- Eating filet mignon at Sanno Hotel in Hiroo before coaches meeting
- Finishing Song of Songs, Isaiah, Zechariah, Jeremiah, and Hosea
- Teaching short corners in Field Hockey
- Treating Mom out to sushi on a rainy day
- Finishing H.A. Ironside's commentary on the Epistles of John
- Eating dinner with the Tarters
- Getting a guitar strap and guitar stand!
- Interview with Global Partners and HJIS
- Thanksgiving at Nojiri
- Reading 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
There are 18 girls on my field hockey team and it has been so much fun coaching them in this winter season. Our typical practice consists of:
- Warm-up (2 laps around field and Partner Passing)
- Drills (shooting, dribbling, passing)
- Scrimmage (sometimes with volunteer scrimmagers so we can have 11 v. 11)
- Wrap-up (shots on goal and team huddle)
UTSS: My teaching at UTSS will end on March 1st but it has been a great experience thus far and I have been so blessed to have been able to have the experience of ALT teaching at UTSS. Recently one of the classes was doing a writing piece on different holidays and one of the girls was writing about Christmas. I was helping her with her sentence and I talked to her about how the Christ in Christmas is a name--Jesus Christ. In the student textbooks they are given certain phrases that they can use such as "This day is for..." or "This day is for us to remember..." so she proceeded to write her introductory sentence about Christmas by saying, "This day is for us to remember when Jesus Christ was born." I look forward to having more conversations as the Christmas season approaches.
Here are a few examples of my students writing:
"I see my sweet honey every morning. She welcomes me. I love her and I am loved by her. One day I was very dejected because I had lost the soccer game. At the time she licked and encouraged me. She always supports me. I felt that it was small happiness. Although she is a dog, she sometimes gives me small happiness. I think it is important to feel small happiness." "Let me write about things on Nov. 3 this year. That day was "Iruma Air Show" in Iruma Air Base. I go to this show every year. I like the acrobatic flight of the Blue Impulse. The sky was very beautiful. I was very surprised that day because F-2 had a flight. I was very excited. It was really interesting."
Job Search:
Right now I am trying to make a decision as to whether I should do full-time international school teaching or full-time English teaching. I have applied for 13 jobs since November and have heard back from 5 of them.
On Nov. 21st I had an interview with Global Partners Co. which is an organization that hires English teachers for private junior and senior high schools in Japan. I recently had a Skype interview with Horizon Japan International School (HJIS) which is an international school in Yokohama and they will get back to me soon.
Another job possibility that I am rather excited about is a school called Gunma Kokusai Academy (GKA) which is one of two immersion schools in Japan. The other immersion school is located in Okinawa and these schools are funded by the Japanese government, run on the Japanese calendar year, but use English curriculum. I applied for an elementary teaching position but they said there were none but would consider me for a preschool position. So, on Tuesday I will be visiting the school for a face-to-face interview and will also give a 45 minute demo lesson with a class of 15 preschool students. Even if I do not get the job I am curious about the school and what it is like. However, I would very much appreciate prayer as I look into this possibility.
Just so you know, Gunma is well-known for its silk industry and is also a center for Subaru motor vehicles.
Thanksgiving:
Thanksgiving break was at Nojiri with family and friends and it was so good to be at Nojiri in the fall. Mom was visiting Caleb and Amy in Gifu so she came with them to Nojiri late Friday night. Dad and I were in Tokyo so I drove with him to Nojiri on Thursday night. I was able to help with some raking, stacking firewood, buying kerosene, and making the cabin ready for the rest of the family. It wasn't snowing yet but there was frost on the ground and it sure felt good to have the wood stove going.
For Thanksgiving dinner, which we had on Saturday, we had turkey, olives, corn bread, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, sweet potato, mashed potatoes, and lots of good conversation. We also had pumpkin pie, sweet rolls, apple pie, and banana cream pie, coffee, and tea for dessert. It was amazing!
Some Interesting Foods I've Had Recently:
- Spinach curry
- Slim puer tea
- Pineapple Jasmine tea
- Japanese Plum Tea (ume)
Some strange roots I saw on my walk with Caleb.
Close-up of the roots in the farmer's field
Frost-covered leaves
Caleb and I
Mom and IPraises:
- A while back I found a guitar at a recycle shop for ¥5000. It needed new strings... Ukon from church re-strung my guitar for me for free! I needed a guitar case... Ukon gave me his soft case because he didn't need it anymore! I needed a guitar strap...Weng Kong from church said he didn't need his! I kept setting my guitar in different places around the house...I found a guitar stand for ¥500! I never would've imagined that God would provide all these things!
- Some good job interviews that God has provided
- Quality time in God's word and prayer
- Wisdom in my job search
- For the high school girls on my field hockey team
- For the students I am tutoring (Minoru and Miko)
- Wisdom as a lead music this coming Sunday at church
