I'm so out of the loop

Devan-
I have 395 days left in Japan! I keep trying to remind myself to make the most out of my time here because 10 years from now it will all seem like a blip. However, I'm so ready to be done. I think I've been saying that since day 1. Paul's such a champ to live with such a grump. This next year we have a lot of traveling plans so that will help pass the time. A friend of mine also pointed out that I'll be sleeping half of that time away too.
I'm feeling a little left out of all of the big things happening back home right now. I know things are not good but I feel like I'm missing all of the public reaction and collective conscious stuff. Big economic crisis, first Black president, poison peanut butter, a man whose apartment had so much trash he had to tunnel through it...I'm missing so much! I miss having coworkers and random people at the dog park to talk to about these things. Of course I talk to my family and Paul but I miss the variety. Not to mention that I didn't see any of the movies that were up for an Oscar.
The semester is about to wrap up this month. I'm sad the 6th graders are moving on to another school. They weren't big jerks like all the other grades. My 5th graders were ok until this last semester but now they are worthless to teach. I won't even go into the butt headed 4th graders. I had a fist fight break out in one of my 3rd grade classes last week. 2nd grade misbehaved so much we haven't gotten past learning 1-10 or colors the entire year. 1st graders are gross and not so cute anymore. I will have about 160 new first graders coming in April, some new faces might be nice. Plus the new ones will be so scared of me for the first few months maybe I'll get a break from them touching me with those germy hands!