Ugghh...too....busy...for....words....

I've been so ridiculously busy trying to wind down and wrap things up lately! I spent the better part of tonight working on a speech I'm going to give my Ultimate team at my farewell party. I wrote in it English and got help translating it into Japanese....the problem is that I don't know a lot of the Japanese words, so it's going to be a very difficult speech to deliver...I'll also be drunk, which won't help.

In other news, I'm doing a presentation for about thirty of my students parents. I've been told to do it specifically comparing schools in Canada to schools in Japan. There are several problems....first, none of the parents are going to speak English....I don't really speak Japanese....so we're going to end up doing it through a Japanese teacher who will serve as translator...this is never ever smooth. Second....it's 70 minutes. There's no way I can do 70 minutes on the topic, so I've decided to broaden the discusssion to Canada...and since I really want to impress...you guessed it, I'm busting out "Egg Nog" during the break. Morally bankrupt of me....but go with what works! Anyways, it's really not something I'm looking forward to, and much added work on my plate. I have no idea what the audience is expecting, and when fake egg nog is my big ace up my sleeve, I'm realizing I may be in some trouble! Good times!

Also started saying goodbye to some of the kids. I'm not too sad, but I could see a lot of other foreign teachers milking this for all it's worth. Seriously, the kids give you this puppy dog - "Please don't go" -kind of stuff. If you let it be, you could get some huge ego stroking out of the deal. I just talk about how great my successor is going to be and how much fun they're going to have....I'm so unsentimental...maybe it'll start getting to me when I'm closer to leaving, but I doubt it.

Anyways...as usual, I leave you with a link....it takes several (like 15) minutes to load.....but it's totally sweet and totally worth it. Be patient.