I'm a teacher??

Ok, I'm way behind on updating here. I'll try and work on this the next few days and get caught up, but I can't make any promises.

first day-I had to be at school at 8:00, but only for the first day. Normally we have to be there at 8:30. Since my school is literally a 2 minute bike ride away, I just left a few minutes before 8. I got there right on time and was met at the door by Mrs. Sato, who is one of the English teachers I'll be working with. I had to give a short speech to the teachers, then in the opening assembly time I had to give a short speech to the students. It was easy because it was really short and I just said a few facts about myself. I had to use really easy English since it was all being translated for them. There was also a student teacher that had to be introduced. He's pretty cute too...ha. After the assembly was over, I was told to go 'rest' in the teachers room because I don't have a homeroom. I was literally sitting there for about an hour and half. Luckily, Liz had warned me that would happen, so I had a book with me. The students got to leave at noon, but the ones for the speech contest were there from 1-3, so I worked with them. I left at 3 and came home. It was a good day overall.

Now, as for my first real week of teaching (sept. 5-8), it went well. I had to do my introduction lesson for all the classes. It basically consisted of me giving a short speech about myself, then letting the kids ask me questions. After that, we played a game where they had to remember stuff I had told them about me earlier in my speech. The way the grades work here is a little different than in the states. For all practical purposes, you could say I teach 7th, 8th, and 9th grade. However, here it is called 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade, because when you come to a new school, you start over. I absolutely love the 1st graders. They are so adorable and love to participate. One of the boys loves giving me high fives already...I love it. They are all really eager to learn so it's really great. Now, I can't say the same about the 2nd graders. They actually are the exact opposite for the most part. There are some that really care, but mostly they hate learning English. Of course that makes my job a little difficult, but I'll survive. The 3rd graders are pretty fun and actually aren't scared to try and speak English, so it's good. I love Mrs. Sato, the 3rd grade English teacher, so that helps with those classes too.
Week 2-(so far) Monday I had all 1st graders and I loved it. They are my favorite for so many reasons...so dang cute. Today (Tuesday) I had two 2nd grade classes and one 1st grade class. Overall, it was an alright day. I got to play a game with the 2nd graders and they actually participated, so I was content. Maybe they won't be so bad after all...
Now, the downside of the job is that I have TONS of down time. I know...I shouldn't complain. I mean, I am getting tons of reading done, but it gets pretty boring at times. However, once September is over and the speech contest is over, things won't be quite as bad since I'll be able to leave at 4:30 everyday, instead of 6.
The upside? No school on Fridays...

Anyway, sorry this isn't much, but I'll write about other things that have happened soon.