December 9th, 2005

So I have been to school twice this week. Both times were at Kandogawa Elementary school. Last week, Mihara-san told me about a job I could have in January. I will be working 5 days a week, but only 20 minutes a day so its not much, but it will get me out of the house and active. Anyways, Mihara-san told me to go with Chris on Wednesday to Kandogawa and I would meet with the other teachers and observe one of these morning classes and this lady who lived near our apartment would drop me off.

Well...she forgot to call Kandogawa to let them know I was coming. >.< Great. We didnt realize this until about 40 minutes after I was at Kandogawa. The teachers and staff took my presence there in stride though. They just added me to Chris's day and it became 'double guest' day. I didnt actually get to see the classes I came for either. Oops. It was kinda cute too, because I was called Okusan all day, which means wife. All the kids and teacher reffered to me as Okusan. I think no one could remember my name and Okusan is appropriate here. Its kinda rude in America to call someone 'Wife' but its completely normal and polite here (just like I can call ANY old man 'Ojiisan' which means grandpa and its not rude or offensive like in america).

Anyways, the teachers for Super English (which is the program I would be doing) came and found me around 9:30 and we made plans for me to come back on Friday (today) to actually observe the classes to know what I would be doing. They also asked if I could come to a Christmas party on the following friday at 2:00. That will be fun. After that, some tiny kids came and asked Chris to come to their class. So we went.

Chris was doing 3rd year classes (equivalent to our 3rd grade) that day so we spent the day with them. They were learning the days of the week. We went to three classes. I played Fruit Basket with them. The kids are crazy for the game called Fruit Basket. They get so excited and hyper when they play. We had really short chairs so it was hard to get up from them quickly and run around. But it was fun.

We ate lunch with a third grade class. Lunch wasnt terrible, but it was cold. Cold white rice is NOT yummy. They sat Chris and me across from this super talkative chubby kid. He would not stop talking and we had no idea what he was saying. He didnt even stop talking when he was eating! The kid next to him was showing off and ended up shoving a whole mikan in his mouth and almost choking to death. Kids! Heh. It was funny though. (mikan = small orange/tangerine). So that was lunch.

Chris and I left to talk to Mihara-san at the Kyouikuinkai and find out what happened. That was good because I hadnt eaten breakfast that day and ended up getting a really bad headache from lack of sugar. Kids are cute and fun, but they express their emotions by screaming. Im sad "BAH!", Im happy "YAY!", Im laughing "HEE HEE HEE SQUEE!", Im hurt "AAAAOOOOWWWW". Not good for a headache. I Was also tired because we stayed up late because we assumed I could just come home after 30 minutes and take a nap. Oh well. IT was fun day and I did lose my headache after I ate a kit kat that some really nice guy gave me and I got to take a really long nap.

So today, I was to go back to Kandogawa and watch the SUper English classes for about 30 minutes and then come home. So Watanabe-Sensei picked me up at the apartment at 8 and drove me to Kandogawa (she's one of the three teachers, Im taking place of a woman named Janet and I was to watch her class). We got there and walked through a big swirl of children. They all want to talk to me and a lot of them like to touch. Its weird. Im not used to people touching me and the kids absolutely love to. One kid kept hitting me and saying "good morning!" Heh. We walked up to the third floor and she showed me where the SUper English teachers meet. ITs in this freezing little corner of the building. Very cold. When it was time for Super English, I cycled through all the classes to see how they were taught. The teacher Im replacing isnt very good and I have a feeling she doesnt like english much at all. She avoids talking to me too. Its weird. But those classes were fun. Short, but fun.

I find the girls really like to talk to me, and the guys like to talk to Chris. Makes sense. Shy kids though. After that, Watanabe-sensei, my ride, told me that she was goign to teach three more classes today and that I could stay and watch (meaning I should stay and watch). So I ended up staying until 12:30 today. She was teaching the 1st years. They are soooo tiny and cute. Very rowdy. We taught them some weather terms. I ended up helping her teach instead of just observing. I had to play fruit basket again (I have a feeling I will be playing a LOT of fruit basket by the time I leave JApan). We also played a game sort of like Simon Says, but not really. It was fun, the kids like it. I think Watanabe-sensei made the game up off the top of my head. She's a really good teacher and gets good pronunciation points because she can say "Thursday" instead of "sursuday". Heh.

Anyways, so that was my day. I will go to Nagahama Elementary on Monday to see class one more time, but then Im good for awhile. Im sure they will contact me on when I need to do what. Now Im really cold and I have a ton of dishes in my sink so Im going to stop rambling!