Pep Rally day at Taisha Chu

Pep Rally day at Taisha Chu - 2
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

After I went to Kobe, I came home with a renewed sense of purpose. I realized that my time here is short, and while I want to learn Japanese and the piano and travel, etc - my focus should be on my kids. And I have such GREAT students! I don't want to get bogged down in the complaining that so many JETs indulge in - can you believe that many of us complain about having too much free time (that we get paid for). While that's an oversimplification, and I understand the frustration of feeling underused, I realized that all that whinging is not helping my kids learn English. And then just today I got a "video letter" from the awesome Japanese-language students at the high school I used to work at in Encinitas, CA. They went around their high school and talked about their classes and their city - in Japanese! I can't wait to show it to my classes!
So I'm posting four pictures of smiles - smiles on my cool kids who make this job a pure joy at times.

This pic is of three of my 9th graders after the Pep Rally on Monday. Left to Right: Risako, Mai & Nobuko. All three are in my elective English class this semester - my favorite class. All three are really cool and friendly, always taking time to say hi or chat a little.

Taisha Jr High had a very Japanese style Pep Rally, with lots of speeches and organized singing. Not too rowdy by American standards, but fun nevertheless. Then Tuesday and Today were day long sports competitions for most of the sports clubs - we did OK in most events, but not stellar. My kids give it their best - which is most important.

So keep smilin' !!!!!