Time grows short

I'm about a month and a half into my last academic term here, and I just today realized that a couple of the elementary schools that I visit didn't schedule me for this term. Gee. Admittedly, these are small (less than 50 students) schools, so there's some justification for not needing to have me visit as often, but it's kind of sad for me to think that I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to those kids.

But on the other hand, some of the larger elementary schools saw this as an opportunity to schedule me more. The school I went to today, Yuda Elementary School, have me coming there four times in my last three months.

It's only recently that I've been able to converse at anything approaching an adult level with these teachers. They've been asking me gossipy questions, asking my opinion of the superintendent, and the teachers I work with at the junior high schools. I've had to be extra careful in my Japanese conversation lately. I've also gotten into the habit of adding "...I think," to the end of all of my declarative sentences. Ahh, nothing like the rush you get from navigating the minefields of cross-cultural gossip!

The job search continues.

So does the cleaning of the apartment...slowly. I've got to get things cleaned up because a) I've got to send pictures to the next ALT, and b) the family's coming. Hoo boy.