Wet week

Soooooooooo...
1 week of junior high school classes is down.
Teaching isn't so tough! I think I really like it. My first class was a little brutal, as I was nervous and they are the quietest class in the school, but after that it was smooth sailing! The kids are energetic and well-behaved, and generally genuinely interested in learning English. Lucky!

My first adult class was Wednesday and first elementary calss was Thursday. The adults are REALLY keen and a lot of fun, and serious mayhem was had with the sausage game. That thing is dangerous and way too funny. The elementary kids were a hoot too, not really understanding much, but just being generally excited to see a foreigner. Their self intros were pretty impressive however.

Our school festival was last week as well, and sports day was supposed to be on Sunday but we got rained out. The festival was the coolest school event I've ever been to. To start, each class sang as a choir in competition against each other. All but one class were pretty impressive. Then summer science projects were up in the gym so there was time assigned to check them all out. Next was the crazy marketplace they had set-up, complete with yakitori (bbq-ed chicken), takoyaki (octopus balls, the tastiest!), icecream, slushies, frenchfries, corn on the cob, udon, games and a store with really cheap stuff for your home and for school. This wicked part of the day was followed by a variety show with the brass band, two speech contest participants (English and Japanese speech contests), a pop idol impersonation, Awa Odori (which I went on stage to dance in) and a play. All in all a full and VERY fun day.

In less happy news, Saturday night I woke up to ... A MUKADE ON MY FOOT WHILE I WAS IN BED! It was the biggest one yet, and I freaked out but managed to gas the thing with almost a whole can of bug spray and put it in a bag and then in the freezer to make sure it was good and dead. I didn't sleep until 4am. But happily, 1 bug bomb later, no mukade.

On Sunday, Smitha, Julie, Andrew and I went to Fumi's for dinner, and afterwards Andrew split and the rest of us did some karaoke. A horendous rendition of Deeper and Deeper was performed by me, Julie and I rocked out on Kandy Pop and Smitha stung sweetly into our hearts with a beautiful Sting song. The trailerpark-esque karaoke establishment turned out to be quite cozy, and my favorite karaoke place yet!

Yukino is getting bigger and feistier, and it was Saori's birthday on Monday so we had a party at Julie's house Tuesday night (pics in the flickr account + school festival too!). Jordan, Justin, Julie, Smitha and Chalice were all in attendance.

The best thing is, I am now officially driving in Japan. I have my car and I've been on the roads. Its a little terrifying adjusting to the other side of the car and the road, but I'm slowly getting the hang of it, as this is day 3 of my driving adventures. I'm still a little nervous to venture any further than Mikamo, but maybe by the weekend I'll be a little more balsy.

It begins...

Ahhh 9am on Tuesday morning. My first earthquake drill is in 10 minutes, so I had best make this quick.

Today is my first day of teaching. Class with 1st year junior high school students starts in just over an hour and I'm terrified. I'm super prepared, with too much to do in a short time, but I still can shake the feeling I'm just going to have a class of blank faces.......... ahhhhhhh

All my intro speeches however, have gone over wonderfully, and everyone keeps telling me how wonderful my broken Japanese is. I know I still suck, but in one month I've made huge leaps and I'm really proud of that *pats self on the back smugly*

My elementary students seem really geared up to go, and not at all afraid of me. Many have come up between classes or after school to talk, usually in groups as there is strength in numbers. They all speak Japanese sooooo damn fast, but are incredibley cute so it is worth the effort to get them to slow down and to try to say as much as I can. I met one student in the grocery store with his mom last night (from Shibo elementary). He was so inquisitive, and kindly suggested I buy a different pizza because the one I had wasn't good (but my choice of french fries won me huge points).

Time to get ready for earthquake drills. Wish me luck with class ...o_O!!!!