funny stuff

This is just a short...

Yesterday at school I took loads of pics of my kids... and one of my buddies, Junpei, begged me to put one of the pictures of him on the my student website (it's in Japanese and in English!). So I did... now when I went to bed... there'd been 290 hits (which included the posting of all the pics!). This morning... 306!! My kids are really nuts... I love them, but they're NUTS!!! Just for pics... haha... I'm chuffed to bits by all this of course!

Have a great day... I KNOW I will!!

Tests are OVER!

So, today was the last day of testing! It was pretty easy... I think. Though, I saw the funniest thing on my way to school... Haruki, as he walked to school, was studying. I asked him what he was studying... PE!! All the boys know how to play the sports, etc... but remembering silly stretches (which is what he was studying!) is not their strong suit. Can't say that I blame them!

At cleaning time I went to find Ryusuke... my brother... but what kind of mood do you think he was in?? A STINKY one!! Man, I've never seen a Japanese (well, he's Chinese, but you know what I mean...) kid quite that moody! SHEESH! Wanted to kick him in the butt - BIG TIME!! Oh, well...

At the end of cleaning time... Tatsuya had something to show everyone. So I went to take a look... as he put a HUGE spider on the floor!! EEEK! I promptly ran, which made him then CHASE me with the spider... I managed to hide behind several of my students... but man... I'm telling ya, that thing was GIANORMOUS!!! yuck.

Anyway... that's the tales from Tachikawa for today.

My girls... Misaki and Nozomi... how cute are they??  

FINALLY... a smile from Ryusuke... during the afternoon he was MOODY!! Not becoming... (as my mom would say!) 

Hmmmm.... what am I trying to think of??  

PEEK - A - 

BOO!! 

The 1st year boys... see ya later!  

Picture 2: Kazuhiko... too cool for school, Yuto still lookin' good... and the umbrella! Geez I love junior high kids! 

Picture 1: Kazuhiko hiding, Yuto smiling... and Junpei with the umbrella! Yuto is my FAVE baseball boy... Shhh... I don't really have favorites! ;-)  

Here's a brother-sister portrait!! Haha! Goofballs... ne? 

Don't they look happy to be done for the day?? One more day buddies!!  

Getting Tougher!

This week is KILLING me! I'm not being used in class because of testing, but this is the second to last time I'll be at Tachikawa Junior high before I leave. It's killing me that I'm sitting at a desk being a deadhead!! Grrr...

And am I going to elementary school?? Oh no!! That would make sense. Grrrr... Oh well...

It doesn't help that all my kids are asking me when I'm leaving. And I tell them and they tell me they don't want me to leave... it's just getting tough. Talking all about it last night with my good friends the Ota's I almost started crying... and that was just talking about having to say goodbye.

Oh well... I'm going to make the most of my last weeks and just enjoy my students. Or something like that...

Anyway... I'm going to post some happy pics from today! I swear after testing is the best time to take pics of my students... they're in such a good mood because one day of testing is over. Heehee... sneaky me... that's when I get some great pics. Just look and see...

Latas...

English Camp!

This weekend I spent camping on a mountain with 32 high school girls, 8 other foreigners, and 4 other Japanese teachers! It was a blast!! I'm completely wrecked... but needless to say we had a great time. Lots of bonding with the girls... and lots of fun had by all... a sample of the pictures are to follow! Enjoy... I'm off to bed. :-) Night!

On the steps, English teachers and kids!! Great group! 

Now this time... just the kids! BANZAI in the back! 

All the teachers... say "ROBBIE!" 

Lauren with Shiho on her shoulders!! Light as a feather!! 

Lauren, Nao, Kaori and me... last day with the kids! These girls are 3nensei... and speak GREAT English! 

Yu didn't know I was taking this picture... smile?!? :-) 

What are older sisters good at....?

Answer: being nosy and giving our little brothers a hard time!! :-) And how does that translate to Japan... well, I have some boys that are in effect my little brothers. Hiroshi, Kazuki, Yuhei and Kazuho. Now the other day, on my way to the post office, I saw Kazuho waiting with Kazuki's girlfriend... which sent all sorts of bells off... who was HE waiting for?
So yesterday, like a good big sister, I gave him all sorts of trouble about it! He told me her last name... but that's it (Igarashi... very helpful Kazuho!)... but I then cornered him into pinky swearing to tell me today (as he was on his way to the doctor... I've been made to wait!).
I love this game!! This is more fun than harrassing my own brothers. :-) The main thing these kids are afraid of is that they'll be found out... because "dating" (in the cute junior high kind of way) is majorly ILLEGAL by school rules. Nuts, eh?

I'm off to study some Japanese... I have been REALLY bad lately. REALLY bad!! And I have my lesson tonight... :-)

Good byes...

I had another set of goodbyes today... this time it was really bad... cried for two of my four classes this morning. I've been teaching the 3rd graders for 3 years and remember all of them... and am going to miss their smiling faces... and unconditional loving!! :-( Seriously... am a sad bunny! But on the up side... I will get to see them one more time when I go to that school (my fave) one more time in July. Man, this is getting tough... though this time... my junior high boys didn't laugh when I told them... they actually seemed a bit sympathetic... *sigh*

Here's my buddy Yuto... I only got two pics of him... both with his catcher's mask on! He's number two on the all-region team... number one? Our pitcher! 

Kazuhiko... wow! Does he not look like a pro?? Holy cow!? And the biggest surprise for me... he's a lefty! :-)  

Kendo... not entirely sure who this is... it might be Tatsuma... man I love that kid!! 

Toshiki... my hurdler buddy! He's the one in the middle... this heat didn't go so well... but he still managed to win the final!  

Taikai - Day 2 and 3

So... the sports tournament was GREAT!! :-) Day 2 ended wonderfully...

I started the day watching my Tachikawa baseball team CREAM Lauren's baseball team (7-0, was called at the end of the 5th inning!). Bad for her team... but man, I loved watching those boys win by SO much. Then I watched a little bit of basketball... my Amarume boys were being beaten badly... so I went to kendo!

My Tachikawa girls won the tournament... and my Amarume boys took second to Lauren's boys. I didn't mind too much because my boys seriously weren't as strong as Fujishima. But they came REALLY close! Which made me super proud... especially of Saito Ken and Kitagawa Daichi... they both won their matches. :-) Plus, they're just nice kids! After the kendo, I headed to the track. Where I saw a bunch of my old students... met Lauren's old student council president (Takamine... freaked him out too, cuz I knew who he was!!)... and cheered for my kids.

There were 4 relays: the amateur and the pros! ;-) My girls took second in both. And my boys... they took first in both. I've never been more nervous for a 4x100m relay than I was before my pros ran! Toshiki, Daisuke, Shunsuke, and Koya... I was SO nervous for them!! I love those boys... so, it was crazy to watch... but they were AWESOME and tore up the track!! :-)

After that I watched my Amarume baseball team (who won their first game in a HUGE surprise win!!) lose to a Tsuruoka school.

Day 3 - BASEBALL!!

I watched the morning game for Tachikawa... they beat the team 1-0. It wasn't as close as the score would look... the kids had everything under control.

Then there was a couple hour gap before the championship game... so I went to the S-mall. Where I met my Chinese brother!! Ryusuke was there... I LOVE that kid! He can come live with me in Hawaii anytime. He rocks!! Then I met Lauren for lunch at Jusco before heading back for the 2 o'clock baseball game.

I got there and the game had already started!! BOOO!! Was so annoyed... but we were already a couple points up. It was awesome. Our pitcher didn't crack once... he got tired and threw a few more balls, but didn't crack. Katsuya, the center fielder, made the most beautiful catch I've ever seen! It was AWESOME. He also got named for the play of the game with that one. It was made on the final out as well.

HAIL the conquering heroes!! Onward and upward to the ken-taikai (all-state sports tourney)!!

Taikai - Day 1

Today was the first day of the big sports meet. In Japan they don't have sports seasons... instead ALL the teams prepare for a meet on one weekend in June. This weekend is the one!!
So, today... instead of choosing just ONE sport to watch I floated between 3 sports... kendo, track and gymnastics. Now, it was VERY easy to float between kendo and track... but for gymnastics I had to drive from Tsuruoka to Sakata. Which I decided was worth it because 4 of my FAVE students are gymnastics boys (forget the rhythmic gymnastics girls!! blah... give me tumbling any day!!).

The big hit on the day were my home-made spectator shirts!! I made one for Amarume and one for Tachikawa!! The one for Amarume had an inside joke in it... it has to do with how people say my last name in Japanese. My name in Japanese is "su-ma-i-su" which to some of my students sounds similar to " su-pa-i-su." So on the back of my Amarume shirt I put... Give me some SU-PA-I-SU (in Japanese!). My gymnastics boys were the ones who really got it... and had a good chuckle.

Anyway, it's bed time for bonzo as it's another big, busy day at the tournament tomorrow!

Here's Kazuki... the crazy seito-kaicho!! Every other pic I tried to take of him went awry... but this one... is the best!! This is the ultra-genki kid I love... but has been missing most of the week because he's been "nemui" 

Wataru... formerly Wataru of the ghetto hat picture... now apparently wants to be James Bond!! 

I LOVE this kid!! Ryuichiro is the younger son of one of my old teachers... he's SUCH a cutie!! 

First of many...

Today I had to say goodbye for the first time...

I went to one of my kindergartens for the last time this morning. Now it's not as if I go very often (about 6-7 times a year), but still it was a goodbye. You'd think that I'd be ok saying goodbye to 4-5 year olds that I hardly see... but, no I wasn't ok. In fact, when I was asked to say something... I got all worked up and only managed to blurt out something about having fun every time I came to play and then thank you. And then I cried... mopped up my face and was ok. A little later... a 4 year old girl told me that I shouldn't cry. That was precious... and by that time I'd gotten it all together.

GEESH... does this make me the biggest SAP ever?

chuckle of the week... so far...

Jeopardy question: This man comes from Texas. He lives in America. Many people around the world do not like him, but he is the president.

answer: Eminem*

Nearly fell over with that one!

OW!!!!

Last night I went to kendo with Kirsty. This week, in preparation for the big sports tournament at the weekend, there's no evening kendo! AAAAH! Knowing this I asked Kirsty to come with her. So, I headed over to hers after school yesterday and we headed to Shinjo for kendo.

Well, now that the weather is HOT kendo is getting a bit more intense... AND smelly! We had a really good practice that included some much needed combination practice. One combination was men/hiki-kote (head/hit the hand going backwards). OUCH!! Kirsty hit right on almost the whole time, but once she hit a little off the mark... and now I have a bruise on my hand. :-(
Which, when you think about it, is quite special!

Anyway... I'm supposed to teach the devil children today... just hope I don't kill any of them! Have a great day!

Kosuke... how many times do I have to tell you? You're NOT tough! No matter how hard you try to be...  

Why is there only ONE kid who likes having his picture taken? Just ONE!!! Once again... yay for my Chinese brother!