For whatever reason, elementary days inspire me to write. Maybe it’s because I’m in a perpetual happy mood at the ES, because the kids actually like me and fight over who gets to play with me, or because the kids are so cute that even whenever they mess up, it’s difficult to be mad at them. Regardless of what it is, I love ES days and want to write about them.
This morning I had 6th grade for first period, 3rd for second, and 5th for third period. In 6th grade, we reviewed the months, and they learned the question: “When is your birthday?” and how to properly respond to it. The 3rd grade teacher had a hoarse voice, so I tried to speak as much as possible so that he wouldn’t have to. For the second lesson in a row, the kids were learning days of the week. Japanese doesn’t have the “th” sound in it, so the kids REALLY struggled with Thursday. They also kept getting Tuesday and Thursday mixed up. We practiced, practiced, and practiced, sung a song to learn the days, and when the 3rd grade teacher was reviewing with the kids, they still didn’t know the days. He got super angry at them and went into a ten minute rant (with his hoarse voice) about how they should know these days by now since we spent half the class reviewing. I felt sorry for the next kid that he called upon. The kid didn’t know “Tuesday,” so the teacher smacked him with the card and yanked him up from the group. Don’t be alarmed. That’s fairly common in Japan. It’s not necessarily the punishment that is the bad thing but rather the shame that comes along with it. NO ONE wants to shame themselves or their family. That poor kid didn’t get to play the last game in class, karuta, a game that ALL Japanese students LOVE to play.
In between the periods, I went back to the teacher’s room, and one of the teacher’s was handing out printed information about the solar eclipse next week. In not sure if it’s going to happen in the States as well, but in Japan, it will be visible on Monday morning. Japan is really good about warning people to not look directly at it and to use proper precautions. I’ve seen posters, commercials, flyers, and even the print out today demonstrated how to properly look at it.
In 5th grade we reviewed how to introduce ourselves and played the interview game. Music played, and whenever the music stopped, whoever was in front of you was who you had to talk to. I don’t know if it was because they were intimidated by me or what exactly, but when the music stopped and kids were in front of me, they scattered quickly. It was only a few students who did that, but I literally had to chase them down to introduce themselves to me. Silly kids! My 5th grade kids are a little high-spirited, and by the end of class they had done something to piss off the 5th grade teacher. She yelled at them for a good ten minutes, and we were actually late getting out of class because she had to scold them. After class she was back to her sunny disposition and told me sorry about that but everyday it’s something with those kids! 
Believe me, lady, I understand!
I had lunch with my 1st graders. While I can detect the students with attitudes from the upper classes and determine who doesn’t like me or care about English, it’s MUCH harder to tell from the younger kids. They love me just for being here! As soon as I walked in, there was a communal “YAAAAAAAAAAAAY!” 
I had to sit at a desk in front of the classroom facing them, and before lunch started, I was playing janken (rock, paper, scissors) with them. It was me against twenty other kids, and each time some of the kids beat me, they would shout out “YAAAY!” It was too precious! After lunch, I hung around in the classroom for a little while, and a couple of girls came up to me. I’m not sure what they were saying, but they were being absolutely adorable and hugging me. 
All was good and great in the world until they realized that my blouse could open. Then they started to pull on it, trying to open it. I had to swat their little hands away more than once!
At recess, my normal girls weren’t outside for whatever reason, so I found a group of 1st and 2nd graders to be a part of and realized that it is MUCH easier to play tag with them. Not only do their short legs not carry them as far, but they tire much sooner. Plus, we had bases, and it was in an enclosed area of the playground, so none of that running all over the place craziness! When we got tired of playing that, the girls started making clover chains. I got several gifts of clover rings, bracelets, and flowers placed in my hair. All of the girls wanted me to make them a bracelet even though they could do it themselves. In return I got little bouquets of clover and other flowers tied together delicately. Precious! Two girls even found me a couple of four leaf clovers!! I have never in my life found (or even seen!) a four leaf clover. How sweet of them to find those for me!
This afternoon I didn’t have any classes, but I had to choose one club activity to go to. I had already decided this morning that I’d go to cooking class. You can’t go wrong there! Once the project is finished, you get to eat it. Best. Club. Ever. However, there was no one in the kitchen classroom, so I continued to wander down the hallway and poked my head into a different classroom and asked what club it was. The seven girls in the class said it was dance. Heck yeah! I thought dance club would be pretty cool to watch, so I sat down at one of the tiny desks and got ready to watch kids busting moves. However, it was the most boring club ever. They spent the entire time selecting songs to dance to and in what order they would learn each dance. Disappointment doesn’t even begin to describe my emotion. 
Also this afternoon I was afforded the opportunity to try some delicious ice straight from the South Pole. No joke. I have NO IDEA how Yunomae ES got ice from the South Pole, but it was setting in a cooler in the teacher’s room. The groundskeeper (who has a thick, THICK country accent) was carrying around the cooler and tried to explain to me what it was, but I didn’t understand, so the principal and vice principal pieced together the story for me through gestures and drawings. For whatever reason the ice came from the South Pole. The principal chopped off a chunk, put it into a glass of water, and gave it to me to try. Just in case you’re curious….. South Pole ice tastes like ice!
I know that I need to catch up about Nagasaki and Aoshima Island, and I promise, promise, PROMISE that it’s coming soon! I feel like I haven’t had as much free time at school, and that’s where I do the majority of my blogging.
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