Thursday, July 21st: Looks like a rather blustery day, today!

Lin Sensei sweeping and
"greeting" parents as they drop
off their kids...people dealing with
the crazy hot and humid MI weather,
please note her warm attire.

I must have sent MI all of the crazy hot and crazy humid weather Japan normally has because today was straight up cold.  The blustery morning began with our Kumon tests on Hiragana...we passed!  YAY!  We had to be able to identify/pronounce the 45ish characters and match a few basic sentences to corresponding pictures.  Then we helped Majelyn Sensei a bit before heading to the classrooms.

Putting together packets...
notice the jeans and sweatshirt!

Apparently yesterdays giant 1 classroom was a oops and from now on it'll be the 2  classrooms and Madelyn and I will be split up.  It's not like we can't be on our own ever, its just lonely.  However, today was still surprisingly good!  I had more energy plus the kids were happier and nicer, for the most part :)

Little cuties posing it up with
flower hands and an asian peace.

Another asian peace.

 Since it was quite chilly, we didn't do water games.  Instead, we had other game time outside under the happy dome in all the wind.

A good ol' game of Tug of War...
I participated in round 2

Family, you know the blue cord/rope thing we used to tie the canoe to the car? Well they play tug of war with that...it's not so forgiving on your hands!

See those bean bag ball things?
See those surprisingly strong little kids?
Well put the 2 together and make me the
target and it'll equal another game we played.

 I was asked to stand in the middle of a ring of kids and hold a bucket.  When the whistle was blown, the kids grabbed the balls and chucked them at me.  Seriously, I think some of them were out to get me instead of the bucket!  I had to shield my face the best I could so I didn't have a tooth knocked out!

Girly-girls looking like Emely Sensei
who had her hands in her pockets to
keep them warm :)

Do you see the people in the field in
the background of the picture?
Those are the teachers weeding.
Welcome to summer vacation??

My lunch buddy :) What a cutie pie!

 Lunch wasn't too bad.  I gulped down the seaweed soup in a few seconds and then enjoyed the chicken and rice.  I figure if I ate the soup, I could leave the cherry tomato and cucumber/broccoli/mayo mixture untouched on my plate.  Madelyn isn't feeling well so she slept for a bit.  Please keep her in your prayers as tomorrow we are going to Tokyo and it'll be a long day!

Elementary aged girls that are in the
Thursday after school English club

Look at the cute invitations a teacher
gave to us for a goodbye dinner.
The face on the front looked like us!

Another shot of the school, taken by
the crazy kids pictured below

This is the nicest face I could get him to do.

Playing on the playground

This is an awkward picture.

The kid in my arms is Gachi (Gah-chee), my favoritest kid, the one I taught to "pound it" and we now have a secret handshake.  I promise I'm not squashing him to death, he really was giggling like crazy!  He would walk back and forth on the bench thing (on the right side of the picture) and I'd randomly grab him and spin him around and set him back down.  Repeat.  For a half hour straight.  No exageration, I promise!  It was exhausting, yet so much fun :)  He is adorable!

Majelyn Sensei jumping rope :)

Madelyn and her new friend...
he's shy but he speaks ENGLISH!

Today was really good :) I figure a picutre is worth 1,000 words and since I posted several, today's blog is gonna be done.  Tomorrow is Tokyo, the Diet building, and Taiko drumming!