Thursday, March 13, 2003

What I did today Today, I... Went to Bebe for lunch with Nagareda; Went to Kirikushi Elementary School for two lessons; Spent ages in Izumi trying to decide which cakes to buy as prizes for the Ogiri event; Spent more money than I would have liked in Izumi buying cakes for White Day to give to the people who gave me chocolate on Valentine's Day; Taught the ninth of my Elementary English classes in Koyo Community Centre; Went to Hibiki for dinner, and ended up on my own when the person I was supposed to be meeting failed to turn up.

J-List Chopstick manners Sashibashi (Using chopsticks to 'stab' food) Mayoibashi (Lingering over dishes with chopsticks when undecided as to what to take next) Yosebashi(Using chopsticks to move a bowl) Komibashi (Stuffing an already-full mouth with food using chopsticks) Neburibashi (Sucking the tips of one's chopsticks) Kakibashi (Holding a bowl to one's mouth and pushing rice in using chopsticks) Utsuribashi (Picking up one kind of food with chopsticks only to change one's mind and pick up another) Kuwaebashi (Closing one's mouth around the end of one's chopsticks) Tatakibashi (Tapping one's chopsticks on the side of one's bowl to demand attention) Saguribashi (Stirring a bowl of soup with chopsticks, in order to search out certain ingredients) Yokobashi (Using one's chopsticks like a spoon by holding them parallel to each other) Namidabashi (Dripping soup from the tips of one's chopsticks while moving them)

Today was my final visit to Kirikushi Elementary School of the academic year. I had two classes- with the firsts and fourths- and in both lessons, we played 'Dwarfs, Witches, Giants' outside; both classes went well. The fourths turned up in P.E. kit, and some of the boys started boasting about how fast they could run. They were all so confident that they would be faster than me... until I beat them handsomely in a 100-metre sprint. They looked at me with new respect in their eyes after that! At the end of the lesson, I commented to the fourth-year teacher that I'd be concentrating on more formal lessons with her class next year, rather than playing games all the time. She replied that she thought it was a good idea, because at the minute the fourths were under the impression that my lessons were 'game time'. I was speechless at this!- if this is the case, then whose fault is it? After all, I'm not the one who suggests playing a game every single lesson!