Some time ago, the other english teacher was remarking how it was a pity that we see the primary 1 and 2 kids only once or twice a term. at that point, i naively agreed. after today, i realized that it's better for my health for me to see them so little. it's bad of me to say this, but there are a few of them who i simply don't like. worst part is, i can't really be angry at them either, because it's not their fault. they're kids, and still learning social interaction. i wish they had more exposure to people who aren't japanese, because they rattle off sentences in japanese and some get upset when i don't understand what they're talking about. doesn't help that i look like a local, either!

like i've said before, i don't have the patience for kids. i'm actually surprised that i can handle primary 3 to 6 just fine. or maybe it's japanese kids, i don't know. i don't think i'd be as popular with singaporean kids of the same age. thank goodness the other teacher was there today; she was really in her element with the younger kids.

i'm planning to go into kochi city this weekend. because it's so far away, i really need to strategize and be very focused with my agenda. of course i'll budget time for free-walking and whatnot, but it's important to get the required tasks out of the way first. the main goal this time is tech shopping (monitor and gopro), while the secondary goal is uniqlo heattech trade-in. anything else (kaldi, supermarket, godiva) can be thought of as side quests. my current thought is that i'll go on sunday, because that gives me enough time tomorrow to pick out the heattech that i want to return. i'm considering applying for the aeon card again, since i'm going to be in an aeon mall anyway, but i don't know if it's a little too soon. maybe i'll do it online after my one-year anniversary in november.

this week has been kind of tiring, mostly due to school, and partly due to a dinner hosted by the board of education. since COVID is a thing, they weren't able to hold a "proper" welcome party for me and the other new hires when we actually joined, so this is our belated welcome. there was alcohol involved, and i got drunk. not completely wasted, thankfully, but drunk enough to sleep a little too well and almost be late for work the next day. kochi's reputation for having people that love their alcohol is well-deserved. i can't keep up with them! but that's also because i'm a lousy drinker to start with.

while there are many other things that i want to blog about, i think i'll end this post here because (1) it's late, and (2) they're rather heavy topics. to remind future me, these topics include: time on JET; letting the kids down in terms of teaching them english; bicycle shop inconsistencies; winter is coming.

-random thought of the day: Feeling a little down, for some reason.-