2004-04-29

Yes, I'll admit that I'm a fool for you

Tuesday saw an enormous storm come ripping through here. One of my students (well, she's not actually in my class, but she's a first-year English student) was walking around outside and had her umbrella get destroyed when a big ol' gust of wind grabbed it and bent a couple of the spokes. It was insane. I was a little worried about Amanda because she has to go out to the SDA elementary school on Tuesdays, and the school is a 45-minute drive from here. People drive really slow (I think the speed limit on the road is 40 km/h, which is right about 25 mph) but the car she was driving makes a Honda Civic look like a Humvee. She got there and back fine, though, and I guess she's enjoying working with the kids there.

Ugh. My early morning class began today. Thursday and Fridays I now have class from 7:30-8:30 am. The students don't like it either--they were all dead tired in my conversation class today. I had them play a game which they seemed to like, and I'm not afraid to admit that I shamelessly pilfered it from my Greek I class. It was a vocabulary game which was designed to improve their vocab and spelling in anticipation of a unit quiz today. From a cursory scan of the quizzes, they seemed to do better than last time so I guess it worked. The one thing was that I played the game a couple days ago with them, and part of the game involves me acting out the vocabulary words "go biking", "go swimming", etc. Some old guy was observing classes that morning and walked in just as I was draped across a desk miming the action of "swimming". I don't know what his impression was--like I said these people have never seen anything like me.

Well, Satsuki and Violet--two of the Okinawan girls who have been following me around--embarrassed me again today, but that's okay because I got them back but good. They started asking me all these questions like "Do you have a girlfriend?" and such and then Violet points to herself and goes, "Me?" and I turn crimson and start laughing nervously. This time, though, I was ready, and I told them that they should go after boys their age, like maybe some of the other first-year English students. Of course, they started making faces and things and stating in no uncertain terms that it was the worst idea they'd ever heard. I kept pressing the issue, though, and then (glory!) Satsuki turned all Judas on her partner in crime and confessed that there was one boy in the class that Violet kind of likes. Of course, being the big ol' jerk that I am, I promptly jumped all over that and started saying that oh yes, he's a nice boy, and if I see him I'll definitely drop her name into the conversation and suggest that she's nice and SOMEBODY ought to date her, and hey, HE doesn't have a girlfriend, and how 'bout that...

Of course, Violet didn't think this was so much fun anymore (actually, I think she liked it, but she was legit embarrassed) and I was laughing like a crazed maniac at how evil I was being. Haw haw. Maybe I am getting settled in after all. Yeah, this American teacher gots a little wasabi in his blood after all, eh? How you like me now? Of course, you know I've got a big smile on my face and am saying all this as lovingly as possible. I'm just giddy that maybe all this stuff will in fact blow over and I can get on with a normal teacher's life.

Unlikely, yes. But a brother can dream.