Rain, rain, rain... but in a nice kind of way...

Well, it's rainy season again... I woke up this morning around 4:30, but didn't really feel tired. I wasn't sure what to do with myself as I'm used to running out the door still eating as I run to my bike. The past three weeks have been pretty incredible at school. It kind of feels like February all over again.

It may be somewhat telling about the school though. It seems to operate in a cyclical crisis state. Periods of low crisis are taken for the equivalent of down time. These times are the only times I find myself with time to wonder and think.
However, in the past three weeks, I've made 4 lesson plans, a 100 mark term test, marked and organized marks for all the quizzes that have been turned in from the term and finally marked all those 300 term tests. On top of it all, there's been the same 300 students who've had English interview tests. 4 minutes of one on one conversation with the ALT. Fortunately, most of the kids like me enough that this isn't an exercise in pain for them as far as embarrassment goes. One class seems to have an inordinately high percentage of kids who fear me though. They all look like they want to vomit and die when faced with the terrifying prospect of speaking to me. They're at once maddeningly frustrating and lamentably pitiable. I really wish I could get through to them, but it might just be that I simply need more time. I've been trying to learn all their names, but 300 names in the best of circumstances is tough, but my kids have names I've never heard before. The syllables are still entirely forgettable for me. I wish that was different, but I'm not there yet. I don't have a single student named Mike though! Not even any derivatives like Miguel or Michel or Mikhail... none!

Anyway, the interview tests have been starting at 8 every morning before school, so I've had to drag my weary carcass the 15 minute, 4 kilometer bike ride through heavy traffic, hills and 30 degree heat to school more than half an hour earlier than normal.
Given the shear weight of paper and the shear number of words and interpersonal interactions I have to wade through in a day lately, I've been trying desperately to find some kind of solace in social life while simultaneously trying to get all of the ancillary bits and pieces like workouts, paying bills, Japanese lessons, editing the Black Taxi with Nigel and myriad other one-shots... done. I've basically been burning the candle at both ends and I've begun feeling it.

This morning however, I had this burning need to move. I looked at the pile of dishes threatening to grow things from soup of the wee bits of food left after I'd rinsed them and decided they had to be done. I looked at the pile of laundry, noticed that I didn't have any underwear for the day and decided that doing laundry before I went to school was a must. Before I would tackle any of the dishes though, it was put a load of laundry in and then slip on the running shoes and one of my sleeveless t-shirts I'm embarrassed to be seen in whereupon I hit the road running. I ran for 30 minutes out of town, up into the hills around Nishi-kawatsu-cho's reservoir which looks so much like it's abandoned that I felt like I was in some post-apocalyptic movie where all the stuff is left behind when the people left. Going for a run at 5 in the morning is something else, I've gotta say. I was surprised at how many people I saw up, gardening, walking and delivering bread... I'll be honest, I was shocked to see anyone delivering bread at all.

Several slightly uncomfortable Ohayo gozaimas's later, I was thinking that if you're an 80 year old 35 kilogram woman (or man) pulling weeds around your walls and garden on an empty street at 5 in the morning, seeing a 90 kilogram foreign guy with a shaved head and a beard running your way at a determined clip is probably pretty unnerving... I wish I could do something about that, but the hair just isn't there anymore... I give people the best smile I can given my state of near exhaustion and determination. Still...

Anyway, it was a fantastic way to start the day. I got home, cleaned the entire place up, made a kick-ass breakfast and worked on language tapes for an hour before leisurely pedaling my way to school in a down-pour to arrive really early for once, to await my similarly sodden students.

All in a days work, this guiding and motivating of young minds... I'm 99% sure that teaching is my calling and that I'd be happy doing it for years and years, so I've decided to look into getting my teaching qualifications so I can do something similar at home. Going for that run this morning and then seeing my kids come in for their tests, eager but shy and all soaking wet really hit it for me. I'm a teacher! :-)

I'm also still soaking wet, but I'm happy enough, no dampened spirits here.