I just finished up my last class for the week and I`m chilling out in the teacher`s room at Akinokami elementary. `Chilling` is the operative word- that classroom had to be 85 degrees or so, and the teacher`s room is a comfortable 70 with a nice breeze. I think I sweated out about half my body weight running around that stuffy room with a bunch of fourth graders. On the plus side, one of the kids had attended school abroad and was extremely fluent in English- she helped translate a bit for me when some of the other kids used difficult Japanese.

So, the first week. I taught at 3 elementary schools and one junior high school. So far, I definitely prefer the elementary school kids. They`re generally very energetic and eager to participate, even if they don`t speak English... and the ones who do are incredibly happy and proud to show it off. They enjoy any opportunity to run around a bit, which makes lesson planning dead easy (Hmm... ten minutes to kill? FRUITS BASKET!) On the other hand, my 4 JHS classes were various degrees of painful. The kids are either shy, nervous, or surly enough that they dont` bother to answer questions, even easy ones that they certainly know the answers to. They misbehave in class, talking to each other or sleeping at their desks. I handed out a very very simple writing exercise asking the students to list their favorite movie/TV show and an adjective for it- funny, interesting, romantic etc. I got about a third of them back completely blank. It`s a little frustrating, but I`m optimistic that it will get better.

Yesterday, Lissette took a brave solo journey to the Prefectural Immigration Office to request permission to work. She managed to navigate the treacherous Tokushima Bus Station correctly on the first try, a feat I doubt I could replicate. We expected a weeks-along bureacratic run around full of incomprehensible delays and ridiculously elaborate kanji-laden forms. Instead, it took about five minutes and she didn`t even have to fill in half of the paper- they just photocopied her gaijin card and `See Attached Form`ed the rest. She now has permission to work up to 28 hours per week for pay. My wonderful supervisor Sato-sensei is assisting her with some job-hunting this afternoon.

Tonight is my Board of Education`s offical Welcome Party. This is my first real enkai since I got here. It should be a good time.

In theory, tomorrow we get home internet. Cross your fingers for us.