Amazing Erika!

So, how is the business doing? I’m glad that you asked. We officially opened on April 15th (tax day). Erika has been extremely busy passing out flyers. I think this is called “foot work”. Erika likes to do three or four things at once. She walks the dogs while stuffing mailboxes with flyers…pretty efficient, huh? At the same time, she is meeting with potential clients and networking. So far, she has passed out several hundred flyers. Erika designed the beautiful flyers, business cards, website  http://yes-oita.jimdo.com/ ,and other stuff. Yes, she is amazing! She has been juggling her schedule to make room for new students and schools. She often travels back and forth from Tsukahara to the business in Hasama. She also has a kinder in Oita City and Yufuin. In less than a month, she has accumulated four students in Oita, a kinder in Oita, a kinder in Yufugawa, a kinder in Yufuin, and six students in Hasama. Her students range from kinder to elementary to middle school to adult. She balances the books and somehow she finds time to cook, clean, wash clothes, and cut/ stack wood.

So, what does George do? I’m not so glad you asked. I just go to work and learn how to get the kids motivated to learn English. I often feel guilty about the unfairness of our workloads. Hey, it’s like the U.S….we’re using “team-work” to achieve a common goal. I’m the “team” and Erika does the “work”. A friend of mine recently wrote, “You’re very lucky to have a wife that would follow you to the ends of the Earth.” Erika didn't follow me to Japan...I dragged her! She was very heavy and I had to put her in cargo.

Erika often tells me to learn Japanese. I study a few words and phrases each day. It’s really hard for an old man to learn a new trick. The words don’t stick in my tiny, shriveled up brain. I think this helps me understand the difficulties an ESL student faces as they try to grasp a foreign language. I’ll keep trying and I hope my students will too.  

George