This, That and Stress

I haven't written in a while. I haven't wanted to write; I've felt I had nothing worthwhile to say since all of my projects are only half finished and most of my goals incomplete. February is one of the busiest months for everyone in Japan, right before the ends of the school year and working year in March. I've been doing more lesson planning and prep work for my schools than usual, and at night I work on the blasted Ganbatte Times website, go to an activity, come home and work more on the website, prepare for school, then go to bed. I feel like I'm juggling knives, but I never learned to juggle, so it's more like I'm throwing knives in the air and hoping I don't cut myself.

Despite the stress I have had some small successes, things that remind me that God is always good to me, even when I have to walk 30 minutes to the nearest train station while the wind sweeps over manure-filled fields to whip tears from my eyes. The first success was actually getting the website up. www.ganbattetimes.com will someday be filled with content (if anyone ever sends me something. I haven't begged yet, but I'll start pretty soon) and I will figure out how to connect an RSS feed to the Flickr photo group. Other minor successes: I made cupcakes with Margaret on Sunday, and though I relinquished a few to the people in my life who deserved Valentines, the rest were delicious. I made stuffed peppers (more delicious than the yellow light makes them look), I've made it out of the house on time every day this week, I got off work early yesterday, and I sent a bunch of packages to folk in the U.S. I read children's books to three different classes, and today a child in a special needs classroom responded positively to the book No, David! Hearing her mimic my inflection when reading, "Come back here, David!" after a year and a half of watching her sit in silence with one hand covering her ear, makes the list of Most Rewarding Moments of my teaching career. Plus, it was dang cute.

In other news, I finally fixed the issue with the admittedly boring video of me and Hannah feeding the monkeys at Iwatayama Monkey Park, so the next installment in the Hannah Comes To Town series should be finished be Sunday. This is assuming, of course, that I don't die from Ganbatte Times-induced stress beforehand. My co-editor was on vacation and is now in the states for a funeral, so there's no blaming him.