Wee~ Children and their Grabbyness

Oh, btw, to clear up some confusion, everything that's said in here or my other blog entries is mainly all in Japanese. The kids respond to me in Japanese and I say and gesture in English. Well, I mainly talk Japanese at the nursery, but everywhere else is English. Except with the teachers. Just assume that everything that is said in here is in Japanese, kay?

Aug. 28

Again, I had no classes today at the middle school. So majority of the time I ended up planning lessons for other classes etc. Before lunch time one of the teachers invited me to go eat lunch with the 3rd graders, but I totally forgot about it at lunch. He didn't say anything to me until I passed him in the hallway after lunch and was like "Oh shit! I was supposed to eat with you guys!" I felt soooo bad. But I feigned miscommunication in Japanese... He asked me "Did you not understand what I said or did you just get the times mixed up and all?" I just apologized profusely to which he said it was okay and went on his way... I really felt sorry. But I went upstairs to talk to the kids afterwards. They were all getting ready to go down to the 2nd floor for Music class. I thought it was instruments like band and all, but it's like chorus. I was soooo freakin amazed at their voices! They all can sing! And they had a special guest teacher come in to teach them. She's a pro! I was amazed with the way she taught them, it was like voice training basically. No wonder the kids are so good at singing! And majority of them can also play the piano like masters! My mouth just dropped at this amazingness. I couldn't believe it!

Anyways, after the class was over I went downstairs and found out that only the office personnel were in the room because everyone else was having meetings with teachers from all over the neighboring cities and towns. Then later Shibata-sensei told me about the other ALTs who live in the two cities right next to me! I was like "YES! Close ALTs!" And they're guys too....so i hope they're hawt. haha. >D Then afterwards from Aug 29th-30th I did absolutely nothing except for watching "24 Hour Television" which is a special that SBC (I think it's SBC) puts on that has famous people host the show for 24 hours and they show unfortunate or amazing people and bring them on the show. It's kinda a charity event....for 24 hours....and it airs on TV for that long. Seriously. I wanted to stay up to watch it the whole way, but then figured it's not worth it.lol I also spent the weekend making my home spotless and trying to think of ways to decorate my place. I think I'll go for like a natury theme with glass. =P

Aug. 31

Yay nursery day! And today I don't have to teach because they are having a special performance for the kids today! And the kids from the other nursery are also coming to visit for the show. I changed quickly into my jeans and t-shirt as that is the norm to wear at the nursery since kids will run at you and jump you and pull your clothes...=P All the kids had gathered in the large playroom and as soon as they saw me walk in they smiled and held out their hands for me to hold! Seeing their faces light up like that my breath stopped for a bit because I was soooo HAPPY!! >V< Children make me all weird I think...lol haha. Especially when I saw little Ikuma's face like that made me really happy cuz he's just soooooo cute! WAH!

So I sat in the back and watched the little show. It was a super genki middle aged lady with props and stuff for the show. It was really interactive and the kids loved it! I thought it was absolutely adorable. I wanna be able to teach like that. But then I'd have to be really weird for that. >D She had three stories that she told via a variety of props. The first one was via random papers and singing and hand motions, the second one was via a cardboard box theater which was very very creatively made, and the last were large animals made out of glued together cardboard about a story of a baby elephant that traded it's body parts with other animals for a day....strange and perverted I know.

Afterwards I helped clean up and then went to eat lunch with my beloved Sakura class (the 5-6 year olds). Ayaka saw me, ran to me, and basically glomped me. lol I actually almost fell over because 2 other girls then did the same thing to me while I was still being held on to by Ayaka...lol They all had little bentos that their parents made for them because the lunch lady was not making any foods that day. So the head teacher Yuuko-san made me a bento!!! I was so amazed and thankful! This lady was soo nice. She made me two onigiris (hand made onigiris!!!) fried shrimp, two sausage patties, two tamago yakis (the sweet egg sushi thingy), brocolli, and oranges and kiwis for desert. She put all of that in a little yellow Miffy bento box. And she said I could keep the bento box! I was so grateful to this woman! If it wasn't for her I wouldn't have a lunch or a cute little bento box! She also gave me a bottle of tea and the wrap for the bento! THANK YOU!!!!

Ayaka took me by the hand and the kids formed two little neat lines in which I followed in the back with Ayaka. It was so cute, all the little kids would find their friends or partners and hold their hands. As usual Sho and Sho or Sho-Sho were together, they even placed their seat mats outside next to each other. Seriously, the best of friends. haha. I can see this turning into some weird love story in the future for those Yaoi fans out there. =P Before we all fully left the class, Asahi-chan started crying for some reason in which I stayed behind to see what was wrong. Honoka-chan and Ayaka-chan also stayed behind to help me with her. The two little girls tried to calm Asahi-chan down too. I'm not sure how it works with little children, but the way they comfort each other here in Japan is the same way an adult comforts young kids except the kids do it to each other. They speak in that same tone. I really wasn't sure what was wrong as I've noticed that little kids usually cry for no reason on the occasions. So I just made sure she was okay and let the other girls do the talking because they knew what they were doing somehow. I was quite amazed by this. The kids don't just stare at each other or feel awkward or uncomfortable; they go to see what's wrong with the other kid and tries to comfort them. It was a pleasant surprise and I'm beginning to learn a lot from these children. So we finally were able to leave the class the four of us, each in a pair and in a two lines. hehe. Even if it's just 4 of us the kids still abide by the pairage thing.

Outside, the little kids spread their seat mats and took out all their little bentos. It was amazing looking, those bentos! The parents really take their time to make the bentos look special! All the kids were really proud of their bentos too and would show them to me. I really wish that we had that too in the states where it's not just sack lunches, but these really cute luncboxes filled with a vareity of goods for a well balanced diet. My JTE's were actually really shocked to hear that we have lunches in brown paper bags and that it consists of a sandwich, veggie dip packs, an apple, and some kinda sweet...they were like "WhA?! No bentos!??" lol =P I have to admit, the bentos do make the food look tastier and taste better. Nagomi-chan also came to sit near us. She's also one of my favorites because she's so open and she'll be such a stunning beauty in the future. As we were eating the kids would talk to me in which I wouldn't understand a word they say and just nod...lol The kids would look at me and i'm not sure if they want an answer or some kind of response to what they were saying because I don't know what they're saying. I would then just be like "oooo" and that's it. lol Then they would just give up saying stuff to me for a second and then say something completely different. hahah. Ah children and their short attention span. Tama-chan (the teacher for Sakura class) told me that it's okay if I don't understand them because children will forget what they said to you anyways and forget that you didn't understand them and keep talking to you. LOL So okay. XD

Afterwards I went back in the classroom to see all the kids getting their futons for the room for naptime. Oh! Btw, I met the two occasional kids who come to Sakura class. They're these two little boys that I can already tell will look absolutely handsome in the future. I was quite surprised to see them and they were me. They would talk to me for a little bit and then in the middle of the conversation be like "誰？”"Who are you?" I'd tell them my name and they'd say "あ。わっかた”"Ah, I understand." Heheh. So cute. Sakito is one of the boys who is the tallest in the class and has such an adorable face minus all the runny noseness. lol The other one is Ryosei or Ryoshita (I'm not sure which one it was. Trying to remember everyone's name is super difficult) and his wavy half shoulder/half neck length hair is prime for making into Ikemen style. =P As I bent down to see what was wrong with Aoi because she looked disgruntled Ayaka ran up from behind me and jumped on my back. And I almost fell face first to the ground in front of me. My hands saved me as well as me being close to the ground to begin with. haha. Anyways, Aoi wouldn't say anything for a while and I noticed that she started crying. Oh no, what was wrong now. She wouldn't say anything for a while and when Tama-chan came over to see what's wrong she said everything while crying....as if I couldn't understand her already. I just kept rubbing her back and her head for comfort. Sakito kneeled down in front of her to say sorry for having done something, which I'm not sure what. Something about his butt in the bathroom....And then Tama-chan said it wasn't because of that. It was because he had accidentally kicked Aoi's head as he was walking around before naptime. She was lying down already. So I just kept hugging her until she felt better cuz I wasn't sure what else to do. I then bid goodbye to all the kids and left to go change to leave for the elementary.

At the elementary I had no classes today. In fact I don't have classes all this week because it's short days. And plus all this week is parent-teacher conferences. So there is no time for English class. I just ended up wandering over to the 2nd grade class. They're pretty use to seeing me now as well as the teacher. Haha, I love that class. All the kids saw me and got excited. I love that my presence causes such a ruckus. haha. I feel like the popular kid at school and everybody whispers about me when I pass by...which they do by the way. I hear them. >D One of the little girls passed by me and handed me a sweet smelling perfumed tissue. I was like getting high off of it, it was so good smelling. I gestured to the little girl that I really liked it and she came over after class to give me the whole pack. I was ecstatic. Hah. After class ended I walked over to the student's entryway to see the kids off and some of the students who didn't know I was here saw me and yelled my name and ran to me for a hit me in the chest hug. I better start getting used to the pain...lol Two of the girls who did that to me, grabbed the fatty parts on my arms or as I like to call them, my wings. They thought it fun and funny to squeeze them. I wasn't offended or anything, I just laughed about it and squeezed their arms. And all I felt was muscle....that's the girl's volleyball group for ya....lol I just thought the whole thing was funny. =P And I realized that I really really need to lose weight and work out more. The boys would run up to me and give me high fives. They're at the age where hugging me is a gender issue...boo..and I like hugging little things too.

Some of the little boys had already changed for baseball practice, they looked so cool! As they saw me they would all say "Theresa-sensei bye bye!" Some of them have also already become really friendly with me and just call me Theresa. And another little boy in 2nd grade, before leaving, decided to give me a back massage. I don't know why, but I really appreciated it and liked it alot. haha. He was really good at it too. And then one of the boys who had shoulder length ikemen style european wavy hair and I believe is in 4th or 5th grade came buy and gave me double high fives and held my hand for a bit. He asked me if I remembered his name...I just stared at him for a little while and then looked painful as if I was scouring my head for his name. He just sighed and was like "It's Yuushin", smiled and then left. He's also going to grow up to look like a total hottie along with Ryo and Shinpei. I just know it. Well, they'll be in Junior high soon and hopefully I'll be here long enough to see them to high school. That would be awesome. I can be like "look! I brought you up well!" Haha, like a proud mother.

When all the students have gone and left I went back into the teacher's lounge/office and scurried around for a bit since no one was in there because of parent teacher meetings. I discovered a secret room hidden behind the meeting table!!! It was amazing! It was a large tatami room with pillows and a small desk and held lots of craftwork. Kikuchi-sensei (the curriculum coordinator whose English is actually not bad) saw me looking in at it as he came in a gave me quite a shock when he started talking about it to me because I didn't notice him behind me peering in as well. LOL I had thought that no one was going to be here. He told me the room is a resting place to chill and change clothes when needed. But not to sleep. Aww man. heh. Anyways when the teachers finished their meetings and came back, aside from the 2nd grade teacher and the helper, they were surprised to see me because they weren't sure when I had came in. I got there when 5th period had already started.

Hisakawa-sensei was in an awfully genki mood and was super cheerful with me. I just went along with it. He's usually pretty cool anyways; he was just even better today. We discussed about what we were going to do for the next class and I was ready to belt out a lot of games to do. But I have to incorporate the textbook, which will be a little difficult, but I'll try. For my adorable students かわいい生徒たちのために I will try. Then Watanabe-san was also very genki today. I'm not sure why today, but everyone was really happy like. lol And he discussed with me about teaching the students an easy hip hop routine to perform at their festival. It's going to be to Exile's "Carry On". It's not really hip hoppy, just really happy like. So I'm not going to put in anything too gangsta. haha. It's a good song for elementary kids because it's so happy and energetic so my routine will be more like pop.

Then a lady from the picture book library/museum came by with a huge delivery of rental picture books. They rotate the books that come in and out every couple of months. And since all the teachers were in the office everyone decided to help out. We carried these super heavy boxes from the car onto a a very large home depot like cart we had and then shipped them up the lift to the second and 3 floors. Yes, all the schools have a lift that takes up all the school lunches. It's pretty cool. The teachers asked me if I wanted to ride it up. I was just like "けっこです”"Nah, it's okay." We went up to the 3rd floor and seperated the boxes into different rooms. Then one of the younger female teachers got on the large cart and then all the young female teachers wanted to get on. Haha, I was one of them. Watanabe-san told us all to get on and he would push us down the hall. And as we passed another female teacher she hopped on as well. So just imagine a bunch of teachers in the elementary school's empty hallway dressed in business attire on a large moving cart and one male teacher pushing the cart zooming down the hallway. It was so much fun! We all just kept exclaiming at how fun it is. Haha. I liked it quite alot and it was a special moment shared by the teachers where the students couldn't see. Haha, what teachers do after all the kids have gone home. For some reason that really helped me bond with the teachers too. lol Anyways, afterwards Watanabe-san was like "Oh one of these days you have to come over to my house for dinner! My wife insists that you come and she wants to practice English with you too. And it's not going to be just me at the house so you don't have to worry" And he laughed at that last statement and I just laughed nervously along. haha. cuz I really don't know what to do with those statements because all the men here say that when they invite me over to their houses. lol I guess they don't want me to feel like they're going to molest me or something. hehe. I still have yet to go to anyone's house even though they've all extended invitations...I need to one of these days. Maybe before hard winter strikes I will. Take them up on their offer of free food. XD

So otsukare-sama for reading again! It's a rather long post again this time. hehe. And I've really just been into listening to K-pop and US hip hop lately. I feel like a gangsta teacher...haha. Kay, luv ya'll!