I Am on the Side of Justice!

I love my job.

One of the things about Japanese public school that add to the joy that is my job: posters.
Poorly translated:
Thanks for all your work. Our gratitude to Teeth.
All their little shirts say "ha", "tooth."
I won't spoil it by pointing out all the fun little elements that make it so smile-inducing. I'll let you find them on your own.

Today I had several "I Love My Job" moments, the top one being when I ended up in the library not by design, when the 2nensei were checking out their books for what my other JHS calls "MY 読" (My Doku), or individual reading. I ended up at the new arrivals or susume (recommended) or something cart with some of the boys, and my Go-kun picked up a fun little book called "Nihon Bunka o Eigo de Gaido: Mukashi Nagara no Nihon Bunka o Hanasou." Basically, talking about Japanese culture in English. It had some phrases and words in English with katakana pronunciations. All of a sudden, Go-kun busts out with "I am on the side of Justice!" in a loud, proclaiming voice. Oh, the hilarity that ensued. I love my job. Of course I ordered the book straightaway tonight from Amazon, and I hope to be the proud owner of it in a few short days. So much for reducing spending this month.

Flower arrangement in the main entrance to the school.
Nice work, Okuda-san!

I've been kind of up and down lately; one might have suspected me to be hopped up on Annuale, but I deny all allegations (which, incidentally, were all made by me). At any rate, I thought I'd just throw together some of the pictures I've taken this week and last to illustrate why I love my job so.

Like to hear it? Here it go.

It's Iris Time.
This one was hiding behind the baseball backstop.

Naoko is famous about the teachers' room for always having the funniest letters. The best part is, you would never expect it from her. This is a tamer one, but it made me chuckle.
Arigatou, Nao-chan!

Nada nuevo bajo el sol.

I had a lot of free time last week, since the kids went home early and the teachers had a meeting, so I grabbed the cambra and took advantage of the opportunity to take some pictures of the flowers around the school. Yeah, I stole the idea for this one from Flickr, but what the hell.

Believe it or not, he wanted me to take a picture of his feet.

Red bells and Ena-san.
I love you, Ena-san!

Street shoes waiting to go home.
So colorful! All my other schools have just plain white ones.

Typical sight in Japan: getting your heel into the shoes you never bother to tie or untie.

Taking a rest.
School slippers tucked into their upper shelf (so as not to sit on the same shelf as the outdoor shoes) for the night.

This Winter, Keep the Flu and Cold Away!

As mentioned above, Monday and Tuesday were rather "emotional" days for me, so when I got this letter in the afternoon, my spirits were immediately lifted, and I was sure to tell her so. Especially since I had actually been thinking recently that she didn't in fact enjoy my presence. Just goes to show you.

Jumping Two by Two

Turns out it's jump rope time. Group jump rope, that is (and someday I'll remember the name of it). Must mean June is upon us.
Taking pictures outside this afternoon (hiruyasumi was dedicated to jumping instead of free time), it felt like a typical jump rope day: hot, too bright and hazy. De-licious!

Leaving school today, Kai-kun asked if he could use my camera. This was the second-last in a series that would rival any America's NTM photo shoot. Chapped lips and all.

Hoping that you're reading this at night, I thought I'd wrap up this post with an image of the unidentifiable bug that landed on my window yesterday. Please note that my finger is actually closer to the camera than the bug (hence the blurriness), so it is actually smaller than it appears, compared to the bug. I'm sorry if that throws off the scale, but you get the idea.

Heebie-jeebies, y'all!