Chrimbo countdown starts

Blimey, first day of advent already. I haven't even got an advent calendar. I don't even know if you can buy them in the shops here. Maybe I could make a big advent calendar to use on my noticeboard, which has been bare eversince the school festival.

Found it difficult to wake up this morning; my cold hasn't gone and my nose is still streaming. Didn't have time to ring Helen so I sent another apology email. Must make more of an effort tomorrow.

Had more speaking tests at Tsunan today. Each student came into the teachers room and they had a minute to answer three questions; one on directions, one on telephone conversations and "What is your hobby?". I grade their communication skills, whether they could get their idea across. Accuracy of their answers were judged by the Japanese Teacher, so the students grade is given by adding the two scores. One of the things continually surprised me was how good the really quiet students were. In a normal class environment they hardly talk, but put them in a one-to-one situation and they really shine. And likewise, it was surprising to see the cocky, loud students suddenly become humble as they frantically try to remember the vocabulary taught when they're were dicking about.

The speaking tests were more tiring for me than a normal class, which is to be expected since you're constantly in a one-to-one situation for teh whole 50 minutes. Add to that the fact I have a cold and you get a very tired Martin. Still I managed to summon the strength to record two more listening tests. It might have something to do with Kato-sensei.

She came to the office for her usual weekly chat/lesson. She was talking about Japanese food and asked if I had had uden, a type of Japanese stew. When I said that I hadn't she took my back to her office, where there was a big stewpot, and offered my some. When I saw it I recognised it at once; it was the hot food you can get at seven-eleven that I often see bubbling away at the till. The difference was this was homemade and guarenteed to be fresh, not swimming around for months on end. So I tried some, and I really liked it. It is a strange kind of stew. It has battered pieces of, erm, stuff, floating around with boiled eggs. The broth is quite runny and the only vegetable in it is daikon. Still, I'm tempted to try and make this myself at some point. All I need is a recipe in English and knowledge of where to find the ingredients at the supermarket. But this evening at least, I'm happy with pork, egg and rice followed by apple crumble and ice-cream.

I got a call from Nachi this evening. Kawaji FC are training again on Tuesdays and they also have a match this Saturday at 7pm. This news made me so happy. I'd been gagging for regular matches for a while and now I have them. Another nail in the coffin of winter blues!

I also got a call from Tachikawa-sensei. He told me that we had to re-write the listening test for Tokamachi Koko because I had talked to students about the earthquake before, so it gave them an unfair disadvantage. Okay, fair enough, but did you really have to wait until I'd written two drafts and the questions on the passage to tell me? It frustrates me that there's next to no communication between teachers here. I really expected more from a language department. Still, I guess it means I won't be bored tomorrow.