Motivation from Hamamasu

Ryan and I recently took a trip to Hamamasu. It was business for him (a 3 day trip just to teach one 50-minute class!) and a break for me. It happened to land when I had a day off so we were able to leave one afternoon, teach a class the next day and then leave in the morning the next day so that I could still make it to my school's Halloween party.

Hamamasu High School is a very special school. Located in a visibly dying town, it has only one student and will be closing this year, the same time that the student graduates. Imagine being that lucky girl who gets to sit in the middle of a classroom all day by herself while teachers rotate each period. I wish I had asked more about her education but from the information I did get I gather that she learns the usual subjects- Math, English, Japanese, Chemistry, Physical Education, etc- but she's also learning sign language! How cool?!

We visited this school last year too. At the time it had 9 students (or what is 8?). During that visit the principal was kind enough to drive us around to some Hamamasu sights- an observation deck and thousand year old wishing trees. The view from the deck was amazing- I think he even said on a clear day we could see Russia. Haha, maybe I made that up.

This visit, we were able to have an audience with the principal again and he showed us some newspaper clippings. One written by some education expert about the need to keep JET running and another about a retail worker who decreased his sleep to 3 hours a night so that he could learn Italian and help his company buy expensive Italian suits directly from Italy. I guess he was trying to motivate us to learn Japanese but I also kind of felt I was under scrutiny. I don't think Ryan felt this way but maybe I'm just extremely insecure about my Japanese.

At least I've taken something out of it. Today is day 5 of waking up early and I am still feeling good! I've delved back into my studying (should update that blog), started doing a 10 minute yoga energizer after my "AM 150" (50 pushups/50 ab exercises/50 squats) in the morning, and after a small obstacle have started writing for my NaNoWriMo. Even though it's so cold in the mornings now (and we haven't picked up any　灯油　 for our heater yet), I try to focus on what's really going to make me happy and proud. Staying in bed is only going to make me feel good until I get up. Hopefully I don't lose steam...

November spawned a monster...and it's me.