World Traveler: Grand/Crazy Day

Insect count: 0!! (mmm!)

(Funny moments included:) This morning was pretty good. I woke up very sore and thought I had slept wrong until I remembered I was dancing around with a huge drum strapped to me last night for two hours. Oooh ya, THAT'S why my neck, shoulders, and back are so sore! My bed felt damp (it's so humid here) and I was worried about mold. After I got ready I moved my futon to my office chair and tipped up my mattress where I found a little mold starting to grow. NOOOO! I grabbed my spray bottle (it has bleach and water) and sprayed the mattress. Hopefully all the mold dies and it doesn't come back! That would be the best plan. Are you listening universe? Japan? My pad and futon? I left them like that to dry. I think from now on I will put them up like that everyday. It's so rainy and moist everywhere no matter what you do - other than run my dehumidifier day and night... In any case, I got ready for school and got out the door to the bus.

The rain invariably means less students bike so the bus was pretty crowded and steamy (I was fine) and late. So I missed the first half of the morning meeting. After that, I put my hair up, made the copies for my first class and waited for the first class to start. Today I taught big numbers II to my 1.5 class. It went really well. They LOVED played fruit basket. I was excited to hear my reluctant learners yelling out words for the person to say (mostly they didn't want to move - but they were INVOLVED!). I had fun watching them. The rest of the lesson went really well too. Two students who had really struggled last time (with the first big numbers lesson) did well today. They improved! I hope they noticed - because I did! :)

Then I had a prep period during which I did some prep (shocking, I know). After that, I taught my second graders. They were AWESOME today. The quietest and most involved they have EVER been. They LOVE games. Ridiculously a lot - almost as much as I do! ;) They all participated - even the kids in the corner who usually do nothing. So yay! The lesson was so fun - and they didn't realize what we were doing the whole time (definitions). I showed them close-up pictures and gave them hints (defined the objects in English) and they tried to guess what it was. After that, I put two pictures on the board (a monkey and a bird). I gave them hints about the monkey as though they couldn't see the picture. Then I asked them to give me hints about the bird as though I couldn't see it. (I prompted them a little bit.) Then I passed out two pictures to each student. One of a sport and another of an animal. Ms. Suzuki passed out papers I had prepared that had a place for them to write hints to their fellow students. I gave them 8-10 minutes to fill out their papers (I was going around and helping). After that, I gathered them up and passed them back out to new people and they took a quiz. It was really fun. I enjoyed myself immensely as did the students. And they slyly learned about definitions. HA! :D Ms. Suzuki and I rock!

After that I was STARVING. There was one more class until lunch and I looked at and corrected (the grammar and spelling) the second graders' quizzes. I got to about a half hour before lunch before I just ate. I couldn't wait any longer. After lunch, well, right after I finished lunch, the lunch bell rang. Since the students don't have afternoon classes for their SEPs, it was cleaning time. So I helped with that and then I was approached by a saleswoman. I tried to speak to her so she stopped and tried to speak to me. :) We had a very short conversation. She told me her age (almost every woman I've met so far has done that, lol - SO opposite of American culture) and asked for mine. She asked for my birth date (no idea why - maybe because of her product) and gave me her meishi (business card - but has a lot more significance in Japan). She also gave me a jelly! (They're like ... shots of jello. They come in a little plastic case with a plastic pull back lip ~ as if it were a dairy creamer or something ~ and there's jelly inside. On the top of mine there was a picture with hiragana I could read but not understand. Then there was a picture (forget it - I'll upload the pic rather than try to describe it!) ~ under the picture it says, "Tabenaide kudasai." Which means "don't eat." I got all confused and asked Hosokawa-sensei about it. It's don't eat if you're a child or elderly person. Oooh. What the!? Why not? LOL And the other hiragana, he didn't know the English but said it was like tofu. Maybe the Japanese word for jello? In any case, good times!

At one point during the day I went into the women's locker room (for teachers) and they have a full length mirror in there. It's been a long time since I've seen myself in one - and I'm looking FABULOUS! :D Just so you know... (so you know, no change. ;D)

So I was working on some things at my desk during the SEPs and Kanamori-sensei approached me. "Did you know ..." and usually something crazy follows, and true to life "we are having your luncheon party soon?" "Oh really! Great!" "Yes, it's an unagi party!" AHAHAHAHAHA! We're having an eel party for me. Get this - I love unagi sushi. They don't eat unagi sushi in Japan. Oh no, they cook the eel and lay it on top of some rice. o.0 So I get to get a good look at what I'm eating. Oh man, oooooh man. LOL I really do like the flavor - but it gave me MAJOR chills when one of the rolls opened and eel slimed down my tongue. AHAHAHA. Oh man.. I can't wait to tell you how it goes. I'm excited but also feeling anxious (go figure). It's supposed to happen next week. (Hashimoto-sensei gave me my invite as I was about to head out the door.)

Oh! Another gem from today: I caught one of my students trying to look down my shirt. LOL I cocked my head and raised my eyebrow and he gulped. Ya, that's right. My face is up here!

So, as I was thinking about what I would do for my junior high lesson on Friday (brainstorming) a very big earthquake hit the school. Kanamori-sensei and I were the only ones in the teacher's room. When the room started shaking, I looked up and caught Kanamori-sensei's eye. She asked if it was an earthquake (come to find out she gets a lot of vertigo). I said yes. It started shaking REALLY hard and I was like, "Whoa! Cool!" watching everything shake. I was watching this picture that was shaking particularly hard and thinking, "If that falls, I'm going to catch it." Then I look up and Kanamori-sensei is under a table and Oikawa-sensei is running in to a make an announcement about it. They turned on the television. At the epicenter (not sure where that was), it was a 5! We got hit by a 4. So funny. Kanamori-sensei came over afterwards and said, "Do they have earthquakes in America?" I told her small ones in California (my experience at least), and none in Utah. Then she said that Englishmen were very frightened during earthquakes because they have never experienced them. She said, "You never screamed. I screamed" And then threw her hands out and yelled in imitation of herself. LOL It was more like she cried out, but ya I sat at my desk grinning. LOL I miss it already. For me, it's so cool! (At least at this level.) I told Kanamori-sensei about the picture and she said, "You are very strong!" I replied, "I'm just not worried about it. If the building falls on us though, THEN I will be upset." She was incredulous (I think she didn't understand it was a joke.) and said, "If the building falls down then we will probably be dead." LOL I shouldn't laugh, but it WAS funny.

Then, almost directly, another funny thing happened to me. I went down to the bathroom to .. well go to the bathroom. And while I was in there, someone else came in. Well I wasn't about to start talking through my stall door. ... They turned the light off. AHAHAHA! I held in the laughter for about 4 seconds then busted up. About 30 seconds later, someone else came in and turned the light on! By then I was done but didn't know what to do. Come out of the stall like, "Ya, I'm hardcore! I pee in the dark!" LOL I came out anyway and there was the school nurse. I tried to tell her how someone else had turned out the light and she was saying something to me in Japanese. In the end we both gave up. LOL Funny, funny day. Oh and I forgot my good news! I went back and counted - my period was only 6 days long! It's a MIRACLE! Seriously (those of you who know me pretty well know I bled 57 days straight while on birth control, so ya... miracle). (mmm)

After that I worked on more prep until it was time to go, said my goodbyes and waited for the bus. The bus had me SERIOUSLY worried today. It's typically late, but today it was 20 minutes late. I was getting really worried and this poor little chicklet (student) was pacing and checking her watch. I held all my worry in and tried to smile at her reassuringly. I told her it's always late but she didn't understand me. Then she said something to me in Japanese that I didn't understand and bowed to me. I just blinked at her. I should have bowed back but I was trying to see if me mind could figure out what she said. Sheesh. When the bus got to the bus station, I went up to get off and this girl again bowed and ushered me in front of her. I bowed and thanked her. (Still no idea what's going on...) I quickly walked to the bank, grabbed some money and then tried to talk myself out of doing all my errands. It was steamy out. But I got home, put on the dehumidifier (sprayed my mattress again just in case and turned on the fan) and then went to go get some groceries. When I got back from the store, I made more lunches (had to - I was out of pre made curry). I'm pretty excited though because I found frozen okra at the store so I made spicy okra chicken curry! :D I just barely packaged it up. Then I practiced taiko for a half hour. I think I've got the first few measures (with the drumming and dance moves) down. I'm hoping practice will really pay off. (I've been practicing Japanese on the bus, guitar at night, now taiko as well. I just have to add in my French verb book. :D) Anyway, I had to drag my fan into the kitchen with me or I would not have survived cooking plus doing dishes. It was SO sweltering. I would periodically escape into my room for the cold air! I ate some dinner while I read two short stories (I'm telling this a bit out of order, sorry). ... I cut an inch off my fringe. I was trying to grow it out so I could put it up but it was driving me NUTS. So ... we'll see if I try again or just keep them a good length. I also printed out some things for tomorrow. Now I need to get ready for bed, put my hair in socks, and practice guitar. Hope you all have a wonderful evening/day! XOXO, A