I had this post...Now I have this one.

Another day and wondering more wandering thoughts.

Today I taught at my most rural school, up in the mountains. A 2-student kindergarten lesson, a 9-person combined 1st, 3rd, and 4th grader class, a 6-person combined 5th and 6th grade class, a wonderful lunch with the two new 1st graders, a visit to a social studies class where we learned about fire safety, and a walk out to the school garden where all the children were growing a variety of vegetables including the daikon (white radish) for which that town is known. Awesome. Every time I come back from that school I feel like I enjoy being there more than anywhere else I teach. But then again, I love all my schools.

I do feel a little bad about the low number of children in the town, though. It's impossible not to notice an overall trend in decreasing population, especially with a neighboring town, which also sends its children to the school, sending off its last two children to middle school this year. But everyone seems to be doing their best in spite of the harsh situation, and people can still experience joy and happiness and love. And I'm so lucky to be able to experience that with them.

I was really happy when upon returning back to my middle school late that afternoon, a student taking a break from volleyball practice waved to me from far away, then approached me and asked, "What are you holding in your hand?" I was shocked. I barely talk to this kid, though when I do we get along well. But I've never even heard such coherent and easily flowing English come out of him, let alone any student ever! It just came right out of him as if he was talking in his native tongue with an old friend! I looked down. I was carrying the book I had read to the kindergartners that morning: Old MacDonald. I opened it up and showed him, laughing as I read some of it. "Haha, oh, story." "Yes! *haha!* Storybook!" "Ah, animals," he said laughing to himself and smiling cooly. "Haha, yeah, animals. Lots of animals." Haha, and that was the end of the conversation. But it was so natural. He was so relaxed when he talked to me, and it still surprises me in a way when I think about the fact that he waved to me from a distance where I couldn't even tell who he was and then walked up to me the 5 long seconds or so that it took to get to me and during which any other student (including him I would have thought) on any normal day would have turned back and semi-awkwardly waved goodbye. The closer, though, was that as I walked into the school after, I heard him say something to the table tennis assistant coach, who then responded, "Oh, you just naturally had a conversation in English! You should take the national English test!" The two laughed and anyone present could just feel the good energy coming off that boy as he jogged back to practice. That made me really, really happy.

Anyways, I had more to write about my thoughts on my life here and what's to come in this next year, and it actually got pretty deep into my mind. However, it just got too deep, and then I lost my train of thought, though it's still my head somewhere. It's just floating around like soba noodle railroad tracks in a black, starry abyss. I think I'll have it a little more wrapped up tomorrow, after a good rest. I feel like I'm onto something, which is a feeling I've been wanting to have for a while. I'm not sure where this one is indicating I'm headed toward though.

Does anybody else really like Knife/Heartbeats, by PARRKA?