I must be fair

The noisy classes I observed at the beginning of the week were homeroom classes and the teachers have been getting ready for Sports Day on September 22. Today, I followed Katano into his homeroom again. He spent the period helping to prepare his class for one race. The students will be connected at the ankles to two long ropes. Like a long snake they will walk around a marker and back across the finish line. One kid told me that there would be 79 kids linked by the rope. I don’t know if that is right, but the rope is at least 40 feet long and kids are tied to it every foot to 18 inches. Ropes could be connected to each other as well.

The academic classes run much more smoothly than what my first impression was. I am being used in each of the classes for which I am scheduled. I have introduced myself to four 7th grade classes and four 8th grade classes. Next week I will start working with the 9th graders.

The typhoon passed to our east over Tokyo. Originally, it was to pass to our west. The typhoon has caused flooding all over Eastern and Northern Honshu with major transportation delays, trains delayed, bridges and roads washed out, and some property damage. Currently it is over Hokkaido. The winds have died down; it is primarily heavy rain now. Pacific typhoons are not as strong as Atlantic hurricanes. The wind speeds do not have the same potential for speed or destructive force. The Caribbean is much warmer and produces much stronger storms.

Now, several people have asked what Chrissy does while I am at work. It seems I have commandeered the blog with my stories of school. She is alive and well. She has been focused on the financing of our house, arranging our vacation plans, and keeping me happy. Paying bills long distance is a hassle. Paying bills locally is a hassle. We pay our gas, electric and phone bills at the post office just down the street. With everything in Japanese, it can be a challenge. I should say Chrissy pays the bills. She has also had some time to catch up on some reading. She edits the blog, adds most of the pictures, and makes sure I don’t do stupid stuff. She also plans to finish some scrap booking while she is here. She will probably return to Pullman in October to make some extra money and attend a scrapbook function.

I have really only put in five days of work. All of August, I would work a couple of hours, at most, then come home and drag her off on some quest or as she likes to call them ‘death marches.’ I just want you to know, those ‘death marches’ will pay off if any of you come visit. I will know exactly where not to go and just how to get there.

Chrissy’s camera broke. She will pick a new one up in October. I took my camcorder to school today and forgot the freshly charged battery on the table, but the pictures I was going to take today would have been awesome.