We are winding up our lovely vacation. I've been going in to the school to prepare my classroom and attend mandatory meetings in how to push the message of Catholicism. I'm working hard at the first and barely staying awake at the second. At Mass yesterday (our initial Mass giving us a blessing for the year to come) I noticed we are down to three non-Catholics, me and the two Japanese teachers. The student counselor doesn't pay any more attention to the Mass than I do (i.e., kneeling and praying and all) but I believe he is Catholic. His wife is deeply into it.

But I have the text and a curriculum map and I am getting into the planning for the classes. This year I will NOT use the crummy textbook for the Composition classes. I will make up handouts for the kids to work from. That will help keep from losing books though it would be no loss if we lost all of them.

Wakana is working on her classes. This year they have new books at her recommendation. They really needed them. The old books were soft cover and falling apart. Plus, according to her, they are poorly organized.

This morning at breakfast we saw a strange cat out by the treeline. Mama Cat saw it too. She headed out there as fast as she could waddle. By the time she got there the other cat had vanished so she waddled back to show that she had driven off the intruder. Wakana watched her and once more promised to put her on a diet but she also acknowledged that she is just too softhearted to restrict their food intake.

Nekko is fit and well. She spends hours out prowling the property. Unfortunately she then has to come in and find us to tell us all about it. If we are asleep then she has to wake us up so we can listen to her. If I was Wakana I would get pretty tired of it but she just coos and talks to the cat and tells her she is wonderful.