Ah, kids and boys.

Sept. 1 Monday

Today I had no classes at the elementary school again, but had to stay there until 1pm. I don't mind really. I actually quite like being at the elementary school. The children here are really very sweet and friendly. And love me. haha That's the best part. XD I also have a lot of freedom of movement here and it's not awkward for me to just walk into a class like it is for middle school and high schools. So I figured out some scheduling stuffs and lesson plans and then went to go visit the different classes again. This time I went to the second floor to visit Ootani-sensei's class. The children were very surprised to see me and happy. They wanted to know when i would be teaching their class. Sadly I only teach 3rd and 4th grade once and if I'm lucky twice a month.:( But they were excited to have me just stand in the class nonetheless. I then went back down to visit the 1st graders, and I have to say, they're my favorite class here at the elementary. Well, favorite as in of the classes I don't teach. lol Though i really do wish I could teach them though. I teach the nursery kids which are right before elementary 1st graders so I dont' know why they don't really have me continue. But I guess it's for time constraints and stuff. Oh, and for lunch today we had bibimbap, a chinese type soup, and this amazing tasting yogurt. It was soooooooo good. Damn, if I ate this well in the states when I was a kid maybe I would be skinnier and healthier...or fatter. haha.

The first graders are absolutely adorable and cute and still have baby fat cheeks. The boys and girls are very grabby still and would crowd me during break and grab my hands and tap me and try to pull me to whatever it is they want to show me. And when it's art time they all drew something for me! It was soooo cute! I'm going to put it on my desk to show off proudly. They drew me weird items and people, but I thought they were funny and wonderful because it was made by the cuties. XD They even asked me when I would be teaching them English and I wasn't sure how to respond to them so i just said whenever I come in I will teach you an English word because I will never be able to actually have a class with them. Boooo..... They asked me to speak English and were absolutely amazed at the fact and they just kept saying "sugei!" lol Cuties, absolutely, every one of them. They were learning math when I came in and it was just wonderful simple math: using unit blocks, they count them out to equal numbers 10 or above. Ah, back in the day. The teacher for this class is an amazing man and patient and wonderful. Well, I suppose you have to be to teach 1st graders. Although again when I witnessed the discipline of these kids in class I'm just amazed. The class has two little student leaders, as does all the classes; a boy and a girl. And they lead the class in morning greetings and closings. The minute that happens all the kids become attentive and quiet. It's crazy! Although they would keep glancing back at me and smiling. haha. Anyways, getting back to the original sentence...if only the teacher was handsome or ikemen and not married, perfect candidate for a husband. =P

I know, I'm always on the lookout, but not exactly interested to have one. I just like looking or evaluating them men. lol Well, afterwards I went to the high school. At the high school everything was still as usual. Mr. Gorgeous came to talk to me about lesson plans today and he was in his suit as good looking as ever. lol We were going to do my self intro game that I had thought of that would get the kids using their English and being active. I like to see them having fun when I'm here. Not just a droll English class as it so often is. So I had them make business cards for themselves and draw a face and decorate it. At first, they were really confused as to what to do and their English really is lower than that of the junior high students. On a side note, Hayashi-san from the middle school told me it was because many of the students in high school are not from Kenbuchi because you have to get tested to get into it. Kenbuchi is specifically for social welfare and agriculture so the students aren't as into English as the junior high kids. Although in high school I don't use any Japanese whatsoever, but in middle school I still use it alot. Which I'm not sure if I should be or not with the students. Otherwise they don't really understand me and they don't know what to talk with me about. But I will start using English everywhere now, except for elementary and the nursery.

Sorry for digressing so much, but back to the main point of the English class. So at first when I walked into the class everyone was so not into it and some even fell asleep before I said anything to them. Mr. Gorgeous just let them be. And so I did too because I felt that it is not my place to discipline them as this is not my culture but theirs. If they have a different way of disciplining, then so be it. I'll let the teachers handle it. Although, I did get them to wake up and pay more attention when I had them decorate their cards and have fun doing it. =P The girls got really into it and because of that they really started talking to me and asking me questions. I'm glad that my fun activities are making them open up to me more. Though, the boys I will have to work on. Don't worry I'll use my Theresa charm! =P haha. Gotta lose some weight for that to work. Mr. Gorgeous was so cute about making his cards, he was having fun making them too. He was standing next to me writing it and he would say out loud for his personality description that he was cool and deep. LOL He is pretty cool... and gorgeous for that matter. >D

Sadly, however, the class ran out of time to even start the game. So we held onto the cards until thursday when i see them again. After class ended I walked around for a while with nothing to do. I decided to go buy some ice cocoa from the vending machine. It tasted amazing! Like seriously good! The milk in it is Hokkaido milk so you can imagine the richness and everything. Strangely, I haven't actually gained weight from all the sweets that contain milk from Hokkaido. I've actually lost some. Hmm....it can't be for reals. Something this rich tasting can't help you lose weight...lol After I finished my drink I started wandering again. And I heard these three obviously the cool kids boys sitting on the hallway benches chatting away. I walked past them and said "hello" and they were like "wha? whoa..hello?" and then started laughing. lol I walked up the stairs to the second floor and as I did I heard them trying to say "ALT" in English and laughing about it. I decided to help them out as I peered over the balcony to talk to them. They then started to try to say things in English and talk about me. lol I left them as they were and wandered around again. I feel like that's all I do alot of times. But I'd rather wander around with not much to do instead of being stuck at my desk in a silent teacher's office with nothing to do.

When I went back downstairs I heard the boys talking again. I came down the stairs on the opposite side of the hallway where the boys sat and overheard them trying to say some things in English and talk about me, though I'm not sure what they were saying. They were surprised to see me as I walked by. haha. They were then like "wait, what's your name?" I told them and they were like "ooo". Apparently they're 2nd years so i don't ever teach them, although i would like to. They seem to have the best looking boys like these ones and the most outgoing ones. Well, nothing else really happened this day besides going home to cook myself some good meat and planning my hip hop routines for the elementary kids.

Sept. 2 Wednesday

FREAKIN COLD!!!!! I don't know why but this morning was ridiculously cold! I was freezing! ANd I still had to bike all the way to the middle school. And then in the afternoon it got really hot....I don't understand. lol But Yay for the relaxing fun atmosphere of the middle school. First thing that happens in the morning when I get there is that two of the female teachers were playing on their DS's with each other. hahah. I went over to look at what they were playing. It's called "Friend collection" And is kinda like tamagotchi but with the pets being your friends. lol They would all play with that and then when a student came in they would quickly hide their DS's. lol

Today I went to teach the 3rd, 2nd and 1st years. In the 2nd year class there's a new transfer student who's quite the personality. No problems for him. In the third year class we reviewed stuff and then we played the game that I had suggested to help students with their listening and comprehension skills. However, Shibata-sensei (the JTE I work with) would explain everything to them in Japanese and I barely got to say anything! I was surprised and not pleasantly...I wanted to tell the students the directions in English to check their listening ability, but I wasn't able to. Everything was in Japanese and it sounded as if he was the one who came up with the idea. I was a little miffed but I kept it in and kept cordial about it with him. Afterwards I had a consolidation with him about the class today and I has asked him if it was okay if next time I could first say the instructions in English and then he can translate if they don't understand. He said "of course, it was just because of time constraints that we couldn't do that today." So I let it off. I really would like to play more games and get the kids more excited in learning English, but they way he teaches, as cool and funny a teacher as he is it's just so droll for the students. It's basically passage reading and then answering questions, but in a non creative way. I want them to have fun with English when I'm there. I just feel like a tape recorder. So I'm going to try and see if I can talk to the teacher about implementing more fun activities and games.

After teaching all the classes I went back to my office. And then I walked around for a bit again. I saw my fav. 2nd year class outside getting ready for PE and walked over to the door and poked my face out to say hello. The girls were ecstatic to see me and talked to me quite a lot. The boys were out playing soccer on the field. One of the girls came up to me and asked what I thought about Shibata-sensei. I wasn't exactly sure if she meant in terms of a love interest or in terms of personality. So i asked why and she explained that she doesn't really like him because he talks too much nonsense in class and is strict with them. I do have to admit he is pretty strict with the kids. Even though he tries to make the class fun and is funny. And he does talk alot during classtime where I would really like to talk too. lol As an example: today he gave some sort of sermon to the first grade class about how loud they were when moving chairs and stuff this morning. I felt the lecture was a little too long and some of the kids were kind of getting antsy and unhappy about it. I didn't really understand it and some of the kids kept looking at me to see if I knew what he was saying so that they wouldn't have to face me with those thoughts. I feigned ignorance. This was not business to begin with anyways.

When school was over I walked out to say goodbye to some students. One of the second year girls came over to hug me goodbye. I appreciated it quite alot. XD Hayashi-san (one of the super friendly female teachers) was also there and so I talked with her for a bit. Then the cool and best looking 3rd year boys came out of the changing room where I had peeked in earlier because I just saw people crowding around there and I didn't know what it was...I didn't see anything though. =P When they came out all cool looking Hayashi-san made the comment, "ah, it's the ikemen group." lol Haha. They are, they really are. They saw us and waved to us and we waved back. I told Hayashi-san I thought these boys were cool. And so she went over to tell the boys about what I said and then was like "Ne, Theresa?" I just nodded nonchalantly and said "you guys are really super cool!" And they were all like "Yosha!!" lol And got all bigheaded and happy. lol The hottest one of them waved his hand at me and said "Come! Come to my age!" LOL I wasn't exactly sure what that meant. Maybe that if I was his age he would give me chance? Or that I should like a guy his age...? lol I was confused with the comment and ended up laughing. And then walked back into my office. Man, I wish the high school had more boys like them. I don't think i will see half of these kids in my high school since I'm sure not all of them want to become farmers, etc.

As soon as all the kids had left, the female teachers, of which there are only 4 of us and the one office personnel told me about a dinner plan for just the girls tomorrow night in Shibetsu city. Whoo! Girl's night out! I'm down! lol And they want to go drinking too. haha. I love these women. They're my favorite teachers actually. They're so funny and open. I wish I could talk to them more though. So this will be a good chance! ^^ So because of that we all started exchanging phone numbers and stuff. It was kinda cute to see them all doing that. The guy teachers just kinda minded their own business. lol

So anyways, it's late, and i'm ready to pass out and go to sleep. Otsukare-sama! Thanks for keeping up with me again!



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