More Culture Club

Every Tuesday our fourth grade students have a culture club where they learn about Japanese culture. Mine is Tea Ceremony and Joanna's is Flower Arranging. I love Tea Ceremony because along with the green tea, we get a cultural snack. They are always delicious and creative. Next week is our last culture club and the students' parents will come to watch how the students do. I will certainly miss the treats. The students always laugh because I like to take a picture of what we are about to eat. Every thing is edible except for the plate and paper!

Pet Cemetery

I don't know why but at the beginning of the year there were many dead bugs around the classroom and outside. For some bizarre reason, and I'm still not sure why, I decided to start a class Pet Cemetery using a plastic container that I somehow acquired. I wrote Sun Class Pet Cemetery on the outside and as the year went on, dead bugs kept getting added to it. Some students were totally disgusted and others were totally intrigued. We kept it going until last week when we were walking around our local park observing Winter and I decided that it would be a good time to put them to rest. We took the bugs with us and at the end of class, we buried the bugs (pets). They all sang a solemn song that we sang during Open House and many even made a cross and added flowers to the grave. It was one of the strangest ideas that I've ever had but one of the coolest.

Our Pet (Bug) Cemetery!

Teaching Reward

Teaching is difficult but very rewarding and sometimes you feel that reward in different ways. We just finished with our Open House and had one day off before we were back in the classroom with the students. They were awesome but were tired and Joanna informed me that the mother of one of our students, who is Sri Lankan, told her that she was going to cook us some Sri Lankan food. On Monday during our student pickup, the mother came to pick up her son and rolled down the window with a bag in her hand. It was the food! Rachel had made us dinner but when we got home and showed her the food, she agreed that we could take her dinner for lunch the next day and we would all partake in eating the Sri Lankan food. It was amazing! We were wondering if there was any way that we could pay her every week to deliver some of her delicious food on Monday to start our week. We'll never ask of course however, it is nice to be rewarded once in awhile for being a teacher.

Some perfectly spicy and delicious Curry Chicken and Curry Potato. So good!!!!!

Open House Tomorrow!

As any teacher knows, Open House can be a special time to showcase their students' accomplishments and here in Japan is no exception. However, in our program we showcase our students' English abilities by doing a play or presentation. I am used to having my students do an Independent Project when I taught sixth grade and I enjoyed letting my students show their leadership and independence by letting them prepare most of their presentation. This year I am teaching fourth grade with Joanna and I have followed her lead as our students are going to present Aesop's Fables. I am so lucky to have Joanna take the lead and I have learned a lot from her as our students have worked to hard to memorize their lines and songs. I can't wait for tomorrow because I know our students will do a fantastic job!

 Our students came up with their own Moral of the Fable after listening to each fable.

 Morals from the other group.

Our students drew their own pictures for the backdrop of where they are performing. So proud of them!

Coming Home!

Rachel and I set out yesterday to get some things for our class and we enjoyed our time walking, especially through the old neighborhood. We went to Don Quijote and then to Seiyu which is the Walmart of Japan. We ventured down to our old stomping grounds in Ooka and found the old Kimisawa which is now a Max Value but hasn't changed a bit. One of the best things they have is their delicious yakitori. We stopped in for a bite (and another Strong Zero for me) and continued down our historical path. We found some coed team playing softball which make it feel like spring again. We then found our old house and many of the surroundings that we used to experience. We made it to the bulk store and were able to purchase some items to make us feel good. We were almost home and I thought we could stop to get some sweets and I could tell at that point that Rachel was tired and wanted to get home. I was initially upset, sad, whatever, and then I realized that the most important thing was that I was able to spend time with by Baby Girl! I think for her it was a trip to the store but for me its was so much more. It was spending time with my amazing daughter and I'm not sure how many more of these I'll get...

The beer machine now has a swipe place for you ID. Brilliant!

 We love the Don't Poop but also the random shoe!

Yo yo yo!!!

 The old rice fields!

 Drying the fish!

 Overkill store.

Don't even know how to explain this one.

They are watching us!

 Sorry. Couldn't even take a pic before we ate them!

Here it comes!

 One of my first geocaches that I placed here in Japan.

 Almost home!

 Almost...

Home!

The good ole crossing.

So goofy!

   The joys of teaching with my husband this year has been his goofiness!  He can always make me laugh as a spouse.  He still makes my grown children laugh and now to see our students laugh brings joy to my heart.
   I have come out of my comfort zone to amuse our students - for him this year!  "Life should be fun!" is his mantra and more of us should think of that thought!  We can get caught up in policies, opinions and rights as a human being but to think of laughing- nothing can be better than that!
 

Revenge of the Dog

Why does it seem like our posts are getting farther and farther apart. I think it is because we are approaching Open House at our school and it is sapping a lot of our energy. Anyway, enough excuses. Awhile back I posted about the dog stickers and how we were having fun putting them in different places to annoy Joanna. Well the other morning Joanna started laughing and she was looking at my pillow which I normally torture throughout the night. I thought she was making fun of the way I sleep with it however I then realized something. The Dog Sticker! I guess she put it under my pillow cover weeks ago and I never realized it. Who knows where she put the other stickers?!?!