The Long Winter

We're off to Kyoto, Japan tomorrow for 3 nights and 2 days of site-seeing. We will be staying in a hostel with 3 more of our buddies. I hope we will have a fabulous trip, and I can't wait to bring back some great photos.

On a different note, I have been training for a transition into kindergarten. Anthony and I have both been teaching elementary school, while only dabbling in kindy. But as our year in Korea came to a close, we decided we liked it here, and resigned our contracts. The only difference is that now I will be teaching 6-7 year olds all day, for a year program. Cross your fingers!
Recently, our school has been losing students. We used to have more than 200 students and the kindergarten program was the money maker. But in March, 2 classes of students will graduate, and we will be left with only one class of 11 kids. MY class! The kindergarten program is all day, everyday, for a year (our other classes are on a 3 month cycle, and parents only have to pay monthly - no contracts).

The area we live in is pretty new. Apparently it has only been about 15 years ago that this was all farmland. Now, there are giant apartment buildings EVERYWHERE. It's a little awe inspiring (especially when looking at construction times). But with more growth, there has been more and more competition for English Academies (private after school programs). What used to be the only English school in the area for 6 years, is now one of 50. So lots of competition, and lots of fickle parents.

So in March, I will be starting kindergarten. Let's hope it lasts for a whole year! And as much as I like teaching elementary students, Anthony suggested a change in pace for us, seeing as how we live, work, eat, sleep, and vacation together. He says 24 hours a day for a year is enough.

I think it's just because he doesn't like watching Star Trek after work.