Blogging and the rest

When I first made this blog, I posted like a madwoman...but now that I`ve settled in, I can see why others just do not blog. Once you get out of the groove or too much time passes, you don`t know what to blog about, or its been so long you have TOO much to blog about. I say this now, but it may just be due to the fact I have no laptop and I have just been away from the computer.

Well, on with that. Hawaii was fun, got to do alot of things, eat too much food and such. Things have changed in Hawaii, whether thats good or bad I can`t tell but it was nice. I kinda was shocked at how adjusted I am to the Japan lifestyle though. I almost freaked when my sister made a left turn into a right lane, thinking WRONG LANE! Also how everyone looks, I kinda forgot what Hawaii people looked like o.0 I sometimes say, oh that girl looks like she could be from Hawaii, but going back....not really.

Also I have gained 10-12 lbs in Japan, enough so that many a person went woah... Not a good thing, but strangely in Japan no one notices. I guess since I see them everyday its really subtle. I really need to shed those 10 lbs, because I KNOW it`s not muscle, its fat and I feel it! GRRRR....

On a completely nother note, I have some new student who I have not talked to at all, till yesterdays mountain climb. It was ok, and I also bought along Charity the crazy, crazy Yoshii-machi ALT. She amused my students, and I felt kinda bad seeing as they ALL though she was their ALT. BOO-URNS looking so FOB.

Also, their English is SOOO good, I mean things I had to tell my current first graders and even things my current third graders do not know they knew. I hear the test scores for my school has improved so Yay! Or as Yamato notes (along with my teachers) they just get worse because they just recently studied for enterance exams and are better, but will get worse. I`m getting them from the begining so I`m going to do my best to maintain!

But on a side note, one girl remembered me from like October when I did this sample T.T. lesson of my school. It was a simple game, and she landed up winning so I gave her some Hawaii key-chains. While climbing the mountain, we kept on moving classes and on the way back down some girl went ``Oh! Kristen! Do you remember me?`` I thought it was a trick question, like if I remembered her from 10 minutes ago...but I honestly didn`t so I said...``no...`` So she said some long Japanese word... I didn`t understand it at all but through my amazing guessing powers I realized she was from that Junior High show around. I was jazzed she remembered my name, and I also remembered her.

She was the ``I love you girl`` At the end of the sample class she came up to talk to me, and said some crappy Hawaiian, like ``aloha`` So I taught her some stupid stuff and she then started saying ``I love you`` I assumed for some reason she knew aloha was another way of saying I love you, so I praised her about it. But she kept saying it...so I then thought she wanted to know the Hawaiian word for it ``OH! The other way of saying I love you is Kuuipo``, so she started saying that to me instead...then I realized...shes just being weird...

Long story short (Lies) , completely forgetting what she looked like other than the fact she was tall failed it. This year the first years are ESPECIALLY tall. Taller than Charity even, much to her DENIAL! So kinda just forgot but she has returned, but she isn`t weird at all, she just seems to like English so YAY. Even though I am pretty sure its not true I`ll pretend she came to this school cuz she liked my lesson HAH!

Also funny, since Charity was here I lied to some students and said `She is the new ALT, I`m going home.` I was rather jazzed as a girl went `NANDE?` and looked genuinely sad, so yay. In some ways I feel I`ve been kinda making up for my lack of foreignness with kindness, and remembering nameness (also semi lies, I am just really nice to her class for some reason)

Also I realize though I try..I really am only have a good relation with some students. Some student just still do not even know my name. I want to be an ALT who all the students know. Alot of the new first years have no clue what their old ALT`s name were. And I want to change that...I know thats kinda hard since especially for current third years I only taught them about 6 or so times and knew them only for 6 months. I actually wont teach them at all but I think I need to be more Yamato style and randomly talk to anyone. Some classes just completely ignore me, while other are screaming and having a great time just seeing me. My goal is to remember EVERY single second year student, by the time they are third years I want to be able to call out their names in the halls. I also want to by next year remember all current first year students... 800 students...1100 if I try for all current students. Hmm...can I make it?

I hope so... my English Club hopefully will really pick up steam, as I am trying to advertise like crazy. I`ve asked every English teacher in the school (their are 12 minus me) to help me out. Also I will make a morning announcement about it on monday (its next tuesday) For you other JETs out there you know what that means.... Kinda scary but I really want some kids to come, I`m totaly freaked no one will come =(

Well, my computer will come back hopefully this week and then maybe I`ll post more, till then please respond!