My mean mother

Trip Start Jul 26, 2008

Trip End Aug 06, 2009

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Flag of Japan Tome, Tohoku, Japan
Saturday, February 21, 2009

Dear Mother Nature, why are you being mean? Have I been a bad child? Why must it snow when I am biking home from school and right after it was starting to get warm? There are days when I am convinced my fingers and toes would never regain feeling. I hate winter so much that I have no desire to see the Winter X Games. You can bribe me with the chance of meeting Simon Dumont, Shaun White, Levi Lavalle, Candide Thouvex, and/or Shaun Palmer; I refuse to step into snow-covered territory. Well, if it were guaranteed that I would meet ALL of them and you would pay for the trip, I might consider it...

Last week, my 6th graders taught me "Achi mitte hoi!", which is a variant of janken. The winner of janken says, "Achi mitte hoi!" and points in a certain direction. The loser has to look anywhere but the indicated direction to keep going. I've seen it played before, but this was the first time I tried. I was out after the first round.

On Tuesday, I gave one of the 3rd year classes a speaking quiz. I found out that there are a lot of BSers in the class, mainly the boys. I guess it's better than not getting an answer at all. Today the same students had a mini speaking quiz. One of them would say, "Next question, please!" which is kind of a legitimate response. Okay maybe not. Another boy said, " Japan " when asked what country he wants to visit. I also got to check their worksheets and was entertained by that. One the reasons that a girl put for being tired was "Because I need you". Another question asked about their favorite actor. The guys who had an answer almost always picked a Japanese person. The girls wrote down Brad Pitt, Will Smith, Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom (one wrote "I <3 Orli!"), and Chris Tucker.

The school year winding down, and it's interesting to see my elementary students mature into the next grade. For example, my 6th graders are ready to be out and tired of the games though their English has improved significantly. The 3rd graders are a little bit easier to control. I only have one more lesson with Elementary #3, which is closing down. I'm really sad because my bad days there are still relatively good days. The 2nd graders on Thursday discovered that I am ticklish and shout and flinch whenever someone touches me on my side (it's a reflex).

If you haven't noticed, I am falling behind on blog entries and I never send out notifications when I am catching up. This is an exception since I haven't sent out a notification in a while.

Glossary
Achi mitte hoi! - Look over there!
janken - rock, paper, scissors