May 21-26 (Tues-Sun) - Inch by inch, row by row

Tuesday: Long day. Went to the office at 9am, was done with work at 8pm. A couple short breaks in the middle but basically tsukareta. Kids were fun though. And I ate another banana nutella crepe. 

Wednesday: I woke early enough to make myself a feast — a cheese-tomato-onion-bell pepper omelet, + half an apple. And 3 ‘cups’ of coffee (but a cup is 4oz). And a small banana crepe. This batter goes a long way... but I’m running out of nutella :OH NO

Following, I had a super fun 4th-grade class at Ito Elementary. The kids are great. The following classes were ok. I observed a large ant crawling over a girl’s desk, and she was completely unbothered by it. She just kind of watched it. Strange?

I had enough time to break at my apartment for a 5-min meditation, a quick lunch and cup of coffee to keep me going, then I set off to Kawada Elementary. The kids were rather unenthusiastic and it kind of killed my enthusiasm. Plus I’m tired. 

And I’m tired of the MONTHS!!! I think the textbook lessons seem so boring to us teachers because we have to teach each one like a dozen times. 

My brain was shot... but not done yet!!!! I had two Nakano classes (at the office), time for dinner, then my class with Miki. From 8:45am to 10:30pm. That is what I call a long day.

Thursday: *Sigh of relief*. Not so many classes today. I was mobbed by 4-year-olds again. They drained the energy right out of me so I had to take a nap after lunch. Or wait, maybe that was the exercise/stretching I did while listening to history podcasts. No, definitely the kids.

Here is a picture of part of the Miwa house.

Later, one of Casey’s students brought spinach from her garden. So I got spinach. It came with some friends.

This one I walked down and deposited in greenery near the tonbo. The next two I flung gracefully out my window generously equipped with small leaves. 

Friday: I really like Fridays. Miyazaki Shogakkou is a nice place with really friendly students. I joined Hugh this time as he went out to play dodgeball with them between classes. I didn’t really play, but that’s ok, I didn’t really know the rules and the students weren’t used to seeing me out there. One really cute girl (maybe a 3rd-year student?) chatted a little with me once she found out I could speak Japanese, she gave me a hug, and later said hello in the hallway. 

After Miyazaki, Hugh and I have to rush back to UFO for the staff meeting. Luckily it was only about 5 minutes long so I got some lunch, then we went to Kitanakayama. The students here aren’t the most cooperative, but they’re funny. The teachers try to use English for almost everything, which I think is great. Maybe the students don’t know ‘I’m tired’ yet but most of them could tell you the date in English. And that it’s sunny.

That night, ballroom dance. It was fun, but I’ve never worn heels so much my entire life put together. Ashi itakatta.

Saturday: Classes. Morning class went well with only 3 kids. Afternoon classes were kind of a pain because the mother of 2 students — one in each class — was there to watch because her daughter couldn’t see well because of some eye medicine (or something). So not only couldn’t I do much since Haruka couldn’t see, but there was somebody watching. Funiki yokunakatta.

Sono ato, I ran errands. Got gas, bought myself some more cds, shopped for household items, got groceries, then at last returned. I ate a lovely cucumber-spinach-tomato salad...

while waiting for my eggplant pasta to cook.

I finished it off with some ice cream. It was lovely.

Sunday: I made miso soup for breakfast and finished reading the False Prince which I much enjoyed. At 9:30 I went running with Kaori and Hugh, with Mako coaching from the bike. We did almost a half hour, 2.2 miles (maybe). After that us girls did yoga and tai-chi. Phew.

Later we met up for coffee, joined by Nathan, then together went to a brass-band performance held at the gym.

This guest performer was cool. Her music was so-so, but the way she played was fun. She had a flute, guitar, and her hands and voice. She would record a little bit of one using the device at her feet, then start it playing, record a little bit of the other, get that playing too, then sing or play some, switch to another recorded riff, etc. Interesting to watch.

I thought it was pretty fun, but guess the others got a bit bored, so we didn’t stay for long *sad face*. Oh well.

I had macha ice cream and this gohei-mochi — mochi fried in soy sauce.

We watched some stuff, but it was just too too too hot. So we decided to head out on an adventure in search of somewhere to swim. Mako drove, we went to Ikeda to some waterfall. Hugh and I got in and swam (for about 2 min.), Kaori slipped and thus got wet without the benefit of swimming, and Mako took pictures. 

We passed godzilla on the way back.

Sono ato, we made dinner and enjoyed much food. At the very end we were ambushed by a platoon of little mayflies (kamo), luckily many of them committed jisatsu in the ketchup remains and my water glass. I vacuumed up the rest then sprayed poison. I don’t know how they got in but I’m not taking any more chances. 

Recent words:

choushi wa dou? = what’s up, how’s it going, how are you doing

koukun (校訓) = school precepts (e.g. kindness, strength)

haru (張る) = to stick, paste

jougi (定規) = ruler (measurement)

tsuchihumazu = arch of the foot (lit. what doesn’t touch the earth)

ashi no ura = ball of foot (lit. reverse of foot)

sebone = spine

uta wa atama kara hanarenai = can’t get that song out of my head

ice cream o tabenakatta hou ga yokatta na = it would’ve been better if I hadn’t eaten that ice cream

sore hodo arukanakatta hou ga yokatta naa = it would’ve been better if I hadn’t walked that much

shiagaru (仕上る) = to finish, to be complete

sutte (吸う), haite (吐く) = breathe in, breathe out

funiki (雰囲気) = atmosphere (i.e. as that of a restaurant)

kojin de = individually

kaishou = negotiation

my bobo = oh my god (in S. African dialect)