In order to give you an idea of our daily lives I thought the best thing to do would be to describe a typical week. Most people have a weekly routines that can tell you a lot about what most of their life looks like.

For us the routine is the most consistent from Monday to Friday so let's start there.

We got to school by 8:15, or 8:25, in the morning. The first thing on the agenda is an all teachers meeting that all schools hold every morning. After the meeting students have a Short Homeroom period and a morning reading time. Classes start at around 8:55. There are four fifty minute classes in teh morning separated by ten minute breaks. At 12:45 everyone has a 45 minute break for lunch. After lunch there are two more classes. When classes are finished there is a 15 minute time for all teachers and students to clean the school. At first we thought it was humourous but soon it just becomes part of the regular routine. After school both of us have some extra curricular activites. Sarah runs an English Speaking Society Club at both of her schools. Dan has a teacher's English conversation class and also irregularly participates in the International club, the Brass Band (with his violin), a boys basketball club and a girls basketball club. Also at certain times of the year we tutor student one on one to prepare for English certification tests or university entrance exams.

Almost everyday after school we have an activity scheduled. Monday nights are when Sarah teachers two three year old girls violin. Tuesday Sarah goes to yoga class. Wednesday we teach an outgoing friend English. On Thursday we attend a conversation group made up of rather high level English speakers living in Hondo. This meeting always takes place at the same restaurant. We are quite the regulars. We have been going there almost every Thursday going on three years. However some of the group members have been participating for 12 years. Then on Friday we have a Japanese lesson from 5:30 to 6:30. After that we return home, make something easy for dinner, watch our favorite program that features popular Japanese music, and then go to practice our violins with our music group. The group consists of 5 members and is quite a hodge podge of instruments but somehow we make it work.

Finally we are ready for the weekend. On Saturday and Sunday we don't have such a fixed schedule. We often do some sort of exercise outside (bicycling, walking, hiking). We often get together with friends and if we can we go to church on Sunday. Usually Sunday night we do something low key, like watch an action movie on TV (the only movies the air on TV are action) and rest up for the week ahead. There you have it. That's what keep us going.