Wednesday

Woke up at 7:15am, had rice for breakfast, then drove to school. It’s super cold today!!! A low of -7 – my car windows had frosted up on the inside somehow, so I had to set off a few minutes later than usual after waiting for the car to heat up and defrost. A nice day today with 4 lessons to teach. First up was 2-3 in period 1 and it was a good lesson as usual, but we had a bit of trouble completing the family card collecting game. Not everyone was able to find the other family members and make the complete group (a family). Same with 2-2, good lesson, but incomplete family card collecting game. Spent the 20 minute break with 4-2 again, but again the whole group wasn’t there so it was only a little practice. There’s one kid in this group 3 that is super cute and quietly enthusiastic about the play though, it’s adorable to see. 2-1 was pretty much the same as 2-3 and 2-2. I feel like today’s lesson was one where they rarely were all the same! Usually 2-3 performs a bit better than the other two, but maybe there were just too many things for them to remember today. Some kids in 2-1 were saying “It’s father” instead of “I have a father” for the card game. 5-1 in period 4 and it was actually a good lesson today – they weren’t talking too much and did the activities quietly! The only problem was that it was the same kids over and over again putting their hands up to guess what food was on my menu, so I had to use the number box to call on other kids.

Lunch with 2-2 today and all the girls were crowding around my desk to talk, so cute. We had salmon with rice and seaweed to make our own sushi rolls, salad, and soup. A lot of the kids in 2-2 don’t like their veggies so there was a lot of salad leftover – myself and another kid finished it off with large second helpings. Practice again with 4-2 in the lunch break with absent members yet again. 4-1 is totally going to show up 4-2, I wonder how it’s going to turn out! One of the girls from group 1 joined in the practice since she saw the lack of people, and also just cause she wanted to. If was quite cute cause she asked me “Can I practice too?” and obviously it’s like “Of course you can!!” and she was so happy about it and saying “Yay, sensei let me practice too!”. Free periods in 5 and 6 which I was very thankful for since the classes with 2nd grade today were pretty draining. Got off work at 16:15 and stopped at the convenience store on the way home to get some cash. Headed out again at 19:00 for dinner with a new Japanese friend – funnily enough we had dinner at the place I went to on Monday night, but I only realised it today when I reread our messages and checked the location! I was happy with it though, since that restaurant’s food really is nice. We had a lovely dinner and talked all the way till 22:00. After that I dropper her off at the station and then went home. Another ALT friend came over to help wax my snowboard, ready for this weekend!