Hello all! Here is the update. I have grown my first egg plant and consumed it with friends. I consider this the greatest if not the only triumph of my garden so far. But there are three others growing and about two cucumbers that may actually be loofas according to one of my coworkers but what do they know?
I started the first of my private work last night. I taught my 3 to 7 year olds classes for two hours. They are really cute. They have an attention span of about 6 seconds though. The mothers all sit and watch me the whole time and applaud when their child answers a question correctly or wins a point in one of the games. Tonight will be my first class with my adult group called the ABC Club. I think they mainly do charades and conversation type of stuff. It is only an hour long so I think we may play a rousing game of Boggle as my box from Canada has finally arrived. I was very wise to send myself the pack of licorice! I am enjoying that on a daily basis!
On the weekend, I went our with a language club in town call Gokumikai. They took us up to the top of Mount Takabacchi for a BBQ. It was 11:30 in the morning when they cracked out a case of beer and started drinking. Well it’s five o’clock somewhere eh? It was a huge meal! They cooked about four courses and then we said we were full. We walked another 400 meters to the top of the mountain where you could see Lake Suwa and Mount Fuji or Fujisan as they call it. I couldn’t believe I could see Mount Fuji from my town! It is at least a two and half hour drive from my town. It is massive! Then we came back down to our BBQ site only to find that they had started cooking again. We had two more courses and then miso soup to finish. I got a wicked sun burn too. I guess we were just closer to the sun up there. I was wearing sun screen and everything. I think we were in the local newspaper again because of this event. We have been in it three times now. Apparently the locals enjoy following the exploits of their crazy foreigners! People often show me newspaper clippings I can’t read in which my name is mentioned or there is a picture of me I didn’t know had been taken. It is strange. I feel like a tabloid victim.
That night we went out to an ALT party in Matsumoto and then an after party at a near by club. Mine and Tom’s house are a half way point for many of our friends, so we woke up the next morning with quite a few guests in varying states of hangover. A good time was had by all. When enough people were able to come down stairs we had crepes for breakfast and then watched movies for the rest of the weekend.
I have to go and teach my phonics class now. It is mainly comprised of bratty boys who don’t work in my class and will do very little after school. The weather is beautiful here again. I have a perfect view of the mountains from my desk. I wish you could see it. It took this picture from where I sit but it doesn't do it justice.