Spring Beginnings

On Friday was my first Oral Communication class of the school year with the new first year students, and it went off brilliantly! The newly accepted students are feeling lucky to be at NishiKo and haven't quite been worn down with all the studying it seems. Last school year I struggled getting volunteers for anything, and in my first class I had almost too many volunteers! And they didn't seem too shy to speak in front of the class in English and actually do the activity in English. I'm sure it's a bit delusional, but I hope they continue to be so excited about my class! I sure it will fade a bit, but for the moment I'm just going to enjoy! And hope that the rest of the sections of the class are just as genki next week!

Today I went running at Lake Tanuki and there were tons of people out there sitting under the cherry blossoms. Lake Tanuki is always picturesque because of the lake and the trees, especially when the weather is nice and you can see Mt. Fuji, but it was especially nice today with the cherry blossoms and all the people enjoying the nice weather. It got up to 75 today, so the perfect day for enjoying time outside! It really was an enjoyable afternoon under the sun. On my drive up to the lake, there were quite a few cherry blossom petals blowing in the wind, it was almost like it was raining flower petals, it was really pretty. They sort of "glitter" the ground now in some places. I'll be sad to see them go. Tomorrow I will be going to enjoy another cherry blossom picnic, and that will probably be the last of the season.

It's hard to believe that it is Easter this weekend, time is just flying by! Before I know it, I'll be home to visit. I hope you all have a Happy Easter Sunday with your families. Love you and miss you, and wish I could be there to celebrate with you! And of course...eat the nice, big, juicy turkey and mashed potatoes (not complete without gravy of course)!