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.

End of the term

It is the end of the term and we have about 10 days until the third term starts. Time is flying! I will post some photos a little later, I just don't have the motivation to go into the office today!

Adventures from two weeks ago-Oyama Mountain

On the morning of October 15th. We were excited and ready to roll. And just in case you were wondering, you are not being flipped off. That's a peace sign :)

People kept asking "samui, ne?" And I kept saying, "no, no, it's not too cold." But it was cold enough to freeze this little puddle and to have snow on the top. It was my first snow in Japan! Yihaw!

This little hut is the halfway marker.

Buddah has kept a watchful eye over many a year and over many a traveler. I ws told it was there for wishing travelers a safe jouney.
This is nearly the top of Oyama. I've heard most people reach this point and then turn around, but we wanted to get to the tippy-top... so we kept on going.

This isn't the tippy-top, but it's beautiful, isn't it?

Adventures from 2 weeks ago- Oyama

This sequence of photos dates back to October 13th. After exploring Kurobe Dam, Hye-Young and I worked our way to Murodo. That was our destination for the night. Pictured below is Hye-Young as we worked our way from the bus station, through the mountains and to our hotel.
There she blows! As we approached our hotel for the night, I couldn't help but feel a little apprehensive... the rough hewn look, with spikes coming out of the roof and windows boarded up... I wondered what kind of stay we would have.

Yes folks, that is Hye-Young, who fainted when she saw a cockroach the size of my head in our little room. No, no, no. I'm kidding- there were no cockroaches there. We were just sprawling out on the tatami after having had an early morning and a day of walking around.

To be honest, this particular hotel was nice; the people running it were wonderful, they had great meals, there was a heater in the room and the best part was the onsen (public baths) in the basement.

The following shots are of the mountains around the hotel. Beautiful!

The picture below is of a sulfur bog/hot spring.

Adventures from a week ago- Kurobe Dam

Kurobe Dam, one of the biggest (if not the biggest dam) in all of Asia. This is the afternoon of October 13th... to be continued tomorrow... or more likely next week. :)

Adventures from a week ago - Foliage around Kurobe Dam

Recently, someone asked me what the seasons were like here in Japan. There are four seasons where I am and I was lucky enough to see some gorgeous foliage during my overnight in the mountains. These photos are taken around the Kurobe Dam. The colors were beautiful. And as luck would have it, the days we were out were beautiful, too!
Oh, I should mention that the Japanese Alps are the homes of snow monkeys. I actually saw one from the bus while traveling though deciduous forests at lowever elevations. I was gazing out the window and thinking to myself, "ah, these forests are lovely. Rather reminicent of the forests in VT..." Then I saw a large furry creature and I thought "ah, maybe a skunk or another critted you'd find in the woods of the N.E. But then it turned and it had a little, red, expressive face. I gasped and nearly shouted "it's a monkey!" My friend responded with a "yeah, so?" To her it is rather commowplace to see monkeys in deciduous woods... for me, not at all! Anyhow, I was very excited to have seen one!