My Students!

Hi all! =) Sorry it has been a few days since I have posted. Every day I get off of work and I stop by the base since it is on my way home to use the internet. Well the past couple of days there hasnt been a good connection, or one at all for the matter. Anyways, I will finish where I left off with my last post... the microwave. So I get off at my stop and begin walking towards my apartment carrying this heavy microwave, and my backpack with my laptop in it. Justin always nags me about taking a taxi, but I am against them because I think they are a waste of money. I have never taken a taxi in the states so I am not sure if it is similar, but the taxi's here start out at $7.00. That is the minimum price you will pay, and depending on the distance it only increases from there. I think its absurd which is why I choose to walk everywhere, hence carrying heavy items. Well that night I decided I wanted to take a taxi because I really wasnt in the mood to carry the microwave up the hundreds of stairs, and not to mention is started raining the minute I stepped out of the train station. So I am walking towards a taxi and I thought I better check how much money I have because I need money to get to and from work the next day. Come to find out I had just enough money to cover my train cost for the day, so taking a taxi was out of the question. I began my journey into the rain. I had my umbrella with me, but there was no way I could hold that and carry my microwave, so I soaked up the rain =) As I got to the street I turn up to go up the stairs, I saw that it was blocked off because of construction. So I had to go the other way to the house which is all up hill, and there are no are no stairs, but it takes a lot more time. As I started my way up the hill, carrying my microwave in the rain, hating my life and wishing that Justin would call so I could vent to him, a car drives past me and pulls to the side of the road just in front of me. So Im thinking every curse word in the book about how nice it is that this person is now blocking my path and how nice it must be to be in a car and Im getting soaked in the rain, struggling with this damn microwave, when a Japanese man gets out of the car and asks me if I want a ride. Well I dont really know what he asked me because it was in Japanese, all I know is that he took my microwave from me and put it in his trunk and opened the car door for me. I handed him my notecard that has my address on it (in both english and Japanese for this sole reason) he reads it and says "Hi, Hi" which means he understood where I live. So he drove me up the hill and to my apartment and it was then that I realized why I love this country so much, and how lucky I am to be spending the next 6 months to a year here. The people will bend over backwards to help you, so next time you see a Japanese person in the states, smile at them!!

OK enough with that time to tell you about my students and how awesome they are! On Tuesday I had to give a short introduction about myself to my Oral Communication 1 class. I had pictures of my family, of Justin and I, postcards from back home, of CSUSM and my high school and just shared with them a little about me and where I am from. The class only has 9 students so it wasnt bad. After I was done the teacher made them stand up and they werent allowed to sit down until after asking me a question. The students were very shy and took a long time to ask a question. They would rather be the last person standing with nothing to say than the first person to ask a queston, but when they finally started asking me, I got questions like "What are you crazy about?" and "Where do you want to visit in Japan?" but my favorite question was, "Why did you pick your husband?" =) My students never fail to make me smile! So that was it for Tuesday. The rest of the day was creating lesson plans for the rest of the week.... or failing to do so actually because the other alt I work with (David) is a procrastinator and to be honest Im not a fan of his. His is from Texas, which is the first strike in my book, and he walks around like he is better than everyone else. He is very arrogant, and I speak with him as little as possible. He talks to the students in ways that they dont understand. Just because they are high school students doesnt mean that their english is high school level like we would think of it back home. He uses big words, and speaks really fast.

Today I had 2 classes of Speaking and listening. The first class there were about 20 students in it, and the second one there were 9. For the first class we divided the studentds in half and David and I each took half. Then we interviewed the students, getting to know them, asking them questions and them asking us questions. We were evaluating their level of speaking english which I would have to say is quite well! After about 15 minutes with the first group, we switched groups so we could get to know the entire class. Since there were only 9 students in the second class, we did 5 minute one on one interviews with each student. A popular question I was asked between both classes was "Do you have a boyfriend?" When I would explain that I have a husband, I am Married they would cheer and clap! Then from there they were very interested in Justin and insisted that I bring pictures of him to our next class meeting. Again I got funny questions about Justin like "Is he handsome?", "Do you love him?". and "Is he cool?" All in all my students are pretty awesome and I think Im really going to enjoy teaching them! One girl told me that I am pretty, and another girl came up to me in the cafeteria during lunch to talk to me. =) Im glad that they are warming up to me!

Alright well this is a long post and I need to finish my dinner and get home! Goodnight =)