nickvidas

Saturday did not go as well as I would have liked. I had to teach my first kids' class and I went entirely too fast. Cameron-sensei was observing the class and could tell that I was running out of materials. With fifteen minutes left, I had everything I wanted to cover for today's lesson complete and just stood there for a moment staring at Cameron. Luckily he hopped in and played a couple of games with the kids and directed the attention away from the new teacher.

Afterwards, I felt really terrible, he kept saying it happens to all the new teachers, but I expected more from myself. I need to learn more games for the kids, make them feel like their having fun and then retaining the information. Cameron also said that the kid's training is not the best guideline to follow and it is best just to kind of have some fun with them. He is right, as usual, but I wanted to really knock down my first shot.

The second class went a little better, but I messed up the order of the lesson plan. I did a part that should have been near the beginning at the very end. So both classes didn't go so smooth. Afterwards, I few teachers gave me some kind words of advice and we prepared for the party that evening.

I inherited Paul's bike, so Cameron and I began walking outside to bike over to the restaurant where the party was at. It was raining. So the first time I really had to bike with a planned destination was in a suit, the heat, the rain and only one hand to control the blasted mechanism.

After a short ride in the rain, which, wasn't all that terrible, we finally arrived at the restaurant. The party was held upstairs and it was crowded. About forty-five people were there, all very eager to speak with me. I had a blast walking around and speaking with everyone and made a little speech and continued to walk around.

The Japanese people were all very warm and friendly towards me. They had so many questions, usually the low level students kept asking me the same ones, but I didn't mind. To see them process my words and then the look of understanding on their faces is truly a remarkable thing to witness. I just wish my Japanese was at their level, I think my experience would gain a whole new depth with every word I learn.

At about 22:30-22:45 everybody left and I biked back to my place with Cameron. I had a big day to plan for and Cameron said he would swing by tomorrow morning to help me with the preparation work, which was very nice, considering it was his day off.