Who woulda thunk?
(Some brief thoughts on my activities as a teacher, hanging out with the other teachers at my schools, and the silliness of students in general. More to come, and by that I mean a more thorough examination of my first week actually teaching classes, later. When I’m not so tired. And perhaps I had a little too much reishuu. But it’s so delicious…)
Junior High School students are so shy you have to pry any type of question from them, but mention Sailor Moon and they all get interested. (Or Naruto. Or Dragon Ball Z. Or a popular J-pop group, like Greeeen.)
Every single person on Iki wants to know if I have a boyfriend. (And by every person, I mean every student. My favorite answer right now is, “Yes. I have five boyfriends.” Then there’s an ensuing, “Eeeeeeh?!” at which point I say, “No, I don’t have a boyfriend.” and they all get a little sad.)
Have officially been asked about my piercing. Though one teacher said it was “kawaii,” which means cute. I believe this is progress.
At enkais-parties-I can tease my Kyoto-sensei-Vice principle #3-who I will call Trouble Maker from now on. Trouble Maker and I had a drinking contest, essentially, which he won. While I drank more of the sake, he can handle his shochu (Japanese whiskey) much better than I can. But I totally Ganbatta’d. (That’s such amazing Jengrish.)
That thirteen- and fourteen-year old students would get such a kick out of pictionairy, bingo, and stickers. I’m glad though. I certainly get a kick out of stickers. It’s nice to know that I’m not the only one.
So many Japanese people don’t realize the Grand Canyon is in Arizona.
And they can’t figure out what the hell Washington State has to do with anything until I say the name “Ichiro.” (Though ask an American student where Kumamoto prefecture is in Japan and see whether they can answer correctly. Yeah. That’s what I thought.)
That the X-box would go down in price, so now I think I’ll actually buy one. 
Who woulda thunk I’m a teacher? Totally weird. 
I think once they get used to me we’ll all have a lot of fun together. But I’m a new person, and my personality is very different from their former ALT.
However, I’m totally going to make their day next week when I give them candy as a prize! (!) This is not usually allowed in Japanese schools, but I got special permission from Trouble Maker.
…hopefully they won’t expect candy every time after that.
Kids can tell when you are sincere and when you care about them faster than any other group. They won’t necessarily understand sarcasm, but they will know bullshit when they hear it.
I am a middle school principal and superintendent of schools. Middle school is quite an age- still a kid but developing the raging hormones. Little things like stickers, a ribbon for first place, etc. still mean a lot to them. I thought there were some striking similarities among the middle school age kids in the Japanese class rooms I visited and the Kansas kids. They are curious. They cling to a group. They have a sense of humor. The list goes on…even body odor!
When I stepped over a fence, with my long legs, something I think nothing about everyday, I caused a burst of laughter among them.
Enjoy. And consume high energy foods…you will need them if you have to keep up.
Dave from Kansas