The Backpack Adventures

Weekend 13: January 29 - 30, 2022 Day 89: January 29, 2022   Saturday - Asahikawa w/ Hasewaga-s ensei Good morning everyone! There is sort of a blizzard today when I woke up so I texted Hasewega-sensei if our Asahikawa trip would push through.  He responded that it would push through and that he'd pick me up at 11AM. True enough, he was there on the dot. Off to Asahikawa with Hasegawa-sensei From Rumoi City, we drove to Asahikawa via the scenic back roads. It was a fun trip as we talked about a lot of things like AKB48 and the history of the English language. Late lunch at  Cafe de Collines I tried the omurice for lunch Cafe de Collines banana ice cream for dessert Our first stop for today was Cafe de Collines for late lunch. Turns out, this place is Hasegawa sensei's favorite hangout place. It was cozy and the jazz music was relaxing. It's really a great place to spend your mornings just sipping coffee and enjoying the music. Hasegawa-sensei helped me buy my ski at Tri

Week 13: January 24-28, 2022   Day 84: January 24, 2022 Monday - COVID Preventive Measures   Due to some teachers and students testing positive for the virus last week, the school decided to suspend classes for the students today. As for us teachers, we reported for work as if nothing happened.  After the usual morning meeting, the teachers were provided gloves, tissues, and alcohol bottles and were asked to clean areas that are commonly and frequently touched by students and teachers. In a way, this shows an admirable Japanese culture of older people willing to sacrifice themselves for the younger generation. Back to work after disinfecting the classrooms When the mission seems to have been accomplished, Motoyama sensei and I discussed our plans for the class tomorrow. Since the topic is about comparisons, we decided to compare the Philippines and Japan so I spent the rest of the day creating, a PowerPoint slide for the said lesson.  Bought a new batch of Moekko Free Tickets for my v

Weekend 12: January 22-23 2022 Day 82: January 22, 2022 Saturday - Snow Shoveling Day   Good morning! It has been snowing a lot since I came back from my winter break vacation. That's why it wasn't a surprise to see my backyard balcony covered in waist-deep snow.  Time to clear the snow in my backyard Since I have concerns that the weight of the snow might break the glass panels of the balcony, I decided to shovel the balcony and clear the accumulated snow.  Well, it took me more than 2 hours to fully clear it and it was worth it as I got a free upper body workout. Check out that snow hill that accumulated behind me. It's probably about 6 -7 feet deep.  It took me about 2 hours to clear the snow. That night, I finally finished unpacking my luggage which I left lying open in one of the rooms like a casket for the week. Before calling it a day, I received a message from my JTE informing me that students won't have classes on Monday but we teachers need to report for work

Week 12: January 17- 21, 2022 Day 77: January 17, 2022 Monday - Rumoi Today is my first day of work for this year at Rumoi High School . After three weeks of vacation, I'm back to work. Although the teachers were already reporting since last week, today is the first day for students.  Off to work. Check out that snow pile. Rumoi High School 1/17/22 Although there were already classes today, I didn't have any collaboration workload today. Instead, Motoyama-sensei gave me a task to create a Powerpoint presentation about my winter vacation.  Rumoi High School in Winter scene - The snow outside is about 10 feet deep That afternoon, the English Club was canceled due to the unavailability of the club members. Overall, today was a chill day for me. It's a perfect way to start the week.  Day 78: January 18, 2022 Tuesday - Rumoi Finally, I have a scheduled collaboration today.  Research presentation in Rumoi High School Here's my workload for the day: 1st period - My Winter