From today’s second class for the first-year junior highs…
“Hello, everybody!”
“Hello, [Mr. JTE] and Miss Smitha!”
“What day is today?”
“Fine, thanks, how are you?”
It was scary how simultaneous that was. It’s a running joke that the response to, “How are you?” is so mechanically ingrained into these kids, and I’ve definitely seen evidence of it in my junior high classes (my predecessor taught all the elementary school kids various reactions, like, “I’m so-so/sleepy/great/sick/etc.,” so I get a variety there. But I didn’t realize the question itself was seemingly predetermined, too!
So, upcoming events…
- maybe dinner/bowling tonight with the Miyoshi-gun folks
- hanging out with Miyoshi-gun folks later this week
- Thanksgiving dinner at Katie’s house? (As long as they don’t reschedule it to December 6th or so. I’m really, really craving a real American meal like that. Minus the turkey, of course.)
- Tokyo Symphony Orchestra concert with Kelly and Jim next Monday
- a couple more violin lessons before the holidays
- Christmas caroling at all the junior high schools in Miyoshi-gun all day on December 2
- getting my butt in gear on grad school applications and everything they entail (it’s already too late to apply to one of the schools on my list–there’s no way everything will fall into place by the beginning of December)
- donating gifts for orphanage kids…there’s an annual orphanage visit, but it’s happening while I’m in India
- INDIA! Three weeks!
It’s weird how much my schedule for the duration of this year has suddenly filled up. Half of that is due to e-mail/AJET forum activity just today.
I didn’t think to start Christmas shopping this weekend…whoops. I don’t even know if I’ll really get a chance to, to be honest. Hopefully just seeing me for the first time in 5 months will be a big enough present for my family. ;o)