Sendai Oh My

I went to Sendai for training this past weekend. It was pretty good, though I still want more teaching ideas. Most of the points they made were just common sense, so I'm looking forward to the professional development day in January. The best part about that one is that I'll get to see some friends from Koriyama too! (At least the ones who work for James school). Natasha will be there. She's the first person I truly sat down with over a cuppa joe to talk seriously about James and what they were all about. She's great, though keeps to herself a lot. She's from Canada, was in a French immersion program and speaks both French and English fluently. They are bringing the immersion idea into their approach at James, but I have yet to truly see what that means. On paper it sounds great. But these folks are only with us for an hour a week. Not eight hours everyday. So anyway we'll see how it goes. Both Melissa's will be there. Canadian Melissa is Susan's daughter (Susan is a big wig at James). They are both amazing folks--and quite the partiers. Melbourne Melissa is still sort of new to Japan. She bonded with Pete the way I did and probably misses him dearly. They lived in the same building. Bryan will also probably be there. He and I haven't had a chance to really get to know one another, but he's always been a lot of fun at God's bar. So anyway, I'll see those guys January 8th, back in Sendai.

It was nice to finally see Sendai, and they just opened a MAC store! I don't know why that's exciting to me, I won't be buying anything. I guess I just think it's cool. I suppose one could compare and say it's like opening the first McDonalds somewhere. I don't know why I think that's a negative step and Mac is a positive one. I guess I just think Mac is better for your health.

It's going to be a busy month, though the holidays will be quiet. I'm not really going anywhere special. Both Brian and I will be around, but everyone else is leaving. I'd love to go to see friends in Kori. I know the Melissa's are having a dinner and have invited me, but it's a lot of cash to get there. I just can't justify it right now. So, instead of spending money I don't have, I decided to stick around, work some overtime and make some money I need. If anything, I'm thinking I can use that money to go see the snow festival in Sapporo in February. I wanted to do that last year, but it just didn't work out. Maybe I can make it happen this year! Besides, the Kori folks claim to be pretty serious snowboarders, so we'll see how many of them come and take the Zao challenge! (I actually think it's probably not so much difficult as it is enjoyable). And if *that* doesn't tempt them, there is always the outdoor natural onsen (hotspring) at the bottom of the mountain. What a great way to end the day.

Not much else is new. I'll spend most of the holiday getting my TOEFL certificate done and starting to concentrate more seriously on Japanese. I want to at least learn one of the alphabets. With just a little effort and concentration I think my subconscious is ready to break the code and make sense of the symbols around me.

That's it for now. Ciao.