The Backpack Adventures

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

Weekend 11: January 15 - 16, 202 2 Day 75: January 15, 2022 Saturday: Flight back home Hey guys! So this is it, my last day here in Osaka. 😔😔😔 Since my flight is at 12NN. I didn't have time to squeeze in any short trips like what my Japanese family and I would usually do before. Instead, I double-checked my luggage and cleaned my room that morning.  Woke up to a beautiful morning here in Kumatori in Osaka Here's my breakfast for today When I went down, Mr. Toshi already cooked breakfast for us. While eating, we had a chat about travel plans for the future. After the meal, he helped me with my luggage and with the reservation for the bus going back to Rumoi City.  Time to say goodbye to Mr. Toshi's home We left the Kameyama Residence a little before 11AM. With us are Ms. Taeko, Ms. Sawa, and baby Karin. We arrived at Kansai International Airport Terminal 2 at 11:30AM.  See you in Hokkaido, Mr. Toshi and family.  Since it was a domestic flight, the check-in process was eas