Scraps

That nifty little video of David's trackies the other day was to be accompanied by an detailed post about where I'm at and why. Unfortunately, where I was was my flat and in the grand tradition of multi-tasking, I was attempting to keep warm, update my blog, and bake a cake all at once (note THREE appliances (4 with fridge)) and my fuse blew. Deary. I spent a good half an hour with an umbrella, a collapsible table and taped-together milk cartons remedying this situation and as a result the cake was tough, the house was chilly, my cell phone light was dead... and my insightful post was lost.

Well.

Since December...
I went home. It was many things. It was lovely, confusing, comforting, COLD, tiring and refreshing. For details of what I did and who I saw and where we went, please wade through the uberfluss of photos on my flickr.

ALSO...
A few of you know that I have been toying with the idea of another year here, but (don't worry family) I have come to the conclusion that that was just an ongoing "Rarrgh! What next?" panic reaction. While I was home, (odd, in NZ, Japan was 'home') Japan barely existed in my headspace, I talked about it, I thought about it, but I didn't feel it the way I did last time. Though I missed Japan, I know it was the people here that I missed and I'll miss them just as much no matter when I leave. I realised that I missed my kids, but not my job and I think I've gotten as much as I 'm gonna out of this gig. So it is definitely time to move on.
I located and signed the papers this morning.

Gracious. I will honestly endeavor to keep this thing up to date better. These random condensed posts are all a bit heavy. I will leave you with the story of Shinya.

Shinya hates English. I like to think he hates it no more than any other class in school but I can't prove that. He claims to have destroyed his text book, he comes to about half the classes and never, ever faces the front or stops talking and glowers at me in the corridor. Yesterday however, Shinya learnt a word of English. Suddenly English was the shizzle, it made him funny, it made everyone look at him and it was the perfect vehicle for his creepy stare (most kids don't look you in the eye - at least not for long). Unfortunately, Shinya's new word is DIE and all class he randomly called out classmates names and told them to DIE.
He got clever...

Me: Could you tell me how to get to the hospital?
Shinya: DIE?

Today he was all about English, he bellowed relevant sounding syllables during repeat after me and came up with an extensive list of fast food restaurants and electronic stores that we don't have in Hamada. But at the end of the class it was time to return to the old favourite. He told me to die. But! when I pretended to choke and fall down, the dear boy changed his mind, shrugged, said "Eh, sensei. Die, no." and walked away. This could be the start of a beautiful friendship.