Best lunch ever!

I had the best lunch that I’ve had in a while today!!  I ate with my 3rd graders, something that I’ve been putting off for the past two weeks.  I usually DREAD eating with my 3rd graders because I’m not a fan of that class.  There are a few kids in there who are just little brats, and they ruin the WHOLE class for me.  Anyway, I ate with the 3rd graders today…..because I had to.  However, it ended up being the BEST time I’ve had in a while!!

The kids are always curious to see what I bring for lunch.  Ian made kangaroo last night, so I brought the leftover kangaroo and mashed potatoes for lunch.  When I told the kids that it was kangaroo, all of them said, “EEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHH?????” In unison.    I offered to let them try some, but none of them would take any and instead shook there heads and said, “Muri, muri, muri!” (meaning: HECK NO!/IMPOSSIBLE!/NO WAY, JOSE!  From my viewpoint, I was thinking that they’ll eat whole fish—bones, eyes, guts, and all, but they look at me funny for eating a kangaroo steak…..what’s wrong with this picture?!  )  I told them that in December, I was going to Australia for two weeks.  Woo-hoo!  Everyone at my end of the table said the Japanese equivalent to things like “Wow!” “Really?”  “Cool!”

Mr. Fujiwara was sitting at the table beside me.  From the corner of my eye, I could tell that he was pointing at me.  I glanced over and he gestured to the boy at his right and said, “He wants to practice English with you.”  (Background on this kid: He’s a good boy, but I think he’s narcoleptic.  Honestly.  This kid can fall over asleep in a matter of a few seconds.  I could literally stand next to and shake him, but he would still fall asleep.  Due to this fact, he spends most of class either asleep or nodding off and isn’t that great in English.)  I said, “OK!  Please practice!”  The kid immediately looked terrified and concentrated whole-heartedly on shoveling as much rice as possible into his mouth.  Mr. Fujiwara told him (in Japanese) to speak to me.  When the kid didn’t, Mr. Fujiwara started pulling his chair away from the table and turning it toward me.  The kid tried to resist, but Mr. Fujiwara was stronger.  The kid was forced to look right at me.  This scene (of course) drew the attention of other students, and the kid looked absolutely mortified to say anything.  I’m not sure what Mr. Fujiwara told him, but I’m sure it was something like, “Come on.  Just freaking say it!  Don’t be a baby!”  The kid stood up and said, “You are pretty girl,” and then immediately pulled his chair back to the table and filling his mouth with rice again.    Wow, kid!  You really know how to make a grown woman blush!   I giggled….which probably didn’t help since his cheeks got bright red after that. 

Mr. Fujiwara later on leaned over and asked me if I spoke French.  I told him no, but I speak Spanish and German.  Then I started to teach the kids some Spanish by translating simple sentences:  Me llamo Melissa.  My name is Melissa.  Soy de America.  I’m from America.  Me gustan fresas.  I like strawberries.  A couple of the girls who I like started repeating the Spanish sentences after me.  It was so cute!  I was EXCITED to teach them Spanish!!    One of the brats had to ruin it though.  He said, “I….Chinese….speak.”  I said, “Really?  OK!  Speak, please.”  He looked back over at his friend who was gesturing him to go on.  Below his breath, the kid muttered a few Chinese sounding syllables “Ching.  Chong.  Ming.  Mao.” and then laughed uncontrollably.  Way to ruin a nice moment, you racist jerk!  I shot back at him by saying, “Not nice!  Bad boy!”    

Lunch wrapped up by two girls coming up to me.  Both are really nice and take English seriously.  They asked me if I liked One Direction (the boy band).  The truth is that I’m slightly obsessed with them.  I’m a grown woman, but dang it if my heart doesn’t just melt when I hear their music!    I told them that YES!  I LOVE ONE DIRECTION and started singing one of their songs.  The girls squealed in delight, and together we enjoyed our obsessiveness.

As you can see, even though I don’t particularly like my 3rd grade class as a whole, I love the individuals.  Most of them are great, and today was one of the BEST times I’ve had with them!