Ok, I guess I'd better try this again before I forget what I wanted to say! Just finished my lunch and I'm hanging out in the English dept. room waiting for something to do. Instead of being completely bored, I've been re-living the glories of my latest ski adventure. I wish you all could have witnessed it. Had you been perched in the trees or waiting at the bottom, I am sure my descent through the snow was as amazing as seeing Picabo Street come hurtling down a race course for gold. I am sure. Yes, I am a ski goddess enjoying the ride of a serious learning curve. The weather on Saturday was much better then we had expected, as was my technique. I think spending that entire weekend on my face bouncing through the snow has finally paid off. My terror of the slopes (after my first time down back in January, I had to send Tom and Jaclyn back up without me because I needed to regroup and make my knees stop shaking!) has morphed into a confident and curious attempt to find out just what those red hills are hiding!

One hill in particular, I'd been traumatized by after mistakenly thinking it was a beginner course then being forced to combination walk/slid down the edge with Jaclyn... both of us convinced we were going to die. It took a half hour to get to the bottom, where Tom had been waiting after taking the faster but more snow in the pants route down. On Saturday, I attacked. It took all of four minutes to get to the bottom, where I waited for Sara with a huge grin on my face. As she slid up beside me, I hollered, "That rocked! You want to go again?!". We also tried the run on the front of the hill where after I'd declined to go with, Jaclyn had triple sommersaulted down the bottom section and ended up spending quality time with the fine men of the ski patrol. She's never quite recovered :(, so on my way down I picked up a lost 500 yen coin (about $5) and tossed it to her at the bottom, claiming the mountain owed her. I couldn't beleive how much fun I was having, and didn't fall until the very last run (of course), but then did it with such finesse that I ended up with enough snow for an entire snowman up the inside of my sweater. On the way home we hit the onsen for some well-deserved soaking, then enjoyed sushi on a conveyer belt, before a sleep-over at my house. I thought it would be the last ski weekend, but last night I opened my door and was surprised (and depressed) to see the rain had turned to snow. I just may be able to sneak in another trip!

Today is Day 1 of the end of the year festivities. First thing this morning, the 1st and 2nd graders gathered in the gym waiting to start the "3rd Grade Send-Off". We were requested to applaud while the third grade students entered in twos, accompyanied by music played by the band. First, we watched a video slideshow of pictures from the three years of school activities they'd been involved in and congratulatory/good luck messages from assorted staff. Then, the 1st and 2nd graders stood up and were led in some seriously cool cheers for the 3rd graders. I'd never heard them before, but if they are what happens at school sports events then I am going to have to try harder to attend. After the cheer, the 1st and 2nd graders sang the song they've been practicing every day for the entire month. It was lovely. Finally, we watched a video the 3rd grade classes had made to thank the school. To wrap up, the non-graduating students yelled "Arigato Gozaimasu!" (Thank You!) in unison and a huge red ball was cracked open over their heads spilling confetti and a huge banner with a caligrahpy written "Thank You 3rd Grade!" unfurling from inside. Then, we applauded as the 3rd graders stood and walked back out of the auditorium to the tune of a popular Japanese pop tune. Sigh.

After a 10 minute break, we reassembled in the gym for the closing ceremony. It entailed a bunch of short speeches from students and our principal and the presentation of certificates to students who'd won anything in the last month (we have periodic certificate handing-out ceremonies during the year, this was the last). Everyone was glad when we finished early, since the gym was freezing (that whole central heating thing being a major problem with events like this). My hands were ice.

For the rest of the day, we are supposedly preparing for tomorrow's graduation ceremony... but I can't imagine what we still need to prepare since it is all we've been doing for days. I'm sure I'll find out. After school we have a staff meeting where we should find out which teachers will be moving to a different school for the next year. It is really strange not to know. Four of our five English teachers are leaving which is completely stressing me out, but I have no idea what the rest of the staff is doing. I can't imagine how the leaving teachers feel, particularly since many of them only found out they were leaving weeks ago (and some need to move to different cities!). Jaclyn and I were just musing about how wonderful it will be next year when we're not completely clueless how this stuff works!!

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday to go before Mom & Dad arrive... my house is officially as clean as it has ever been. Only missing one last hotel room. Guess that means I'm ready!