phew. 金曜日！

Well, i whimpered and whined and pined away for friday to come, and now it is finally here! And with it arrives not only a new episode of HYD, but the true begining to my vacation, thank god! And, just like i figured, the internship thing ended up being something i am glad to have done. (although let me tell you, there were a LOT of moments when i was wishing i could just quietly die somewhere to get out of it.) Now, i will briefly sum the week up for you guys, so as to keep you informed. Besides, i spent all day today writing this crap in japanese, so english will be a fricking breeze.

So, monday, i showed up, sick as a dog (i had a fever and everything), got a tour (boring), and various explanations about how the hirakata education and cultural center works and what it does. I understood probably less than half of it all, but the parts i did get were semi-interesting. I ate a bento (boxed lunch) made especially for me by my okaasan. Now i understand why people in anime get so upset when someone wrecks their bento! Not only was it very yummy, it was all prettily laid out, and reminded me that my okaasan was figuratively cheering me on from the sidelines. Woo! I then hung out with the Rupo kids, who are for various reasons unable to attend normal schools, so they come to school at the center. Kids with communication problems, bad home life, etc etc, all come there to learn stuff (i think) and hang out. It was cute. I played Uno with the girls while the boys played pingpong. One of the older girls finally did what i have been wanting someone to do since i got here (sounds dirty, its not), which is give me a nickname! I sit down, introduce myself, and she says "Oh, Andoria, hey? (how its pronounced here, v. awkward).....then.. is An-san alright?" Coulda hugged her. Everyone had a much easier time remembering and pronouncing my name from then on. Then i spent a few excruciating hours typing up my thoughts on the day in japanese. blech.

Tuesday i got a tour of the elementary school i would be going to for the next two days, and more talks about how the school works n stuff. then i watched some classes. The kids here LOVED me. When i said hello back in japanese, they practically fell over with shock. Watching classes was nifty. Their music class is choir practice, in three part harmony! and the first year kids (6ish) can READ. hiragana, katakana, and some kanji! Holy! The teachers are also quite young. Turns out they have almost 100 new teachers every year. And you can get your teaching degree in 4 years, if you hop to it! People my age can start their first year of teaching! Anyway, it was cute. I came home that night, and started working my butt off for my canada presentation the next day. I drew a big picture of a moose, and printed a bunch of pictures to show them, and wrote out my not quite 20 mins speech in alllllll hiragana so that i wouldnt make any mistakes. in the end i went to bed around 2 something.

wednesday the alarm rings at 6 whatever, and when i pull myself out of bed, i am very nearly ill. I had a whopping migrane, and my fever had returned. since i could barely open my eyes, nevermind read my speech, i had to call in sick. Er.. have okaasan call in sick for me, since she explained it a hell of a lot faster than i would have. Anyway, i take some stuff given to me by japanese doctors, and am dead to the world for 6 or so hours. I wake up a tiny bit, then sleep away the rest of the day.

thursday i brought all my stuff to the school, hoping that i would have time to present it. on the train to gotenyama, this woman asks me if im andrea. She turned out to be a teacher at the school, and we walked the ten minutes there from the eki together. she was super nice, telling about being a teacher in japan, and told me she thought i looked a ton like anne hathaway (hee hee). Everything was going smoothly, and then she asked how old i thought she looked. I had a look at her, and said about thirty. (thinking, shes a teacher, right? and she was dressed all adult-fashionable) She starts spluttering, and says "Really? But im only 24!" Arg. I didnt even have the brain power to properly explain or apologize. Arg.
Although i worried like crazy about the presentation beforehand, it turned out great. I did the whole thing a total of six times. two second year classes, sixth year, fourth year, then two fifth year classes. The little kids were adorable. the 6th grade kids said almost nothing. oh well. in the two fifth year classes, we had more time, so i got to stay and practice english with them. I got to be the customer in the store game, and later ask the kids about their favourite things. And we even played fruits basket! Omg though.. the first fifth grade teacher was unbearably cute. And he kept giving me this look... and for once it was not the "wow your japanese sucks but i cant say so" look. it was the "if this room was not filled with children right now i would so be all over you" look. And the feeling was completely mutual. Daaaang. At recess, before i had been to his class, his kids came over to ask me to play dodgeball, and he joined in too - and kept trying to hit me - and couldnt, btw - childish, perhaps, but he could have stuck glue in my hair and i woulda been happy about it. unfortunately, mid-fruits basket, i noticed he was wearing a ring. boo. oh well.
Anyway, the presentation kicked ass. I love you, speech arts training. Oh! And to end my big canada talk, i taught the kids some french! Just bonjour, comment ca va, and so on, but it was really cute, and the center people thought it was the best idea since sliced bread. They all loved my presentation btw. Which is good, since they saw it like six times. Anyway, went back to the center after lunch - oh, ate lunch with the kids at school, school lunches are weird here - wrote more crap. The lady who was proofing for me made me add in all these kanji i didnt know, which sucked, but she was nice, so i didnt kill her. oh! and when i left the school? it was like i was famous!!!! All the kids lined up at the door, on both sides, so there was a gauntlet of kids all saying my name, and thanking me and stuff. And they were all reaching out for my hands, and it was so cute/cool. They were even waving out of the building windows from all three floors. I got the principal to take a few pictures with my cell, but he is a boob, so they suck. As we were walking down the road, from the back of the school windows, a few girls were yelling "AN-SAN!" and waving. I love those kids.

Then today. Spent the morning summing up what i did, what i thought, etc. I managed not to just copy and past everything from the last three days, which im proud of. By 12 ish i had a page and a half in tiny ass font, all in japanese, all done by me. I doubled spaced, printed, and spent my lunch writing in how to say all the kanji should i forget. Then at 1 i read my speechy thing to a bunch (say 8) people from the center. And they were actually semi-interested! And they were impressed i had made all the reports by myself. (although i know they werent that impressive, the grammar was v. basic, etc etc) Then crazy kanji lady from wednesday talked about my presentation at the school, and basically praised me, which i had to pretend not to totally bask in. Then we all talked a bit, and then it was done. I thought i would be going home right away, but instead me and the one center guy ive been with the most ended up at the Rupo room again, where i played pingpong with the one kid who was there for more than an hour. Before i couldnt figure out why the Rupo kids werent at normal schools, because they were all totally normal. But in the whole time i was there, pingpong guy didnt speak once. Or smile or make any noise at all, for that matter. I didnt mind though. At that point, i was so fricking brain-exhausted that it was really nice to have a social contact thing that didnt require or even want me to speak. One of those times where you have the companionable silence. Center guy and Rupo teacher talked, and half way through we played doubles - pingpong kid and i lost big time - but mostly we just played pingpong in silence. At 3 ish, i got the final "thanks for all your hard work!" and i thanked everyone a lot and meant it. I am all kinds of grateful to them for putting up with me, and for the whole thing. So, it all turned out for the best, yay.


In other news, blogger just FORCED me into getting a fricking new blogger account. I liked the old style, you bastards. Ill sick my army of loyal elementary school kids on you. :P

Anyway, still hacking and full of snot, but on the mend and super happy to be vacationing at last.