Speechless

That's.... the model of this car. I know there are some wacky car names out there, but I have to say this is the wackiest I've seen. EVAR.

So, today I was at my LMS, which was great, as usual. Hot as the dickens, sweating like a hog running around in July with bear grease smeared all on it. But I had back-to-back classes through the morning, relatively Good Times with the kids, considering the style of the classes, decent lunch, then off to the pool with the sannensei where I helped the girls with their backstroke. And, I can now say that I know the sannensei names as well as the ninenseis. Awesooooome!

Oh, today I received the letters I had K-sensei (the sub) tell the kids to write me. Thank you, Merissa, the first batch was so rewarding! The kids wrote the cutest letters, and I can see how my writing to them will also prove to be such a powerful tool in their English learning. I wrote them a sample letter to my friend Josie, and many of them took pieces from it to use when writing to me. Awesome! One kid even wrote "Dear Josie," Kawaiiiiiii!

After school a couple things happened, one of which didn't strike me as odd until a few moments ago. During the teachers' meeting at the end of the day, O-sensei announced the enkai ("meeting", read "party to get smashed at") that they'll be having two days before I leave (YESSS! I can go!!!) and of course he said that I (and the sub...) was also invited. Sweet! I've been waiting for that school to have an enkai, I can' t wait! During the announcing process, I wasn't really paying attention until I heard my name. When I looked up quizzically, Kocho-sensei said I could drink lots of sake and said "Heavy Drinker!" whereupon I of course laughed and corrected him with "Lightweight." A bit later, after the meeting, Kocho-sensei calls me over "Heavy Drinker, come here for a minute" (in Japanese) At first I thought he was calling me "Ebi" like the kids do, but no, it was "heavy." He took me to the genkan (entrance hall) and proceeded to give me a small bottle of sake from a box. Apparently he was giving it to everyone (?) but I thought it was cute that he gave me one, since they weren't handing them out at the desks or anything. He told me to drink it with rice. I told him I'd invite a friend to drink it with me. So, I definitely received a bottle of super liquor from MY PRINCIPAL ... AT SCHOOL. Every day I love this country more, for its relative quirkiness.

Speaking of quirkiness, Merissa and I were at GS yesterday where there were more rehearsals of "Baby Got Back" with the girls. Boy, were we crying for a video camera. And we were too far from the teachers' room for me to run to get my digital. Boo. And that was our last day together there for a long time. Ah, some things will just have to be tucked away into our memories.