Eden

The new school year is underway. This week I met all of my new students (though I didn't exactly memorize all of their names...). I am incredibly encouraged by their attitudes. There are a few shy freshmen who may need some prompting, but most of the girls seem enthusiastic. It's a refreshing change from last semester when the exhausted sophomores just want to find jobs and go home (senioritus hits two years early here). Their enthusiasm is contagious. One thing I am learning (I re-learn this a lot) is that I am extremely influenced by my circumstances and environment. I like to think that I am independent and completely self-motivated, but I have to admit that my attitude depends mostly on the attitudes of those around me. Therefore, last semester I simply counted down the days until vacation. This semester, I can't wait to get flooded with tutoring sessions. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's only the first week, I know. I might recant all of this in a month or so.

Yesterday, in order to fulfill a resolution I made about 50 times, I went on an exploratory bike ride. I stumbled upon Nagai Park about 30 minutes from my apartment. This "park" is the Disney World of parks. It houses the Osaka Museum of Natural History (albeit 4 rooms), botanical gardens, track stadium, indoor sports arena, biking and running tracks, and about 10 playgrounds. I must have done more people-watching and invasive photography in one afternoon than in my entire stay here. I have never seen so much bliss...groups of moms picnicking while their toddlers played in the grass, little elderly couples limping along the garden trails hand-in-hand, and dads with their sons examining giant dinosaur skeletons. I just kept waiting for it to crumble, but it didn't. They were all actually happy. So I decided that if I ever get in a rut or discouraged during my last few months in Japan, I won't turn to booze...I'm going back to get another dose of Nagai.