Toronto Apartment

When I move back to Canada, I will be going to U of T for Teacher’s College, and living with Marla downtown. Since I’m pretty far from Toronto at the moment, Marla had to find us an apartment herself. Although it was very stressful for her, she was able to find us a really convenient place on Gloucester Street, which is really close to the university for me. She sent me some pictures, but they don’t really show much because the place is unfurnished and pretty standard looking right now. But here is a map:

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Last Classes at Okuganaya

Today I taught my last classes at Okuganaya Elementary, because next week will be a goodbye party for me. At the end of my classes the teachers told the students “now shake hands, and look at his eyes!”. This led to some students staring unblinkingly at me, and others basically crouching on the ground with their hand up for me to shake.

A few minutes ago the tea lady came up to me, gave me a can of Aquarius, and had one of the other teachers tell me she wouldn’t be here next Friday so this is the last time we would meet. Then I shook her hand a few times, and took a few pictures with her.

I think in exactly one week I will be pretty sad.

Leaving is Difficult

Since I will be leaving Japan in exactly 34 days, I have started preparing for my departure and it’s not proving to be very simple.

I have booked my ticket, and submitted the receipt to get reimbursed. Yesterday, however, the travel agent sent me an e-mail saying I had to pay more now because the cost of fuel has risen. That sounded pretty ridiculous to me, but I told my boss anyway, who then said they couldn’t pay me any more because they have already done the paperwork (they’re really accomodating that way). So then I e-mail the travel agent a few times, and in the end (maybe due to calling them extremely dishonest)they said I didn’t have to worry about any extra costs.

I was given a checklist of things to have done before I leave, albeit written entirely in Japanese (again, the BOE bends over backwards for us). I have to cancel all my utilities (maybe, or just change the name or something), close out my account, and stop my cable/internet/cell services. So, I asked for help from my teachers, and they seem pretty confident that I can just go and talk to these service providers myself. I’m not so confident, so I will bring Meghan with me.

Anyway, this is proving to be a bit more annoying than I would like for my last month here. 

Sadako is Back

The other day in class I noticed that the next story the san nen seis would be reading was about Sadako and the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. This unit was also the first that I did with my students when I got to Japan, so it really made me realize how soon I will be leaving.

Next Friday will be my last day at Okuganaya Elementary, and the following Friday will be the last day of classes for Asago Junior High students before summer break. Since this week is basically all tests, and the week before a break has always meant no classes for me, that means I only really have one more week of classes with my students. I will still be seeing students from Asago JHS when they come to school for club activities, and Nohmi sensei told me today that I would teach a special class with exchange students, but it is still weird to know that my last classes are coming so soon.

マシュー先生’s Blog

Due to the fact that this job gives me more than a little free time on a computer, I came across the blog of my successor. After looking through it briefly, I’m pretty sure his interests are somewhat different than my own. He did use WordPress though, which in my opinion is the right (if not most popular among ALTs) choice.