A new school year

I think that time in Japan goes by faster than it does in the rest of the world. I mean, I'm being a little bit serious. And, I know several people here that would agree with me! Tokyo was fun. It was nice to get away and spend some time together. Sarah and I attempted to go to Disneyland on Saturday, but..they were sold out! Crazy. So, we pre-bought tickets for Sunday. Us and 70,000 people! I can not believe how crowded it was. I think we maybe rode 5 rides in the 7 or 8 hours that we were there. But, we had fun and felt like even though we didn't get to do a lot it was still worth it.

I finished up my first year as a teacher after that. My kids graduated and are now moved on to 1st grade. Graduation went really well and my kids all did so well. Luckily, I get to see all of my kids again as they come back for the after school program. However, one of my girls moved - it was really hard to say goodbye to her. Also, one of my boys decided that he didn't want to come to Friends Club. This was kind of a pretty big blow to me, because his reasoning was that he "doesn't like English." The rational part of me knows that this isn't entirely true. This boy has had a really rough last couple of weeks in school because of his parents and the drama that they brought into the school. They made it uncomfortable for everyone involved, including the little boy, and I think it drove him to not want to come. However, if he truly doesn't like English, that is kind of on me ya know? I've tried not to beat myself up over it, and I just pray that he changes his mind and decides to come back. The mom left the final decision up to him (a 6 year old, I mean..for real) but she wants him to come. It just breaks my heart because I know that our school is the only place that he is going to hear about Jesus. So, I'm just believing that he will miss his friends and decide to come back.

Another hard part of the end of the school year was that a good friend of mine moved back to America. She was my partner teacher and I really miss her. She challenged me so much this past year, and I will forever be grateful to her for how much she pushed me at times. The good news is that I will get to see her in August when Sarah and I head to Los Angeles for her wedding! I'm really excited about that!

Thailand was amazing. Maybe I will find time to blog more about that later. For now, a quick synopsis. We started the trip in Phuket, rode elephants, shopped a bit, took a boat trip to Phi Phi Islands and snorkeled (the most gorgeous beaches and water I have ever seen). We went to Bangkok and went to the Grand Palace, saw the reclining Buddha, shopped, went to a Thai show. We risked our lives riding in tuk tuks, and got ripped off several times while shopping in markets. We got some interesting, yet cheap, massages and pedicures. It was a pretty good trip.

We came back to Sendai and jumped head first into work. Several days this past week I worked 13 or 14 hour days. Thursday was opening ceremony with my new kids. Yesterday we had our first day of class (well, a half day anyway). It hit me yesterday that this class is completely different than my last. It is going to take some major adjusting, a lot of patience, and time. The kids are adorable, but..I don't quite feel like they are MY kids yet. I'm sure it will change with time. But, it was just a little bit of a slap in the face yesterday realizing that the place that I had worked so hard all year to get my kids to - listening, doing their best, treating each other nicely, sitting nice, etc. I have to start all over. I know that it will be a good year..it will just be challenging.

In more exciting news, I got a scooter! It seems like everyone in Japan has scooters. They might be dorky in America, but here it's the norm! I haven't had time to take advantage of it much, but the freedom that I feel having it is amazing! It will come in handy so much, I think! I like just being able to go whenever I want. Granted, we have a van that we can use pretty much whenever we need. But, we do have a lot of other people that use the same van. So, I am so excited to have a scooter!

Well, that sums up my life for the past month or so! I will be coming home in June for a few days and I can't wait for that! This is going to be a busy year!!

Where did February go?

Wow. There are only two weeks left of school. Graduation is on the 22nd. I can't believe I am just about finished with my first class of students. It has been an incredible year, I was blessed with an amazing first class. February was such a busy month. We had open house, which I think went pretty well. I only had about 18 parents and grandparents this time, so not too bad. We also had parent interviews (parent-teacher conferences). Those all went really well. I loved showing the parents that I met with how much their child has learned over the past year. They have all grown up so much. I can't believe these are my last couple of weeks with them.
The past week or two has been really tough. There is some stuff going on with some of my kids and parents. It has the ability to really wear me down, that's for sure. At this point, I feel like all I can do is pray for them and hope for a good outcome.

In more exciting news, I finally went skiing. I had never been before. We went last week and..well, I spent most of the day on the ground. It took three other people to get me up once, haha. At one point, this Japanese ski instructor came over and worked with me for a while. He kept making me snow plow, and let me tell you, doing that for a long period of time really starts to hurt your legs! I would say that my first time skiing wasn't the most enjoyable.
However, I decided to give it one more shot. We went again this past weekend, and..I loved it! I found out that the ski boots that I was wearing last week were way too big! That made a huge difference! I also figured out how to ski back and forth, and how to stop. My goal for the day was to be able to get myself up, and..I did! I don't know if those boots made that big of a difference, but..wow, it was a completely different experience! I also used poles, which made me feel a little bit more balanced.
We did the bunny hills a few times, and then we decided to do a bigger hill. Joey, a guy who was skiing with us, assured me that the slope we were going to wasn't any more steep than the one we did the week before. So, I hesitantly agreed. We finally got to the top, and well..he was wrong. It was way steeper! I seriously stood at the top of that slope for like five minutes trying to get the courage up to start heading down it. I finally did, and I fell several times, but..it wasn't so bad. I have decided that I am a fan of skiing!

In even more exciting news..Sarah and I randomly decided to go to Tokyo this next weekend and go to Disneyland. We got a really good deal on train tickets and hotel. I am really excited! And, then like a week and a half later we are headed to Thailand. Which, we haven't even planned at all. Whoops. Oh well, it will just be nice to be somewhere new. I am really excited for both trips!

Then, we come back and have one week to set up for the next school year. I will get a brand new group of kids. I am excited and nervous still about this next year. I know that there will be such different personalities and dynamics in my class. I think this next year will be more challenging, but.. I think I am ready for it!

A little thing called Grace

I do a Bible study once a week with a couple of girls that I work with. It is usually a straight-forward, almost a little boring sometimes even, kind of Bible study. However, a couple of weeks ago, one of them said something that I found myself not totally agreeing with. So, I asked her about it and she explained why she felt that way. She then proceeded to ask me why I thought the opposite and I realized that I honestly didn't know why. It was something that I had been taught growing up, and I had never been challenged to figure out how I personally felt about it.
I quickly started talking to different people, reading in my Bible, and really thinking about the issue and what I believed. I can't say that I have a finished answer, but I still have the overall same stance that I originally started out with. Now I have a little more reasoning behind it.

However, I learned..a lot. I learned that there is so much more grace than I ever knew possible. I feel like I grew up in a great church with some amazingly Godly people around me. But somewhere along the way the lesson on true grace never quite made it into my brain. I have lived my life in so much fear. Unnecessary fear. Fear should not in any way be a driving factor. We are not supposed to live that way. God has so much more grace than we could ever give Him credit for. We sing about grace, and we talk about grace, but do we really get it? I would say for the most part, probably not.

I have been challenged to figure out how I really feel about things. I have realized that a lot of my beliefs are not truly mine. They are what I was brought up hearing, and I never really questioned whether or not it was truth. A lot of the things I was taught I still feel the same about, but I am also learning that some of it I don't- and that's okay! God is so complex that there is honestly no way to know that one specific religion or person has it all correct. Most of it honestly doesn't matter. It's petty. I still think it's important to understand why you believe something, but unless it's a fundamental, it really doesn't matter.

I know this post wasn't really about Japan. I just feel like I have had some huge revelations lately, life-changing ones. Being in Japan and still drawing near to God has been a challenge. There is no real church to go to, no accountability. Besides the people that you work with, it really is just between you and God. I have realized that church has always been a sort of crutch for me. Don't get me wrong, I love church and miss it more than I could say. But being stripped away from that has made me step back and see how much of my faith and "relationship" with God was dependent on others. I will be thankful for the day that I have a church family again, but I am also thankful for this time in my life that I don't.

It's almost February!

Well, all in all our sledding trip was a success. We spent the first half hour pulling/pushing/dragging kids down the hill because the snow wasn't packed down yet. I pretty much drug myself and a sled full of three girls down the hill with my hands and heels. It was a workout! After it packed down though, we really got going. The only near tragedy was when we accidentally kind of sort of almost ran over one of my girls. Sarah and I got a huge group of our kids together on this massive sled. We were going pretty good, and then we stopped. There were kids in front of me, so I couldn't really see the ground all that well. Apparently Marilyn, who was in the front, somehow managed to fall off and we kind of went over her leg. Thank goodness the snow wasn't packed down very well! She was fine. We re-situated and made our way down the rest of the hill. It could have been bad, but..it was all good! I had a blast sledding with my kids.

This past weekend I headed to the cabin by the ocean. One of my friends birthdays is coming up so we went to celebrate it a bit early. It was nice just relaxing, playing games, reading, and spending time with people.

The school year is quickly coming to an end. We switch levels next week and then we only have one more level after that. Crazy. We are on our 8th level of the year out of 10 right now. I can't believe how fast time has gone. It seems like Japan time goes by so much quicker! Sarah and I are headed to Thailand at the end of March. I should be coming home in June for a wedding. I will have a vacation (not sure where yet) in August. Then it's just a few months until Christmas. So many big trips in the next 12 months. At least 4 out of the country, and hopefully a few around Japan on weekends as well. Should be a busy year!

She's back!

Umm..whoops. Sorry I neglected this for so long! I don't even know where to start or what to say. We made it through the Christmas season here at school. It was a hectic one to say the least. This kids did an amazing job singing their Christmas songs and doing their Christmas dance. I was so proud!
I also went home for Christmas. It was so nice to be home. It had been almost 11 months since I had been there. I got to see a lot of people, but definitely did not have enough time. It went by so fast. I didn't get to see quite everyone that I wished I had. But, spending time with my family was amazing. It was the first time that my dad's side of the family had all been together in years.
I had such a blast with my nephew. I can't believe how big he is or how much he talks! It's like he is finally a real person. Not just a baby anymore..he has his own thoughts and stubborn ways. I don't think I could love someone more than I love that little man. It kills me to be away from him now. He is only going to keep getting bigger and I will just keep missing it all. Thank God for web cam. It's nowhere near as good as actually being there, but it does help.

I also got to spend some time with my friends. Wow, I can't even tell you how much I have missed having friends around like that. I mean, I have friends here. But, it's different than hanging out with friends who you've known for 10 years, or 22 years, or even 25! There is a different level of friendship there, for sure. Most of my friends here are work friends..so the most we have in common is usually work related. Going home this Christmas just made me appreciate and cherish the friendships that I have back in the States. One goal for the year is keeping in better contact with some of them, for sure.

I have been back at work for about 2 weeks now. This week has been so busy. Tuesday we took our kids on a field trip to the Traffic Park. It was such a cool place. The place was set up like streets. Different lanes, traffic lights, stop signs, railroad tracks, crosswalks. The kids got to ride bikes and such around the place. They loved it! Our current level is about transportation and community helpers, so it fit right in!
Field trips are always a bit stressful for me though. I usually don't really know exactly what is going on because I've never been there before. This trip was no different. As part of our "fun-filled" day, we rode the bus to the subway. We then got off of the bus and headed into the subway. Halfway down the long hallway one of my kids starts yelling, "No partner, Ms. Kim!" She had lost her partner. I had a small moment of panic seeing as I only had 15 kids instead of 16. Apparently one had an issue with his shoe and our Japanese teacher stopped to help him. Phew, safe. The kids then got to put their tickets in the ticket booth and we headed onto the subway. Japanese subways are most often silent. People rarely ever talk while riding it. So, trying to keep 16 kids quiet every time we took off and they all almost fell over was a bit of a challenge. :)
After we got downtown, we got all of the kids off of the subway and waited our turn to put our tickets back through the machine. The other two classes were in front of mine and didn't really wait for us to finish. We had to walk through a really long hallway and my class was walking incredibly slow for some reason. I was watching the classes in front of mine, but also turning to watch my class. At one point when I was turning to check on my class, the classes in front of us disappeared. I had no idea which way they went. Straight, left, or right? I had no clue. I guessed straight and checked it out, but no sign of them! So, there I was..16 kids, two mothers who don't speak English, and no clue where I was supposed to be. Luckily, I had my cell phone so I quickly called my boss and she sent someone to find us! Haha.

The rest of the day went pretty smoothly. I didn't lose any kids, nobody got seriously injured, and we made it back to school safely.

Tomorrow, I am hoping for an even smoother day. We are taking all of our kids sledding up on the mountain. I am excited but a little bit nervous! It should be such a blast getting to hang out with my kids like that all day!

In travel news- Sarah and I are headed to Thailand the end of March. I can't wait!

All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!

Well, today was an exciting day in the wonderful Dolphins classroom. We were getting ready to practice our Christmas dance before 1st bus left. The kids were slowly coming in from outside and going to the bathroom first. We were waiting on a couple of kids, so the rest of them were just dancing, jumping, goofing off. I turned around and hear, "Uh oh Ms. Kim" and turn to see one of my boys on the floor holding his mouth. Another of my boys says, "Broken! Broken!" I look and Wes (the boy on the floor) has blood running down his hands and his mouth is full of it as well. So, I calmly (on the outside) walk him to the office. I saw that there was a huge gap in his mouth but I wasn't sure what teeth he had in the first place. My kids are losing teeth like crazy these days- they're just at that age.

He had been dancing and jumping and fell mouth first into the table.

I left him with another teacher and went back to settle my kids down and to check for teeth. My kids are all standing at my door saying, "There's two teeth!" So, I picked up two teeth that were scattered on the floor. Poor kid lost his two front teeth! A third was also knocked loose. Luckily, they were baby teeth!

I told my boss I wish we were singing the song All I want for Christmas for our party- I'd have Wes sing a solo, hehe. :)

That's the third kid that's had to go to the hospital this year. Two of my kids fell and busted their chins open and had to get stitches (one in the summer and one maybe two months ago), and now two teeth. Hopefully this will be the end of injuries for the Dolphins this year!

On another note, it's hard to not be home for Thanksgiving. We had a Thanksgiving meal here last night. There was some amazing food! It helped ease the homesickness that comes with missing a holiday though, that's for sure. I will be home in 29 days- that is less than a month! I can't wait!

Darn pigs..

So, it's been around two months since I last posted. Whoops. I've just been busy. And then when I think about it, it's a bit overwhelming to think about all of the things that I should be writing about. But, I just decided it's time to just pick up where I am, and not worry about the last two months so far.

A quick re-cap off the top of my head..
My mom came to visit and it was so nice having her here. We spent a few days at the ocean in a cabin, a few days in Tokyo, and some time here in town. I know that it was an incredibly hard trip for her to make, but I am so glad that she did. She got to see my life, where I live, where I teach. I am so glad that she got to see what my life is like, even if just for a short time.
I really miss my family. I have just a little over a month until I am home and I can't even tell you how much I can't wait for that. To think of all that I have missed.. well, I just can't really think about it.
I missed Tanner's 2nd birthday, and that was really hard. I know that I have missed out on so many milestones in his life.. Thank God for web cam, that's all I can say. Although it isn't enough, at least it is something.

We had Kids and Parents Day in October. This one went much better than the last. I feel like I involved the parents a bit more, and felt more comfortable than last time. We did stations and then a 30ish minute English circle. It's always intimidating having close to 40 parents and family members watching your ever move, but..it was definitely easier than last time!

Another thing that happened in October, is that I made my decision to stay here for another year. I can't believe it. I honestly had been so back and forth leading up to that decision. I feel like I made the right one though, and I don't really have any feelings of regret. I feel excited for next year. I will be the only current K-5 teacher staying. So, it will be a whole other ballgame. This year I feel like I was being spoon-fed information (well, sometimes...ha) and next year I will be the only one experienced in K-5. Intimidating, but..I know that it will be such a growing experience for me. I'm excited yet scared about it at the same time.

Swine flu, Influenza A, H1N1..whatever you want to call it, has hit my school pretty hard. They have canceled classes. My class was canceled this past Friday and Monday because of it. I still have 4 kids out with it. 10 of my 16 kids have or had it. Our assistant had it. Sarah has it. It is all around me. I am praying with everything in me that I do not get it. The odds are currently against me though. I broke down and bought a mask (everyone wears them here, but I've kinda laughed at and sworn against them). But, I bought a mask. Only to wear in Sarah's apartment though! She spends all day alone, so I kind of want to try to keep her company to some extent at night, and being cooped up in that small room with no ventilation and her hacking up a lung is just probably not the smarted thing for me. So, I look like a goober and wear a mask. Yes..I said goober..but I just don't even know what else to say I look like!

I bought a cell phone. It feel so weird having one again. Although, I hardly ever use it. I forgot what it was like to be so totally tied to a phone. I lived here for 9 months without it..and it was quite the freeing experience. I'm going to try my best to not depend on it like before.
I am also about to get my Japanese drivers licence. That way, I can buy a scooter! I am so excited! I have an International Drivers licence, but that's not good enough to buy one I guess. I'm a little nervous about the test, but..eventually I will pass, ha!

Sarah and I are trying to plan our trips for next year. One in March, maybe one in May, and a big one in August. The sky is the limit..which is making it difficult to choose where to go. That is one huge plus to staying another year. I will get to travel so much, and I can't wait!