Making foam with old folks

I seem to have gotten myself into some sort of Mary Kay exclusive beauty and health products club for rich old people. We sit and watch a women talk about skin cream, then put about seven kinds of cream all over other women's faces, and then we ooh and ahh about how creamy their skin looks. I enjoy the oohing and ahhing part very much.

I can't explain the foam making--there's this technique to rubbing skin cream in your hands so that it makes some foam you can store for later. But I can say that there were way, way too many fake flowers in the hostess' home. I mean there were fake flowers in vases, fake flowers covering entire walls, fake flowers sprouting from Scooby-Doo planters, and fake flowers emerging from the hands of a Buddha statue. Not that fake flowers don't have some sort of colorful appeal, and all, but they're FAKE, you know?! I don't understand fake flowers.

Sunday, I joined some of the Mary Kay-esque ladies for a Hawaiian dance luau charity fundraiser down in Amakusa, a chain of islands south of here. Yes, that's right, a Hawaiin dance fundraiser. I donned a Hawaiian dress and two leis. I collected money from the crowd. Many people commented that I looked like the most Hawaiian person there, which completely bewildered me because I possible looked like the least Hawaiian person there. I began to believe them after a while, just to humor myself. I thought, "I may just look like the most Hawaiian person here. Go me!!"

Afterwards, we attended the customary drinking party, where we relaxed and shared toasts(mine, literally: "It was super!"). For thirty minutes. After that, and I swear, the very moment the clock struck thirty minutes, dessert was served and a second wave of party goers arrived. Instantly, we were ushered out. I didn't even get to eat my cake, let alone drink any sake. I found out later that we weren't the main guests of the evening, the dancers were, so that's why our party was pooped.

Lastly, school. These days I'm really enjoying ninth grade classes. The kids are starting to look all grown up, but when they speak, they still say the same kinds of things little kids say.
Lunch time is so entertaining. The other day I brought my English-Japanese dictionary with me, and I let the students look through it. One student felt a dire need to tell me something, so I asked him to please use the dictionary and look up the words. He flipped frantically, and began to sound out 'sssrrimu, ssrimu, slim.'
Uhh-oh, I thought. What's he trying to say?
He pointed to his eye. 'Eye,' he said pointedly.
'My friend,' he continued.
'My friend eye slim.' he announced proudly, as he pointed to his friend's eyes. His friend turned to me, waving his hands in front of his face, and said 'No, no. Eye no slim'.
He pointed to himself. 'Very cute.' And he beamed.