Past Few Weeks

The past weeks have been less eventful than my trip to Korea and the weeks before, though life here does not stay boring for long. I got back from Korea late on a wednesday night, taught the next two days at middle school, and then headed south to see the tallest waterfall in Japan and meet up with other Wakayama JETs. As I'm sure you can imagine, the waterfall was huge, and is set up in the mountains against really striking red and orange shrines. It is a bit of a hike (only about 45 minutes or so) to the falls, and much to my suprise... people were actually complaining about the hike! Only about 3 months post Kilimanjaro I was in complete and utter disbelief! I had a great time though, and that night we "camped" out near the coast, which actually involved sleeping in cabins.





Unfortunantly all the traveling caught up with me and I got sick that monday. Despite my better judgement I went to school that monday. I had heard that it was really looked down upon to actually use your sick days, and I felt guilty using a sick day after I had just taken off two days to go to Korea. Monday was also my first day teaching in elementary school, and it was a shock at first. Unlike middle school where there is always another teacher leading the class I was on my own. On my own in front of kids who spoke no english. Of all days to be sick with a fever this was not a good one to pick. My first day, my teacher had dumped me in front of a class of screaming 6 year olds and decided her best plan of action was to photograph me teaching the kids for the school yearbook.

Over the past 2 weeks I have become a lot more comfortable alone in front of a class of kids. Out of necessity I guess. I have found that as long as you can get the kids to understand, they will probablly love it, and even when they dont understand, they still adore you. That said, I basically have to struggle through the class in Japanese, which for me is no small ordeal. The worst is when the kids start shouting things back in japanese. They always mean well, and they are often asking me questions or commenting on something I just said. "what is you favorite insect?!" is clearly a dire question that needs to answered ASAP in the eyes of a 6 year old. But understanding small child Japanese is an interesting challenge. Especially when I am trying my hardest to lead the class and the principle has decided he will observe my class today. Aside from the first day, it has gone really well, and each class presents a fun challenge.