The day I shock my students

Today I REALLY got to shock my students. (I got on the right bus just fine, etc. I kept waking up last night every time something touched my chin. Youch!) You should have seen their eyes and faces when I walked in! I could see them whispering and talking to each other. On the way to class... oh back up. So right as Hashimoto-sensei and I were leaving the teacher's room, a teacher runs up to us and tells me the phone is for me. It was the office. They wanted to know if I wanted to go to the doctor and have my chin checked out. I said no, I was fine. They asked if I thought I had broken anything and I said, "No, thank goodness." The bell rang as I was talking on the phone (oops). After I hung up I thought, "Oh! Actually I DO think I've broken something: my foot. My left foot has been killing me since the end of March! I think it's about time I had it checked. *guilty face* No one tell my mom! That includes you Daphne! ;) So, anyway as we're hurrying to class I said to Hashimoto-sensei, "Will you do me a favor?" He looks at me. "I want to tell the students what happened yesterday but I want to give them a chance to ask me. So please encourage them to ask me what happened." He agreed and we continued on. Then I started teaching as though nothing were wrong. I started class saying we were going to practice dates and then I said, "For example, today is... May 5th?" Hashimoto-sensei in the back, "May!?" I laughed and corrected myself, "Sorry! Sorry! June 5th?" Oh man! Their faces and whispering to each other and grabbing their chins... it was really hard not to laugh. Eventually during one of the exercises a girl asked me. I asked for her name and before introducing the next activity I said, "Y asked me, 'What happened?' Ok, this is what happened..." I told them in English and then in Japanese. (Just that I fell off the bus.) Then I told them how yesterday I had shown up and, "Sato-sensei, when he saw me and I was bleeding, he said, 'AH!'" LOL They were quoting that the rest of the period. "Ah!" "Ah!" They laughed at my story and it was good times all around!

The next class I taught was with a different teacher. (A teacher I thought was LDS but it turns out he's not. Slightly awkward conversation, lol.) So I waited til about halfway through the class to tell them so they had a mini break for their brains. They too laughed at my story and one boy, when he heard me say "Chin," started being inappropriate. Well, he tried. (Sorry to my Japanese friends, this is for the Americans - chin chin=penis.) So, he glanced over at his friend and started to say it, but I cut him off with a big smile and pointed to my chin and reinforced the American i sound in that word. And actually it was a split second after I did that that I realized what he was saying/doing but I'm glad I responded that way. I think if this student knew I understood him he might say colorful things more often. If I'm blissfully ignorant, no worries!

The last class I taught today was also with Hashimoto-sensei but the class didn't ask me what had happened so I did the same thing as the last class. Told them a story to give their brains a break. They laughed and it was good times again! (It's no wonder I'm a teacher - I love to be the center of attention I guess! Well, that's not entirely true. I love to teach and I love to make people laugh so combining them was great!) After that class as I was sitting at my desk finishing up those game boards (yay! finally!) -- I'll get a picture tomorrow. -- One teacher saw them and started exclaiming how cool they were. That spurred Hashimoto-sensei to come over. I put an IMMENSE amount of time and effort into these game boards and he was suitably impressed. I asked him if they sold sheet protectors that were B4 size. He said yes (since I made 11 of these game boards all by hand, I was worried about them getting ruined) but then he said that he school had a laminating machine and maybe... He went off to the copy room. I got so excited but then he came back and said, "There is not enough ..." "Laminate?" "Plastic for the..." "Laminate?" "Covers that melt with the heat..." "Laminate?" "What do you call it in English." "Laminate." "Oh! Very good." LOL Like a scene out of a movie! In any case, he said he'd check with the office to see if they had some sheets. And HALLELUJAH! They had sheets and my game boards are sealed for time... and that's it! But still, I was like a proud mother. All my little baby boards are grown up and ready to get out on their own! YAY!

The bus ride home was uneventful. I got an email from Tsukasa making this Friday off official, MMM!!, and then I emailed her back. I thanked her for telling me and asked if I could see a doctor about my foot. She asked, "Tomorrow?" And I said, "If it's after work. I can go on Friday!" I just want it to be fixed! It's hurting more often now and it's very painful. At this point, as weird as it is to say, I hope there's some sort of hairline fracture. That way the pain will be justified and they can fix me up and I'll be good to go! I hope the visit isn't too much money. :/ Better to be able to workout though! (Since I've been working out is the time that the pain has kicked up and not gone away.) -- (Oh and I forgot to tell you, I went to a student assembly yesterday at work. I have NO IDEA what was going on. Six students took turns speaking then other students passed out paper then collected the paper. I'm assuming it was student elections.) After I got to my apartment I quickly changed and made myself dinner. Then I read for a little bit and off I rode on my bike to Eikawa! (English class) It was .. strange. I'm only used to the way that I teach English so I struggled with what the elders were doing. However, it is not my place to teach their class nor tell them how to do it. They had me help and I broke in a few times and said some things and tried to help simplify. Man the elders talked quietly and quickly! For a native, I had no trouble following them but they were introducing foreign vocab... ya seeing that will only help me. :) It will remind me to speak slowly, clearly, and loudly. Everyone stood around chatting afterwards and I told the elders that though they planned to go grocery shopping with me (So that Iida-Chourou could help me with all the labels.), it was too late. I told them goodnight and came home to write this. So if it feels haphazard, sorry. It kind of is. I'm very tired and I still need to put my hair in socks for tomorrow. Good night and have a wonderful day! XOXO, A

My arm got it too!

Chin update! :D