June 28, Day 91: First day of water play…
In the summer months, we pull out the inflatable pools, squirt guns, bubbles, chalk, and watering buckets for what’s called “water play” during the day. It’s all fun and games until someone gets squirted in the face. I’ll be honest, it’s hard being the teacher when there are 16 soggy, hungry kindergartners who need help buttoning their shirts. Oh, and I was soggy and hungry too. I think the process will get easier with repetition, but I hope I get better at changing out of wet clothes (and changing little children out of wet clothes). Remind me to bring an adult-sized towel to work tomorrow because today I tried to dry myself with a dish towel haha.
June 29, Day 92:
Today we celebrated MeySen’s 56th birthday! The Japanese teachers put on a skit for the kids to explain the history of MeySen. They asked the English teachers to participate by holding a couple props, so I was the ‘Spring Building’ (try to find me and my roof hat in the photo). After the program, we ate a special snack in our classrooms (popcorn) and sang happy birthday a few times. Woo hoo!
June 30, Day 93: Pajama Day!
This week is full of special days, and today I wore my pajamas to school. Well, I supposed I should air-quote when I say “pajamas” because my outfit was not what I actually wear to bed (a baggy t-shirt and shorts). The free lilac jersey I got from the baseball game on Sunday actually resembled a pajama top, so I paired it with loose pants and borrowed one of those sleepy-eye-masks from a friend. Voila! Some might call it strange that I haven’t owned a pajama set since I was in elementary school, but my family doesn’t do the matching P.J. tradition on Christmas Eve and I find cotton T-shirts more comfortable than slippery satin. My students looked even CUTER than normal in their pajamas and we had a lot of fun eating a special snack while watching Minions in the Big Hall (AKA the gym) accompanied by stuffed animals from home. Since the attention span of a four-year old is short, we only made it through about 20 minutes of the movie before kids started wiggling. Today felt like Friday.
July 1, Day 94:
Teaching went well today. I ate pizza for dinner. Had a movie night with some fun coworkers. The hydrangeas looked pretty this morning. It was a good Friday.
July 2, Day 95:
Spent the morning cleaning, organizing, and calling home. In the afternoon, I went to an art supply store. Finally! Walked away with a watercolor set, three paintbrushes, postcard-sized watercolor paper, a Miffy stamp set, and some thin wire to make mobiles out of sea glass and.or dried flowers. Excited to make some art in my free time 🙂 Headed to the beach again tomorrow where I’ll hopefully find some more sea glass! I took a photo of this Japanese paint section because it reminded me of the containers of fishing bait my dad uses. Probably smells a lot better though.
July 3, Day 96:
Returned to Shobutahama beach for another day in the sun! This time, we brought a picnic lunch. We accidentally planted ourselves in near proximity of a decomposing fish whose smell unfortunately made most of us lose our appetites… We moved to a different spot and played some beach volleyball, looked for sea glass, and swam in the water. I was able to finish my apple slices before we left. Women in Japan try to hide as much skin as possible, so beach fashion is very interesting. Some were wearing full-length dresses in the water, some were wearing one-piece swim suits, and some were wearing long-sleeve swim shirts, but I saw very few bikinis. Most of the women were sitting under umbrellas or pop-up tents. I was wearing a tank top and shorts, but felt people staring a bit too hard. Foreigners always get strange looks, but today especially, I felt very different. As expected though.
July 4, Day 97:
While all my family and friends light their fireworks and munch on watermelon, it’s just another day of work in Japan. I made fried rice for dinner but I suppose I should’ve tried to find a hot dog or something…
July 5, Day 98:
Music class. I expected my class to walk into a small room with a piano and a music teacher, but instead, we met in the big hall with ALL the kindergarten classes (at least 130 kids) and the Japanese course teachers performed 40 minutes of songs and dances. All in Japanese of course, so I pretended to know what we were singing about.
July 6, Day 99:
Round 2 of parent-teacher conferences after school today. This time, the conferences were a lot less stressful because I had plenty to say about each student. I was a lot less nervous than I thought I would be.
July 7, Day 100:
Today was a very busy day. Not only was it my 100th day, I was also observed by my trainer, participated in the Tanabata Festival skit, and met with more parents for conferences. I ate sushi for dinner. Mochi for dessert. Cheers to 100 days in Japan!
July 8, Day 101:
Two hour meetings on a Friday afternoon after a long day/long week of teaching aren’t my favorite. Arrived at work at 7:35am, left work at 7:15pm. Hungry.
July 9, Day 102:
Celebrated a friend’s birthday this evening! We ate dumplings and red bean buns at Din Tai Fung in Sendai Station, clinked a drink from a British bar, and sang our hearts out at karaoke. Apparently karaoke is becoming a regular occurrence in my schedule. We also tried to access an observatory deck, but it was closed by the time we got to the 32nd floor. Met some very fun Japanese people and will definitely return to the British bar someday. Returned home via Uber at nearly 2 in the morning. Kindergarten teachers can have fun too!
July 10, Day 103:
Did a lot of shopping today… all before 1:00pm. I walked 25 minutes to Izumi Chuo, stopped in MUJI for some socks and a green pen, picked up stamp ink and blue stickers for Blue Day from Daiso, browsed the shoe selection at ABC mart, and discovered my new favorite thrift store: 2nd street. I bought 3 dresses for 1500 yen (about 15 dollars). There were also lots of designer handbags for sale at a much cheaper price than you’d find in other stores. After a long phone call with a beloved group of friends from home, I went to the Sports Depo store to buy some long shorts for water play and a pair of shoes on sale. What a productive day.
July 11, Day 104:
Today I started assessing my students for Unit 2. This is the last full week of the unit!