fun things that happened this week

(no food, sorry . . . okay, there is a little at the end. the next three posts, I promise)

Despite the rollercoaster ride that has been working for GEOS this month, I still love my job. I mean it, I do. I LOVE my job, which is why I'm willing to fight so hard to keep doing it. I have not once woken up in the morning and thought, "Jeez, I really don't feel like working today." Now, I admit, I've woken up and thought, "Just the toddlers to get through, and I'm good for the day." But that's only on Friday and Saturday. Other than that, I enjoy coming in to work. Even when I have six hours between classes.

Which leads me to one awesome thing that happened this week: Rio's mother looking kind of shocked when I told her that. "You have 6 hours before your first class today? And you still come in? Why? What do you do?"

The answer to this demonstrates how focused I am on my own enjoyment: "Eh, it's more fun here than it is at my apartment. I hang out with Benni-sensei and Hitomi-san, I chat with Benni-sensei's students, I sit in my room and listen to my iPod."

Seriously, I have an awesome job. Two days a week, I can hang around in my jeans because my classes don't start until 6pm. Thursdays, we go out to lunch or make a big lunch at the school (this week, we went to a shabu shabu restaurant, which was highly entertaining). Wednesdays, I ride around in the afternoon and run all my little errands and get lunch at Beisia. Fridays, Benni-sensei and I sometimes go out for ramen and gyoza at 10pm. And on Saturdays, I'm done by 7pm. It's a terrific gig I've got here.

And, yes, I adore my students. Even my kid students have their moments.

1. I've mentioned my class with two 5-year old boys. I really can't stand N, because he will not do anything. I'd be happy if he'd just sit and make paper airplanes, but he's always distracting K, who will work for me. Today, K worked nicely on writing his letters, and then I had him practice writing his name. I wrote it out in the alphabet for him, and he copied it. Then, for the hell of it, I wrote his name in hiragana, and he clapped his hands and grinned at me. Not sure what it was about, but it was funny.

2. I have a class of 4 12-year olds who can be pretty funny and not so bad, if they're on task. For some reason, they got to practicing cursive writing; I have no idea how or why. So, I spent ten minutes showing them how to write their names in cursive. They also found my signature absolutely hysterical, but I've found that most Japanese do.

3. One of my students signed papers to buy a house this week, and he invited the whole class for the housewarming party in April. Actually, this is one of my favorite classes. They're a Tuesday class, so they were one of my first classes, and they welcomed me with sweets and fresh-ground coffee. I am so happy that they're sticking through the move.

4. Naofumi-san goes to Hamamatsu once a month for business, and he always brings something back for us. This time, he brought back tuna & cheese cubes. Now, I like tuna, and I like cheese, and I like it mixed together, so I thought this should be edible. Unfortunately, I was wrong. This may very well be the most disgusting thing I've ever eaten. I'm quite convinced that this is what catfood tastes like, because it certainly tasted the way cat food smells. The upshot is that Benni-sensei and Naofumi-san took great pleasure in laughing uproariously at my suffering.

It looks so innocent, doesn't it? And yet, it is a horrible, vile thing.