Surprise Lesson!

Insect count: 2 small flying bugs that I was able to dispatch myself, 1 GIANT beetle that was under my shoe this morning and really freaked me out - then I starting worrying there were others and maybe some in my shoes :/ - swept it out the door and he pretended to be dead on my porch. Get the heck outta here!!

I had REALLY strange dreams. People I haven't seen since high school and weird stuff. I was disconcerted when I got up to get ready. I got ready just fine. Caught the bus, got to school and was on time for the beginning of the meeting again. (mmm)

Something I forgot to mention before! One of my students is going to be in the paraolympics! So cool! I'm not sure the event as the whole article was in Japanese, but so sweet. :D

I was slated to teach 2 classes today. My first two period were open so I worked on prep and then when I finished as much as I could (I had left my computer at home), I colored. Yep, it got to THAT point. Then finally it was time to teach. The first lesson was a part two lesson of a lesson that I taught them SIX WEEKS AGO! Sheesh! But it went well. Some of the boys were really funny when they got up to present. "Hello everybody. Please listen." LOL And then one guy who said to one quiet student, "Use your big person voice!" AHAHAHAHA! I don't know where he learned it, but I love it! Then the next class after that was the music II lesson. I brought my guitar and played a little for them. Mr. Toki, I found out, plays guitar so I asked him to play after me. He REALLY got into it and started singing really loudly. Man, I thought >I< had had guts, nope. The students went WILD. They were cheering and laughing and clapping. I started them sighing and sang the chorus with him. They called for an encore but he said to go ahead with the lesson. I spent a lot of the time talking over them. He got REALLY frustrated with the students because they weren't listening to me. Then soon that class was over.

I had lunch and as far as I knew, the rest of the day was prep. I started to brainstorm some more and get creative and was making aids for lessons I'm teaching. Then I had to go to the bathroom. Well it was between classes so that shouldn't have been a big deal. However, when I got back to my desk Toki-sensei shows up. "You're supposed to teach 3.6" "What!?" The class had started some 7-10 minutes previously. I told him it hadn't been on my SLP (not trying to get out of it - just trying to exonerate my bathroom break), he said he had the students doing some book work and gave me ten minutes. I said, "I can be there in 5!" And quickly went to make copies. After I got my copies, I went back to my desk to grab some things and Moniwa-sensei (YAY! I remembered his name - one of the VPs) told me to go to 3.6 DAH! *sigh* I said sorry, thank you, finished grabbing my stuff and off I went. Luckily the WHOLE class cheered when I entered. LOUDLY. I thanked them and said sorry several times. "Sorry! Gomen! I was confused." I then went on to teach my lesson. I got right up to when I was supposed to play the samples of music and then the bell rang. I'm always groaning and making a small show of disappointment when the bell rings, but this time it was more than just me saying, "OOOOH NOOO!" The students were really bummed - or at least made a show of it for my sake. So Mr. Toki said, "Next time?" I know he's skipping the music lessons for another class (aww), so I'm not sure if he will stick to that, but he said next time so I will honor that even if we are doing a different lesson afterwards. I keep my word to my students (everything I promise them I write down so that I won't forget it!). After that there was one more class period but the time pretty much flew for me. Then I helped the students clean up, learned 2 new kanji, and off I went to the bus.

The bus was late (as usual) and the ride home was pleasant (also as usual). I was feeling stressed though - I have a LOT to do. I was planning on going to Taiko practice this evening and worrying a little bit about getting everything done and getting into bed on time THEN I got a call from the office. I filled out a form wrong AGAIN. I checked and double checked that thing before I sent it in but NOOO. And not only that, I get spoken to in a way that is so condescending .. and I have to go into the office after work tomorrow. I ALREADY get home late and now I have to add more work and ... I was feeling EXTREMELY overwhelmed. Then I went out to meet some girls to go to Taiko. In the meantime my heart is racing, my stomach is killing me, and I'm shaking. I was so panicky I didn't even feel safe on the street alone. I told myself I would wait 10 minutes for them but after 6 I went back home. I was so stressed I knew I needed to just lie down and calm down and try and center myself a little. I also had to cry a whole bunch I guess. :/ I'm not crying anymore now (yay) but my stomach is still killing me. I'm not sure the root of all this stress but having to go to the office tomorrow put me over the limit for today. I hope I can handle it tomorrow. I have a lot of work to do tomorrow plus I'm teaching four lessons plus I have to go to the office... all last night and this morning I kept telling myself, "You can do this. You're not stressed. Everything is ok. Everything is going great." Apparently some greater portion of myself considers me to be a liar or just refused to listen. AAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH! I just need some good sleep, I need my stomach to settle, and I need to feel successful and on top of things again. I guess tomorrow will be take 2. *sigh* *Starts mantra again*

Hope you all had a much better time of it! XOXO, A