Out of touch...

I just spent almost an hour trying to redo the look of my 'old' three years un-updated blog- katyzinjapan.blogspot.com and it really wasn't working out between us...so i had to sever my ties and start fresh. Suits me though since this summer has been all about new starts- new (yet charmingly old) house, new car (way to big for the roads), new town (impressions to be determined), new job (TBD, school starts, for me, next week)...

As I went through all of my goodbyes at Nima, I felt myself grasping for any tiny bit of memory I could. I started out blogging in Japan three years ago, documented about two weeks and rapidly abandoned it...filling my hand-written journal instead. I am really starting this new blog to fill a few long, wasted hours this afternoon and to please long, lost Koren. You know I am really only doing this for you...maybe this will end like the cell phone discussion (can't leave home without it...)!

This office is way too quiet for its own good.

I have had to start everything over with my job...it is incredibly frustrating. 'can you use chopsticks?' 'do you know japanese sushi?' I understand these people don't know me. But I worked hard for 3 years building positive working relations, studying Japanese, breaking down the 'japanese' vs 'foreign' barrier. at which I felt fairly successful. Back to zero...this is too Japanese for me. I don't want to switch schools just when I am feeling comfortable, learning about students' lives, school routines and procedures. I can now feel what it is like for seasoned teachers to be bumped around every three-five years. It is humbling and re-inforces the well known attitude of 'you are nothing and your life belongs to the system' that pervades Japanese work life.

Not that these people are not nice. Some of them are very friendly. Others, well, you encounter people of all different types no matter where in the world you are...right? Life will feel better, I hope, once I get to start school. Opening ceremony for elementary is tomorrow. I start visiting on Tuesday.

My weekly schedule will be-
Monday- Board of Education (the oh, so quiet, full of men, office I am loathing now)
Tuesday/Wednesday- Kawamoto Elementary School (90 students)
Thursday- Kawamoto West Elementary School (60 students)
Friday- Mihara Elementary (22 students)

Elementary is 6 years here in Japan. At the smallest school, classes are combined. I saw the 1st and 2nd year classroom yesterday- 4 tiny desks in a semi-circle. The room was made for 30-40 students. SO CUTE!