Events as of late

The school year is well on its way here in Japan. So far I've been to all my schools except 1(the elementary school that's 1 hour away). Things are starting to get routine: Taking the bus, taking the taxi, etc, etc. I'm comfortable walking down to the stores to buy my things. There are still things I'm unsure of. Receiving and sending packages are still a mystery to me (more like a language barrier thing), same goes to bus schedules and planning games for Junior High.

So far, I haven't had an opportunity to play a game with my junior high kids. In fact, in Kita-Uonome JHS, I haven't done my self intro to the 2nd or 3rd years yet. They can't seem to schedule english class when the english speaker actually comes to the school. The only class I've been to was the 1st year's class. The first time I was told that they were slow learners and the teacher wanted to teach solo. Ok, it defeats the purpose of spending $30 to taxi me out here, but whatever. The 2nd time i was able to teach them because the JTE broke his dentures and had to get them fixed. So they told me 10 minutes before class started that I'll be teaching solo. Actually, they sent the music teacher with me to help. I really had to stretch out my intro lesson to cover enough time. However, the music teacher took over the last 15 minutes by making them do penmanship exercises until the bell rang.

My time in Kita-chu hasn't been a waste though. I ran into the school counselor (who was at my enkai) after lunch. I showed her pictures that I took during the party. I always thought she was pretty cute since I noticed her there. So I decided to ask for her phone #, and email address. To my surprise, she ran to her desk where a couple students were loitering around. She grabbed some tissue paper, spoke to the students in Japanese and they laughed as they ran out, and handed me her info on that tissue. However, I asked her to give me her info via IR transmission. To make sure this wasn't bogus info or the number to the rejection hotline, I asked to see if I got the right number. Sure enough, both numbers went through. I left her office happy, now I have something to chase. I didn't actually get around to sending her the photo for about 3 days. When I finally did, I asked her if she wanted to go out sometime and show me some sights around the island. She replied yes and wanted to get together before hand to plan a weekend. She came in the next Thursday (she wasn't working at the school that day) bearing presents of expensive chinese tea. We talked about it for awhile and planned our weekend. So now I wait for this upcoming weekend!

I find that my most enjoyable time is when i go to elementary school on Wednesday. The last one I went to was Uonome Elementary. Even though these schools have the busiest schedule for me, they also fly much faster than my Junior high time It was a self intro day, so I just showed them my maps, pictures, flags and money. I made a money game on the spot to kill 10 minutes. If you don't know, there is an owl on the front of the dollar bill. My game was to break them into teams and find it. I would give out hints in english to see if they understand it. This game was a big hit because I'd have a hard time getting control back after saying time up.

My 6th graders, preparing lunch, rush in front of the camera when I yelled "SAY CHEESE"

Lunch time was spent with my 6th graders, and recess was spent with my 4th graders. Recess time is a very different atmosphere. Here, I'm no longer a teacher (title only), I'm a target. The game was dodgeball. They tried to explain the rules to me, person goes here, person goes there.. Rules?! Throw ball until you nail someone in the head were my childhood rules. Japanese dodgeball is exactly like Super Dodge Ball for the NES. there was this girl whom the kids say was the strongest thrower in class. "Oh?" I asked She was aiming for me the entire time. I had to put on my sunglasses and pull Matrix moves on these kids. Backbreaking dodges (literally) and catching balls with agent like strength. The kids were surprised when I was able to catch everything she threw. When I had the ball, people went down. I showed my team how to spin to gain momentum before the throw. I did that to a girl and knocked her down while she was jumping. Her shoe came flying off for good comedic value. Again, with the ooo's and ahh's with the "tsuyoii's" and "kowaii's", I broke them down and showed them who's boss. After the dust settled and bell rang, we all had a good time and I let them try on my glasses because I said that's what gave me power. So they were lining up to try them on, even the 2-3rd graders heard me and wanted to try them on too. All in all, elementary schools are the best.