My Humps, My Humps, My Hump Day

Jeez I feel like I'm totally dragging ass this week. But then when I look at it the week is more than half over since we have a teacher workshop day with no kids. So I have Friday to look forward too and then another three day weekend! I'm not one to complain about the three day weekends but they really do seem to mess up the school week for us. I mean we have so much stuff that we need to be accountable on but there just never seems to be enough time. But anyway...

Monday was a very quick day as it was our Resource day where we get with the the other teachers and go to "in school training" for various parts of the curriculum. Anyway we didn't have students on that either. But that was definitely a mental stress day. There was so much that went through the various meetings that I left the day with my brain like pudding. Its so complex that I don't want to go into it again here on the blog. Just take my word for it that it was very grueling. That night I took Krystal home kind of early to chill at the Sakata's. As soon as we walked #5 was having trouble with her birthday gift. I technically only got her a CD/DVD binder but I burned about 75% of all my Japanese dramas on DVDs. She was pretty happy. Anyway it turned out that they were still using Windows Media Player version 5 or something. So there was no way that the avi files would work. So I preformed my "magic" and was able to upgrade the WMP to version 11 and get the thing working. But the funny thing was that we actually kicked off #5 and we started to watch the dramas. There was one in particular that we watched all the way to episode 9 of 11 but stopped for some reason. That night we finished up the drama and commented that no matter where we end up for the night we always end up watching TV.

Tuesday was an ok day for me but turned out to be a hectic day for Krystal. She has all these projects lined up and it took up to 9:00 last night to finish. I thought that it would be nice to bring her dinner and keep her company there since the office would be completely empty. But I think I bothered her more because to pass the time I was watching stupid stuff on youtube that was making me totally laugh. I don't know why it was so funny but at some parts I was laughing so hard that I started to cry. She had to come into the cubicle to tell me that I was too loud. But by the time I took her we both looked pretty hash so I ended up going home early.

OH Yeah! I forgot about Monday night. On the way home I forgot that that evening there was a lunar eclipse. The "blood moon" looked really cool and made me think of Akatsuki from Naruto. Call me an otaku, whatever. But it got me thinking why do Akatsuki have red clouds on their cloaks but the name "Akatsuki" literally translated is "Red Moon?" Anyway after viewing the moon for about 15 minutes I went to Walmart to pick up a copy of Blades of Glory and the first season of Heroes. Everyone has been talking about it for so long and now I can finally catch myself up in Pop Culture. Now I can finally figure what the whole, "save the cheerleader, save the world" thing means.

Anyway, today we just made plans on going to Sunset at the Beach to watch a movie world premiere called Life: Tears in Heaven. Its about a guy who is in the wind surfing circuit and then gets liver cancer. It kind of sounds like a heavy drama but then it is done in Hawaii so maybe I might be a "guy" walking in the background or something. We're planning on making sand chairs and bringing dinner. We'll see if this is a movie worth buying. Hey it worked for Chekeracho!

Kurisu ou-to!

Starbust?

It's Friday! Well technically Saturday morning but it's still the first night until you go to sleep. Anyway originally the plan for tonight was to meet up with Lisa. She invited us to stay at a friend's house that she had been house sitting for. The plan was to cook some dinner sit in front of a giant flat screen and watch a movie. But what happened was that the people that live in the house were very uncomfortable with other people other than the house sitter over. Anyway, Lisa used her puppy dog eyes to get permission for me and Krystal to come over to keep her company. So I finished work, went home early to pack a bag and head over to pick Krystal up.

But before I leave school Krystal calls me to tell me she might have a prospect on a new car. Well not "new" but used and new to her. Anyway I get the specs and we arrange a meeting with the owner. So what the hell do I know about cars? Very close to nothing, but my uncle knows a ton. I call him up and ask for some notes on what to look for. He gives me a pretty extensive list and we're off to Ala Moana. We meet the dude and says that it was originally the grandpa's car but he got too old to drive so he's trying to sell it. It turns out that the car was ridiculously cheap because the car was ridiculous! I mean it was only a '98 but had 175,000 miles on it. Not to mention that everything was manual on it. (except the transmission) Anyway we were polite and said we wouldn't take it but the bug had already infected our brains.

*If you didn't know, just yesterday we went on an amazing voyage all over Honolulu looking for a car for Krystal. I had to admit was having fun too. We started out at a Toyota used car dealership and ended up at the Mazada dealership finance desk.

Anyway we get the bug to keep looking for a car. Even though we caught the "bug" we walked away with nothing. Oh getting back...

So Lisa, gets the "OK" and we're already to go when she says that another co-worker was planning on coming too, with his son. I have no problems with that but it did rule out the fact that we were going to have a quiet dinner. And on top of that we were on the way to the theaters when Lisa called us and said there was a big line. I just told her to start without us and we could totally meet after dinner. We found a nice small Japanese diner in Mililani shopping Center. Anyway we meet with Lisa's friend and head towards the theater.

Ok now for the movie. We went to see Stardust. Everyone I talked to about this movie, they all gave it good reviews. They all said that it was a good fantasy movie about finding true love with princes, witches, and magic. And YES, they did have all the elements for a good fantasy but there was something that wasn't right. I mean I don't even know what that "something" is. It was a little too long. There were very humorous parts that played off the young audience and very adult themes for the older audience. but for some reason the different parts never matched up. I felt that the beginning was way too long. And the important scenes came and left too quickly before the audience can even process it. So I'm torn whether or not I would want to buy the DVD when it comes. I guess it just depends with the mood I'm in when I go to Walmart.

Anyway what's the plan for the weekend? Well I got DnD lined up for tonight and Krystal is going to the Gwen Stefani concert. I kind of wanted to go to the concert but Gwen Stefani has ventured into the type of music that I don't really care about too much. I mean I do have her debut album as a solo artist and yeah some of it is really catchy to listen too but I don't think I would appreciate it in a concert. But then again concerts can be really fun even if you don't know anything about the artist.

As for Sunday its still up in the air. Who knows we could see a movie or maybe even hit up the beach.

Kurisu ou-to!

Nooooooo, MoNdAy'S!!

Oh God, do Monday's Suck. Well I guess I can't complain after coming off a three day weekend. Jeez I was so psyched for the weekend that the weekend started really early Thursday evening.

Before I get to the extra curricular, Thursday was Open House. Meaning that all the parents are invited to the school to check out what their child has been doing the last few weeks. You know they come in introduce themselves to their teacher, check out their kids' work, and take a tour of the class. There are some pros and cons to having the Open House so early. Pros: Because the school year is still young you can get away with stuff that maybe the parents might be expecting like lots of school work. Oh and of course they can't be too upset that there aren't too many things up on the bulletin board. I just pass it off as if we're just too busy right now with protocol rather than work on an art project. Cons: Its never comfortable when parents come into your classroom to criticize and "observe." Not to mention that I did a whole bunch of cleaning and organizing only to have the parent to come in for like 5 minutes. But nevertheless it was causing me stress all week and it was finally over.

As soon as it was done I called the troops and went to check out a movie. We ended up seeing "I now pronounce you Chuck and Larry. Which was a very funny "gay" movie. I say "gay" because the whole thing was about gay stereotypes. IT was AWESOME!! There were some really funny stuff in the movie that I was not expecting at all. For example the whole "shower scene" is pretty funny. I mean can't you imagine what the funny shower scene would entail in a gay movie? It may have not been the best movie to see in the theaters but a definite must own on DVD.

On Friday we all planned to go to the beach. It was a very monumentus occasion since Lauren. Lisa, and Jake all came! Actually I was really surprised that Jake came. He's not really a beach person but even he had to enjoy the nice north shore waters and sun. I guess this next coming weekend we're gonna try for Ko'olina. Lats time we tried and it was totally packed so they actually turned people away. Anyway the drive was nice with Lauren at the reigns of her new Mazda 626. It was pretty roomy and the five us fit pretty well. The beach couldn't have been more perfect. Just enough people to make it feel like a nice beach but not too much for us to deter away. We even brought some snorkeling gear but it was more for keeping salt water out our eyes during water play. We finished the day trip to North Shore with some Dole Whip from Dole Plantation. We all then met for dinner at Yen King and watched some Dane Cook. It was a Core Group Day!

Saturday was some what slower than Friday and the day was spent running errands and such. I went over to to Jake's for some manapua and pork hash, from another local eatery that is going to close for good. But because the manapua wasn't enough we met up with Lauren to grab some food. We did make some plans for that night which was to play some of our board games but the location was a little different. I thought that it was a good idea to plan in my classroom where we could take advantage of a location where we could make lots of noise, use a giant white board, and sit in air conditioning late at night... my classroom. It was very cool. We started out with about 5 guys playing but by the end of the night we had gathered 4 more players and there was a lot of competition going around. I believe we left the classroom at 1:00 in the morning.

Sunday was a nice wholesome weekend day. you know those kind of days where you wake up when your body says its ok, the weather wasn't too hot, and you were content. Anyway Jake calls me at 12:00 asking about lunch so we over to the BK lounge. Ordered a gigantic meal with some nice conversation to follow. The one draw back being that the only booth available was in the back of the restaurant behind a 3 generation korean woman pow wow. I get so irritated with Koreans because of their negative attitude and how "Koreans" are God's example of a hard worker mentality that it pisses me off to the core. Anyway trying to block out their conversation and focus on mine with Jake I couldn't help but over hear random stuff from the Korean Booth. One bit of information that lofted over was how the youngest girl claimed that she almost shit her pants waiting in line for the bathroom. I couldn't help but over hear. And that's a word for word translation.

Of course a weekend is not completely done without a shopping spree at Best Buy. I kind of went crazy since its been over three weeks since I've been to Walmart for new DVDs and I had to get caught up. Jake didn't do that much binge shopping but we did spend and hour there. Next stop was a trip to Walmart to pick up some essentials like swimming trunks, sun screen, and beach towels. I guess I've recently gotten the beach bug and can't wait to get into the water every weekend. Hopefully everyone else gets the bug too since the larger the party the better the day at the beach.

I've already done two whole days of work. Picture taking is tomorrow and I need to dress nice. Well maybe nothing out of the ordinary. I can totally see my kids getting dressed up though. The girls usually put thing sin their hair and wear dresses and etc. Boys usually come in a collared shirt with gel in their hair. I didn't have time to get a hair cut but I think I'm gonna go with the spikes for my picture. Almost half way done with the week. Just a few more days than its beach and Best Buy day again.

Kurisu ou-to!

Pop! Goes My Heart

So today was the big day of the Welcome Back Assembly. I've been secretly being super nervous about the whole thing. What started out as me having some fun during class time has turned into a school wide event. I had them do some practices but I was really satisfied. For some reason the more I saw the routine, the more I thought it needed more and intern I kept making the routine harder and harder. But the kids were all goos sports and went along with my "dictatorship" for a while. I was surprised that as the time to perform came closer and closer the more they got pumped up. I was able to squeeze 4 practice runs today before the assembly.

So when we go up it turns out that we're first on the bill. Even before coming down to the cafeteria I had added new moves and more signals for them to recognize. So we get down there and majority of the school is there and all the teachers know whats up and are smiling at me. I'm nervous and as I try to ignore the lump in my throat I see teh counselor getting the speakers ready with my CD. And sure enough within seconds they had asked for my class to coem to the stage. And atthe last minute I got scared for them and retreated to the back of the cafeteria behind the school. And I stood there committed to lead them along the dance. It's only fair that the captain go down with the ship and crew. Anyway the music starts and like a perfectly trained military company they start with the dance. And I'm there to lead them... from the back, safely hidden behind the lunch tables by the student body. After the first verse, I'm feeling pretty good and then a jolt of embarrassment. While the student body is watching my kids dance, and my kids watching ME lead, I notice that all the teachers are more interested in me dancing rather than the kids! They were all watching ME! Some even had the nerve to do a complete 180 and face me to take a picture. OMG! I knew I was turning red. Then finally the sng ended and the kids got a huge applause. They all looked proud and happy to bring joy and laughter to the school. I even got some applause directed to me. But after that intense 5 minutes the rest of the assembly was pretty uneventful.

About a week and a half ago (when Keval and Konopka were here) I twisted my back and totally threw it out it again. Its been a while since the last time it hurt so I guess I was due. I think the last time it hurt this bad was when I was in Japan so its been over a year. Anyway I threw it out last week and was able to take care of it but only for a little while. This past Tuesday my sister's boy friend rrRob let us borrow Wario's Smooth Moves Wii game. And if you didn't know its chalk full of mini games. And we must have played for over 4 hours. The whole time I was playing I felt fine but when I got up to get more batteries it just kind of tweaked out. And it was really bad. I couldn't walk straight let alone stand straight too. the first day was spent drinking down Advil pills while I had my kids fetch things left and right. As I was getting ready to go my room cleaner reccomended that I see a chiropractor that he goes to. I thought that I've tried everything already so it wouldn't hurt. Plus the fee was pretty good.

So I get directions to his out of home office and realize that's no more than 500 feet from my ex's house. That was kind of weird. It has been over 5 years since we broke up so going down that same street was kind of weird. Anyway I get to his house/office and it turns out that my back is totally out of whack. He pushes here, pulls there, and tweaks my spine that way, and tweaks my neck this way and already I feel 50% better than when I walked in. He says that my spine was inverted pretty bad and needed lots of force to pop it back out. I leave his office walking with my own power without my brace. I have two more sessions to go back for but if it worked this well during the first one than why not try the others?

Tomorrow's a big day.. open house and I only have about 60% of the classroom ready. Especially with my back thing going on let's see if I make it to the three day weekend. Wish Me Luck!

Kurisu ou-to!

Stripparaoke . . . ?

Ok so during my semi-weekly car wash my friend "Tomo" calls me to say "hey." I was really happy to talk to her since its been forever since I actually had a conversation with her. She just called me to see how life was and if there was anything new happening in mine. Anyway she said that the main reason why she called me because her and her husband "Red Beard" and friends were on their way to a Stripparaoke. What is that? Well from her description its a strip bar that you sing karaoke at. 2 things of my top 10 favorites were present: karaoke and boobies. But with her first explanation of this "amazing" place, it raised a few questions. Is it in a bar setting? Or do you have a private room? Would that be like a lap dance/song? What if the customer sings songs that are not really for stripping? For example: "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion, "Everything I Do I Do it For You" by Bryan Adams, or "My Love is All I Can Give" by Backstreet Boys. That would be pretty weird for a girl to be stripping to some soft love ballad. Would you tip them for stripping and you get tipped for singing? What if there are no singers? Anyway I just got an email and here's what she said:

"how it works: you get called up to sing (i *think* you have to pay to do the karaoke... not sure though since we didn't do it... but that would make sense). and you get ON the stage with the stripper. and then you sing. and the stripper dances/shows her boobies/works the pole while you sing. the strippers usually rotated every few songs (though it was same three girls the entire time we were there) and they dance for the people in the bar AND with/for the person singing.-- the girls were really cute and were kinda "alterna-chick" style... no fake boobies on those girlies!"

The Verdict...
karaoke = good
strippers = good
working the pole = good
showing of boob-age = good
dancing FOR the person singing = good
alterna-chicks = good
no fake boobies = good

Well it seems like a place that I defintely need to do more research on. Anybody wanna join me?

The weekend is too short

Hey guys sorry its been a while. Well its Sunday and the weekend is more than half over. Then I have four days of work then a THREE DAY WEEKEND! From a slacker point of view, the first semester of school is better since its chalk full of three day weekends and holidays. And because we are special in Hawaii the three day weekends start in August with Statehood Day! At the moment we don't have plans yet but if all the cards fall in right spaces then we might spend a night at Turtle Bay Hilton. Krystal has work to do up there and the Shidler College of Business is paying for a night. Why not go up and take advantage?

The first full week of school just ended and it seems like its going to be pretty challenging in the future. Well the newest stuff at school is the Welcome Back Assembly. We have a new counselor this year and he wanted to start the school with a bang. Something like a PEP rally for the starting of the school year. So where does this put me? Well during the first week of school I felt some what bad because the kids where so drained for all the rules and regulations that we were going over. So on the first day to give the kids a break I turned on some music with my iPod and ad them just get up and dance. You know to shake off all the stiffness of the morning. Anyway I went with "Pop! Goes my Heart" from Music and Lyrics and the kids totally loved it. I had them do a very simple dance and ever since then they ask for it everyday. I wanted to change it up so they've done dances for "Time Warp" and "Walk Like an Egyptian." But the all time favorite seems to be "Pop! Goes my Heart." Anyway the kids looked so cute that I asked a one of the other teachers to come and watch and she thought it was the cutest thing ever.

So I come to school a few days after the initial show when I'm sent to straight to the counselor's room. He very subtly lets me know about the up coming Welcome Back Assembly and how he's been looking for something or someone to perform to bring up school morale. What could I say? He's new to the school and he needs some help and I was put right there on the spot. So I said YES. Now the hard part, convincing my kids that they want to perform in front of the whole school.

At first when I presented with the performance I got a mixed reaction. Some kids were out right against singing and dancing in front of the school. The other half had a nuke warm enthusiasm. So I told them that they didn't have to if they didn't want to and that we were going to take the "all for one and one for all" motto so if one person in the class didn't want to, than we wouldn't go. So of course there were a few that were absolutely against it. I came up with an inspirational speech that would have been good for any Family Channel Movie. Bottom line I told them, if they did this performance they would become rock stars. Everyone in the school would know who they were, what class they were in, and who their teacher was. Now I asked them, "Do you want that kind of stardom?" Pause . . . . . YEAH! Everyone was just sold on the belief that they would be rock stars. Which they would be but not to the grand scale that I jazzed it up to be. So we are currently on the bill at the school Welcome Back Assembly.

The weekend, 0n Friday we decided to do something with Krystal's family. The night started off pretty slow with some time on the Wii, but after we got the call to go karaoke we were there. It was the usual beer drinking crowd. But the highlight must have been little Jojo who before her trip to Japan could only handle one heineken took down three not to mention 2-3 shots of sake. But I guess thats what Japan does.

Saturday was actually a "natsukashii" day. We got to sleep in a little and started the day with a visit to the doctor's office. Krystal needed to get her shots and stuff. After that we went for lunch at Hata's. Its this really small hole in the wall place that has Japanese food. Yeah the food was a little expensive but it felt like the little restaurant we found in Japan close to Ginkakuji. It brought back memories and was just like old times in Japan. After filling our bellies to the max with awesome Japanese food we went for dessert at Waiola Shave Ice. I guess the walk to the car was just enough to drp the food down a little so we can out a little more food in. I had my usual and Krystal had something that really tasted like Goodie Goodie.

We hurried home to help with the Spring Cleaning? I guess its not spring but every once in a while my mom gets this idea in head that she needs to clean the whole house. Like the all the trimmings and behind couches and etc. Krystal had kitchen table top duty and I had to clean my shelves. I guess my mom was happy about the cleaning day that she took everyone out for Mexican. And for the second time today we were stuffed to the max. Later that night Jake and Clifton came by to play the Wii and watch DVDs. We saw Hot Fuzz and it was just as funny as the first time we watched it.

Well its Sunday and we were supposed to play DnD but our DM seems to be missing. Well I did plan on cleaning my car today and there is this blog so I guess my Sunday is pretty much set. Oh and congratulations to Krystal's parents on their wedding anniversary which we'll all go to the dinner for. WHOO HOO Teppanyaki here we come!

Earth to Chris....

That's how it seemed all weekend. Monday has reared its ugly head and it totally sucks.

Well Friday I literally ran out of the class with my students to catch up with my pals Kevin, Val, and Matt. They had been partying all week while I was stuck in class but on this Friday it was going to one to remember. Friday's big plan was to book it Yard House's happy hour in Waikiki and tank some half yards for old times. Then it was a trip to Tenkaiippin for some "natsukashii" sobering ramen, and finishing off with a 4 hour karaoke marathon.

The yard house was excellent as usual, except for a waiter that decided to slide a drink down the table and spilling everywhere, only to NOT apologize. The beer flowed pretty well and sliders were excellent! There was a surprise birthday party behind us that came with a huge 15 foot poster/banner of the birthday boy's senior high school picture. Not to mention small face cut outs of the birthday boy that were distributed to people around the bar including us. At first we were really excited to participate but the guest of honor was just taking so long and as the "party supervisor" insisted we stay and order another round we were just too impatient to wait and left with faces all over our table.

Next stop was supposed to be Tenkaiippin but the large quantities of beer suggested we try to walk it off a little. We ended up walking down Kalakaua and walked back towards Ala Moana on the beach. We were looking forward to the Friday night fireworks at the Hilton Hawaiian Village but were just behind the massive hotel to really see anything. But it turned out that all that walking made just enough room for some Ramen, gyoza, and chicken karaage.

After that we made it to our favorite Karaoke place where we met up with Clint and Jake. We sang all the old classics and deep down inside it felt like everyone was going all out because it was going to be the last time we had this "group" together for a long time. Which I think no one really wanted to admit since the day for the group to break up was coming up fast. Nevertheless we partied hard and it was all well worth it!

Saturday was dubbed Maximum Chris with Cheesy Natsukashii Music Day. We spent the whole day driving around the island of Oahu. We made sure we hit all the main spot like, China-man's Hat (Anthony), Kualoa Valley, Laie's Blue Rock(?), Sunset Beach, and Dole Plantation. I would have to say that Sunset beach is pretty nice. I've often stopped there for people to get a good look of the ocean, but it was the first time going in and really enjoying it. I was so surprised at how crisp the water was. Kevin was saying how they imagined what the beaches in Hawaii look like and of' course you have the ones with the hotels right there but the beaches with the small two lane roads and palm trees everywhere, with dunes of sand is the real image of a Hawaiian Beach. I was glad that Krystal and I got a chance to frolic in the ocean with our guests. After the beach, we drove towards Dole Plantation and had the obligatory Dole Whip.
And finished the day of fun with a dinner at the Macaroni Grill.

Sunday came and went too fast. Kevin and Val's flight to San Fransisco was at 11:50 pm so we definitely had to go out with a bang. We had breakfast at the Original Pancake House. Then made a trek to the west coast for some west coast beach action. We had orignally planned to go to Ko'Olina but the beach was packed and we diverted to Ewa Beach. Only to find that you had to be pretty hard core to go swimming there. There were just too many rocks for our comfort and relocated all the way to Ala Moana. After about an hour we got packed and finished the Around The World Trip with beers and pupus at Side Street Inn. We did some last minute reminiscing and some guilt persuasion for Kevin and Val to stay longer but it was inevitble that there time to go had come.

The trip to airport was quick and very hard to swallow. The feeling we had about a year ago in Japan while standing in Keval's empty Rezo room came back like a giant wave. We had to say Good bye again. It was a lot harder saying good bye now than back in Thailand and Krystal was brought to tears. But the gauntlet was thrown again for us to come visit them in New York this winter or next spring. We need to keep the gauntlet in the air and never let it touch the ground. Its always there to challenge us to keep the lines of communication open. For Kevin and Val: you guys are the best friends from the ATL any Hawaiian can ask for. We'll be seeing you shortly.

Oh and you too Matt, the best "junk" in all the land.

Kurisu Ou-to!!

The Big Names + A Legend

This week has been hectic one step short of "chaotic." Let's see ... ummm Kevin and Val have arrived in Hawaii after I had thrown them the "gauntlet" while Thailand to come and visit us. But we took it one step further and surprised them with a surprise guests, Matt Konopka. That first night when he walked into the karaoke room they all flipped their biscuits. I still have moments of disbelief that Matt is with us all week. On the crappy side of this week 'O fun is that its my first week back in school. The week started off with writing workshops and beginning of the school year protocols and by Wednesday I had my second graders. So the day has been split with 16 second graders by day and then trying to entertain Kevin, Val. and Matt at night. Whats been helping a lot is there sense of independence, where they can just take my car and go explore beaches while I'm at work. And then at night Krystal and I take them out to dinner and night life. Last night in particular was cool because Krystal was able to get tickets to a play that was written by a local news anchor. At first I was a little apprehensive of asking our guests but it turned out that they were dying for some authentic Hawaiian Pigeon English so it all worked out. The highlight were the three Miss Hawaii winners that came on as Miss Hawaiis of the past to "inspire." It was very cool how they made fun of themselves. Not to mention that the running gag of the show was a performer we dubbed, "Times 2." He was Times 2 because he was trying to "show off" that he was a real dancer and although dancing for a local theater, he was definitely the shit! So simple numbers and/or ones done with 10 years olds, he needed to out stage them with the only way he knew how, DANCE! SO everything looked like it was just a little faster and a little more exaggerated. Nevertheless the show was very entertaining and was a very cultural lesson for our guests.

Like I said earlier, not only do I have guests in town, I also have started my second year of teaching. It is technically my first because I started kind of late last year and this is my first real school year. But from what I read in my contract, I should be tenured by this coming January. The first day of class went by faster than I had expected. The day was devoted to making sure that the kids brought all of their school supplies and going over the classroom rules. The day was pretty uneventful until 9:15 am. I had be talking all morning of rules and procedures and decided that I needed a break so I made motion to sit down in the closest seat next to me. But as a sat down I heard a very familiar sound of fabric splitting. It took me about two seconds to realize that I had just split my pants! On not just a tear but a 9 inch long gash going down the back of my pants next to my right pocket. Luckily I had worn a long shirt so I just hiked up my pants a little higher and did my best not to move around too much. Another lucky break was that 9:50 was first recess where I could get some new pants. The "accident" was so cliche of a first day teaching kind of thing. I mean you have the coming to school naked nightmare or the one where no one can understand you or hear you, and then you have the one with the embarrassing tear of the shorts to reveal your tightie whities or a very eccentric pair of boxers. I was fortunate to be wearing normal colored boxers. What a day.

The second day of teaching (today) wasn't too bad either. Everything ran pretty smoothly and I didn't really have any problems. The only funny thing that happened to day was for some reason I kept complimenting my students with the word "wunderbar" sp??? German for wonderful. Anyway I was playing a math game with them and going around the class when my Japanese National boy just yells out "Wunderbar" when one of his neighbors got a correct answer. It just seemed so out of place for him to yell it out that everyone started laughing. It was very cute in a sense.

I can't wait until I find my rhythm for this year so I can enjoy it to the max! I have a feeling that my class is going to rock. Here's to ANOTHER GREAT YEAR!!

Kurisu Ou-to!