Tlicku o Tleato

On Halloween, I dressed up as a student to school. I wore the school uniform, put my hair in pigtails, and even carried around a Disney Chip N' Dale bucket full of stickers with me. When I first got to school to put on my indoor shoes, a teacher walked right up next to me and said nothing. It wasn't until I greeted her that she responded with a shocked look on her face...then came the laughter. I guess it's pretty funny? I dunno. Anyway, I walked into the staff room and greeted my kyoto sensei (vice principal), and he looked shocked as well, and asked what was wrong. I told him that it was Halloween. Then, all the teachers saw me and couldn't stop laughing. I guess Halloween isn't celebrated at my school at all, since none of the teachers even knew it was Halloween and wondered why I was dressed up as a student. Actually, most of them didn't even notice that I was dressed up as a student...they just thought that I was a student. Sad. My JTE, Mrs. Hashiba, totally ignored me when she walked past my desk. I finally said "Good Morning!" and she looked at me in complete shock. She told me, "I was wondering why a student was sitting at your desk!" Um, yeaah.

I went to my first class and my JTE, Mr. Watanabe, introduced me as a new student to Kizaki Jr. High School. I walked in, and the students...well, let's just say there were a lot of "Ehhhhhhhh!"s going around. They kept staring and were like "Kawaaaiiiiii!" Apparently, half the class saw me at Disneyland on Friday as well. One student said, in Japanese, "I saw you at the gift shop buying the Mickey Mouse hair ties you're wearing." Another student said, "I saw you at Splash Mountain when you were getting a fast pass." It's fine that they all saw me...I kind of expected it...but it's just freaky when they don't say hello when they do see me, but tell me exactly what I was doing at that time. It just seems a little stalkerish? Yes, I DO teach English, thank you very much. Anyway, the Halloween lesson I planned worked out great, which I'm really happy about since it didn't take much planning at all; I love worksheets and games where the students do all the work. That's the real way to teach. Hehe.

I walked around the school in my "costume" during my periods off and carried my Chip N' Dale bucket with the shoulder strap and everything. I gave every student that was able to say "Trick or Treat" a sticker, since I found out we are not allowed to pass out candy or chocolate to students. Well, I take that back. None of them are actually ABLE to say "Trick or Treat"...too many r's. I came to accept that it is impossible for them to pronounce it correctly. If I heard 3 syllables, that was good enough. The students loved the stickers, even though most of them had no idea why I was passing out stickers or why I was dressed like one of them. I also took some pictures with them as well, and sadly enough, I realize that I actually DO look like a student in the pictures.

Thought of the day:

Am I ugly?? Today, my student came up to me at my desk and said, "Excuse me, UGLY teacher?" I was thinking, "What?! How dare this boy call me ugly to my face?! The nerve!" I asked him to repeat what he said (as if I needed to hear that I'm ugly once again), and he said, "You know music teacher, UGLY teacher? Where?" Then I thought, "Wow, that's soo mean!" That's when I realized...the music teacher's name is "Ooguri sensei." Hahahahahahaha. He was looking for Ooguri sensei, not telling me that I'm ugly to my face. Damn, I REALLY need to listen more carefully next time.