Sunday, January 23, 2011

Just because

Hello everyone.

It's Sunday, and although I don't have much to write about, I'll just chat a little so as to satisfy the people who actually check here. :)

The other morning, I heard some teachers laughing with each other while talking about a student.  I wasn't able to understand much, but I heard them telling a story, then laughing, then calling the student a liar. I'm pretty sure this particular student doesn't always tell the truth, but I wonder why it was something to laugh about?  Perhaps she had fibbed about something that clearly couldn't have been true and the teachers found it funny.

Some days this January have been warm(ish), but one morning I thought to myself, "While some people are scraping frost off of their car windows, I'm scraping frost off of the inside of my bedroom windows.

Every class within the school has a TOTALLY different atmosphere.  Some classes like to joke around and raise their hands to answer questions, while some classes are just disrespectfully loud, while other classes are painfully silent.  I think a lot of it has to do with the chemistry of the students in the class, as well as the chemistry with their homeroom teacher.

Recently I've either been busier at school, or not yet back to my old routine/schedule.  This past week I was very tired when I got home, and didn't get much done in the way of house work.  Hopefully this week will be a little better.  I've started helping a third year practice English after school on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays.  She is trying to get into high school in the Philippines, so she has to practice taking an interview in English.  I enjoy this time with her, so I don't mind meeting after school.  Also, it makes the time before I go home seem faster.

Sometimes during class when I'm trying to talk loud enough for students to hear, or when I've been talking for a while, I spit by accident.  This isn't really worth mentioning in the blog, but I think it's funny because it's something that happens that no one really talks about.  The students don't say anything, which is really kind of them, but it's also kind of embarrassing.  Once I was helping a student correct something he had written, and I accidentally spit on his paper.  Immediately I wiped the little droplet up and said sorry, but he acted as though he didn't notice even though he had been looking right at the paper when it happened.  Thank goodness for that. :-)

If you don't know already, in Japan many people wear face masks when they're sick in order to prevent others from getting sick, but people will also wear them even if they're healthy because they think it'll prevent them from getting sick as well.  The other day I asked a student if she was sick (because she was wearing one) and she said no, she just had a runny nose.  I guess that's cause enough to wear one!  I was surprised.

Remember those morning sheets I was reading and "translating" in order to understand the daily schedule?  Well, the first one took me over an hour to read.  Since then, I've gotten it down to taking less than 30 minutes or so.  It's amazing what repetition and a little bit of studying can do for a person. ;)

Also, I told you about the trip around the Kofu shrines that I took on December 31st.  Well, I have some pictures from that day now, so I'll post them below.  (I also received a few pictures of the mochi-making day, however they are physical photos opposed to digital photos.  If I ever get digital ones I'll post them here too.

Lana















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