"Bai-Bai, My Little Crazies"

Dear Japanese school,
you were an incredible experience
I wouldn't trade for the world.
One I will never forget.

There were days when I wanted to
twirl down the hallway, a band trumpeting behind me,
I was so happy.

There were days when I wanted to

curl into a ball and wring my heart of all its tears,

I was so frustrated.

But this experience wouldn't have been
half as amazing
if I hadn't tasted both sides of the bowl.

I finally saw teachers for
who they really are:
people.

I learned so much
watching their hardships,
and sharing my own with them.

And the children became

my baby brothers and sisters.

So, to you, 

little students,

I want to thank you...

...for accepting me as your teacher,

and as your friend,

for making me feel pretty
for having lily-white skin, corn-yellow hair, and blue eyes,

for letting me learn
right alongside you.
You wound up teaching me, this year.

{Arts via IKJHS students}

{Cho & Aiata drawing via me, with colors by Karin-chan}

{Cho & Aiata © Me}

"Rudolph the Tonakai"

Rudolph the Tonakai by ashleyserena

Recorded this for my ninth graders.

We're having a whole lesson

just singing Christmas songs.

Actually, I'm starting to turn into Rudolph myself.

Achoo!

But dancing in the rain was so worth it.

{MP3 Download Here}

{Instrumental © Joey Miskulin}
{Images via WeHeartIt & FotoSearch}

"3K Marathon Race"

"For a man to conquer himself is the first and noblest of all victories." -Plato

My students ran a marathon
around the harvested rice fields
outside the school grounds.

The morning sun stretched out to
warm the rocks we rested on
and bathe our sleepy faces.

They all worked so hard

and ran such a long way.

And what better way to celebrate
a successful marathon
than by snarfing six
strawberry mochi balls.
Food of champions.

{Music via Ginger Ninja}

"English for All Levels, Even Natives"

I visited a kindergarten

and was immediately swept up

in a whirlwind of schoolyard games.

The childrens' faces are blurred for legal issues.

We played shippo-tori ("Take the Tail")

dodgeball

and oni-gokko ("Playing Demon" ... "Tag").

It only took five minutes to make

a gaggle of friends.

My goodness, I hope my children are this adorable.

Back at the junior high school,

we were learning about guide animals.

So of course,

we made up and drew our own.

Heck yes, I want Baby Minnie to guide me around the streets of Japan.

A bicycle guide "animal" would be neat too.

Or maybe the seal.

My students are so supportive of the arts.

I love how content they drew my face. (^ε^)♪

Oh, so, today's Engrish

comes from me, unfortunately:

"Yeah! It's scary, horrifle... Horrifle? What the heck is 'horrifle'?"

And I have a job teaching this language, man. 

AGAWAH

"It's a serious question, guys, come on..."

Me: What do you want to be when you grow up?

Student 1: I want to be a nice groom. I like girls.

Student 2: I want to be a vegetable.

Student 3: I want to be a fish.

Me: Well, what do you want to be?

Student 4: I want to be a god.

Me: Okay... why?

Student 4: First, I want to destroy the world.

Me: Oh.

Student 4: Second, I want to make a new star.

Me: ...Follow your dreams.

{Gif via Supernatural}

"Plane Near the Cloudy"

One of my 8th graders handed me his homework

and I nearly melted on the spot.

He wanted to write, "There is a plane near the cloud",

but instead wrote, "plane neer the culudy",

with a scribbled picture of an airplane and a cloud.

And my heart burst.

Today, we had some downtime in the last hour,

so I doodled and chatted with my students.

We talked about Pokemon Black, Ranma 1/2,

if I was living with buri-chan or not, and how sleeping makes you pretty.

The girls thought my werewolf drawing was "too scary",

so I crumpled it up.

They screamed and snatched it from my hands,

scolding me gently for "destroying art".

And then one smiling girl

gave me her drawing of America.

I want not go home, preeze.

{squee-ing girl via Elissa}

"Kakashi Scarecrows"

I get to teach the special needs class

once or twice each week.

To celebrate the creeping-in autumn weather,

we made Western scarecrows today

{'cuz Japanese scarecrows, or kakashi, look differently}.

We named them:

Ponta, Ichigo, & Brad.

For Halloween, we're makin' ghosties.

♥

"Sports Festival 体育祭"

"Don't you wonder what clouds taste like?"

Japan has a thousand ways

to celebrate life.

One of them comes every autumn:

Sports Festival.

We breathed pure energy that day

not air.

From relays to tug-of-wars to war reenactments

our spirits were high

and we only wanted more.

A hearty bento lunch

for a hearty runner.

{'Cause I ran so hard in the teacher's relay... Of course I'm serious...}

After lunch

all the school teams

{basketball, kendo, volleyball, and so forth}

paraded around the field

before the action began

once again.

The war reenactment

was my favorite event.

Possibly because it was just so...

Japanese-y.

GANBARE!

OTTO!

Put some ice on it, soldier

and remount your horse!

Before the final relay

the 9th grade boys

stacked themselves into pyramids

for our enjoyment.

America needs a Sports Festival, I'm convinced.

You know what?

I'll do them with my children.

{Taking notes, future husband?}

They're so much more fun

than regular ol' P.E. classes.

GANBARE!

{Music via GReeeeN}

"Kids Say the Darndest Things... in Japanese, Too"

「ハーモン先生、蝶々がきれいでしょう？」

「うん。」

「きれいじゃないよ。きもいよ。」

"Harmon-sensei, are butterflies pretty?"

"Sure are."

"No they're not. They're freakin' creepy."

「ハーモン先生、彼氏いますか？」

「いる。」

「やばっ。」

"Harmon-sensei, do you have a boyfriend?"

"Yeah."

"Crap."

「ハーモン先生、なんで日本に来た？」
「英語を教えるのために。」
「だから！」

"Harmon-sensei, why did you come to Japan?"

"To teach English."
{other student:} "Duh!" *smack*

「ハーモン先生、プリーズスマイル。」
「オケイ。」
"Harmon-sensei, please smile."
*grins* Okay.

I heart these kids,
even when they talk over the JTE teacher
or fall asleep
and don't retain a thing we teach.
They've actually given me the courage to raise teenagers someday.

{Images via here & here & here & here}

"I Want to Kiss Your Eye Five Times"

Part of the fun of teaching as a university intern

is realizing that you and the kids

are in the same boat.

They don't like midterms,

and neither do you I.

So, I turned this week's lesson

{with the 9th graders}

into a Mad Libs Love Letter party.

Heck yes.

The favorites:

{click to enlarge}

Too darn cute.

After they finished interviewing each other,

I gave them the Japanese translation

and watched their smiles

turn into grins

turn into riotous laughter.

{Una and the Lion via Briton Rivière}