Summer Vacation is Soon!

OK, so apparently July is already halfway over, so I'm thinking it would be a good idea to change the format of my posts so that I feel more motivated to write in a timely manner.   I'm going to attempt to write shorter posts more often (ideally 2 - 3 times a week).  Let's see how it goes!

Anyway, I successfully gave all of my paperwork to the Driving Center and my practical test is scheduled for next Thursday (I figured I would schedule it during summer vacation).  School is still in session and will be until Friday the 20th, then all of my schools will be off until August 27th.  Of course, that doesn't mean that the middle school students won't be at school, classes won't be in session but many kids will be working on club activities.  Since I'm technically a city employee I will be expected to be preparing for my upcoming classes and also studying Japanese and whatnot.  This may be difficult as my brother will be visiting for a large chunk of the vacation (from August 2nd to 24th).

It's going to be awesome.  We'll probably end up hanging out around Minamisanriku for about a week, then traveling to Tokyo and beyond for a week before heading back up north.  Some of the things we may do include watching a Rakuten Eagles baseball game in Sendai, playing Japanese video games, karaoke and conveyor-belt sushi, climbing Mt. Tatsugane, going to a monkey park, going to a water park, visiting Tokyo Sky Tree, going to Disneyland, seeing the Avengers once it comes out, and going to some local summer festivals.  Like I said, awesome!

One more story for now:
On July 4th of course I mentioned to the students that it was American Independence Day and pointed out that I had attempted to wear red, white, and blue (like the flag!).  Meanwhile Anne was also telling her students a bit about the Fourth of July and once her English teacher had translated "independent," one of the students asked him (in Japanese) who the US became independent from.  The teacher pondered for a moment and then said, "France..."  Luckily Anne was able to follow the transaction and immediately stepped on the teacher's answer, explaining that of course it was Britain (and that's why we speak English in America).

More soon!