Spring came... then went again...

Monday and Tuesday were just gorgeous - it was sunny, it was 8 degrees, the snow was starting to melt. I only had two lessons on Tuesday so used the afternoon to go for a long walk and got some pictures of Iwaki behind the bay and Kitakanegasawa, and also of the route back to school just for the fun of it. This winter has just felt so long, sure it has been fun, but I have been just longing for spring to come. Although the sunny days really impressed on me the speed with which time has passed, which was a little scary, as August draws closer and I am still faffing about trying to decide what to do next year.

Someone from the office came to inspect my (well, actually their) house, decided there was too much snow, and sent round a band of willing locals (not the Ji-ei-tai like in Aomori, sadly!) to prise my house from its ice case before it collapsed... there are pictures below, although "before" is slightly spoiled because the huge lump of snow joining the roof to the pile below had just fallen off... anyway. It was snowing again today slightly and the blue skies have gone... but I guess it's not going to get that bad again, and it was good to have a dress-rehearsal of how utterly balmy it's going to feel once the cold weather breaks for good :D

This morning I had what may turn out to be my last nursery lessons, what with the Gappei and all... we did the Hokey Cokey, bashed animal cards (although please note no actual animals suffered as a result of this activity :P) with an inflatable light-sabre and ran around making animal noises. Leaving those toddlers really will be the end of an era - playing for a living has been one of the unexpectedly brilliant surprises of my Fukaura experience! I taught them how to say "cow", they taught me how to have raucous, uninhibited fun - by no means an equal exchange, but one for which I am infinitely grateful.