Hey All!
I hope you’ve been impressed with Scott’s genki-ness for blogging—I sure have!
I just thought I’d write a quick little post about the crazy kindergarten I work at every Friday because I’ve wanted to do so for a very long time. This past Friday, I actually had the opportunity to snap a few pictures at work and figured I’d include them in the blog (since our posts have been pretty text-heavy lately).
Normally, teachers do their whole shift at the company’s various schools but sometimes they have shifts available outside the schools. Our company sells classes to elementary schools, secondary schools, universities, and large companies, and that’s basically how I got the shift at the kindergarten.
So way back in October, I began working at this insane kindergarten. The teacher I was replacing had a few simple words of advice for me before I started working: “you have to see it to believe it”—and she was right. I normally walk to the kindergarten to teach my 40-minute class with another teacher and staff member. We stay at the kindergarten for about an hour then walk back to the school to finish our shift. Anyway, as I approached the kindergarten on my first day, I was pretty blown away. Right in the middle of the city and before my eyes was a tacky and excessively colourful building with giant dinosaurs, a hot-air balloon, and a huge pirate ship on the playground. The building itself looked like a gingerbread house. To summarize: it was (and still is) a sight for sore eyes every time I see it.
What goes on inside the building is probably equally crazy, if not crazier than the outside. I was also warned that the kids run all over the place and there are never any adults around. This was also true. It seems like they are under-staffed or something for the amount of kids they have. Apparently, many wealthy kids attend this private kindergarten, so in an attempt to make them super-involved children from an early age, they introduced an after-school program with various activities such as soccer, English lessons, arts and crafts, and even baton lessons. It’s hilarious to watch the little girls (and yes, boys too...I don’t know how damaging that will be later in life!) do their little baton routine to a hyped-up Japanese version of "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious." It's actually a pretty scary song!
Speaking of parents who want their kids to be good at everything, I just got a new student, Yuma, who is only three years old and his parents have him doing a 40-minute private lesson! Craziness! One of the staff members took this picture and put it on the school’s website. He’s a cute kid and although I enjoy teaching him, the lesson wouldn’t be so bad if his Dad didn’t tell him what to say every five seconds! That’s one thing I’ve noticed about many parents here—they don’t give their kids a lot of breathing room.
I have three kids in my English class at the kindergarten (from left to right: Seibin, Chika, and Rin) who are extremely smart and so fun to teach—especially on the days that Seibin doesn’t try to lift up my skirt. Haha. Don't let the picture give you the wrong impression. He didn't know he was holding his colouring upside down! Apparently, the other teacher has had numerous problems with the kids in her class because they like to pull down their pants—I’m thankful I don’t have to deal with that! So basically, Friday is a pretty fun day for me because I never know what will be going on at the crazy kindergarten!
In more exciting news, we’re getting so pumped for Thailand. It’s hard to believe we’ll be there in exactly one week. I’ve been checking the weather almost daily and it ranges from 25-30 degrees—are you jealous? Haha. Today, we decided to chill out and go to Shinsaibashi. I finally bought Scott his belated Christmas present (a Nintendo DS), which he’s been playing for several hours now and seems to enjoy it. During our outing, we also discovered this amazing Mexican restaurant called El Pancho in the heart of Shinsaibashi and the food was the most phenomenal Mexican we’ve ever tasted. Who knew Japan was so skilled in preparing authentic Mexican cuisine? I almost couldn’t finish my margarita because it was so strong—I swear it was three-quarters alcoholic. We’re already planning to go again when we return from Thailand—hopefully with friends!
Hope all is well back home. We’ll be back in two-and-a-half months! The countdown is on!
Jo & Scott
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