AWESOME!

Insect count: 1 small spider (and I think it's dead... I threw a slipper at it several times... that's what kills them, right?)

I remembered a story that I forgot to tell you from last week. I asked Hashimoto-s if August was national "swim in the sea" day because when I gave the students their "dates" worksheet each of them who wrote August was their favorite month listed their reason as "I like swimming in the sea." His answer: "Uh.. well quite frankly (I love when he says that phrase "quite frankly" and he says it all the time) August is when all the jellyfish are out." Me: "Oh really!? Student-wide conspiracy!" LOL I'm kidding but it makes me wonder.

So this morning was super depressing as when I woke up Church (my fish ~ there's a picture of him on Saturday!) was dead. I was so sad. I almost cried (and then I did after Phil wrote that hugely insensitive comment on fb). But I did get to school just fine (but an hour after classes started as they started an hour earlier). I guess I'm used to the humidity now as when we got to the school I was surprised to look up and see all the windows on the bus fogged up. Not only that, the bus was super packed today ... and I barely even noticed. :D

Almost as soon as I got to the school, I was teaching my first lesson. For the game, I wanted to play charades. Well, I think I told you that my other classes REFUSED to play so I decided that I would do all the acting for the game. I made their rows their teams and asked them to raise their hand to answer. HAHAHA I was a one-woman show! It was pretty funny. During that lesson I had written up "Ichininsho, nininsho, and sanninsho" (first person, second person, third person) on the board in kanji. As I was walking around monitoring and helping students, I saw Mr. Hosokawa studying my kanji up close and got self-conscious about it. I went over to him and said, "Did I write it wrong?" He came out of his daze, "What?" I repeated my question. "Oh no! This is right. Wow! You are very skilled. You learn very fast!" I thanked him profusely and went back to monitoring. It makes me feel great how complimentary the Japanese are, but I still have a long ways to go! Still, I know 80 kanji now! It's not the 200 I knew back in the day, but then again I am actually getting to use these kanji in real settings and not for homework.

My next class, I had way too much planned. Oops. I was afraid we would have lots of time leftover at the end of class so I added a longer warm up activity. Ya... we only got through the first two sections. In any case, our warm-up was Scattergories. (It's so fun to play with the students and they really love it.) Well, one of the categories was clothing. Maybe I should have seen this coming, but I didn't. One group (in fact one of those funny boys to whom I gave the ASL sheets) wrote "T-shirt." Only they forgot a letter. Guess which one! AHAHAHA! I was like, *snort, run over to Fujieda-s, "Sorry! I should have seen that coming." I went to correct it but he'd already erased it so I spelled it for him. :) Good times. HAHAHA!

Then it was eel lunch time! We had a shortened schedule today so we had some 25 minutes to eat. Well, first the eel was late. Hashimoto-s was freaking out. We went down to the ceremonial tea room (the tatami room) and set up some tables and get out cushions (they were low Japanese tables). Actually first we had to get a key to open the room. Then we set it up, then we waited. Luckily the eel got there not too much later and most of the teachers showed up. They told me where to sit as the guest of honor. Each table seated 2 people. I sat alone most of the lunch. To my right there was Kanamori-s, and Fujieda-s, the next table to the right was Saki(female Suzuki)-s to (and) another teacher I don't know but I guess is an English teacher. Then the next table was Hashimoto-s to Toki-s, then the next table (which was the first table to my left though I was sitting on the right side of mine) was Hosokawa-s to Suzuki-s (male). About 7-10 minutes before we were finished Oikawa-s came in and sat next to me. He apologized for being late and then dug in. The eel was beautiful. It was all golden on top. But underneath... *shudder* stuff of nightmares. It was grey and slimy and black and just looked like rotting rubber. I actively ate so the eel would not be turned upside down. I was served about half an eel. (A very long piece! And come to find out, eel is expensive so now I feel even more honored! ~ I told Jerod the teachers were holding an eel luncheon for me and joked about how it was a bit late and he said, "But now you know they like you! They probably wait so if they don't like the person they just don't throw them a party!" LOL Doesn't seem very Japanese but I'm sure it's possible!) It was served on rice and I was given a little packet of spices (that smelled heavenly) and soy sauce to put on top. I put both on. I'd had eel sushi before in the US and liked it a lot. That much eel on its own.. it was good. Would I buy it on my own again? No. Sushi? Yes. It gives more buffer for the sliminess. In any case, it tasted a lot fishier than I expected. Did I tell you I also tried clams for the first time with Limor when she came to Morioka for that long talking visit? There were shells in my soup and I freaked at first but I thought, "When in Japan.." They tasted like rubbery ocean. I kid you not. So, I guess it's an ocean thing. I suppose I taste like .. air, utah, argentina, california, and japan... Just strange. Also you ate the little bones and that was creepy for me. (Those who are close to me know eating food off the bone freaks me out and here I was EATING the bones... eep.) Still, I survived. It was good. The end of that!

After lunch, my SLP had said that I was teaching 5th period. Well, Oikawa-s had JUST opened a roll and was eating when I had to interrupt him. I stood to the side and tried to ask nicely, "Are we still teaching 5th?" He was like, "AH! CLASS!" He jumped up, dropped his roll, grabbed his stuff, and off we went at a trot. Then when we get to the class, another teacher was there. "6th period!" He told me. Sure enough when we checked the roster, it was such. I apologized for having interrupted his lunch and then checked my SLP. (It was for my own mental health. "I could have sworn.." Ya, the SLP was wrong. Still, I'm not going crazy! Progress?)

So when we finally go to that class, I had brought my guitar. I sang to that class as they had told me they expected me to do so. I was SO nervous I really didn't do well. I feel pretty embarrassed about my "performance" but the students all clapped. One of them told me to check out his videos on youtube. LOL I'm assuming since he put them up on youtube it's ok for me to give you all a link. So here is one of my third graders singing and playing the guitar. (And yes, I did feel even more embarrassed about my performance after seeing it.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TF643tR5Wz8

The rest of the day I worked on prep. Then suddenly it was time to go home and home I went. The bus ride was nice (though I had a ton of stuff to carry). I got to message my bff, and (luckily) I was starving when I got home. I say luckily because I realized as I was eating that the sisters were coming over in some 5 minutes. Then I was shoveling like crazy. I was still rearranging (straightening up) when they got to my place. I had a nice visit with them though it was a bit strange for me. They wanted to practice teaching and asked me to "channel" a non member friend/family member. Well, they didn't have answers to any of my questions, lol. Afterwards they said, "In our defense Japanese people NEVER ask those questions!" LOL Those poor sisters. I think I discouraged them. I didn't mean to! And I didn't ask that many questions. :/ Oops. In any case, it was a nice...strange... visit. After they left, Limor called (as I mentioned last night) and she talked for a while. By the time I got off the phone I should have been ready for bed already. *sigh* So I got into bed late, but daijobu! Love you all! XOXO, A