there's nothing like a bit of schedule manipulation to get one going in the morning. schedule changes are certainly nothing to marvel at after 15 months at a Japanese JHS. i am deffinately used to the idea of classes being "cut" and schedules shifted for multiple reasons and purposes. This week, however, has been a wonderful exercise in keeping teachers on their toes. Tuesday, Halloween day, 5th and 6th period were meant to be cut for shiquasa picking. By this point, dear reader of blog, you should have an idea what shiquasa is and its importance as a prominent citrus in my stories. but if you don't, here's what wiki has to say about it. Spellings are different. hmm. maybe i should expand on that stub?
anyways. we have lots of shikwasa bearing trees all around the school and twice a year students pick them. They are quite ripe now, the skin is actually starting to turn yellow. But the weather turned sour at the start of the week; it's been rainy since monday and so the picking had be canceled and 5th and 6th period reinstated on Tuesday. That meant that student teacher and i had 3 Halloween lessons that day and one regular lesson. Wednesday, the weather didn't improve and all classes stayed on schedule. Then i accidently overheard that 1st period would be canceled on Thursday. That meant a 2nd grade class had to go. When a class is cut, all others move "down" so i knew we'd have 3-2 2nd period and 2-2 3rd. So in the morning, i confirm that schedule with JTE and look at what will have to be taught--am also assuming that student teacher has planned at least an outline of a lesson plan. 10 minutes later, head teacher changes the schedule and cancels 2nd period as well. That's right folks. Now 3-2 is 1st period of the day and we have 25 minutes before it starts and student teacher is with her homeroom class, and i have no idea if she actually prepared anything.
so i look at the lesson, get an idea for an activity to do for practicing new grammar and make up the worksheet. student teacher comes to the office, 15 min before class starts, realizes she has two classes in a row starting NOW and is visibly frazzled. poor thing. fortunately, she did plan for it a bit; made up a worksheet with grammar explanation. so i went through the lesson plan with her and we went to class. and it went well.
next class. uhm. not so much. but ya know. we had to prep for it in 10 minutes and she did well enough.
so there you go. the beauties of a japanese scheduling system. anything goes!

it's now sunny but windy and actually....colder. ouch. anything but that! oh the grayness of Okinawa winters; how sad i'll be to see the sun go.
anyways. the students are out there picking shikwasa or making it look like they are. Nearly 30 students are however training for an eikiden race on Saturday. I think it's 20km. Don't know if i'll be going, as there might be an ultimate frisbee game in the works for Saturday afternoon in Okinawa City.

oh. and tomorrow is Culture Day, which means day off, which means i get to sleep in and call Shelley and those are two very wonderful things to have to look forward to.

also, i must say that the new Tropicana Dark Cherry Juice is a lovely addition to the convenient store's selection of juices. I've only tried it once and was a bit uncertain of it. It's deffinately a cherry flavor but there's something odd about it. Will have to try again to make sure my preference.

I am told there is a 5 storey 100Yen store in Tokyo. It's owned by the Daiso company, which i believe owns most of the really nice 100Yen stores. I am very curious indeed.

Oh, and am very excited for a chance to experience my first Japanese wedding this Sunday. Most of my friends on Okinawa have been to at least one and i was starting to feel left out but that will change on Sunday. yipee.

ok. enough randomness.