From the work perspective

Yesterday was my first official day of work. I'm actually employed now :-) though I was in and out of the office last week and preparing for the coming weeks. My contract officially started on April 1.

I have already been hard at work marketing our program in different events. My program assistant Komico and I  and Atsushi, one of our English teachers, were invited last week to the Canadian embassy for a networking session.

Thought we would do some shopping on the side? The embassy is in a pretty posh neighborhood.

The week started with a well-planned retreat of our new grade 10 dual track Canadian international school. We were taken by bus to a retreat center belonging to our sponsoring University. This is a beautiful facility tucked high on the mountain looking over the active volcano on the horizon.

This was a wonderful opportunity for all of us to work together and get to know each other. We had our two Canadian teachers and two teachers from the Japanese sponsor school. Together we worked with students all day alternating between Japanese lessons and high-energy English activities.

Check out the fiberglass totem pole one of many set up around this resort development. Makes us feel right at home! :-)

This is a group of brave and dedicated girls. They have a range of English skills but they're all excited to be in this unique a new program the first want to know. We have a ways to go but their attitude is great and they are very enthusiastic. I'm looking forward to the year working with them.