I'm a Rock Star

‘Cause I rocked lunch today! And I beat like 5 kids in finishing. Of course, Y-sensei who had what was deemed the Ontakesan (that big volcano you can see from my house) of rice (double bowl) even beat me. But that’s beside the point. And the last big mushroom that was left in my bowl doesn’t count. Seriously, mushrooms better have some fantastic nutritional value because I’ve had to eat a lot of them lately and I’d hate for their grossness to be all for naught.

Today I was at my LMS where I had three classes before A-sensei had to split to a meeting in town, leaving me alone with the ninnenseis. No problem, they finished their work like good boys and girls and then we played Find the Page, where I describe a picture and they have to… you guessed it… Find the Page.

Sugi no ko (Special Ed.) was Good Times. One of the two was not in class, nor was A-sensei, so we played Snakes and Ladders (the crazy Brit version of Chutes and Ladders) with D-chan’s vocab words. After the game we looked at the vocab from the new dialogue he’s working on reading and he made a couple flashcards. I was fascinated with the way he draws. It’s like typical “little kid” drawing and coloring if an adult had done it, but he’s very creative and comes up with neat ways to represent the concepts. I was mesmerized watching him draw and trying to guess what he was after in the pictures. What a sweety!

Lunch was good with fried rice, but too many mushrooms. And the problem is, some of them are actually whole long, skinny mushrooms with round little caps. Geeeross! I’ve been trying to just not think about the pieces I can’t see, and even the small ones I can. But today’s Grandpappy of a mushroom just did not make it past Abbey-sensei’s gums. No siree-bob.

Free for the afternoon, I headed over to the taiikukan (gym) to check out the taiiku (gym) class. I learned and was reminded of some fun ways to keep the ol’ cracker barrel in shape and enjoyed watching the ichinensei try to do them. I was even able to understand when O-sensei was being funny!

Soji was productive, I did windows and learned the silly foreigner way that you’re not supposed to wear your surippa (slippers) on the carpet. Oops!

Today has been a sunny day, finally, but so windy, which makes it cold in the school. When does the hurting stop!! (Anybody who remembers what Saturday morning cartoon that was from gets 50,000 Brownie Points)

Accomplishments for today:

1. Learning not to wear my surippa on the carpet.
2. Finally paying my first two Japanese bills.
2.b. Learning from my first gas bill that hot water is indeed not necessary to wash dishes and hands. Especially if you take showers like mine.
3. Last night I learned a new route to Uny that bypasses many lights. Thanks, M!
4. Finally picking up my alien registration card (after learning that it was not going to be delivered to me).
5. Sunday I purchased my first bottle of bug powder:




I’ve already found one of those big mothers in the middle, although not in quite such grandiose proportions. Apparently that’s not too far off, however. Oh, and the one at the top right, too, a little smaller.

6. Last night I had my first sushi meal, besides “rolls”. It was oishii! Thanks, M!