Thursday, July 7th: an unexpected day!

Today was an adventure.  I thought it was going to be low key, but instead it was busy busy busy!  I'm exhausted, so today's  blog is going to be brief and maybe I'll come edit it and make it more elaborate later :)

Today began with office work like expected, we made new time cards with Majelyn Sensei while she told us about our day's schedule.  SURPRISE #1 an assembly honoring July birthdays!  The teachers dress up in hats and uniforms that are like 2 flags sewn together?  It's a pretty big shindig.

Me and my flag outfit?
The hats were all too small for my big
head...I eventually was given a large
one to complete the outfit, sadly, the
complete outfit was not photographed.

Ta-da!

Oops!
Is my American pride showing?

Happy July Birthday Madelyn!

The teachers and birthday kids in all
their get up. Woot!

Next was break time and lunch with Schion C.  That was an adventure!  Some kid tried to eat from my chopsticks, another wanted to share his food with me, a girl kept sitting on my lap and hugging me which is always good, I taught a kid to "pound it", and SURPRISE #2a kid removed his pants to show everybody his "business".  Woot!  Exciting lunch!

Schion C



Check out the cute chop sticks!

Today's lunch friend
(his name is written below)
I decided he was cool enough,
so I taught him to "pound it".

U Su I is the first part (I think)....
pronounced "oo-sue-ee"

  After lunch I went outside and saw unattended kids playing.  The protective, motherly side of me came out and I chilled with them until their teacher showed up...it's a long was down from that dinosaur and he's slippery!

Mmm so cute!

It was looking a little chaotic!

So precious!

 After helping Majelyn Sensei more with office work in the afternoon, I played with kids outside.

This girl showed me the "4 leaf clovers"
around the playground...they were totally
all 3 leaf :)

At 3pm was snack time with Kids Club like usual.  Since it's Thursday, we had English class with a few elementary age girls.  Instead of teaching for 2 hours with Majelyn Sensei, SURPRISE #3 at 4:45 we had an unexpected Tea Party with the teachers.  Madelyn and I were really fearing it because we know how much English the teachers speak and we know how much Japanese we speak.  However, it was actually really fun!  I ate a wasabi flavored chip and didn't die from the spice! (I actually didn't notice until a teacher told me what it was).  Madelyn and I gave them our gifts and they told us their names and what group they teach.  Then they asked us questions and we showed them pictures.  My pictures:
- Family pic at Bethy&Jordan's wedding (Boltes, they were surprised you guys were so young, apparently Japanese people get married in late 20s and easily into 30s)
- Sister pic (B&H, the female teachers thought you both are gorgeous...envious of Bethy's curls and Hannah's blonde coloring)
- Boyfriend pics (Eric, the female teachers wanted your pic to be passed around as they raved about your good looks and facial hair...maybe you should keep it? They thought you were 25 and were shocked and I think maybe a little weirded out that you were younger than me. But they told me they thought you were a good pick for me!)
- Roommate pic ("Oh so pretty!" and they were impressed at the openness of campus in the background)
-  Friends at Christmas party pic (They thought we were strangely dressed but liked looking at people's appearances because none were asian)
It was shockingly really fun to let loose and laugh with them!  They seem a lot more approachable now.  It makes me happy :)

 At 5:30pm we rode the noisy school bus to the church for SURPRISE #4 a prayer meeting.  Madelyn and I had an hour at the mall nearby to shop and grab dinner (Japanese subway...it was weird with liquid cheese? I'm sticking to Japanese Japanese food and leaving American food to the Americans).  The prayer meeting is required of the teachers once a month.  They share different prayer requests for some specific children and somebody speaks.  It's all in Japanese, so I did my own devos and prayer time while listening to Majelyn Sensei's translations every few minutes.  The speaker spoke too fast for Majelyn to even understand what she said, so that got a little tiring but luckily I had picked up an Americano earlier to go with dinner so I had caffiene in me!
So today's easy going office work all day and only 2 hours of kid time ending at 530, turned into a day of office work, an assembly, kid time, more office work, kid time, tea time, mall time, and church time and ended closer to 9pm.  Sigh.  I'm tired!  Bedtime for me!  Tomorrow is Friday!  2 weeks.
YATTAH!  Plus, after work is Madelyn's birthday party with the Nishimura family :) YAY!

PRAYER REQUESTS:
- my ears are still pressured and need to pop and stay popped
- Madelyn's online class ends this weekend and she has a bit more to do and very little time to do it in
- our safety and time in Tokyo on Saturday
- tomorrow goes a little more according to plan....but also that we become more willing to be flexible!  It's not the American way, but apparently it's the Japanese way!