After spending 2 1/2 months, mainly at home, chipping away at my long to-do list, which included work projects, family obligations, home organization, and lastly hobbies, I FINALLY got around to working on Project Life 2014 in the very last week of spring vacation. During this final week of vacation, I was also in throes of lesson planning, but by taking my laptop to bed with me, I was able to slog my way through it. The album was printed by Blurb and is likely already at my mom's house. I told her she could read through it first before sending it to me, as is our annual tradition. This year's book was 140 pages, but the price turned out to be the same as past year's books, so I am assuming that all my PL albums have come to about 140 pages. Now to catch up on 2015's pages so that I don't fall behind and live to regret it again.
Here is the link for my 2014 Project Life. You can see some of the pages here.
In March, I decided to quit Central Fitness Yogapis (I know, much like Calpis, this name is hilarious!) and take on a membership at Lava Yoga, which is a chain and has studios all over Japan. They are open daily, have a more flexible schedule, shower facilities, and a variety of classes. You don't have to commit to the same time/day every week like CF. I thought I was being so smart when I located a studio two blocks away from my campus in Tokyo. I decided that since I am free on Tuesday mornings, I would take their 9:30 class, shower, dress and prepare for work at the studio and be at campus in plenty of time to eat lunch and attend my shift at the English Lounge.
This was a great plan before classes started. After two weeks of this though, I realize it is not such a good plan. I have 1st period on Wednesdays, so two days in a row, I have to take a 7:30 train. Get Luka to daycare by 7:00. Carry a heavy gym bag to and fro on Tuesdays, my obento on both days, along with my regular backpack. I am limited to this Tue 9:30 class because of my work schedule also. It seems illogical now that I think about it. Lava has a studio in Inage, right by the station. I can drive there or even take a bus. Or just ride my bike. Or walk. It's not my regular station, but my condo is located halfway between my regular station and Inage station. Lava is open on Mondays, my work- at-home day. I can go on weekends, or even other days, like Tue mornings or Thursday afternoons, if I want to. WTF was I thinking? So, I've decided to try and switch studios. We'll see if Japan allows this or not.
Classes are going well. Better than I thought, but I still struggle to make time to plan and coordinate all the different classes. Mondays are for Tue/Wed classes. Thursdays are for Friday classes. Luckily, one of my colleagues made the first unit handouts of my N2 class (Thursday's class) but that won't happen every time. I was making a Power Point slide show for my Friday morning lecture morning...during dinner last night. So, I'm not always able to compartmentalize my life. The Widgets book is harder for my sophomores than I thought it would be. But it would help if they had the textbook! Apparently, it's still not available at the university bookstore. Marathon Mouth is perhaps easier but in a welcoming way and I'm enjoying this style of class with my re-takers. N2 is delightful and we laugh a lot during our classes. K7 and K8 are brilliant and enthusiastic, and so far, I am quite impressed by them. Stretch for my sophomore English majors is going well now that I have a plan of attack. Oyo Writing for my juniors and seniors may be my biggest challenge as I had more students than I expected on the first day, but we'll see what happens tomorrow because not everyone will actually register for the class. I think I can do this for 13 1/2 more weeks.
