School girl

I survived the typhoon... actually it was a lot less exciting than we thought it would be because it ended up missing the island. All we got was really really strong winds and heavy rain... and a day of school! My very first day off school was a half day because of the approaching typhoon and the second day was cancelled. Apparently this is really unusual but this year everyone is paranoid because last year there was a really bad direct hit and the kids had to go home in the middle of the typhoon the the power and phones were out. In some areas the power was out for three days and the damage was extensive. So we were super prepared this time, all the windows were taped and some of the trees were tied to things, cars were put as close to buildings as possible and so on.

I spent the day listening to my house rattle and watching movies. It was nice. I also made a woolly hat and started crocheting a tree out of plastic bags. Unfortunately they gave me the wrong tape for one of my movies (I KNOW it said subtitles on the box because both boxes were the same and the other movies was in English) so I ended up watching Vanilla Sky in Japanese. Twice. And I still have absolutely no idea what went on. Maybe I should try again for English? Is it worth it?

Anyway... school is fun. It is kind of tiring trying to introduce myself every hour in an energetic and appropriate manner to kids who are often too scared, too excited, too busy sticking cut out pictures of poo to the blackboard, or too hot to listen but for the most part it is good.

Today I was at a primary school. I did the introduction thing and then we around and shook hands with all the kids. One poor wee girl was shaking with fear with tears rolling down her face (I like to think it was talking in front of all 17 students in the school and not me that was the problem) and all she could do was hold out her hand and look away... but after we had made traditional riceballs and green tea together she was my best friend and gave me a lovely self portrait to take away. I like the little ones.

The big ones are a bit scarier. I went for a run the other night (blisters on blisters owww) and thought I would be safe from students at 6:30. But no, I ran straight into and through a whole bunch of them. Nothing like a group of whistling and cheering 13 and 14 year olds to give you a spurt of genki energy.

So that was the week that was. Hope you are all well in your times and places. I can probably only get to the Internet on Mondays now and probably not for all that long as I'm skipping off to primary schools all over the place. Next Monday is a public holiday so I'll see what I can do.
loves
donna

It is kind of scary not understanding the warning system there have been two while I have been writing.
Wish me luck for my first day at school tomorrow!