I did try to post yesterday, but unfortunately the website was toying with me and it erased everything I'd written. I was too annoyed to re-type. Sorry... you didn't miss too much. This week has been really odd. It is the last week of classes. Next Monday and Tuesday are our closing ceremony and graduation ceremony. So this week the teachers have been going nuts trying to wrap things up and as usual, I have not too much to do. Wednesday was the day all of the 3rd graders planning to attend a public high schools took their entrance examination (those going to private schools already took their tests). All the public schools give the exact same test and the students take the test at the school they wish to attend. Since most of the 3rd grade was gone all day (and the 3rd grade teachers were chaperoning), the entire floor was empty. The 2nd graders were cleaning and working on their school trip plans (they're gong to Kyoto in April). The 1st graders had a "Class Match", which means they spent the day playing basketball, determining which was the best homeroom. I watched the basketball for an hour plus in the morning, but it was so cold in the gym that I had to retreat to the staff room. I sat around and worked on my TEFL course for most of the day. When the clock struck 4pm, I was out the door like a shot. It was beautifully sunny so I decided to finally go run again! It felt marvelous. Jaclyn was kind enough to escort me by bike. The two of us make a pretty funny sight to begin with, but for some reason Jaclyn decided she wasn't working hard enough on her bike... so she started singing! Now, my neighbor is not Celine Dion (thank God!!) and she only knows about half of the words to any given song, but I was energized by the tunes of "Bringing Home a Baby Bumble Bee" and "Somewhere Out There"... or shall I say having her sing just made me want to finish more quickly! (just kidding Jaclyn!). No, I swear it was a lot of fun, and to her credit, she did pause while we passed an awe-struck gaggle of my favorite 2nd grade girls. It felt fabulous to be moving outside in the sun!

Today is the last day of class. I had one 2nd grade class this morning and a 1st grade class next. Then I'm done! I'm already thinking about next year's classes. The new 1st graders have been exposed to basic English in their classes with "the other" Jaclyn.. but we essentially ignore that and start at the very begining (a very good place to start...). Its kind of ridiculous... but lots of games to be played with the alphabet, I suppose. I've also been promised more classes next year, so I'm holding my breath on that one. It would be very nice to have less down time.

Tonight is girl's night in the town bath again, then Jaclyn and I want to make pizza and watch a movie. Tomorrow.. yes, you guessed it. Probably our last shot at skiing. We're going to drive up to Kashimayari, the place we went to our first time. If we decide to get a season pass next year, it will probably be at Kashima. We shall see. It's a fun ski park because at the top of the mountain it actually connects with two other parks. There are an unbeleivable number of lifts and combinations of runs. I'm looking forward to checking how much I've improved from my first time out. Tom and I had a hard time trying to decide whether he should come this weekend, but we just decided that an unprecedented 4 weekends in a row (this weekend would be 3, then I'll see him at the end of next week with my parents) might turn us into frogs. That and I have a TON of cleaning to do before my parents arrive and mom starts impulsively scrubbing the floor (or cleaning my cabinets, right grandma?). Hopefully, I can do some laundry and hang it outside again!

oh, and yes.. the fish are dead. I think I need to wait until the temperature inside my house stops dropping below freezing before trying again.