Welcome :)

Today, two of my co-workers took mi out to dinner (shh, don't tell lol). Both of them make an interesting pair, you wouldn't guess they had things in common haha. But it was pretty fun. We went to an Okonomiyaki store, which I love by the way, and had three different kinds. While eating, I remembered the last time I had Okonomiyaki, I wasn't full - Random thought lol. 

Anyway, we had dinner for about two hours, and talked about the most random things. I admit, at first, going there, I was a little unsure of how the evening would go cause I had no idea what kind of things they were interested in. But the two of them were nice and in the end, paid for my dinner!!

On the way back, the one who dropped mi home asked about Christianity and church and I invited her to church and she said she would come!! She was very excited and asked if it was ok for her to come though she wasn't Christian. Interestingly, this is the first time (church wise) I have wanted to invite people to come to church with mi. And it came so naturally too.... i guess I must be growing up huh??

Work was quite interesting. Regular classes, but in the 5th period, I went to watch the student's power point presentation. 6th period, we had CPR training, which was interesting. The teachers found the mini drama hilarious, and so did I haha. I remember having CPR training sometime in the past, but can't pinpoint when exactly. 

Afterwards, spent about an hour goofing off with some coworkers in the office. Mi and Mr S, next to mi, would make a fine comedy duo I think. And everyone thinks my Japanese is so cute, as usual, and at the same time very Kansai - I guess my reactions and etc - which makes it more interesting lol. 

Needless to say, I loved my job today and thank God for giving mi a smile yet another day.

Now then, need to update Chrome before it crashes on mi lol.

xo

Why I Love My Town

The Day:

At 7:30am, the group of doting parents seeing their kids off outside my house tell mi 'itterashai' (have a nice day) as I leave. 

10 minutes from school, across the street from the convenience store, the lady who greets the elementary school kids and helps them cross tells mi good morning. 

2 minutes latter, the constantly smiling man on the bicycle smiles at mi as he rides past, with a 'good morning' in his wake. 

At the last store, Welcia, I begin to see students on their morning run. 

Around the corner, another group of doting parents await the school bus for their kids. They all chant 'itterashia'/ 'ohayogozaimasu' (good morning) as I walk past. 

There are the kids from the other JHS, who, I think, heard about mi from my students. They all say hi/hello/good morning, mid their run. Some stop to tell mi their names/ask for mine. 

There is the one kid who thinks he is super cool (and I do too, sue mi haha), and simply says 'hey' or nods as he jogs past (lmao the girls in his future are in for trouble).

Then there is the kid who asks mi daily if I like spagetti. Can't decide if thats the only English sentence he knows, or if he seriously forgets each time haha.

Of course, the icing on the cake: My kids. Ever surprised to see mi, like they did not expect mi to show up again!! 

They have the loudest and most joyous hellos, some screaming and waving vigorously from across the field.

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My day ends with the unanimous 'See you!!' or 'Bye, bye' from the kids as I walk out the gate. 

Sometimes, I meet the bicycle man on the way and he nods with his constant smile. 

On my street, there is some little old lady or stay at home mum who is out and about, and ready with the 'okaeri' (welcome home) as I pass.

I get into my house and count the hours till the cycle begins again, with all the warm smiles.

Whats there not to love about my new home? 

My Weird Kids and Other Stories

So I have concluded that I weird kids.... Its not yet a law, but given time I'm sure it would be. Here are a few whys to back my theory up .....

For some reason, beginning yesterday, my kids, mainly the boys, have been staring at mi, then laughing, then whispering to each other. I have no idea what the are staring at or why the are laughing, and it is beginning to be very odd. 

The girls, in their quest to speak English, have taken up to asking mi odd questions with regards to a certain female teacher. The first day I walked into one of the classes, a student asked mi if I liked Miss. K.... I'm like huh? Then she rephrased and said 'Do you love Miss K?' Against my instructions, I had to ask her to say it in Japanese cause I was certain she was not phrasing her question properly. A lass, she was. I laughed that off. But over time, I've gotten random questions related to said Miss K. All suggesting some sort of feelings or something. Such as 'Do you think Miss K is cute?', or 'Do you like Miss K with short or long hair (after her hair cut)?' and so on.... I'm choosing not to read anything into all that. 

The adorable side exists too, thank God. There are the oh so adorable ones who run up to mi and say 'You are very cute!!' all the time - mainly a group of girls with messed up teeth (bless their hearts). Or the boys that debate, in Japanese - in front of mi - which one of them should tell mi I'm cute.... Then, as they all lack the balls, give up giggling and run away. 

A few laughs for my day....

xo

JHS #101: The 'Hello' Attack

I don't know where it started, or whose bright idea it was, but it seems like all the JHS kids learn only one form of greeting - HELLO. 

In the last month since I've been working, I can honestly say I have used the word 'hello' more times than in the rest of my life in total!! From the 1st years to the 3rd years, they all want to, innocently, say something to you, and at some point in time, someone said the universal form of greeting in English was 'Hello'. Which I can say is honestly not true. 

When I was growing up, I don't know about you, but I was taught to say 'Good Morning' in the morning, 'Good Afternoon' after noon and 'Good Evening' the rest of the day. At no point in life could I say 'hello' to someone older and get away with it. 

One could make the argument that the American culture doesn't exactly teach those 'greeting etiquetes', and are less formal than other cultures, but still 'Hi'/ 'Hey what's up?' are more frequently used. And I doubt kids at school say that to their teachers in America either. 

And its funny though cause in Japanese, they use 'Good Afternoon' (Konichiwa) for the general greetings. No one says 'Ossu', which means 'what's up/hello' regularly as a form of greeting....

And the volume with which they scream it, bless their little hearts. They all have megaphones and believe they need to propel their feelings with the volume of their voice. So the louder they are, right next to your ear, the more sincere they believe the hello comes out. I get scared out of my wits cause I'd be walking alone, and suddenly this loud voice from behind mi yells 'hello' at mi!! 

I think from tomorrow or so, I'd tell them what to say when they see mi. Maybe not in class cause the teachers have their own agendas, and it would be more of a pain getting to explain to them what I am trying to do to begin with.... idk. 

Anyway, in other news, I started teaching the Special Class today. They are called 'Handicapped Class' here, but that can come across as confusing as none of the kids are actually physically handicapped. Was fun but since it was the first lesson, I was a bit cautious. I did however make a few provisional diagnoses. 3 DS, 1 or 2 possible CD and a possible BD. Lets see how the rest of the time plays out. But the kids are lovely though!! So innocent, it makes them look more fragile than they already seem.

Thats all for now. 

Tudles. 

ALT Corner

So my school has this thing called "ALT Corner", which is essentially a part of the notice board where I get to design with pictures and information about my country. I am super flattered, but at the same time unsure of what to write. They wanted to know about events like National festivals, independence day, etc. But my country is so diverse that would be a little challenging to summarize into a maximum of 16 pictures!!!!

xo

School Crazy

The main theme for school today, was mi sleepy and cold. From the time I stepped into the school compound till I left.... I get sleepy when I am cold, so you could say one affects the other. 

Anyhu, I had the pleasure, for the sake of politeness, of being once again flung into the dark with this lovable teacher (of of the many) I teach with. He told mi on the first day of school he never has any idea what he is going to do in class till the class time. 

I should have known he was not one for jokes. 

We had a lesson today, and after I had spent a good amount of time coming up with questions based on my last under the bus adventure - courtesy of yours truly as well - I cant say I was shocked to walk into the class and hear the kids say he already did that activity with them, then hear him say lets do another activity then begin with lesson one!! 

When I had finally gotten accustomed to the pages in lesson one and had mentally fine tuned my act for the next class, we walked in and he chose a different page for the lesson!! By 12:30 I was caught between blowing up from frustration versus from hunger. Needless to say, hunger won. Besides, getting frustrated would do mi no good, I have long realized in life. 

For this guy, I have learned one thing - I just need to ask him what the students did in the last class, so I prepare myself for possible lessons from that, the future or something totally unrelated. lol.

Moving on.

I walked around the sports clubs today, and played some basket ball!! I don't want to brag (who am I kidding, lol), but I think I was pretty good (if you compare mi now with my last froggy attempts). Might even consider playing from time to time, though it means hanging out with the kids who can't decide if they have a crush on mi or think I'm an alien they are fascinated with. Either way, as long as they can't speak English, we are both spared from mi having to try my best to be as polite as possible while failing miserably and hurting them.... or worse, getting in a situation where I need to apologize. Thats just both annoying and cumbersome. 

Final topic change.

So, I climbed a tree at school today. 

.... pause for effect .... ^ ^

The tennis girls, whose names and faces I better remember tomorrow, got one of their balls stuck in a tree. I was on my way home, and walked on over - nosy mi. Well at first I tried to find out, with English (like that was possible), if the kids were allowed to climb the trees in school. They said no, but I am more sure they thought I asked if they could climb it, cause a few seconds after the 'no' one of them stepped forward and began to climb. She didn't go too far before she climbed back down. 

So mi, being the movie-scene-reenactment-lover that I am, decided to climb it. 

I guess climbing trees is kinda like riding a bike, you never actually forget. That and the combination of a little prayer, I got up high enough to get the ball down for the girls. It was quite amusing to mi cause as soon as I started climbing, they began scrambling around for English words like 'stop, don't do it, come down, it's dangerous - I know, I was shocked at that one too' and so on. lol. So, though on a regular day I can't get them to cough up more than the basic 'how are you, hello, my name is....' with my tree climbing affair, I got them to use dictionary words as well!! I should say yay mi!! haha. 

Anyway, they were so scared I would fall, they called a teacher passing by to come ask mi to stop in English - bless his heart. He also joined in the unanimous search for the English words for 'get down from there you moron, you might break something....'

Mercifully, I got the ball down, got my round of applause and was on my way. Now that both branches of the school was adequately represented, I am sure I would not hear the end of it, or even close, tomorrow. All students would know I climb trees, and the lovely teachers would also like to hear more about mi and my tree climbing history tomorrow as well....

Speaking of teachers, I forgot to find out from the teachers I have tomorrow what the lessons would be on - not that I would be likely to get any answers.... on that note, I'm out....

xo

Church 101

Went to my first church service in Japan today!! Its almost 7pm and I just got back. lol. Haven't had this much fun in church in a while. The service was from 10.30am till 12. After that we had tea time, the singing for a while (people were free to leave but I wanted to stay). The youths, I guess thats what we are called, spent most of the afternoon singing - didn't realize time was even moving!! Then they wanted an English class, which I absolutely was happy to do. Spent about an hour and a half just having English conversation. Then we went site seeing!! Well more like had to go drop two people back at their school, and it was a long way from church so site seeing on the way.

Everyone at the church was nice and warm. They answered questions, asked, I felt quite comfy there lol. Oh and I also got invited to 'English Time' on saturday, as a teacher hehe. Its in the afternoon so I have no problem going at all. Funny I found myself thinking 'Ah, I won't be able to come over till next Saturday again....' thats totally a first for mi!!