Catching up with Kristin and Jon

Oh my, it has been a while! First off, I'm sorry. I need to post more! I will do my best to post at least once a week from now on!

Here's a bit of an update, if I think of more, I will add it later, promise!

On our way back to Okinawa from California, we had a layover in Taiwan (Taipei), and took a tour offered by their tourist board. We got to see some pretty cool places including a shrine with some amazing architecture and a little stone street famous for its pottery. We bought a cool glowing pomegranate because we got into a funny discussion about the word with the tour guide.

We participated in a "joyathlon" today, a triathlon of sorts. We rode our bikes for 15km, walked for 7.5km (a lot of which was uphill), and "swimwalked" walked in water on the beach for 200 meters. We were the only foreigners in this "international triathlon" but we had fun nonetheless. We are a bit sore tonight, but not as bad as I expected, and for some reason, I haven't gotten hungry since the event (even though it was finished at about 1pm).

After we were done, we stuck around to watch this break-dancing competition nearby. It was pretty cool, but we left because the bike-sitting area was closing.

Jon got a new job! He will now be working at Chirorin in Oroku, Naha. It is apparently a hoity toity preschool/kindergarten people send their kids to get them off to the right start. He loves the new kids he's met there and is glad to be working under (hopefully) more organized management than his last *unnamed* employer. He will, however, continue to teach some students at "the abbey" (more like the shack) in Nishihara, so he will have some older students.

I have been super busy with graduation stuff for school. It's the end of the year too, so everyone had to fit in their English classes for the year! I also got my new schedule for this coming school year, which involved a minor change. Hopefully it will lessen my load a bit, but I'm not sure yet if it will. I will no longer be going to Kudaka, my island school, and will be going instead to Chinen Chugakko (jhs). I have mixed feelings about this change. I really got to know my students out on Kudaka, since the classes were so small (6,6,7, and 20 kids in each class) but was going to lose my favorite teacher there (the district moves teachers around every 3 years, to keep everyone on their toes..?). I also didn't like my life being run by the ferry schedule. I have one less class at Chinen Chu, but will have the 6th graders I had this year as 1st graders at Chinen Chu. I don't particularly care for these students, because they have been unruly and rude these past few months. However, I hope that this will change since these kids are going from top to bottom of the totem pole, and will be having to wear uniforms. I hope they straighten up! I also will teach one class of 3rd graders (14year olds) at Chinen Chu. I am looking forward to this because the class of 3rd graders at Kudaka was my favorite this past year.

Luckily, I am on a bit of a break from teaching now. I taught my last class Wednesday and don't start again until April 7th. On to making materials for the new school year! Unfortunately, my schools are all part of a 3 year English study program and will write all new lessons, which means all new cards, games, etc as well. Plus I will have to learn how to prep for junior high. On Kudaka, I didn't have very much responsibility for the junior high students.

That's all for now gotta get some dinner! We haven't eaten since we finished our triathlon... around 1pm!