A pronounced day

Thank you dear readers! I have, now, surpassed the views for this blog over my last one. And I have only 24.4% of the postings! Wow.

I had some worksheets I had been unable to do with my internet connection last week that I needed to finish today. Luckily my first two periods were prep periods so I cranked them out. I did two worksheets for the second years then I made two worksheets for training this Saturday. We are required to teach a 35 minute lesson (which I believe is what we did before and back then it felt like FOREVER and now it feels like, 35 minutes!? That's it!? Cake!). I then wrote the lesson plan (which probably looked funny to my boss -- but I had the plan worked out, obviously, then went back and typed it). If they deem it "necessary" one may be scheduled for additional training on the 18th of May and the 1st of June. I'm thinking I will not be asked to do additional training as I feel as I have always felt (and this is my third new situation as a teacher): fish to water. However, if I am called back I will try not to let my pride make me feel hurt and look on it as an opportunity to learn and to see other trainees again. If I'm the only one called back... I will be extremely frustrated. In any case...

Today with Toki's classes I finally got to teach my pronunciation lesson. For the first class he asked me to hang back as he was going to have them fill out a survey for the school of some sort. So I skipped my warm-up since I'd lost class time. The class felt all weird and disjointed to me. I think it was partly me (getting off from a long holiday), partly them (same reason), skipping the warm-up, and having it be the first time I taught that lesson. The class was just very somber and it was a bit of a struggle. At the end they picked up when we played Fruit Basket though.

The second class went SO well I had to add an extra activity at the end. Mr. Toki asked me to stop the game and do something else on the spot. (Mmm) I was blessed with an idea. As we were practicing the L and R sounds, I taught them the signs for "L" and "R" in ASL (and "W" since "wrong" was one of the words) and covered my mouth and had them hold up the sign. It was really fun and ridiculously simple, but the students really enjoyed it. Then I asked them to practice with one another. :) Success all around! The third class went just as well too. They were a lot less energetic than the second class to begin with, but they were much more energized after the game. Man they LOVED Fruit Basket. They keep whooping and hollering at the one student who was left out and had to say the next word. In fact, a few of the guys got ovations! They are a funny bunch but a lot of fun. :)

I had a lot to do when I got home (I am so blessed to have wonderful close friends and family who message and email me and really look out for me - I love you SO much all of you!) and was worried about finishing it all, but I didn't want my apathy to keep me from accomplishing anything (I'm very apathetic when I have cramps because they are so vicious it makes it hard to focus on anything else). I did one errand on the way home, then I walked home and grabbed my bike. It was then that I realized it was my bike seat (though it appeared dry) that had soaked my bum yesterday. Whew! I have not lost the feeling in my bum! LOL I pedaled down to the Hyaku-en shop (¥100 shop/dollar store essentially) and grabbed some things for which I have been in great need for a while. Some of those things are (or were since I have them now): a shower curtain, a dustpan, two big tupperware containers, bleach, a spray bottle (for the aforementioned bleach as the humidity causes a giant mold problem - everyone has been warning me and I'm staying ahead of it - no more micotoxins in my life. I got enough in Provo for life!), and a big spoon. I got a couple other odds and ends but those were the key ones. I now have a shower curtain so tomorrow morning I will NOT be getting my whole bathroom wet (which typically includes my clothes) - even with little droplets and mist. I'm looking forward to having all the water contained. Also Joanna told me to pour some bleach down the drains to discourage creepy crawlies so I did that as well. I also sprayed some suspicious spots in my bathroom. They have been there since I moved in but I wanted to make sure they were only stains and not the beginning of a mold problem.

After that I made some dinner and lunches and sat down to read and then write this post. I finished that trilogy I've been talking about. I can't say I'm satisfied with the end, but I was very invested in the characters so I can't say that Stroud is not a good author. I still recommend the books. We can complain to one another about the endings if you read them. :) Then I worked on my blog. I was uploading the remaining pictures for the Taiko Matsuri when the pictures went all weird. I had to delete them all and am trying to put them all back now. *sigh* So it will take a while, sorry! But then all 46 pictures will be posted. When that is done, I will get the ones from the Kenbais and Sunday uploaded. Love you all! XOXO, A

Funny moments:

I forgot to tell you before, at the dinner for Limor's Taiko group, they asked for a nickname for me. Geoff goes by GG because his first and middle names (Geoffrey Gordon) start with G. They call Limor Lili. So Limor suggested Neeky (I'm putting the phonetic spelling for you as it would have been written "Niki" in Japanese and have that same pronunciation). Well, they heard "Mickey." So now I'm Mickey Mouse to her Taiko group. LOL They should have known as every time they started yelling, "Mickey! Mickey!" I didn't turn around. That's NOT my name. I would have responded to Neeky as all my siblings have called me that at some point.

AHAHA Toki's homeroom class (3-3) is a riot. They are SO much fun and SO energetic. I love teaching them. In any case, they are very bright so we finished quickly and had more time for the game. They have played Fruit Basket once already (because they finished early a couple weeks ago) so when I said, "Ok! Let's play Fruit Basket!" They all cheered and went wild. Seriously. THEN I said, "With our pronunciation words!" AHAHAHA the wails of despair and "Nooooo!"s made me laugh so hard. Funny, funny students.

So finally something positive comes from my period! I am so bloated and retaining water that my pants kind of fit again. I have to pull them up a lot but I wasn't in danger of flashing my stomach or garments at anyone today! LOL, YAY! (mmm) - (Also there seems to be a lot less junk in Japanese foods as I didn't break out as much and my cramps have been pretty manageable thus far. I'm feeling very, very blessed. :)  )