Christmas parties are not for wimps.

Especially Christmas parties geared toward children.

In the end, I decided not to put too much effort into my plans for the kids' Christmas party for three reasons: 1. only 14 kids signed up and showed up; 2. they wouldn't have understood much anyway; and 3. Benni-sensei is a piss-poor planner and doesn't tell me anything when she does make a plan.

I like Benni-sensei, I really do. We just do things a little differently. When planning, I need some kind of direction. It's okay if I have to be flexible and divert and make up stuff as I go, but I need to start with something other than, "Okay, let's do this!" I have no problems putting things into action, but I need to have an idea of what the end result is supposed to be. I realize that not everyone works that way, but I do, and ignoring that fact would be kind of stupid because why would I purposefully work against my own nature?

I thought it was a Japanese thing at first (in that everybody is on the same wavelength and comes to a mutual decision together), but now I'm not so sure. Most of the time, it seems like Benni-sensei is running the show and nobody else has any idea what the hell she's doing.

But this isn't about Benni-sensei, this is about our Christmas party! It actually wasn't so bad, possibly because the 3 Jyukou boys weren't there - they typically spend most of their time beating each other up and having to be separated. As it was, the kids were pretty riled up anyway (I blame the full moon), and it was enough work trying to keep them all occupied.

Benni-sensei played "Jingle Bells" on the guitar, and the kids mostly sang along when asked (we'd even made little song books for them to read along). Then we had them write little notes to Santa Claus and put them in a little mailbox that Hitomi-san made. After that, we had them color paper ornaments for the tree we put on the wall in the lobby. This was followed by feeding time, and man, can those kids put away the food. Benni-sensei wanted me to give them a little Christmas lesson, but we decided that they weren't going to calm down enough to do that, so we played a vocabulary game in which they had to race to hit the correct picture. That entertained them well enough. We finished with the present exchange, and off they went. Not bad for two hours.

But, here's another thing I've noticed about Hitomi-san and Benni-sensei: they have no idea what these kids are up to most of the time. And like all children everywhere, the one thing they are consistently good at is making trouble. I noticed that Nene was messing around in the back storage room (which is crammed full of junk that's probably been back there for years), and then she ran off to do something else. So, I went and closed the door and turned around in time to see her leading six other kids down the hall. And I took her by the shoulders and turned her around and glared sternly at the rest of them until they all went back to the lobby. I do a lot of this kind of thing, even on regular class days - making sure that the kids are where they're supposed to be and doing what they're supposed to do. Benni-sensei can keep them entertained, I make sure they stay still for it. Not that Benni-sensei didn't make an effort, but it's one thing to ask them to stop running and another thing to cut them off and herd them back to the main group. I know what a complaint sounds like no matter what language it's in, but they also know that I'm not playing around.

I don't mind being the one who makes sure that nobody's getting into trouble. It gives me something to do other than stand around and wonder what everyone's talking about. And it reinforces to the kids the idea that I'm not some kind of pushover just because of a language barrier.

All in all, though, it was a good party. Everybody seemed to have a good time, and I certainly can't complaing about that.

They make a good picture, don't they? On the far left is Hitomi-san and her daughter (whose name is either Kokora or Kokona, I'm still not sure), and on the far right is Benni-sensei. Most of these students are mine.

One thing's certain, these kids can eat!

Ayuka-chan (my student) and Raito-chan (who will be Benni-sensei's student as of Monday).

Playing a vocabulary game with the kids. Rio won. Yeah, the 4 y/o beat a bunch of older kids, without hardly any help at all. I swear, she's like some kind of little genius.

Our Christmas tree on the wall. The kids helped decorate it.