World Traveler: Deaf School Days Part 2!

I confess that I was a little worried to come to the Deaf school again as I made a girl cry last week. :/ However I was also excited to meet more students and potentially redeem myself. Also today was my first time teaching junior high and elementary school children in Japan. I had prepared the last couple days but I still felt a great deal of trepidation as I left my apartment. Hurdle number one: get on the right bus. As many of you know, I got on the bus I was told to take last week and luckily I talked to the driver because it was the wrong bus. *facepalm* So this week I was going to try again. Last Friday I was called twice by the office with them confirming with me the bus number I should take for the next week. Then they also called me yesterday after I got out of school. "Do you remember which bus to take? Did you get my email?" Ya, I pretty much memorized that email the second I got it. So this morning I was off to spot #3 at the bus station headed for Otobe. As soon as I got on the bus, I approached the driver. "Otobe ni?" -"Hai!" YATTA! Right bus. So I sat down and sent an email to my parents' phones stating that the first part of my mission was a success. I couldn't help but feel super nervous though. I was slated for a half hour bus ride so if it wasn't the right bus, I was headed for 30 minutes in the wrong direction. Then I would have to get off, THEN call a taxi, THEN for sure I would be late. So I was anxiously watching out the window and thankful for my dad teasing me as it helped to make the mood a little more light for me. Well, in front of the Choukaku Shien is a public junior high school. So when some young students got on the bus, I felt a lot of relief. I kept watching my watch and my cell phone clock as the bus should have been arriving at my stop around 7h51. Well that time came and went and suddenly there was an announcement for "Otobe." Well, it didn't look anything like the stop that M-s had shown me. I was SO stressed at that moment. I asked one of the school kids and they nodded that it was indeed Otobe and I asked the driver, he said yes, then I said, "Otobe Sakai?" To my relief, he gestured further down the road. I think I frustrated him a little but hey I was trying! (SOOOO glad M-s had written "Otobe Sakai" on my paper or I wouldn't have known to say that (mmm). It was the next stop. I was HUGELY relieved. I don't think I can express the amount of relief I felt. Another guy got off on the same stop. Ya, he teaches at the same school. ARGH! How come he didn't help me!? LOL Well, I guess it's because he talked AT me for a few minutes and then jogged on. *shrug* I lagged behind to get a couple pictures. In any case, I made it! To the right school. Using the bus. And I got there on time. (mmm) Huge, huge blessing! Here's the school (sorry not legally allowed to post :/, removed the pictures):

When I got to the school I saw Sugita-sensei but since I was teaching jhs and elem today, I told her I was going to go to the jhs staff room for the beginning of the day and return after lunch. Then off I went to the jhs staff room. They were all in a meeting so I organized my teaching materials until Ito-sensei (woman) showed up. She's so much fun! She knows some ASL and is of course fluent in JSL. We chatted and I got the names of the students.

Then off to teach! Today was GREAT. The kids were so wonderful, I was able to change my lesson. In fact, two of the kids in my second lesson were in my third! So I changed what I was doing on the fly! It just went so, so well. Three parents sat in on my second lesson and one of the two elementary girls made me cookies! I was SO touched. She hadn't even met me but made me almond shortbread cookies. They were SO good. Back in the staff room Ito-sensei gave me tea and cookies and then another teacher came back and gave me a bean bun and THEN when I got back to the hs staff room (which has my desk) there was a chocolate cookie thing (it wasn't really chocolate but that's what the package said) on my desk AND THEN, they gave me another little cookie! Sheesh! The Deaf school seems to have noticed my weight loss and it displeases them. ;) OH! And the best presents I got today? The kids made intro sheets that have their pictures on them and I get to keep them! EEEE! Here's a picture of my presents:

the little bag with hearts is the cookies :)

So I was told that I could, again, catch the earlier bus. I was so excited to get my weekend started early. I chatted for a bit with that girl who sits next to me and is helping me learn Japanese and then off I went. As soon as I got home, I sat down and ate the rest of my sushi (that I had brought for lunch) and was just settling in with a book. Then the office called me. I left my computer cord at the school. AARRRGGHH! I would have just gotten it later but then I wouldn't be able to work on or print my worksheets AND I'm not slated to go back to Choukaku Shien until May 10th (because next Friday is a holiday). So, back on the bus I went. (It's a 1.75 hour round trip.) So I ended up getting home later than usual. However, (mmm) the school noticed I had left my cord and called Interac. If I hadn't noticed until my computer was dying... oh man. I don't know when I could have gone back as the school is closed on the weekends and it will be for the holiday too. So I wasn't thrilled about going back but I was grateful that what could have been a DISASTROUS situation was only an annoyance.

So when I finally got home, I cleaned a little, made my dinner and then sat down to read. I was just about to start writing my blog when my doorbell rang. -For me, this is a scary situation. Who is it?? It was Bruce! He invited me to a game night with other English speakers - yay! So that's why this blog is written so late - I went to a big game night where we played German games. LOL (The guy who brought the games is from Germany so ya.. they were German games.) It SO reminded me of game nights at home. Only instead of Dave it was Markus explaining these really complicated rules! Yeesh - but it was really fun and I'm glad I was invited.

Funny moments:

One of the Deaf kids told me he didn't like frogs. I told him I really liked them and then he went on to sign a story (and sign being so visual even though it was Japanese sign language I was able to follow most of what was signed) about how when he was a little kid a frog jumped on his face. Oh man! Poor guy! I told him I would feel the same if that had happened to me.

One of the games I had the jhs students do is to guess the order of siblings by writing numbers underneath the sibling picture we took at the American Fork Amphitheater. The first class guessed Nathanaël was the oldest and put me third and Jerod fifth. The second class put Jerod first and me seventh! They put Simone before me both times! Both classes got the last 4 correct (Josué to Ava).

And so... I got to making faces again... it's so fun! And I got a couple nice shots too. Enjoy! XOXO, A