New Term

Yes, it is that time. A new term begins tomorrow, which invariably means I will not be posting for a little while... stay tuned... even for a couple of weeks/months!

Saipan-Sunsets

These are various shots taken from the beach and from the sunset sail.





This next sequence was taken on the flight back to Japan :( A few more days on the island would have been fantastic. Especially when the weather in Kanazawa is cold, rainy and just all around dreary.

Saipan-Entertainment

Our vacation wasn't what you would call "adventure-packed"; there was no mountain biking, para-sailing or banana boat rides... on the contrary it was very relaxing and niiiiiicccce. One night we took a sunset "cruise". That is our boat pictured below.


On another evening, we went to a dinner show, where we saw Chomorro dances and fire poi.

Saipan- Fauna and Flora

Saipan- The Beach

Saipan-Getting there

As many of you know, I took quick 5 day break in Saipan. We left on NW Airs on Tuesday morning...

Here's a shot from the plane.Ah, there's my destination. Saipan. I was only there for 5 days, which of course, proved to be too short of a time.
I stayed at the Palms Resort Hotel. I had no idea what our hotel looked like, so when I saw this from the road I thought "damn, that place is pretty swanky" and I nearly fell out of my seat on the bus when we pulled in and I realized "damn, that's where I'm staying!"


The following pictures are views from the hotel. Below is the view from my balcony. Not bad, eh?
This is a shot of the mountains from the walkway.
A lovely chapel was part of the hotel, for any folks interested in a destination wedding.
The hotel came complete with a lagoon where tropical fish and reef sharks lived, a botanical garden, restaurants, cafes, kiosks, you know, the "normal" hotel/resort amenities.

Doing something right!

Being a fairly new teacher can be discouraging for me sometimes... and then, sometimes, I get little reminders of why I love to teach.
When I asked my Japanese students if English was important for them, all but one answered "yes." As you can see, some of the answers were quite endearing.
Here's the last drawing of the term from my motivated student. Aww, shucks! I guess I'm doing something right!

End of the term

This term was wonderful; my students possessed a high proficiency level and they were so motivated. The following drawings are from one of my most motivated students. He LOVES foreign languages and he really enjoyed writing an English journal.