Strange Day

ant count: 0 spider count: 1 freaky little red bugs: 1

Today was very strange for me. The morning was weird. I almost didn't make it to my bus on time! So I started out my day with stress. Then I was SUPER nervous about my lessons today. I'm not sure why, but these past couple days have been filled with almost-panic-attacks. On the bus I kept squelching a rising hysteria. DAH! There's no reason for it! (I say.)

When I got to the school I was slightly overheated because I had walked so fast. The day was pleasantly cool though. (It was a little too warm in the classrooms but for the most part I was continually thanking my Father in Heaven in my heart for cooler weather.) My first lesson was with a group of my junior high kids. When I walked in, R said, "YATTA!" and threw her arm up in a gesture of victory/YES!/joy. Oh man I needed that so much. I wanted to hug her! The lesson went pretty well (some of the material was a little hard for them) and I left the other game I had prepared with Kanako-sensei (Ito-sensei) and she was very excited about it (which helped me to feel valued).

Then I had a break and I tried to do some lesson planning. Since I will be teaching only Monday next week at Morioka Minami, I suddenly have almost no prep time for next Friday and then for the following week at Minami. Ouch! So I was busting my behind trying to get some things done. (I have this fear that I will have to teach sub-par lessons when the fall comes and they add all those other classes to my roster. I just won't have time to make these elaborate games. :( ) That being said, in preparation for the lesson I taught after that prep period - my elementary kids - I had worked SO HARD getting ready. I had 6 big games ready, I had made several handouts and pictures (printed color copies)... ya, we got to only two of the games. DOH! I'd MUCH rather run out of time than games, however I felt like .. "But, but.. I worked for HOURS on these and we're not going to play them!?" But the main thing is the students getting the alphabet. So I could have pushed on to the next thing, but I felt like we should continue doing the second activity a different way. I hope that the students benefited from it. I am constantly praying to be blessed with ideas and ways to help my students learn and enjoy learning English. I feel I have been very blessed. That being said, I HAVE had lessons that were flops. :/ I would like to avoid repeats of those, thank you very much!

After that, I went to teach my next class. This is the class in which I made a girl cry my first day at Chokaku Shien. So I always get a little nervous that the material will be too hard and it will make the students feel stupid. I hate that feeling so I never want to make anyone else feel that way. (I dislike it so much I was usually a chapter ahead at uni so that I couldn't be put in that sort of situation.) However, she was the second one to finish her questions! YAY! That class went really well too - so I was very blessed today. All my lessons went over well, and the teachers seemed pleased with what I had taught and how I had taught it. Then I returned to the teacher's room for lunch.

I ate my lunch fairly quickly (so quickly it didn't sit very well for an hour or two, oops) and got back to work on my prep for next week. I made a train line to put on the floor for one of my classes next week! It took a while, but I think they will like having the visual. :D I also worked on a food list for another class. So I'd say for Chokaku Shien, I am 1/4 prepared. It's not where I'd like to be, but it's better than not prepared at all! I'm hoping there will be time after the Sports' Festival to do some work. *crosses her fingers* Before I left the school, I got to chat with Kawai-sensei for a few minutes. Nagano-sensei (funny man) had taught me a new word and I showed it off to her. LOL I'm learning the best words from that school! (geezer, trickster, and today an old slang way of saying ok) I really enjoy chatting with her and we always laugh together. I also learned a bunch of new signs from my students in the classes I taught today. :D Nihon no shuwa, I'll get you yet! JSL is really cool. I feel so blessed that I get to learn it. I also think it helps me with the students. I am able to support the English I am speaking and show them that I care about THEM and their identity as Deaf Japanese kids.

The bus ride home was nice (a lot less stressful for sure!). I stopped by the bank and the bakery to get something for the elders. When I got home I cleaned and put away most of my laundry (it wasn't all dry) in preparation for the elders' visit. I had some time after that and sat down and ate a snack and read for a little bit. I thought it was going to be all four elders who came over, but the zone leaders couldn't make it so Brother Shuwa came with the set of elders who are my home teachers. :) So my home teachers came over. I explained why I wanted a blessing (loneliness, the heat) and we talked for a little bit. Then they gave me a blessing. It was a GREAT blessing. It's always great to hear that your Father in Heaven loves you. :) Especially when you can't calm your mind enough to hear His still, small voice in your heart. I'm so glad I got that blessing. I'm SO grateful for the priesthood. After they left, I cleaned up the crumbs and found a spider. :( Luckily for me it was pretty small and it died with I threw a slipper at it. (mmm) PLEASE no more!

Funny moments:

I made Kawai-sensei laugh today when I was teaching her a few ASL signs. I taught her TOO BAD and then to explain what it meant I said, "For example, we have a test! The students say, 'Oh no! We didn't study!' I will say, TOO BAD! F!" Then I explained why F was bad and why I had signed it as though it were on a paper and I was passing it. Since I explained the grading system, after that a few times when one of us would make the other laugh, we'd give them an A. :D Good times were had by all!

Kawai-sensei asked me if I had gotten my package from my mom (since she was the one who had helped me arrange to have it redelivered). I said I got it and I was so happy and then I did my Legend of Zelda "NA NA NA NA!!!" and mimed holding it up in the air. Kawai-sensei LOST it. Then I pulled up the 2 pictures of myself with the package on my phone and showed her with a, "CHA-CHAN!" Which made a few other teachers look over at us in puzzlement. LOL They started laughing at me. It's great to get a laugh!