Huh–I’m really puzzled as to why anyone would e-mail this post to anybody else. It came up in my referral logs, and I’m wondering if somebody I work with has found my blog (it lists the “region” as Hyogo, a nearby prefecture, but the town is listed as Ikeda)…I’m always very conscious of what I write in case that happens, but wow.
Sorry, it’s been a long week as I’ve adjusted to my new schedule and the new groups of kids in my classes. Things look like they’re going to work out well. I was honestly concerned about this new load of classes at this one elementary school, but the kids are adorable and the teachers I work with are great, and I think it’s going to be just fine. I’m adjusting my method of keeping notes so it’ll be a lot easier for my successor to keep everything straight.
I also wanted to address the Virginia Tech shooting…but I really don’t know what to say. I read the news every chance I could get at first but there are some issues I have with how the stories are being reported, and I got a bit overloaded by everything. I was truly shocked and saddened by it–and I was also saddened by the fact that on the very same day, over 170 people were killed in Iraq. It’s so easy to gloss over something happening somewhere we don’t know about, but those people in Iraq who’ve died are just as human as the students and teachers who were gunned down in Blacksburg.
I have to run back to work now, since I’m just home for lunch. There’s an open mic night in Tokushima City tonight, which I’m finally dragging my westie friends out to, and I have a grand total of one song prepared–I foresee lots of hasty post-work cramming to get ready.