them already. They're very sweet, funny, and eager to learn. It's really nice now that they know me because they aren't afraid to say hello or approach me even outside of class or school.
I just started teaching the second years recently as well. They are a bit more difficult at times but they still do their best and once they warm up to me more, I think we will have a lot of fun! I haven't been teaching third years because they are very busy with tests and preparing for high school. However, I clean with a group of third years every day and they're very sweet and extremely smart! I want them to do their very best so I help them practice some English while we work.
Overall, I've fallen in love with my school, students, and my supportive teachers. I am currently starting a Japanese class as well so I am hoping to be able to speak with everyone even more shortly.
Rice Harvesting
I'm going to throw this update in with my school update because it's a pretty short one. I haven't had as much time to explore lately but back at the end of September, I was able to do something really cool! Myself and a group of other ALTs were able to help harvest the rice field in the village of Inakadate! They are very well known for their rice field art. Since 1993, the farmers of Inakadate have been creating art on rice paddy fields. They use both purple and yellow-leaved rice as well as their local green-leaved rice to create the images. These pictures last all through growing season until it is time to harvest them. You can volunteer to plant the rice as well but I came in to late to do that. I'm going to try next year though! Below you can see some images of past art!
Now here is an image of this year's art before it really started growing. You can still see the design! Below that are the images of us harvesting! ^__^
We had a really great time and I'm hoping to do it again next year! I'll also get a free bag of rice in November once it's been dried and processed so that's really nice! For right now, that's all I have for you but I'm hoping to be doing some fun things this weekend so I'll be able to update again as soon as possible. Until then, thanks for reading!
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