Kayaking and the new arrivals

The end of July meant the end of our contracts. I renewed my contract back in February, so this was no big deal. Three of the veterans--Aaron, Evelyn, and Rob--did not, however. Rob left as soon as his contract expired. Evelyn had to move out of her place by the 28th, but Aaron was able to stay until the first week of August. Evelyn stayed at Aaron's, so they were around a little while longer.

Evelyn taught at a total of fourteen different schools. Some of them only had four or five students, but she still had to go to fourteen different buildings, with fourteen different faculties, and fourteen different groups of students. I still can't wrap my mind around that concept. Neither could the powers that be, apparently: her position was carved into two pieces, and two new ALTs were contracted to fill her shoes. Those two arrived on July 28. Their names are Joe and Rose, and they're from Minneapolis-St. Paul and Dallas-Fort Worth, respectively. We all got together for a goodbye dinner for the departing folk that doubled as a hello dinner for the arriving folk.

Aaron, Evelyn, Joe, Rose, Oliver, and I went sea kayaking the first Saturday in August. The weather was almost as gorgeous as the scenery, and our guide was awesome, too. Tsushima is divided by Aso Bay, which joins the Pacific in the west. Our guide, Ueno, took us out to a small island, where we swam in the surf for a bit. Like most of the beaches around the island--especially on the western side--this one was covered in trash. Ueno asked us each to pick up one plastic drink bottle to bring back and recycle.

The group had lunch at Mos Burger, the island's one and only burger chain. Afterwards, we sort of split up, but Joe, Rose, and I got together for dinner at Border, my favorite Italian restaurant in town. Then we headed for the festival...