Little Surprises: In All Shapes & Sizes

Surprises. Little gifts makes me happy, whether they're in the form of an actual material, an action or a person - they make me feel good. Today I had a few.

This morning I woke up cold and I really, really didn't want to get off of my futon. I despise having to change out of my pj-j's and into cold, work clothes. But it must be done.


TSUBAKI PRESCHOOL: I WISH I WAS AN OCTOPUS WITH 8 ARMS
I think I mentioned this before, but despite this preschool having the most kids, it is my favorite one. I also visit this one much more frequently than the others so I'm getting used to the kids as they are to me. I love going to preschools because I can wear jeans and really

Today's lesson:

• "If You're Happy & You Know It"
  
• Goal: Learn the facial expression, "Happy"
• Goal: Learn to "clap"
• Goal: Learn to "stomp"
• Goal: Learn "hands"
• Goal: Learn "feet"
• Goal: Learn cheer, "hooray!"
  
  
• "Open/Shut Them"
• Goal: Learn "hands", emphasize
• Goal: Learn "open" & "shut"
• Goal: Emphasize "clap"
• Goal: Learn "lap"
  
  
• Itsy Bitsy Spider
• Goal: Story Time! Intrigue them. Made cutouts and a cute spider =)
• Goal: Learn "spider"
• Goal: Learn "sun"
• Goal: Learn "rain"
  
  
• Red Light/Green Light
• Goal: Game Time!
  
• Goal: Learn "green," "yellow," "red"
• Goal: Learn "stop," "go slowly," "go!"
• Goal: Listening skills
• Goal: Learn "stoplight"
  

It was a short lesson and I think it went well. Everything was short and sweet and I always had them moving. They need to work on their red/green light skills though. When I say stop - that doesn't mean attack me! But it's so fun to play with them and when you have all these kids hugging your legs when they finally reach you, how can you resist their cuteness?

I managed to spread myself evenly with all the kids. I went from playing restaurant, to teaching them how to sing happy birthday (which they sing as "happy bas-day!") and emphasizing that drinking sake was bad!, to building swords out of legos and playing with clay.

Some kids are so sweet and others always want their way. We had to punish some kids today by locking the door on them and leaving them outside. They had gone out in the rain to play when they knew they weren't supposed to. So of course, they cried their eyes out. Tough lesson.

The kids have a pet turtle and I think they scared the crap out of it by yelling at it. Poor thing...

It was a fun day though and it really is a good feeling to have see so many kids be so excited that you're there for the day. They clung onto me wherever they could. Some sat on my feet and I couldn't walk, others put their hands in my back pockets - which was risky cause I had to make sure they didn't pull my pants down, and some clung onto the ones that were clung to me. These are moments where I wish I had more than two arms. I had some that were sad that I wasn't eat lunch at their table (but I had eaten at their table during my last visit), and the best part of this preschool is that they also have babies. =) I always make an effort to go squeeze them. So darn cute!

Even though it's not really a surprise, I consider these little kids one of those "happy gifts" that make me feel good. Like I said before, every week only gets better.


CHRYSSIE, LET'S TAKE A BREAK!
Sometimes when I'm working at the town hall in the Board of Education (BoE) department, my co-worker will say, "Chryssie let's take a break" and hand me some food or coffee. It usually occurs 2 hours after lunch and I find it a bit humorous. It seems so unnatural. When they say "let's take a break" I'm caught a bit off guard because I thought they were already on break since they seemed to be just talking and laughing just moments ago. Apparently that was working and now that I'm munching on Pocky, it's break time. LOL.

And break time lasts only as long as it takes you to eat a single Pocky stick: 10 seconds.


The little gift that I got at the BoE was a cup of yogurt. It was from our section's top boss, who is such a kind man, but it was a very random gesture. He usually only tries to speak to me - and chuckles at his own broken English. But today, before I was leaving he comes to my desk and says, "Chryssie-chan! Can you eat yogurt? Please, eat!"

I don't really care for yogurt, but I took it because the gesture is what matters.


I HAVE THE BEST PARENTS
Christmas #3 occurred today. This package came equipped with a crochet magazine, Wired mag, movies and a bunch of food items. I feel special.

Thank you Mom & Dad! =)


TONIGHT, I DIDN'T EAT DINNER ALONE
Sometimes it does suck to cook yourself dinner and eat it all by yourself. Most of the time I don't think of it like that, so it doesn't bother me. But sometimes I realize it. Every Tuesday though I teach my Japanese friend and we eat dinner together at her home. Tonight's dinner was my all-time favorite from her. It was so simple, but for some reason I enjoyed it all: minestrone soup (perfect! it's so cold now!), fried chicken & rice, pickled cucumbers and salad.

The salad had rolled up, thinly sliced pieces of ham and it was the best cold-cut ham I have ever tasted. It was a lot like prosciutto - delicate and really delicious.

We had great conversations tonight and it makes me happy to see that we can understand each other's jokes and laugh together. Sometimes when language is such a barrier you really want to say something funny, but you either don't know how to say it or it comes out wrong. But when you both finally laugh at the same thing, it's such an accomplishment. I notice these kinds of things.

At one point I was nearly in tears. I was reading her journal and she had visited her son in college; she had the following to say: "He had cleaned his room, but his kitchen was very dirty!" This instantly reminded me of my mom and that's exactly what she would say. I laughed so much when I read this.

Then she told me that they treated her son to Yakiniku (grilled beef) and she goes, "he [her son] doesn't eat meat."
I reply, "oh! he's a vegetarian?"
She goes, "No, no, he's a poor college student!"

Haha. Culture transcends nations.


She gave me this really pretty ceramic bowl from Kanazawa (it's their specialty craft) and I was so grateful. I didn't know what I did to deserve this, but I'm thankful. I've never had a Japanese bowl given to me as a gift before, so I'm sure I will use this one frequently.



CHRYSSIE, WANT TO BE OUR REINDEER?
Haha, excuse me? Apparently, I signed myself up to dress up as the reindeer for Tsubaki Preschool's Christmas Show in December.

I have no idea what I'll be doing as a reindeer, but my God, this will be hilarious.

I really do wonder if they ask me to do this stuff for shits and grins. But if it'll give them a chuckle, I'm down.