Monday

When I was younger, Garfield was always the first comic I would read when the newspaper came in the morning.

One thing I could always relate to was "I hate Mondays." That and "I love lasagna."

Today, especially, was one of those "I hate Mondays" days.

I didn't rest up nearly enough to make up for last week's craziness. So I was kind of cruising along in "Low" today. It wasn't too bad though.

My schedule looked like this:

1. 2nd year Alpha - some of the students STILL hadn't done their homework assignment, so we spent all class continuing our study of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven". Somehow Poe was brought up in class (gee, I wonder who brought it up) a while back, so I decided to show them some cool American poetry. They seem to be enjoying it. I wish they would do their homework so we could move in to our Debate unit. And right now, every single one of my teachers is laughing and saying "How do YOU like it? HUH?"
2. Open Period - made a pot of coffee (the good stuff from home)
3. 3rd year Beta - the original plan was to let the students get on the 'Net and do some research, but we all know how well my plans go. The first year students had Information Processing classes in the computer lab all day, so no luck. So, I had them work on their projects in class. Their assignment is to describe a certain area of Hokkaido in English as a presentation (min. 2 minutes). It seems like everyone's progressing well there.
4. Open Period - went and snagged some lunch - curry donuts. Mmmmm, curry. A local department store was featuring regional delicacies from around the nation, so I went and bought those donuts. I also picked up some for my co-workers. Good workplace karma. They paid me back...I just went and picked up the donuts. Good stuff.
5. 2nd year Beta - Played "Guess Who", a game where you try to guess which character the other team has by asking Yes/No questions. The response was good. There were some pretty creative questions.
6. Open Period - joined the 3rd year girls PE class and played some volleyball. I mentioned my health check results in class one day, and now my students keep telling me that I have to work out more. "Come play volleyball with us. Maybe you'll lose some weight. Ha ha ha ha ha." Think yer funny, eh? I showed them. My mutant blocking skills left them dazzled and amazed. I also got a few "You're not acting like an adult!" comments. (Mom, you can join in on this one.) Well, after all, I am a...KIDD! Bwa hah hah hah ha...umm, let's move on.
7. After school - one of the first relaxing after school days I've had in a while. I went and checked out tennis practice (leaving my keys on the court, which required me to go back out there after dark and search around with a flashlight for them), made backup copies of the pumpkin carving designs, and worked with one of the 3rd year students on her Interview Exam practice.

Interview Exam? Well, this student is planning on studying English at a fairly prestigious university. One of the requirements of the Entrance Exam (see yesterday's entry) for this university is an English interview. Today was the second time we've practiced. She needs a lot of work. After we did a practice run-through, we sat down and talked about what was good (not so much) and what needed work (a lot). I'm going to be working with her some more on helping her find the right things to say. [At this point, people who knew me through high school and college are busting a gut laughing.]

After that, I packed up my things (after searching for my keys) and headed out to Horobetsu (translation: separated hood) to work out. I did some water walking (you walk around a small track filled with water. Good cardiovascular exercise...or something.) and then swam 500 meters (20 lengths of the pool). I love that pool. Great exercise, great stress relief, and apparently, I've always loved the water.

According to my parents, I was enrolled(?) in a swimming class when I was six months old, and I took to it like nobody's business. Makes for a pretty funny image for me, but if that was the case then, it explains why I like swimming so much now.

I did some shopping (stuff for my sammiches), came home, cooked up some dinner, and watched "Tampopo", a Japanese movie about a ramen shop. Great flick. The main story is about the ramen shop, but it goes off on some hilarious tangents. And it has Ken Watanabe in it, way before his "Last Samurai" days.

Well, I've been awake for far too long today. Off to bed to get some sleep so I can face the day tomorrow.