Thursday, July 14th: Giraffes and tubular popsicles make life better.

This morning was pretty bad for me.  My mood wasn't all that great and the homesickness hit pretty hard when I saw new pictures of family on facebook.  Playtime helped a little, it's free-styling in air conditioning and the kids are cute and happy at that point during the day.

Play time in the morning :)

After playtime, the plan was for Madelyn and I to teach everybody the game of Red Light, Green Light under the Dome, so lots of space for all those kids.  Instead, the game was going to be done inside because of the heat outisde.  So Madelyn and I were split up to go with each half of the group of kids.  I got the all the "too cool for you" boys who never listen as well as no translator since Majelyn Sensei was with Madelyn.  It failed pretty miserably due to my lack of communication skills, the lack of respect most of the kids have for me (which is something I've never experienced before), the small room, the large group of kids, and the variety of ages and sizes of the kids.  Ugh.  Bad morning.

The fun game that followed my failed game.

Lunch time came after the game.  It was so hot that one of the teachers gave Madelyn and I ice packs to wear in our hankerchief things around our necks (as pictured below)

Looking so good and Japanese
with my icepack scarf thing.

Its a very popular look for all of the teachers...I think it looks awkward and uncomfortable but holy cow it works so well!  I was cooled down and refeshed quite quickly.  The kids thought it was funny that I had it around my neck like the teachers do, so a few of them thought it'd be funny to attack my face and neck with their lunch ice packs.  It was funny and refreshingly cool.  I wasn't going to complain :)
However, then there was lunch.  Somedays, I wish I didn't have tastebuds or a stomach that reacted to strange things.  I thought my stomach would have toughened up, but it's actually doing the opposite.  Yikes.  Good thing breakfast and dinner are so yummy!

Attacking Lin Sensei with love after lunch  :)

As kids finish up lunch, the teachers help clean up tables and chairs and such.  But we also get in some good chill time with the kids.  I got a kiss from my lovely friend Kanami chan :)  She's a sweetheart and came up to me slowly and kissed my cheek ever so gently!  It made my day.  Lunch was followed by nap time which meant a meeting for Madelyn and I to discuss our new schedule which will start on Tuesday and continue through August 5th.  Yay consistency!

The cutest picture of
No-no chan ever!
Who doesn't love some good
cuddle time after napping?
So precious :)

When nap time is over, some kids remind me of myself and refuse to wake up.  Instead of letting some of the teachers wake the kids in a not so gentle manner, I tried to awaken as many as I could without frightening them.

This made me laugh!
How adorable is he?

This little guy took a while to wake up, so I swooped him up in my arms, eagerly accepting any opportunity to cuddle with the kiddos.  Once he regained conciousness and could stand, I moved on to the next sleepy kid.  One girl was totally refusing to wake up, so I just picked her up off the mat and held her for a bit while she woke up.  She snuggled in and wrapped her arms around me, I never wanted to let go!  After she "woke up" she was still a little foggy looking, so we walked around for a while, hand in hand.  It was cute :)

My little lunch buddy from Shion B!
I miss him!

It's parent-teacher conferences this week, so some of the non-summer kids stop by to visit for a bit.  I was so happy to run into that little guy!  He was one of my favs.

And then nap time was over
and somebody had energy again!

As it is Thursday, we didn't have Kids Club English.  YAY!  Instead, Madelyn and I taught English to 2 first graders, a second grader, and a third grader.  It's interesting analyzing the way they are taugh English, compared to how we are learning Japanese.  We are taught one of the Japanese alphabets at a time and one character within that alphabet at a time.  Then you can combine them and sound out words.  English is taught by speaking/reading small words.  It's not very successful in my opinion since it's difficult to randomly memorize the way words look and what they mean and how to pronounce them.  I feel like the kids need to learn how the letters work together so they can sound them out.  Sigh.  I'm not in charge, I'll let them follow the rules of the system.
Once school was out, Madelyn and I changed and got ready to paint some giraffes!  They normally live in the playground and have received too much love from the weather.

Let's pain some giraffe booty!

Oh ya know, just me chilling
with a giraffe head.

Can you see the difference?

Although, please realize the head on the right had some yellow touch ups....so the difference is only really visible when you pay attention to the brown part :)  Not to mention that's the part I did so of course it's the most important!  Just kidding, Madelyn and I had great team work with these guys.
Dinner was similarly delicious to yesterdays and afterwards we ate some tubular popsicles...so good!

Delicious raspberry/grape ish flavor!

Please keep praying for energy, attitude, the food, and that God will reveal his purpose for this trip to Madelyn and I....or that we'll at least get a peace about it and the strength for the next 4 weeks.