As June arrives, despite all efforts to stop it, I already find myself thinking about the middle of June and the end of July.

The middle of June involves writing exams and recording listening sections and putting it all together. There’s also time spent recording listening sections for other exams and, on occasion, for the Japanese staff.

This means I’m already assembling the pieces of old exams and deciding what kind of work will be on my exam. Students pass around old exams–last year, apparently, there was real shock when the first listening was something different than expected–and we have to take care to change the test completely, or change enough answers to throw the students off.

For July I’ve already begun to plan how to spend the time during my house arrest, which starts at the end of July, after all my responsibilities at the school where I work have finished and the obligations the company I work for says I have begin. There are about 10 days of house arrest to fill before I start using up the part of my paid holidays that will be falling off at the end of my official employment year. (I started with the company in mid-August which means my holidays reset in August.)

I’ve chosen to wait 10 days because that means my “open” paid holidays meet up with the “planned” holidays my company gets to decide. (Long, long story there.)

To prepare for all this I’ve been assembling the projects I’m going to revise and submit and am writing them down in a book dedicated to the house arrest schedule.

There are also some house arrest days at the end of August and beginning of September before the start of actual work begins, but those aren’t as annoying as I’ll be preparing the for the start of actual work I’ll be able to escape from house arrest.

At least until the next school holiday when house arrest starts again.