Tales from the 中学校…

So, I’ve been correcting compositions lately. My third-year students went on a school trip to Kyoto back in April, so each of them wrote me a letter about their most important memories. I… Read More →

Where are the brakes on this thing?

The past few days have been really productive, albeit not as productive as they needed to be (are they ever?). Took care of a bunch of things I’ve been waiting months (and even… Read More →

Graduation and other news…

Ok, there has been far far too much going on lately. In short, I was accepted to UCLA and the University of Washington, got some fabulous financial aid offers back, and of course,… Read More →

You know it’s been a bad winter when…

The government wants to give it a name. The number of snow-related deaths (134) this season is the second-highest in the post-war era. Although I personally think that “Heisei 18 (2006) Heavy Snow”… Read More →

Kristi goes manga…

So, the Japanese academic year begins in April and ends in March, which means that third-year junior high students are currently taking high school entrance exams and preparing for the exciting world of… Read More →

Let the good times roll…

So, the last few days have been the happiest I’ve had here in Japan. Work is going *amazingly* well. I’m busy, I’m teaching a lot, planning tons of lessons, interacting with students verbally… Read More →

Another Monday, Monday…

Went to Tagami Jr. High today, one of the “one-shot” schools that I only visit every two weeks. I generally enjoy this school. The two female teachers are great; one of them is… Read More →

Normalcy

Had a rather nice day at school today. Taught three fairly successful third-year classes, with activities primarily prepared by myself. Even the petulant ones warmed up a little (I have a feeling they… Read More →

Grad app extravaganza…

I finally made myself settle on a grad school list. The lucky contenders are: UC Berkeley, Princeton, Cornell, Harvard, UC San Diego, UCLA, University of Michigan, Columbia University, University of Chicago, University of… Read More →

Back to Japan (mentally)

So, I’m pretty much back to my normal living-in-Japan routine–no more visitors for a while. Feels a little weird, but it’s also quite nice not to have to spend hours and hours on… Read More →