I'm tired and I need a couple days all to myself, but I won't be getting that anytime soon. I really want to sleep right now, but it's a bit early to hit the sack. This weekend really flew by...
CHRISTMAS TREE & MY PRIDE
On Friday I finished my first massive Christmas collage. Each student made a leaf for the tree and wrote their Christmas wish on it. So I put them all together to form this big Christmas tree. It turned out really nice.
Some students made ornaments and their artwork is amazing. Some students made gingerbread men and others made snowflakes.
Once we hung up the collage in the hall, I took a step back to look at it. Something seemed wrong and stared at it for a while, but after being unable to spot the problem, I walked away.
A few minutes later, one of the teachers tells me that "Christmas" was spelled wrong. I looked, and indeed, it was spelled as: "ChriTSmas." Doh! haha
They didn't feel like changing it because they felt that students wouldn't notice it anyway. But I CARE! Sheesh - I insisted that we correct it. Even if they didn't notice, someone else would!
Then the same teacher says some along the lines of, "Doesn't this hurt your pride (in reference to the spelling error)?" LOL. I thought, well not until you mentioned it! I wasn't even thinking about that.
They have a way with words, huh? I forgot to bring my camera to take a picture of it though. =(
TAIKO FOR OLD PEOPLE
On Saturday, I thought I should be a good teacher and I went and watched some of my elementary students perform. They were really shocked to see me there, but their little skit was really cute.
Then I had 2 taiko performances to do at my town's elderly home. I thought the old people were so cute. Our first performance was okay, but our second one was a lot better.
We also had to do this Lion Dance, where we are inside this lion costume and we just sorta play Follow the Leader. My friend and I had no idea what we were doing. But the lion goes around snapping at people's heads. I think it's for good luck. We made one old man cry.
The Chaos Inside of the Lion Costume
I wasn't so nervous for these performances since we got our debut performance out of the way. It's so much easier now. Next year we start on a new and much longer song. Fun! And! We earned our head gear! Whoo hoo! One of the members also made us wrist bands and a case for our sticks as a Christmas gift. Aw =)
Later that night we had an End of the Year Taiko Party. I wasn't able to go to the whole thing, but I showed up and got a good laugh or two.
The Taiko GangTHE TEST
I did decent on the Japanese Language Test I had to take. Scored higher than most of my classmates and I got above the average, which was a relief for me. I know I should've studied harder and gone to more classes, but honestly, the days that I didn't go to class I was either really tired, had a lesson plan to do or was just busy. But I don't feel that bad because I live in a town where hardly anyone speaks English. So I get plenty of practice.
FAKE TREE VS REAL TREE
Does having a fake Christmas tree mean you're less American than someone who uses a real Christmas tree? The reason I say this is because my Japanese friend asked me if I used a real Christmas tree and I said no. She responded, "Are you sure you're American?"
Geez woman!
She, and many other Japanese people, are under the impression that all Americans use real Christmas trees, whereas in Japan, they use fake ones. Real = American tradition.
I was a little offended by this and I never understood what the big deal was. In a world that's now becoming more concerned with conservation and recycling, you would think that everyone would give fake trees a break. Come on now.
Christmas 2006, Washington OOO A WARM TOILET
I'm just curious. I have a toilet that is always warm when I sit on it. It's a wonderful asset to my uninsulated apartment.
But sometimes, there are these same warm toilets in public restrooms. So I wonder: If you're in a public restroom and the toilet "looks" clean and is warm are you more likely to just say "screw it" and just sit on it?
Oooo germs. But does the warmness make you put your guard down? Is that all it takes to make us vulnerable?
Not saying that I've tried it or anything, but you know - just wondering.
Posts
2 comments:
so i finally have a moment to myself to catch up on what my darling ditter is doing.. sorry for a late comment on a late post LOL but aww how cute your balloon of pride has just deflated a little inside :> i hope you still had an aweomse X-mas even i wasn't there which would've made it alot better, eh eh?? XD i was thoroughly depressed this x-mas to be away from you guys and i honestly did not enjoy my holiday cuz i was 2 kinds of sick: lung sick and homesick LOL. i hope you are having fun! now on to winter semester classes.. woot.
Hey Patio san ^_^x this is Baick-san from Nihongo class back at UCI (you haven't forgotten me right? :P). Haha seems like your having a lot of fun teaching in Japan and stuff. Ganbatte! And know that we can't wait when you do come back to the states so we can hang out again ^_^x. Have fun! (I'm jealous, but perhaps when I get into the JET program, I might see you there eh?)
Post a Comment