School after a very long break

It really felt weird going to school today. I had noticed that that my left ear really couldn’t hear things very well. I thought that it wasn’t that big of a problem yesterday, but it seems that it did turn out to be a problem after all. I thought I had gotten up sluggishly, but in actuality, it was normal. I even got up and ready earlier than usual. That was weird for me since my normal routine has been messed up, I don’t feel like I have anything of a normal routine anymore. I’m surprised that I have gotten my sleeping patterns back in line. I was very exhausted yesterday, but I was ok today. Not really energetic, but just ok.

I was sluggish to get to school today. I got to sit on the train going to school, which was nice since I had to carry all the souvenirs with me to school. That was a bit annoying though since it was a bit heavy. But I arrived safely and it was good. I got to stop off at the bank to get some more dough, since I was running out. Then I bought lunch and was off to school. When I had arrived at school, I saw the headmaster leaving the school. He said that he wanted to ask me a question about SDSU when he got back, but I had no idea when he would get back. So I’m a bit worried about what kind of question he will ask me about that.

When I walked into the teacher’s office today, it was empty because all of the teachers were busy either with teaching classes or working for the information session. It was an open school today for parents and future students to check out the school in action to see if it’s something that works for them. It was regular class for me as usual though. The first class that I was working with today was with 10th fuji, which was actually quite pleasant. I did get one comment from a student that said some rude comments, but I wouldn’t expect anything else from this class, so I just brushed it off. I really did feel sick in this class with a cold though, so that wasn’t very good. They were working on a paper that will help them with composing for next week’s oral test. I’m very happy that CP has been following in my footsteps to lead the students to learn what they are writing and teaching them how to compose better. It was really cool to see her do that and it made me feel validated that my ideas were being used to improve the student’s learning capacity.

The second class I had today was with 11th grade ran and we had an oral test today. I wanted to give them a few minutes to prepare for it and I was taking my time knowing that they would finish on time. So I took it easy and made sure that I explained everything very clearly for them. Then we got started. They did ok, but it wasn’t that hard of a test to begin with. Some students just started memorizing from the time the class started and they were able to do it, which tells me that they need to work a bit harder for the next test and I will really push them to think and work harder next time. Their scores were rather high, I thought and felt, but I really didn’t give them any opportunity to get a lower score since I didn’t ask for much. At the end of class, we played a few rounds of hangman to get them to think and to use English and for me to get them to practice the pronunciation of a few words.

The last class of the day 5th period was with 8th grade kiku. Last class, we worked on self-introductions, so this class we needed to catch up with the other classes. We worked on the chapter about asking permission and then did the dialogue a few times for the students to learn a new way of practicing. I think that it really works out well and the students actually do it the way that we tell them to. Then we played a little classroom object activity where they got post-it notes and went around the room to label things that were there. That was fun, but it seemed like CP ran out of energy to keep it going and just read them off instead of going to the object to make sure that they knew it. But for the most part, they didn’t have much trouble. There are a few words that they struggle with and that are scissors, bookshelf, and ruler.

After school, I worked on finishing up the grading for today’s exam and making sure that everything is set for the next 11th grade class this Thursday. Nothing has been set since we haven’t started copying the books yet. It will be a bit of a problem and I imagine that it will get done tomorrow at least for the first two classes on Thursday. I really didn’t have anything else to do so I just hung around school and talked with the part-time teachers because I had the time to. It was cool and they were teasing me asking if I had a girlfriend or not and why I had gone to Amsterdam.

I left school around 5pm with another teacher and then took the train to Shin-Sugita station to grab dinner there. There is a nice Chinese restaurant there and I like to eat the food. It’s actually quite delicious and I’m glad that I stumbled upon it. I usually get noodles there, but today I got a pork rice bowl with ramen on the side. It was pretty good and hit the spot.

I came home and started working on my computer since I have been behind for a very long time. I needed to check all the email for the past week and see my stuff for UCLA to see if everything had gotten through or not. But at this moment, it seems that most of the things that I have submitted have gotten through. So I really am a UCLA student now. I’m so happy about that, but it still feels unreal to be able to say that. I’m wondering what I can do for a study abroad. I need to think about a place to go to study in another country. It would be fun. Anyways, I should head to bed soon. Actually YSki just woke up and signed on so I might talk to her for a little bit before I go. I think I should bring my computer to work tomorrow to work on updating some things. I think that I would work better if I had the right tools there, but I really don’t feel like lugging the heavy thing back and forth to not use so much of it. So I probably won’t. I also need to get my house ready for the summer. I still have my heater in my room and it’s starting to get humid hot. So I won’t need that anymore.

I also found out that my best friend at Grossmont got married last month too. I was a bit shocked since he announced it after he got married and then I didn’t read his blog until another month later. She he has been married for two months already and I just found out. I guess I need to go to Hokkaido to find out what his wife is all about. What a punk ass for not letting me know earlier.