Sunday, December 29, 2002

Thought I had the flu/cold bug beat, but I didn't. I spent all day today feeling spacey and dizzy (no, that is not my usual state). I read and played Ratchet and Clank some more. Slept for a while in the evening. I wonder if this just isn't a habit to get sick as soon as I have time off from school.
I've got to start thinking about what I want to do once we get to NH. I could just keep on in the same vein and try to get a teaching position somewhere. No matter where or what it is, it would be different from what I'm used to here. I would be using the experience I have rather than starting all over at something new. And basically I like schools and teaching.
But it's also such a good chance to start something completely new.

Thursday, December 26, 2002

How happy am I that this is the last day I really have to teach at this place? Very happy indeed.
I still have to come back for a couple of weeks of classes in January but just to give quizzes and finish things up. The way they scheduled the whole semester is a joke. We used to have 13 week semesters, but the school decided the students were not getting their money's worth, so the semester was extended to 15 weeks. Seems staright forward enough, but the department I teach in had just completed developing a 13 week curriculum and, as a means of protest, has refused to change it to fit the new semester length. So, we teach 13 weeks of material, give a test the 14th week and then are supposed to use the 15th week as a day for "workshops" where we are allowed to actually teach what we want to teach for one whole class period. Wow.
Now the beauty of this is how the scedule works for the fall semester. Classes started in October. We teach the 13th week right up to the end of December. Have a week off for New Year. They come back and take the tests and then the "workshop". Basically the last month of it is a write off because by the time Christmas rolls around everyone's dying to get out of there already and then they've lost momentum by the time they come back and take the tests.
Like I said, glad it's the last time I have to deal with it.
Have decided to take up jumping rope as my exercise form of choice for a while. It's cheap. Doesn't take much space to do. Burns a lot of calories in a relatively short period of time. And boxers do it so it's cool.
Luckily Rachel's around to jump with so I don't have to feel like some sort of social mutant here while I jump rope in the bike parking lot area of outside our building. I jumped with her last weekend and thought I was gonna die because it's really hard. And the next day my calves were screaming, the muscles in my feet hurt and my lower abs were aching. Good stuff.
Today was a little better and I finally am getting the hang of the boxer shuffle jump. It looks cooler than the basic two footed hop and it'll probably be more easier to deal with aerobically once I get the hang of it. Rachel broke it down for me and taught me how to do it. That's cool. I have 3 months before we move back to the States and I'm gonna get myself back in shape before I get there. I only have 8 more days of classes before I'm done with that and then there's just the week or so to grade entrance exams in Kyoto in February.