Those Summer Nights
Summer vacation is over. In fact it has been over for about two weeks now. Everytime I have tried to sit down and write a post, something has happened and I didn't do it. But here it finally is.
Some of you might not know that in Japanese schools, the students have a little over a month of summer "vacation" where they don't have to go to school. They call it vacation, but the students still come to school to do their club (sports) activities and to get help with their summer homework. The teachers still must go to school. Last year, I thought it sucked, but this year I just simply accepted it. Sure we must go to school and sit in the sweltering, humid heat (two of my three schools don't have air conditioners - but I would still rather it be hot than cold), but most of the time we can go in late, get off early, and go play sports with our students. At my two elementary schools, the students don't come to school, so I spend most of the day trying get really creative with a few lesson plans so that I can fill up my day with a lot of "work". And it is a really good, relaxing time to get to know your fellow teachers better. This summer wasn't as bad as last summer in that area because I can speak a little more Japanese this year. On top of all that, we got to visit nursery schools and teach English to 4 and 5 year olds (yeah, it was really basic, but dang they are soooo cute) and we had two whole weeks of AET training which is always a good time for me to learn how to teach my students better.
And this summer, our wonderful bosses gave us 5 whole days of paid vacation. As far as I understand, they have never done this for the AETs before, but they did this year because they have really worked our butts off last semester (as I think they should) and they will continue to do so.
So, with two weekends and five days of vacation, I took 9 whole days off and it was awesome. I did a whole bunch during that time and during other times throughout the summer. Take a look at my webpictures and see for yourself my experiences at Tokyo DisneySea, Yokohama, Kamakura, Saitama City, different festivals, AET training, Latin dancing, and Oarai Aquarium. It was an awesome and exhausting summer.
Also, I have added some new links to the websites of some good friends and acquaintances here in Japan. You should check them out if you have the time. Most of them are witty and just so darn interesting, so I don't think it would be a waste of your time.
Adios for now.
Some of you might not know that in Japanese schools, the students have a little over a month of summer "vacation" where they don't have to go to school. They call it vacation, but the students still come to school to do their club (sports) activities and to get help with their summer homework. The teachers still must go to school. Last year, I thought it sucked, but this year I just simply accepted it. Sure we must go to school and sit in the sweltering, humid heat (two of my three schools don't have air conditioners - but I would still rather it be hot than cold), but most of the time we can go in late, get off early, and go play sports with our students. At my two elementary schools, the students don't come to school, so I spend most of the day trying get really creative with a few lesson plans so that I can fill up my day with a lot of "work". And it is a really good, relaxing time to get to know your fellow teachers better. This summer wasn't as bad as last summer in that area because I can speak a little more Japanese this year. On top of all that, we got to visit nursery schools and teach English to 4 and 5 year olds (yeah, it was really basic, but dang they are soooo cute) and we had two whole weeks of AET training which is always a good time for me to learn how to teach my students better.
And this summer, our wonderful bosses gave us 5 whole days of paid vacation. As far as I understand, they have never done this for the AETs before, but they did this year because they have really worked our butts off last semester (as I think they should) and they will continue to do so.
So, with two weekends and five days of vacation, I took 9 whole days off and it was awesome. I did a whole bunch during that time and during other times throughout the summer. Take a look at my webpictures and see for yourself my experiences at Tokyo DisneySea, Yokohama, Kamakura, Saitama City, different festivals, AET training, Latin dancing, and Oarai Aquarium. It was an awesome and exhausting summer.
Also, I have added some new links to the websites of some good friends and acquaintances here in Japan. You should check them out if you have the time. Most of them are witty and just so darn interesting, so I don't think it would be a waste of your time.
Adios for now.
posted by Jessica Graumann @ 6:43 PM
1 Comments:
At 1:08 PM,
Anonymous said…
Hola from beautiful west Texas! I'll pray that you have an adventurous and productive school year. I'm proud of the amazing life you have built in Japan. God has used you tremendously.
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