Me vs. PlayStation 2

I'm sitting here in the teacher's room at school, flipping through magazines.

I 'taught' at Arao #5 Junior High for two weeks.
The English teacher was so timid he could barely look at me. We had some trouble planning lessons together because when we started to talk he would turn red, start sweating and become really detached. If I showed any sort of assertiveness, it would just sew another stitch onto his lips. So I became very, very quiet for those two weeks and we managed. I didn't ask about lesson plans and he only told me what I was supposed to do just before class. We did the ol' 'two-minutes-before-class briefing session'. Class was usually mostly in Japanese, which was good for my learning, but not for the kids.

That being said, the kids were a lot of fun. First time, and I don't know why, they told me about their lives, told me who they were dating in school(uhh... good?), and brought in music for me to listen to. They talked to me at lunch and gave me pictures of themselves and made me jewelry. Even the boys talked to me--i mean really, what up wit dat?
So it only lasted a short time, but #5 JH has woven another strange and beautiful pattern into the techni-colored quilt that has become 'My Japan Experience'.
I still have plans to go shopping with one of the kids, my friends and her friends.

So, I left #5 two weeks ago and landed in a fresh new desk at Arao #4. Apples and oranges. #4 strikes me as possibly the healthiest functioning school in the district. There are teacher's meetings every morning, and get this, they aren't 'form' meetings. The teachers actually talk to each other in them.

The English teachers are 'into' English. The one who swears he was born in Tennessee is a bigger football fan than I am. I mean, ha ga ga ga, well blows me down! Out of the blue, the other day at lunch I had a conversation with one of the students that actually made some sense! In English! The trick is, these teachers actually have a personal interest in English. Somehow they've managed to give their students confidence. They're doin' real good.

Now they've given me my first project, to create an English/America bulletin board.

I really only meant to write one sentence on this blog. I've been flipping through the magazines my mom sent from home, cutting out pics for the board, and you'd never guess. 'Taiko Drum Master' has been released for the PlayStation 2. If only I'd acted sooner, I'd have had my fortune. I could just bite them.