Time flies...

Don't know where the time goes. I was shocked to log in and see that my last post was a month ago. I guess I've just been getting into such a routine that I don't notice anymore when one week turns into the next. Maybe that's the negative side to having my days off spread out: I no longer have a regular weekend to divide things up, so that it all sort of smudges together into one long work week with a lot of days off tossed in.

However, in the last month, I've done a few cool things. A few weeks back, I got to go up to Kurama, an area north of Kyoto, to go on a little hike with some of my colleagues. It was a nice hike, though the day was a bit cloudy and chilly. We got to see some pretty foliage as well (the main purpose of the hike, although a lot of it had already turned brown. Seems like the leaves didn't hit that amazing red color I remember from my previous autumns in Japan...and it's not just that I remember the leaves being amazingly colored; I have photographs to prove it.

The weekend before last, I went to Himeji, which is the largest city near my old town, Aioi. I went there to meet up with some of my former students from Aioi Senior High School. I've mentioned Kaori and Kurara (and Kurara's fiance, Daniel) before, but this time we were joined by Tomomi and Rui; I think a few more were supposed to come but canceled at the last minute. It was shocking to see Tomomi and Rui, though, as I'd not seen them at all since they graduated, six and a half years ago, and they both look so mature now, of course, and I realized that they are now the age I was when I taught them.

I think it's funny, how the cycle of age comes around, and when I look back on these times in my life, it is almost like looking into a mirror that faces another mirror: as if I see myself doubly reflected: who I was at 24 when I taught them, and who I was when I was seventeen, the age they were as my students. And looking at this strange complex of reflections, I know that time is not linear, for there are parts of me that have traveled so far, that I cannot reach that old part of myself, and yet there are parts still so near.

Two more weeks until the winter break starts, and I'm ready for it. Man, am I ready. I know I've only been working for two and a half months, but four months off will kill your endurance. Anyway, two weeks more, then two weeks off, then three weeks back working, then I'll be off for about two months...working Saturdays, of course, with the kiddies, but one day a week...no problem.

And in a shameless bit of niece-promotion, here are a few of my favorites among the most recent crop of pictures I received. I'll be posting some of these to my flickr page soon, so you can see more there if you need a good Ava fix, as I often do. Look at the expression of utter self-sufficiency in the right photo: "I can do rake this sand all by myself, Dad."