Chit-Chat

At my current job, I am surrounded by students from over 40 different countries who have come to our language school to learn English. Most of the students are in their early 20s and our convos are absolutely a highlight of my job. Our daily interactions range from heart felt discussions about family and culture, to the latest thing going on in LA. With their jeans, t-shirts and American slang, sometimes I forget they are from a world away. Leaving other friends, families and jobs behind to come and learn English just for a bit.

When it is time for the students to return home, it is my job is to arrange their transfers to LAX. As I write their ticket I chat with the students to see if I can get them to sum up this cultural experience in just a sentence or two. Some are so poignant, while others, just plain funny.

What will you do when you go back to your home country?

"Cry."

          -18, Chilean girl, studied in LA for 6 months

"Work on making the Venezuelan professional futbol team." 

(He did.)

           -22, Venezuelan guy, studied in LA for 5 months

"Work for my father's company. I really don't want to but he's making me. I'm hoping to come back to LA soon. I can't stay in Japan, I just can't."

           -26, Japanese guy, studied in LA for 9 months

"Be a doctor. I finish in November, I will be an anesth...anaologist...how do you say?  

Anesthesiologist?

Ah, yes. Anesthesiologist. Let's take a selfie. Will you sign my lab coat?" 

          -26, French guy, studied in LA for 4 weeks

"Well, I am not going directly home. I am going to France first to visit some family, then home to the Congo then back to France to go to school."

           -19 & 21, Congalese brother/sister pair, studied in LA for 2 months

Stay tuned for more Chit-Chat!

Chatterbox, 

Kate

The Color Run #Happiest5k

A few days ago I acted as a field trip leader for about 20 of our international students who signed up to experience the The Color Run. I got up early Saturday morning to head to work and make sure these students had water and bananas, and that we all made it to the bus on time for the trek to Dodger Stadium. The run has always seemed fun, but the entire trip wasn't exactly how I wanted to spend my entire Saturday. 

Made me think of this video. Take a listen. I dare you to try not to dance.

Through the storm and out with a smile.

love that lady behind me!

Color Dusted, 

Kate

Last Day Of School

After a few wonderful years at The 5th Junior High School of Kamagaya, I have reached my final day. 

Three years, four schools, seven JTEs, hundreds of English lessons, thousands of "Hello!s" and even more "Konichiwas", all happened while I blinked. 

Last Friday morning, on my neighbor Kim's last day of work, I made her pause in front of our apartments to take a picture to document our last day of school. Like a proud parent, I went back and looked at the pictures we took on our first day three years ago, returning with orders for a sleepy Kim. 

"You were standing right here, with your left hand on your hip."

"Really, Kate..."

"SMILE!!!"

[Kimu Sensei]

[Keito Sensei]

Here are a few fun facts from my last day today...

-It is a sweltering 34C/91F degrees outside AND inside of the classrooms.
-On my way into school, I gave a little thank you card to the crossing guard I talk to every morning.
-I put a box of sweets with a note in the back of the staff room thanking everyone for the past three years, and added my email so we can all keep in touch.
-I am unbelievably congested. The combination of that plus the heat has put any sadness on the back burner. Though I did well up a little when one of my favorite, former speech contest girls gave me a very heart felt note, and nearly shed a tear as she handed it to me.
-Keima and I took silly pictures in the back of the staff room.
-I had left over pizza for lunch.
-I only had three lessons today, all with the 3rd year students.
-At the end of one class, while I was talking to the girls about how yucky boys are, a boy was dragged to the front of the classroom by his friends. The girls told me to wait. The boy stood in front of me, stick straight and completely still, staring at the floor. He gave me one glance and said, "You are beautiful. I love you." He flushed red and left while his friends cheered.
-I gave most of my students my teacher email. They are over the moon about it.
-I had to do a lesson for observing parents.
-My Principal took pictures of me during the observation lesson, printed them out and handed them to me. All within 45 min.
-The students had to come stand right in front of me and read to me today, at which point one of the girls discovered I had green eyes. She gasped so loudly when she realized, we all stopped to look at her for a second. She laughed but couldn't stop staring.
-I alone was in charge of my cleaning crew today. We assigned everyone an animal as we emptied the trash cans and swept the floor.
-I told a few older girls I had my camera with me, so they came and got me after lunch and we had a mini photo/video shoot in the hall.
-My last day made it on the school's homepage.

It's been an amazing run. 

Thanks for the memories 5Chuu,
Keito Sensei

Just a tid bit from our assembly last week, just prior to my speech.

Little Things: Desk

The other day, on the rare occasion that I had my camera at school, I began snapping shots of my desk. I wanted to remember it as it was before I cleaned it out for the next ALT. I wanted to remember the details, the little things I see everyday that soon will be no longer. 

Desk Details,
Kate

Sayonara Speech

I have one more full we week of school, but today we had a school-wide assembly so it was decided that I would give my sayonara speech then. After writing the little speech in English and getting it checked and translated by a few of my favorite Japanese all-stars, I practiced a bit last night. I really wanted to nail the pronunciation and inflection. 

And I am proud to say, I did.
Despite the fact that I was nauseatingly nervous. 

All morning, in between the classes I was teaching with Keima, I was repeating the few words I was struggling to pronounce. At the top of that list was, wasurerarenai, which means do not forget. My kids knew I was leaving, but they did not know I was giving a speech today. A few of my favorite 1st-year girls joked with me this morning, repeating the word back to me and most likely wondering why I was saying it so many times. After the speech they came up to me, hands clasp together, they travel as a unit, giggly, clearly new BFFs, and said, 

"Keito Senseiiiiiii, wasurerarenai! hahahaha. wasurerarenai!wasurerarenai!wasurerarenai!"

Cuties. 

Between those two and the beautiful flowers I received post speech it has been an absolutely wonderful Friday.

Oh GoChuu, you are going to be so hard to leave. 

Wasurerarenai, 

Kate

The Norm For Me A Chuckle For You

Today, my 13 year old 1st years had to write out a self-introduction that they were then going to come read to me.
I was walking around the room helping the kids fill in the three blanks that sat staring back at them. 

Hello! 

I am                      .

I am from                           .

I am good at                             .

I was helping one little girl change her bolleyball to volleyball, when I heard one of my favorite boys practicing his pronunciation. 

"IIIIIII am good at bas-KET-ball. BAS-ket-ball. bas-ket-BALL."

I looked over at him and all his friends that had taken to helping him, they looked back at me and we all smiled. I said it correctly a few times from across the room and they repeated. Focusing intently on each syllable, trying to stress the correct one. 

They weren't getting it. 

I walked in their direction, saying it about four more times before arriving next to his desk.

I looked down at his paper and stopped. 

He repeated the word again, stressing all the syllables so at this point he was just yelling the word while his friends looked on in laughter. 

"BASKETBALLLLLLLL."

I smiled and he followed my finger as I pointed to the word on the page. 

"This says, baseball." 

Basketball, Baseball, Volleyball, 

Kate

[The Latest]

Must Read: More women than ever are bread winners, which apparently is a bad thing??...FOX News. I paraphrased big time, but have we all seen this!? 

Google Search: Pomegranate in Japanese.

Tune: Clarity By Zedd. 

Accomplishment: Some great communication with my cleaning crew. 
Obsessions: Thai fried rice.

Read & Run

Today at school we did Read & Run, an absolute favorite with the students. 

Here's how it goes...

The kids get in their lunch groups and close their eyes for a few minutes while Keima and I run around the room taping up scrambled sentences in sneaky places. When the kids "awaken" they send a runner from their group to seek out a hint. The kid has to memorize the scrambled words and report back to the group. Together, the kids try to make a sentence, once they have Keima or I will check it, if it's correct they send another runner to find another hint. Ultimately, the groups are competing against each other for stamps on their participation sheet so it gets pretty competitive. If you can envision all this set to The Pirates of the Caribbean Soundtrack, well then, you might as well have been right there in second period with us!

When Keima drew a layout of the classroom, he was sure to add him and me...and my bun.

Read & Ran,
Kate

                                                                          [The Latest]

Must Read: 5 Ways You're Accidentally Making Everyone Hate You...Cracked.

Google Search: Oscar Wilde.

Tune: Little Lion Man By Mumford & Sons. 

Accomplishment: Some great lessons today.

Obsessions: Pho.

The Norm For Me, A Chuckle For You 7

These little stories that fall under The Norm For Me, A Chuckle For You are some of my favorite to write. Sometimes it takes me a while to realize that something that doesn't even phase me as being weird, makes for a great story to anyone not living in Japan. This time around, I don't have a story, but rather a few little random things that have happened to me over the course of the past few days that I don't want to forget. 

During class while the kids were writing in their conversation journals:

A girl raised her hand, so I went over to her. She kept saying a word in Japanese that I didn't know, wanting the English translation. I made a confused face and smiled, she laughed and rethought her question. Finally she let out, ipaisakana?! and a chuckle. A lot of fish? I told her to go get a dictionary and I looked up the word aquarium and asked her if that was what she was trying to say. She lit up. Mission accomplished, high-fives everywhere. 

She wanted me to know that her sister is going to the aquarium in Okinawa on a school trip. 

Fun stuff!

On the train:

I had my ipod in, staring out the window. An older man got on, looked at me for a second too long and I saw it. I saw the wheels turning, he wanted to try out his English, I could sense it. Usually I am pretty go with the flow with this kind of stuff, but this day I really wasn't in the mood. I politely continued to stare out the window. He took off his watch, and positioned himself in my line of sight, before yelling so all the train could hear, 

"Excuse me, do you know the time?!"

I took out one of my ear buds and said, as politely as possible, 

"I am sorry I don't. I don't have a watch." 

Which was true, and my cell phone was in my bag, and there were a million other people around and, oh by the way, a clock on the platform he just came from. I just really didn't have the energy. But then he got creative. 

"Ahhh ok. Hmmm. What time do you think it is?"

I gave him somewhat of a blank stare. 

You want me to guess the time? That is how desperate we are?

"I'm sorry, I really don't know, maybe 5:30? Maybe just check at the next station."

"Good idea!!!"

One more stop and he was off, and I was back to staring out the window listening to Macklemore.

In a cafe:

I was reading, and sipping ginger-apple tea YUM while waiting for a friend to get to the station so we could go to dinner when a couple decided to sit behind me and start speaking...English. I was surprised, annoyed and curious all at once. I can't tell you what happened in the last few chapters of my book, but I can tell you that the man was prepping this lady for an interview and this lovely little woman knows how to do equity loans, but is nervous about potential conference calls in English to London or Zurich, she studied English in Canada, but hates Toronto, step one of her five step interview is tomorrow with someone in HR...

Grading papers:

My third years were asked to write about a famous place in Chiba. The vast majority talked about Disneyland, not surprising as it is extremely popular here and there is Disney merchandise all over the place. What was surprising, however, was their inability to spell the ever-famous home of Mickey and Minnie.

Here is what some of them came up with...

Disney Land

Disny Land

Desney

Dizniy Land

Dizniy Lund

Diesney land

diseland

Disny

disney rand

Getting on my bike to head home after school:

A few of my favorite boys walk by, all trouble makers but decent English students because they aren't too shy.
We have a great relationship.
They turned to face me then jumped back, acting surprised to see me, 

"Oh! Hellllooooooooooo Keito. Helloooo! Helloooo! Today is Monday!"

I laughed, "I know! Hello, boys!"

We passed each other and I got on my bike. I yelled a "Good-bye!" in their direction. 

Which promptly stared a chorus of good-byes and sayonaras. 

And one, not-so-quiet, "I love you."

I yelled back, 

"Oh! THANK YOU!!!!"

They doubled over in laughter. 

See ya tomorrow kiddos. 

All in a day... or a few, 

Kate

                                                                        [The Latest]

Must Read: Teachers Are Workers Not Martyrs... The Japan Times.

Google Search: Askance.

Tune: We Come Running By Youngblood Hawke. 

Accomplishment: A few rather productive days at work.

Obsessions: Homemade tortilla soup. Again.

Speak Out

Yesterday, Namiko and I took 9 students to neighboring Abiko City to compete in our districts speech contest. We spent the entire morning hearing speeches form different students. While the judges to deliberated the ALTs got up on stage to tell the students a bit about us, and take questions from them.

Big 3rd Years.
Waka, Miyuki and Nanasa.
We rocked out to my ipod the whole drive over.

1st Years.
Maika and Ando.

Waka.

Oliva, Kim, Kate and Kris.
No idea what I'm doing.

When it was all said and done, we had two kids win second place in their division. They were thrilled! We took a few group photos, and I gave everyone a lollipop with a little not tied around it. They all worked so hard, they deserved it.

みなさんおつかれ,
kate

[The Latest]

Must Read: 5 User Complaints About the iphone 5...from CNN. 

Google Search: Singapore.  

Tune: Ho Hey By The Lumineers.

Accomplishment: A great speech competition.

Obsessions: New nail polish.

School's Out For Summer

The last day of school today means closing ceremonies, fancy bento lunches, and big smiles all around.

During the ceremony, all three grades stood to sing a song, and all three sounded fabulous.
I took a video of the 3rd graders (14-15 year olds), mostly because they are my favorite class.  They were little first years when I started, so we have been at the school for the same amount of time. They sang a cappella, and did a great job!

You can see a tidbit of them singing here.
It`s so worth the watch!!!

I love that class.

A word from a few students.

A few words from the Principal.

A song from each grade.

Lunch.

Bring on friends from the states, sangria, alarm-less mornings, new exotic countries, tan lines, ocean dips, summer tunes, bright colors, sandals and tank tops.

Bring on new memories.

Bring on summaaaa.

Relaxin Ready,

Kate

[The Latest]

Basketball On Wheels

The other day, all the 3rd graders gathered in the gym for a special assembly. A professional basketball player, Nobuyuki Saito, was coming to talk to the kids about what it is like to play pro basketball...in a wheelchair. He rolled in and spoke to the kids for about 45 minutes. I didn't hear the speech, as my Japanese is limited and per Namiko's suggestion, I opted for the air conditioned teachers room rather than the sweltering gym, but I had planned to go in for part two of the assembly. 

*I'm sorry for the poor quality of some of pics, things were happening so fast, my iphone couldn't quite keep up.*

Star of the Show.

I walked into the gym just in time to see a few students get strapped into wheelchairs and get ready for a 4 on 4 wheel-y basketball game. The selected students were so excited to try out the wheelchairs, while those on the sidelines were praying they weren't selected to play. 

When I walked it, I was surprised to see the title of his speech on a banner over the stage. In bold English it said, Do Not or Cannot. Namiko then leaned over to me and explained that post his motorcycle accident, Nobuyuki went to Florida to get treatment, and as a result spoke fluent English. So rarely in little Kamagaya, is there a fluent English speaker around, at least one I don't know, 

I was dying to talk to him.

Speech Title.

As I was pondering all this, and not really paying attention, one of my favorite little girls ran up to me with a bib, encouraging me to put it on. I hesitated and tried to politely refuse. Then she went on to tell me in Japanese that it was a sensei game, and I, as she reminded me, was Keito SENSEI. 

Touche, Aya. Touche.

I put up my hair, put on my bib, and walked to the center of the gym amongst shocked and cheering students. A lady came over to buckle me in as I tried to situate my skirt so it wouldn't blow up. 

She chuckled and asked if I would be ok.

I had no idea.

For a few minutes I rolled around getting used to the chair. It was built for sports, so it was light weight, and easy to swivel. There was a wheel stemming from the back of the chair that prevented you from flipping over when shooting the ball. I was surprised to discover that it was similar to snowboarding and skateboarding in that, if I was in motion, I could control the chair by simply leaning from side to side. I was having a great time getting used to the chair and was thrilled to start the little 10 minute game. This is going to be fun! I thought. Then quickly reminded myself that the reason it will be fun, is that I will be able to get up and walk out of here.
Big picture Kate, big picture.

Before the game, Nobuyuki wheeled up next to me and asked, in perfect English, if I spoke English. I said yes, and he asked if this was going to be my first time playing in a wheelchair, I told him yes, and he assured me it was just the same as regular basketball. 

I wasn't sure that was entirely true, but I told him I thought I could handle it.

The game started and was great fun! Obviously we didn't dribble, but instead put the ball in our laps and rolled as fast as possible to the basket. I had the opportunity to take one shot and totally air ball-ed it. It took way more strength to get it to the backboard that I was prepared for. A few other times I had trouble changing directions as quickly as I wanted and wound up doing donuts. 

Though, I would be lying if I said that wasn't my favorite part.

When it was all over, the students gave Nobuyuki and his crew flowers to show their appreciation, and everyone filed out and went back to class. I hung around with a few of the student council kids to chat with everyone. Nobuyuki again rolled up to me and asked where I was from, kicking off a 15 minute conversation. He explained that he lived in Florida for a few years, then moved on to Mobile, Alabama. Instantly reminding me of this YouTube clip. 

Which I then proceeded to tell him to look up.

I asked him how that was, and he replied with a deadpanned... boring. I chuckled.

He went on to say that he was so thankful that he didn't pick up the southern accent, and did I know that there are a lot of red necks down there?! I laughed right out loud. 

While we talked, I accidentally brushed my right thumb against my skirt and let out an involuntary, ow!

I looked down to see a massive blister. Think rug burn. Apparently I had been using my thumb as a brake. He asked if I was ok, and I mentioned that I got a blister from all my wheeling. 
He chuckled. As if he didn't know, I mean, really. 
Then he held up his left hand, where he was missing part of his index finger, and says, 

"Ya, I know, this happened to me."

"WHAT!" I shrieked, "from wheeling around?!"

"Jussstttt kidding. No this happened from my accident too."

Almost had me there, Nobuyuki.

He had such a great personality and sense of humor. 
He was truly an inspiration. 

Game On.

2 Points!

Thank You Flowers.

Student Government.

Casual Conversation.

Wheelin' and Dealin'
Kate

[The Latest]

Must Read: 10 Things Americans Don't Know About America...from PostMasculine. 
Any American who has visited or lived abroad will most likely be nodding their head the entire time.

Google Search: Which came first, the chicken or the egg. 
Turns out there is an answer now, it's the chicken. I lost this bet. 

Tune: Take a Walk By Passion Pit.

Accomplishment: A well executed lesson.

Obsessions: Color Map Countdown.