So you know how I have my nice BIG new room at Heiichi? I walk up to school this morning and the (cute) 6th grade teacher snipes me. He asks if I don:t have anyone for first period.
I say I do, 4th grade.
And he says, after, you know how you have all of the 6th grade? 2nd period 6-1, 3rd 6-2, 4th 6-3? Well, a singer is coming to speak to the kids during 3rd and 4th period so can you teach all of the 6th graders during 2nd period in your nice BIG class room?
Then he sees the panic on my face as I run screaming through my head over the lesson I had planned and realize that there is no way in Hades that I can do the same activities with 87 students. But for no good reason (as I didn:t plan to play that game today) I stuck the 530 chips that I made over winter break in my bag. Usually the game is played by handing out 5 chips and then they say a conversation and Janken, winner gets a chip. I usually control the conversation (either by everyone saying one thing or passing out a card for them to say) but there were nearly 90 of them so each gopt 3 and could say whatever they wanted ("what do you like?" "I like school subject"). After which I had them line up and assembly line style drop off their chips (winner had 21) and pick up their writing practice, crossword, and word search. They wrote while they listened to music. And laughed at how silly Pain sounded, because they didn:t understand it.
***
Last night after my shower, I walked to Family Mart to pick up some milk to make my cream of mushroom soup. I saw some of my kids outside. One of the girls (3rd or 4th) ran up to me saying hi and told me with great assurence "You are different!" and I basically said "wtf? Who what where?" And she said, "from school to now, outside of school you look different." And I did a "thank you, I guess" and then they quizzed me on what I bought (milk and yogurt) and we parted ways. I think they would have been happier if I had bought beer.
***
I:ve finished the rest of the Uglies Trilogy, I:m not sure I want to read the 4th book, as it seems to concern completely different characters. I:ve also started Iron Kissed, because it JUST came in. Even though I oredered it on Jan 5th. i should have preordered it, but I didn:t. Now I know and when Superior Saturday comes out (april, I believe) I:ll preorder it. The Mercy Thompson series is pretty good, but the way. If you go for hot werewolves and magic and contemprary fantasy tied up around murder mystery. Which I do.
***
I:m still working my way through Salem:s Lot. I:m on Chapter 8 of 15. It:s creepy. And the actor is still laughable. Even so, I find myself reluctant to listen to it after dark. Good for walking in the day/twilight. But after dark . . .
***
Speaking of listening to music (or mp3 players) I finally figured out how to shuffle playlists. So I mixed up my school mix (still pathetically short, if anyone has music to contribute, let me know) and I think the kids have enjoyed it. I still don:t have any NEW music, but I guess that:s okay. It would be nice if I had some Avaril. Cuz they know her.
***
I:m writing this in a notebook while the music guy talks. He is Suehiro Naoki. He was born in Miyakojima and has like 6 cds out. He currently lives in Tokyo while he plays with Gulff. He apparently loved English class. He did the English speach contest while he went to Seijo Junior High (remind, I teach at Seijo Elm) and he practiced everyday while riding his bike.
As the talk goes on more and more teachers are sneaking in to listen. Himeno-sensei, Makiko-sensei (my english coordinator), that male teacher who I don:t remember. I think that this is a really cool idea. Have someone who was local and is now "famouse" talk to the kids. I stopped listening to him a while ago. Mostly because I don:t REALLY understand what he:s saying. I could try harder. He:s currently talking about his grandfather. But yeah. "Hey kids, just becaus you were born on an island doesn:t mean you HAVE to die on it."
The principal and vp sat down next to me at the back of the room, so I can:t draw XP But I guess it:s okay, I like writing.
***
I talked to Tiffany last night about Thailand and Leo this morning about him coming here. I:m suppose to call the discount travel agent tonight and price check leaving for thailand on saturday or monday, which would be cheaper. I also need to ask for nenkyuu. For both, when Leo:s here and going to Thailand. They:re both really early. But I:m of the opinion that if you:re gonna skip work, give the people that you:re putting upon the most amount of time to prepare for it.
In talking to Leo, he:s actually made it clear that he doesn:t care what we do, so long as we:re together. So what I:m planning is that he:ll get to narita, have an overnight in Tokyo, fly to okinawa then miyako the next day and I:d meet him here. I:m rather terrrified about him staying overnight in tokyo, I think I:ll talk to him about it. If He:s gonna avoid the 7am flight to miyako anyway, to catch the narita - okinawa flight that same day, and overnight in naha like mom and dad did. It:s so much more english friendly.
***
They finally got to the Q&A session.
***
Then we might just bum aorund miyako for the two weeks. Not go to Taipei, but if we do, I think we:ll just decide to do it while we:re here.
***
They:re fliming me right now. I think that they find it weird that a random white girl is here listening to the talk. I wonder if they were told that I:m the English teacher...
Chase asked "did you quit English after starting the band?"
"No, I:ve never stopped studying English."
So useful. I love that little half snot nosed brat. He:s the one who asked (when talking about how Japan gets such a long recess) "how long is summer break?" Because he knew. It:s good playing off something like that in class. Starts good discussions.
Hehe, all of my brats are the ones standing up to ask questions. You know the ones. The ones that give you the most greif and you can:t help but like.
"What:s the most precious thing to you?"
"Hm, the most precious thing is my family, my grandma and grandpa."
They:re fially going to let him sing. I was wondering when. They:ve had the guitar up there the whole time.
***
Did I mention that I:m living in the land of Stating the Obvious?
Yesterday I:m working on stuff and this 3rd year comes in and says something about returning this thing to my classroom and whatever and then he sees the broken clock on the shelf and yells "Oh! It:s a clock!" and then says bye and returns to his class.
***
So he sings this really nice song and writes the words on the board for the kids to sing along.
Then the kids all stand up and sing for him. It:s really nice.
End of notebook.
***
So he also ate with the kids, 6-1, and guess who I was scheduled to eat with today? 6-1. I could have introduced myself, but I was feeling shy, so I just ate with one of the other groups. And it was one of the best lunches I:ve ever had. The kids asked me questions, and when I said I didn:t understand that word, they actually said it in a different way until I understood! We had a really good conversation.
And then, as I was walking downstairs, I see the kids cleaning up, sweeping and whatnot, and they are playing around like 2nd or 3rd graders usually do and one of them declares "I:ve died!" and I start to mess around with them, asking him if he:s died and he falls down and I start to rush to him and say "hang on!" in Japanese, but I:ve forgotten it at that moment, and was about to stumble it out "tsukareshiro!" and I miss that there was in fact another step there and I fall. And I felt something crunch in my ankle. So now I:m set up in the computer room with an ice bag on my ankle, propped up on a chair. And it still hurts. And I first fell about 2 hours ago. And I don:t have my car here today, so I:ll have to walk home.
And Veronica:s coming today. Yay.
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