First let me back up to yesterday. All of a sudden Elder Norawong lost his voice and he sounded HILARIOUS. I was laughing at his voice and joking around with him when suddenly he laughed. You know how Mozart laughs on Amadeus? It was almost EXACTLY like that. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. (Maybe my first time laughing that hard in Japan.) Soooo great! I had to ask him if he was messing with me. Then he laughed (that goofy high pitched laugh), and said no it was his real laugh. Then he got fake angry that his voice was so funny and the cause of so much amusement. (The zone leaders kept making fun of him throughout lunch.)
Another thing I thought about yesterday. My bike mishaps. They say you never forget how to ride a bike. Well, I remembered how to ride, I just didn't seem to remember how to maneuver. Or be safe... or something. Here are some of my mishaps: 1) i tried to turn my bike, ended up going straight, careening across the street in front of a car (which luckily saw me and stopped), and ran into a bush. 2) I ran into a pole with my handlebars which abruptly turned my wheel and almost threw me off my bike (definitely threw me to the side). 3) (This was another guy's mishap, and I think I mentioned it before but anyway) I was riding to work (legally on the right side of the road, which here is the left ~ with traffic), and I looked back to see if a car was coming up on me and turned to see a guy headed STRAIGHT FOR ME. Our front tires were seconds away from smashing together! Luckily we both veered off in different directions from one another but when I got to work I was STILL trembling. Sheesh that ultra maroon! He definitely could see that I wasn't looking at him AND he was on the wrong side of the road! 4) Tried to go up on a bike path (they're a couple inches higher than the street) and missed the angle so my tire rebounded off the lip and I almost fell off my bike. ... I think that's it for now. I promise I'm safe! Or at least trying to be - I've relearned some techniques and am applying them. :D
Ok now to today. So all night I had nightmares that my classes went horrifically wrong. I woke up at least 6 times terrified. It was ridiculous how stressful my night was. When I got up, my stomach was aching and I felt like I was going to throw up and I was panicking. At one point I had to stop moving around my apartment because just the motion of walking around was making me violently ill. I took several deep breaths, some antacid and said several prayers in my heart. I used to get so stressed before I would teach at Walden (for MONTHS I was that way every single Tuesday and Thursday), so at least I was familiar with that. However, since my first day I haven't really been as stressed as I was this morning. There's always a little anxiety over new lessons and after longs breaks, but this morning was RIDICULOUS. It was frustrating. I got ready fairly quickly. I put all the things together that I needed (I took my guitar today so my hands were definitely full!), and off I went. When I got to the bus stop, I had another mini heart attack. I was early, but none of my students were anywhere to be seen. In fact, there were all new faces at the bus stop. It made me feel like I had entered the Twilight Zone or Outer Limits. I resisted the urge to check the time more carefully (probably was terrified I'd find out that I had woken an hour too late). But I kept fighting that panic. "I set my alarm last night. I got up this morning and didn't notice anything wrong with the time. Maybe it's just being so early to the bus station (I had so much to carry I left extra early). Maybe the first graders have an activity and are gone. Maybe (and my brain fought me on this one) they all managed to get sick at the same time!" In the meantime I was keeping an eye out for this one girl who always wears shirts to work. (Seriously. She wears a shirt that barely covers her bum and tights. Tights are her pants.) A minute later, she showed up. WHEW! And actually right as the bus arrived one of my students popped up out of nowhere. *HUGE sigh of relief* - The bus that came before ours did confused both me and half naked chicklet. This girl on the bus started motioning to us and we were like... What the!? It made us both unsure about what was going on. In any case, our bus rolled up and I wonder if she was as relieved as I was. On the bus, I listened to Linda Ronstadt. I was craving some light, soothing music. At first I worried about draining my phone battery then remembered I had set my cord on my bag and brought my computer so while I was using the internet it would charge. Getting to school was fine and I felt pretty cool carrying my guitar around (heavy with my shoes, computer, lunch, water, rest of the stuff in my bag, and my guitar though). I got to school in time for the morning meeting's beginning and went from there. I prepared some last minute things and made sure my guitar was in tune (the top two strings needed to be tuned, I did so), and off I went to my first class.
In my first class, I played some guitar for them. I played a little Bach and a little Green Day. I think it was a little hard for them to hear (as my guitar is electric and I didn't bring an amp), but I felt like a rockstar. They were not good groupies though. LOL The class was so mellow throughout the entire lesson I thought they had hated it. However Fujieda-sensei said, "I think the students really liked the lesson!" Oh ya? Awesome! :D (I have no idea what they were saying about it.)
I had some prep time before the next class I was slated to teach so I worked on things I needed for those other classes today and talked to some of the teachers about this idea I had. This morning as I was getting ready I was thinking, "How cool would it be to skype my younger brothers and sisters and have my students talk to them!? That would be a TRUE situation (talking to another teenager) and it would be so fun!" Then I thought, why COULDN'T we do that? I pitched the idea to each of the grade levels and we'll see what happens. I told them, either was I was fine. I also said I thought it would be a good opportunity to connect with another teenager across the world who speaks the language you're learning. I don't know. I guess I think all my ideas are cool. (But in my defense I get them from God and they are cool!) ;) As I was coming close to when I would be teaching my next class, after having blocked out my worksheet for a lesson I'm teaching this Thursday, I turned on my computer. I went to grab my phone cord from my bag... not there. DAH! I set the cord ON the bag this morning so I would remember to take it. I guess I moved the cord to put something else in my bag... I could only hope it was at home as it wasn't with me at school. Doh! I only had twenty minutes anyway so I packed it up and waited until my next lesson.
My next lesson was ... interesting. When I entered the classroom, (pauses to count) there were eight students sleeping on their desks. ... !? Since I had already planned on starting with a game (fruit basket), I did so and hoped they would get into the game. Ya... not so much. Some of them participated. The others stayed put until Oikawa-sensei got mad. Then another student got hurt. One boy hip-checked another boy... I was thinking to myself, "What is wrong with today!?" In any case, the rest of the lesson went fairly well. I had to fight with a couple students for the attention of the class, but I was up to it. :)
After that class was lunch, lunch was great but I forgot my ohashi. I know it's pride, but I wanted to use my chopsticks! Then I don't feel like everyone is judging me/laughing at me. Well, not everyone. Just a couple teachers who seem to periodically check up on me. They walk by my desk slowly and check out what I am doing. "May I help you!?" lol I tried to use the wireless connection to create that worksheet and my computer wouldn't allow me to do so. SO annoying. I didn't plan on bringing my laptop the next couple days as I, again, have to carry my guitar. (Well, I am choosing to bring my guitar - anyway I can garner interest and attention from the students so they will learn, worth it.)
My last class went well - which is great because it was a part 2 lesson of a lesson that was only supposed to have one part. (Large numbers) I had a lot of fun and I believe the students did as well. :) After that class, I helped clean up and then did some more work and took the bus home.
After I got home, I started some laundry going, made some dinner and got a call from Limor. I talked to her until she left for Taiko practice. Then I read a little bit and now I am writing this and getting some work done that I was unable to do because my internet wouldn't work! But the good news is that my cord was here at my place and that I didn't lose it. I also have two surprises for you. Happy Canada Day! XOXO, A
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| my self shaming - I've been meaning to make this since last Sunday (the Sunday before yesterday) -- dah! oops :/ |
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| the face behind the poster |
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