Ready

 I finally got my classroom set up.

This was the tatami room a couple of weeks ago. Just an empty space. I know that in Japan, it's common to have a room that's empty, essentially for guests to visit. This room was only used two or three times a year, for New Year's family gatherings, Obon, the festival to welcome the ancestors back in the summer, and for memorial rites of those who had passed away.

I always felt that it was a waste of space. When we moved here, I thought about changing this to a living room, but never got round to it! Which, I guess, is a good thing because I need a place to teach.

Today, David and Christopher got the furniture out of storage and set up the room for me.

Looks a lot better. I want to move the teaching materials into the cupboards. I think the only other thing to do is to tidy up the doors and screens that the cats have scratched up. 

The garden is going to take a lot longer to do, but I feel that is going to be an ongoing thing. We cut back the trees, pull up weeds, it rains, and everything has grown back!

I'm excited to start this little school. I really hope to get students!  This reminds me of the movie "Field of Dreams," where the farmer is told to build a baseball field. He is told, "build it and they will come!". I've built it, prepared my classroom, so I really hope they come!