ELE

Good day at my LES today. Last night I stopped by there after LMS to get some work done, and get work done I did. I spent about 2 hours there, making tons of cards and chatting with the remaining staff - until 7pm. And I wasn't the last to leave. There were at least 3 or 4 people there besides me. And they'd probably been there since around 7 in the morning. Imagine, US teachers?

The fabulous thing about elementary school.. well, there isn't just one. It really is so rewarding. I'm not sure I could be a full-time elementary teacher with my own class all day long, but a little sprinkling here and there is enough to renew my faith in humanity.

First of all, the kids adore you from about Minute 2, once they've decided you're not going to eat them. They want to hold your hand, have lunch with you, do souji with you, play with you on the playground (Asobu?). And they're so excited about the littlest things. They're very quick to pick up what you teach them, and many times you'll hear them reciting the phrases as they leave the class! They get them in their head, and have so much fun learning them that they enjoy repeating the phrases to themselves! And sometimes they'll come back at you with them later!

Today I got asked a question I never thought I'd be asked, but for which I already had an answer I'd thought of. It went something like this (forgive me if I mangle it, mi japones es fatal!
"Nihongo no naka de, ichiban sukina kotoba ga nan desu ka?" (日本語　の　中　で　一番　好きな言葉　が　何　ですか) What's your favorite Japanese word? And the answer is:

Ii yo!

Well, actually, that's a phrase, but I love to say it and I love to hear it. It means something to the effect of "it's fine by me," or "ok," or "it's/that's ok."

I also enjoy hearing: Sugeeeei! (Cool!)

I had another one, but I can't remember what it was...

I'm just so happy I understood the question. I'm really getting better at Japanese (still not good), and am feeling much more confident when speaking and entering into conversations with people. Get the Language Snowball rolling! Tomorrow I have my lesson, after a week of "yasumi," (Twilight Seminar), and I'm very happy to be getting back to it.

(Please let me know if you can see the Japanese I put in up there. I recently installed the Japanese input on my computer and am just tickled to be able to write in Japanese! However, I'm not sure all your computers will pick it up.)

Anyway, that's the update, folks. Keep it Real.