Next time I'm taking the train

This morning was quite the adventure. I stayed at Bryan's last night so this morning we rode our bikes together part of the way to our respective schools. However this was only my second day riding my bike to school, so taking a different route proved to be a bit troublesome. Add to that torrential rain. It is so humid here that I was practically just as wet inside my rain gear as outside. So I showed up late and bedraggled on my first real day of school only to find out that I had missed my own introduction at the teachers meeting, and that I was to be introduced to the whole school at an assembly and would give a short speech.
What a way to start the day.
Of course everything turned out fine. I gave my speech and they clapped. Then I watched the assembly. Seeing all the students made me excited to meet them. Some of them are so tiny, many are cute and since it's junior high some are a little awkward, but everything about them is endearing. Classes start next week and I'll be giving a "self introduction" lesson. Feel free to send me pictures that I can use.
I'll be having school lunch for the first time today, I'm looking forward to that. All the teachers bring their own chopsticks, so I've got mine ready.
Yesterday I visited the high school that I'll be working at. It's a private school for students who didn't go to either elementary or junior high school. So their english level is very low and many of them don't like english. The teacher I'll be working with seems nice. I'll be teaching there on tuesdays.
As for my base school, Asuwa Junior High, the teachers are very friendly and helpful. In Japan teachers work extremely long hours. especially junior high teachers. One reason is that at the end of the year the 3rd year students take an exam that determines where they can go to high school. But as for the rest of the year I have yet to determine why they work so much. Many of them supervise extracurricular activities, but still, so do teachers in the states.
It's friday and I'm ready for the weekend. I haven't gone grocery shopping since I moved into my apartment and I just haven't had a chance to run any errands. I also want to work on my lesson plan so that I'm ready for next week. And Bryan and I are going to try out the rock climbing gym.