So spring has come to Japan and I couldn't be happier. All this warmth and good smell is like a cloud ride through rainbow country with a unicorn.
I'm at work now, but I have my laptop today so everything is great. I can write letters and only spend a couple of minutes on the internet, saving myself the possibility of getting complained about or giving myself a reputation as a computer hog. I hate computer hogs.
I'm also surprised as lately all the teachers have been touting the "new Interac" English curriculum. Wonderful, I thought, except that the company did not A) provide us ALTs who are supposed to teach the new curriculum with copies of the curriculum, B) provide any lesson plans for the curriculum, C) tell the ALT's they were creating new curriculum, D) translate the curriculum into English, or E) give us any of the needs materials to teach a lesson on, say, how to shop in a department store. So I am having meetings all day with teachers trying to pretend like I know what I'm talking about as I stare at this year-long Japanese plan and fumble around in my crappy Japanese. Also, I don't know which Japan the folks at the home office are living in, but here in honto na Japan, no sixth grade student can have a conversation about what her or his favorite subject in school is. They can't even play animal gesture game effectively.
Luckily, I think the teachers realize these lofty goals are unattainable and have allowed me a little lee-way to have the kiddies learn how to write their names in English and play the do you like game, instead of converse on issues of world diplomacy.
You ever get the feeling you will never really understand your parents? I will not.
For those of you who care, my car tax was astronomically high, though not as high as it could have been. I had been secretly hoping to get out for under 70,000 yen which did not happen. Whatever, I say. I have my car.
I'm thinking about my road trip to Fukuoka this summer and may be bringing a couple of missionary kids from the church along with me. They're both in their teens and I think we'd have a blast, Dude teaching them about the world, women, and the best way to hunt with your bare hands, and them reading out loud to me. I've become one of those guys who is always saying stuff like, Ah, when I was your age, I (insert pointless story about rock concert).