Already a week has passed since Keita's graduation. Every morning from 9.30-11am, he and 4 of his friends are coming for 'English Lessons'. Not really lessons, I'm just giving them reading and writing practice. At the beginning they were super keen and quiet but now that they've been coming a few days, they talk non-stop although are still doing the work. Wonder if it's going to make any difference to them!

The drawback is that I have very little free time and since they go upstairs to play afterwards too, the house is looking like a tip. I can't blame it all on Keita though since Aya has moved her stuff in (there wasn't really room in the old house) and she is there with her friend quite often too but between them all, it's not quite as tidy as it used to be.

Last Saturday, my Thai friend stayed overnight with me in it too. It was the first time I'd been in it longer than just a few minutes and it was lovely to sleep on a nice new futon and without anyone else in the room (incl the dogs). My friend was fed up and wanted to 'escape' from her own house so we went out for drinks/dinner and then she stayed until lunch time the next day.

On Saturday Keita will start with his new baseball team (they have kept phoning to see if and when he would). It's the team that he's wanted to go to all along so he's quite happy. Next Thursday is his entrance ceremony for the JHS and then from there it should be a bit quieter around her albeit I'll have to start making packed lunches again.

Today was Keita's graduation ceremony and even though the weather's been lovely for the past few days, it rained so there were few chances to take photos. It wasn't only the rain though - Keita wouldn't stand still long enough to get a decent photo and the ones I did manage, were only because the other mothers got him posed with their kids!

So that is the last of elementary school. I feel as if I've been going there for ever and if I think about it, it's been 17 years from the day Aya first started so it IS a long time. It doesn't really seem that long ago that all the kids were small and needing constant attention.

It's been a busy weekend!

Keita's speech at the nursery went well and although he barely looked up while he was speaking, he did speak out loud and clear and didn't make any mistakes. After it was over 4 of the teachers wanted their photos taken with him so we didn't get to leave until nearly 12.

In the afternoon I had to go to Kana's school for a class meeting. I made a mistake with the time so was the first to arrive. The teacher said that Kana is working hard and is very popular with the teachers and (especially) the boys!

On Sunday, we had the graduation ceremony for Keita's baseball followed by a BBQ. It was nice to be the ones sitting back relaxing and having the younger kids mothers look after us for a change! After the BBQ (and a lot of drinks) the kids played a game against the coaches which was good fun - all of the kids were in positions other than their own so Keita was catcher. After that, they played against the mothers/fathers and this time, the kids all pitched when it was their own mum's turn. Unlucky for me, I had Keita pitching and I was terrified at the speed the ball came to me! I did manage to 'touch' it though so got to run.

I started to get a headache around lunch time and by the time we left for home, I was starting to feel sick with it and ended up in bed by 7pm. I think I got a slight sunstroke because this morning when I got up both mine and Setsuo's faces were sunburnt (and I hadn't drank enough for that to be the cause!) At least having about 12 hrs sleep will have done me good.

I love Wednesdays! After the rushing around and long Monday and Tuesdays, Wednesday always seems to be so relaxing.

Last night I suggested to Keita that I teach him and a couple of his friends every morning for an hour or so during the Spring holiday and surprisingly he agreed. I'm only going to teach them reading and writing and don't even know how far we'll get in that short a time but at least it'll give them a bit of a start before they go into the jhs. Having a couple of his friends with him means that neither of us will be able to 'back out' because we're tired or whatever. Since I'm not that busy in the morning and they'll be mostly working from worksheets, it should work out okay.

Because I had classes Mon and Tues, Lisa cooked both nights and she has turned out to be a good cook. Lately, whenever she's home, she always asks how I've cooked things and then goes home and tries the recipes out herself. Tonight I'll be cooking since she's going out but it'll be a late dinner because I have to take Keita to the dentist for a check-up. If he has nothing wrong with his teeth I'll be very surprised because he never seems to brush them no matter how hard I nag. So far, all his school dental checks have been okay but I'm sure those dentists don't look as closely as they should. We'll see.....

Today only 2 classes so I'm going to go and start on the worksheets for Keita and friends.

I feel a bit more cheerful today, at least sort of.

The woman that came to look at the house seems quite keen and was asking questions about how much would it cost to do certain things with it (interestingly, they are thinking of doing what we had thought about - taking out the hallway on the 3rd floor and making one of the rooms bigger). Now it's just down to whether or not the bank will lend them the money.

Yesterday Setsuo finished Keita's speech and the nursery have 'approved' it so it's now gone home with the woman from the office - she'll write it up on the special paper. Her handwriting is really neat and as it has to be handed over after the speech we reckoned the neater the better!

Last night Keita tried on his new school uniform and it looks good. Lisa is home just now so she also put it on and it was nearly down to her knees!

Kana has said that she is going on a school trip to 'swim with the dolphins' and is also going to Christchurch on Saturday too so she is keeping busy. Still no signs of homesickness.....

Aya has also be out gallivanting - her last day at work is Saturday so I think her workmates are taking her out for dinner.

Yesterday I had the chance to relax for the first time in weeks since there were no bb matches to go to. Setsuo was also working so I had the house to myself which is also the first in weeks.

Around 10.30, I went to one of the local supermarkets and got all the notebooks, pencils and erasers bought for the graduating kids at the nursery school (every year, I give them the same present) and had them all gift wrapped ready to hand out at the last lesson tomorrow. I also had to buy 'return' gifts for those who gave chocolate to Setsuo on Valentines day - the woman in the office and also one of my 6 year old students! After that, I went to watch the younger kids playing bb, the older kids just have practice now but Keita was one of the 'umpires' during one match. (When I asked if he enjoyed doing it, he said it was boring!)

At around 6.30, I was just about to go shopping when the woman who originally wanted to buy our house asked if they could come and see the inside. I had to rush around hoovering, washing floors and generally tidying up! Luckily Setsuo also came home shortly after, so he did the 2nd floor. Poor Keita just got microwaved food that he made himself since we were too busy to stop for dinner. In the end she came alone just after 8pm because her husband had had to go out again. I'll see her today when she brings her son for his lesson and will get an idea of whether or not they are still thinking of buying it.

Today I'm really tired and lethargic and can't shake off being fed-up for some reason. Knowing I have 5 classes to deal with isn't helping much although that can't be the reason since I have them every week. I think maybe it's because there is so much needing to be done with the house, Keita's various ceremonies and generally just needing a break. It would be nice to be able to just go off on holiday somewhere but apart from the time, we don't have the money either. As is always the case, when money is short, all the extra bills start coming in. Ho hum.

Tonight we have to sit down and work out Keita's speech for the nursery school ceremony. Poor Setsuo is inundated with things to be done work-wise and could do without it but since it impossible for me........

Last night one of the teachers from the nursery school where I teach phoned to ask if Keita would read the 'speech' for the graduation ceremony this year. I said I doubted it since he gets embarassed easily but I'd ask him and let her know. Surprise, surprise, he agreed to do it although I don't think he realises that it's quite a long speech. He only has to read it though unlike Kana who had to memorise hers. The down side is that we have to compose it - and since I'm out of the picture when it comes to formal speeches, it's up to Setsuo. We have until Tuesday to come up with something and we also have the past 7 years worth to look at and get ideas from.

Since he is going to do it, I had to go and see if his new school uniform will be ready so he can wear the trousers. The woman in the shop said that Keita's were going to be too short after they had left the usual 8cm (for growing into) and was getting them order-made so they wouldn't be ready in time, so we've decided to just have him buy the regular size with a bit less spare material and if he does need longer later on, I'll buy him another pair. It seemed easier to do it this way rather than have to rush out and find him a pair of formal trousers in time for March 15th. I'll still have to get him a shirt/sweater but he needs that for his own graduation on the 19th anyway. Also, since I'll have to go too, it means taking another Saturday off. I'd already planned to take that afternoon off since I have to go to Kana's school but thought I'd manage the morning classes - it'll be the 3rd cancellation since the beginning of February but luckily both classes are single students and their Mum's are always nice about it.

Last night was great fun but too much beer was consumed and it doesn't feel that great today but I'm sure I'm feeling better than a few others! Four of us left around 10 but there were another 4 who stayed on.

Our friend's husband's restaurant it a yakitori (skewered chicken) restaurant which means that the majority of food is chicken but cooked (or even uncooked!) in a myriad of ways. The kids kept him and his staff busy with the amount they managed to eat - who said boys have a big appetite from JHS onwards? We got the kids all fed first and then sent them home around 7.30pm and it was time for the mothers to have fun!

Because I only have 2 lessons this afternoon, I should have been able to go slow this morning but it just happened to be the same day that they were coming to disconnect our cable for the TV and internet in the old house. Since we thought we would have moved by now, we cancelled the contract from the end of February so we are now without. Since I hardly watch TV anyway it's not that big a deal for me but I'm sure Keita and Setsuo are having withdrawal symptoms - we have it installed in the new house so they can always go and get a 'fix' if it gets too much for them. The lack of internet just means that I go to bed a bit earlier too which is no bad thing.

Here's a photo of the baseball kids after the leaving ceremony for teams in this area. There were 5 teams altogether - the same ones that the players were taken from to form the All Star team.

Tomorrow night the 6th graders and mothers will all go out for dinner and then on Sunday it will be Keita's team's leaving ceremony too. After that it's onto whichever JHS team they decide to join.

Today, was my 2nd last class for the nursery school kids who will be going into elementary school. As always, the class is split into two - one week half the class have English with me and the next they do a swap with the other half and go for a pottery class - and today it was the least energetic (lethargic?) of the the two so it'll be nice to finish on a high note next week. This year quite a few of the mothers have asked about joining regular lessons which is good since most of my students are coming up for their last year of elementary school which means there is a good chance they are going to be lured away to juku (cram school) in a year's time so I should try to start getting some more young ones in the door.

Around December, a few students wanted to join but because it's too difficult to let them join part way through, I started an 'intensive' 1.5 hr class on a Saturday afternoon with the intention of having them come until April to get them up to the same level as the other kids and then have them change into a regular lesson. I didn't realise just how quickly they would progress and they are more or less up to where I wanted them so I'm seriously thinking about keeping that class going and also adding another 1.5 hr lesson after it. If it was in anyway possible, I would change all the classes to 1.5 hrs because the difference is amazing. Mind you, the kids are also really good and when I ask them to do a couple of pages of their worksheets for homework, they usually bring them back the next week and they've done the lot - on average 10 -15 pages - I just wish all the kids were like that! After talking to another mother about the class yesterday, she decided to have her daughter come to that class rather than the 45 min one so I think there may be quite a lot of interest. Unfortunately I don't have the time to change all the classes to that length without letting some of the current students go but I'm definitely keeping it in mind for the future.

Now I just have to try to work out what to do about one of my JHS lessons which just seems to get worse and worse........One boy is painfully shy, one talks non-stop - in Japanese of course - and the third one who joined last year just isn't making any progress. Can't have it good all the time I suppose!

On Saturday I tidied all the boxes and put them into the room where most of the other boxes were and cleaned the kitchen, bathroom, toilets etc and then when I went to the baseball, Setsuo washed all the floors (which is a lot of floors!). I got back around 12.30pm and since they weren't due to arrive until around 2pm, the pair of us tackled the FIL's kitchen and rooms as well as his toilet (which is always Setsuo's job!). By the time they arrived, the place was clean albeit full of half-empty rooms with boxes galore.

It was a young couple with 3 month old twins (boy and girl who were gorgeous) and her mother. I think the house was too big for them and I doubt they will buy it but at least it gave us the excuse to tidy/clean up a bit.

We are now thinking that if it doesn't sell quickly, we might just rent it out. Anyone want a 4-story, 9 room house with office and storage space to boot!!

Today we went to get Keita's school things and yipee there were size 30cm gym shoes so that is what we got! Good that they went up to that size but bad that that is the biggest size and they aren't THAT big on him right now so wonder what he's going to do for gym shoes if his feet grow. Also the slipper type things they have to wear inside the school only went up to a certain size and so his feet are at least 2cms bigger than the slipper! At least they are slippers though.

Tomorrow someone is going to come and look at the house - it's a relative of the woman who works in the office. The other family (my students' parents) didn't manage to get the loan so I'm hoping this next lot will be more successful. Only problem is that the house is a tip with all the half packed rooms and I have to go to baseball at 9am morning so it looks like we are going to be cleaning, cleaning, cleaning tonight. If it's still a tip, at least I won't be there to cringe with embarassment!

I'm teaching in 30 minutes - had to delay my last class because of going to the school - so should go and get ready for it.