First Day of School

Jessica & I in our apartment before leaving for the 1st day of school

Overall, the day was not bad at all, it was actually fun! I feel that I have been so prepared to teach that it really was not that big of a deal to do the "real thing" on my own. That is a nice feeling to have!

The students were able to work quietly for the most part
Sarah, my team teaching partner is great, I really like her, we work well together which makes a world of difference. I went in expecting things to go wrong so to me it wasn't a big deal when they did.

We have 24 students but three were absent and one refused to get in the picture (see paragraph below). With two teachers it sounds like a piece of cake, but it is truly exhausting! I would have went a little crazy if it was just me in the room!

I was very strict today because I want the students to know they need to follow the rules. The kids are all so cute, it was hard to be strict with some of them. We enforced the rules ALL day, our #1 rule being "You cannot speak Japanese anywhere on school campus." This is the school rule because we are an American, English speaking school. Parent's are paying for their children to be in an English speaking environment so we have to strictly enforce this rule. We had the entire class put their heads down for five minutes, three times today for students speaking Japanese.

These will be our rules all year

One student who is new to our school decided he wasn't going to listen to anything we asked him to do. I asked him several times to sit in his seat and not get up. He would just stare at us when we asked him to do something. I kept telling myself to not get frustrated because he might not know ANY English at all. I took his crayon and started coloring on his paper and said "this is what you need to be doing." I also pointed to the other students at his table and said "like them" Again he just stared at me. UGH. When it was time to line up for recess, he refused to get in the correct spot in line. Then he decided to try and run away during recess...not too far but still! There is a road in close proximity to where we were so it was not fun getting him to stay in one spot (thank God there were 2 of us teachers!). After 10 minutes he would still not come inside so I had to get the principal (not good on the FIRST day of school!). I didn't get to ask what happened to him yet but he never came back to class. I saw him after school and he looked at me and ran to a corner and hid, lol. Poor kid. His sister attends our school as well so I had her come get his backpack to take home.

One common theme among a handful of students is that you ask them to do something and they just stare at you. They all supposedly know English but it doesn't seem so. It's really frustrating having to walk over and literally take their hand to show them what you want them to do. Hopefully they will catch on sooner rather than later!

Students brought in their own school supplies based on a list the school sent out. We had an abundant amount of tissue boxes, hand soap and zip lock bags brought in!
Each day (starting next week) my students will leave the classroom for 45 minutes for either art, music or P.E., in addition they will leave everyday for Japanese class (half the class goes at a time). It will be very nice to have this prep time! However we have to stay with our students everyday during lunch and recess! When you are used to a lunch break away from kids and you don't have that anymore it's a big deal. I was looking forward to lunch all day and when it came I didn't get to relax.

Also, I might have mentioned a time or two how incredibility HUMID it is here. Today was around 88 degrees with 80% humidity!!! We have air conditioning in our classrooms but not in the rest of the school building. Lunch is inside but with no AC so it's not very comfy eating lunch.

My students seem very intelligent and they looked so cute eating rice and sushi with chop sticks during lunch! At the end of the day one of my students, a little girl ran up to me and gave me a huge hug. It was very sweet and something God knew I needed.

Letting out their silly faces

I will keep you updated as the week goes on. Thank you for all your prayers and support =)

Kristen

I've already been here 10 days...

First time dipping my feet into the ocean in Okinawa =)

I've been getting used to yen, Japanese food and driving on the wrong side of the road (which most of the time feels like your in a bumper car)! People drive VERY close to one another but never honk or get made at each other, weird! I went to a few 100 yen stores which are like our dollar stores but much more popular here. I don't see the big deal about them, just stuff you don't need for 100 yen ($1.00).
I officially started work this week (ie. cleaning and preparing my classroom). We started our regular schedule, 7:45am-3:30pm Monday-Friday (I've been staying later everyday to get my room ready). I've been getting home from work after 5pm everyday. Since our school moved campuses this year our building is a MESS. Today is Friday and was our last day of preparing before school starts and things are very much unorganized still. The first day of school is on Monday 8/31! Sarah, my team teaching partner and I have been working in our room all week, decorating, gathering curriculum, planning and cleaning. We are as prepared as we can be for Monday. Our room looks great! My fellow credential alumni would be so proud of my incorporation of Rick Morris strategies into my classroom management plan and creative classroom decorating ideas =) Putting the classroom together has been SO much work, I've been exhausted every night! I'm looking forward to meeting my students and welcoming them to 1st/2nd grade Monday morning!

Here is my calendar wall with my paper tree, writing wall and student of the week wall

Front side of the classroom...keep in mind this room was completely empty when we arrived...

Last Saturday, the Japanese teacher from school gave us four new American teachers a tour of the island. We went on a glass bottom boat ride and then went swimming at the beach. The beach water is very salty, you can float with little effort and you feel like you weigh 10 times as much as you really do when you get out of the water! The beaches are beautiful, with clear water and copious amounts of colorful fish and coral. Next time we are going to bring goggles to explore underwater.

Glass Bottom Boat Ride. They gave us tea and brown sugar candy in this little hut before the boarding.

View from the road, how beautiful is this!?!Sarah, the teacher from Atlanta (who I'll be team teaching with), me, and Jessica (my roommate) at the beach. We had to pay to get into the beach and then pay to shower after.

After the beach on Saturday, I made our official first dinner at our apartment...spaghetti! It was delicious =)
Sunday we went to church with Laurie, the kindergarten teacher who is a military wife. This Saturday she is signing me in at the base so I can attend mass there. Apparently the there are no Catholic masses in English that are off base. Luckily Laurie said she will sign me in every week until I meet people at church who can sign me in. I'm really looking forward to mass this Saturday evening. I hope to meet lots of new people and to get involved in groups they may have.

Pizza Hut on base (yummy!) Can you guess which half is mine?

Laurie and her family took us to an air show at the Marine base which was open to the public. It was nice being around so many other American's. We stayed all day until the firework show that evening. There were so many neat things to see, I'm really excited to learn about the history of the U.S. military presence in Okinawa. We were able to walk inside some of the planes and take lots of pictures. We ate, walked around and played some games.

This is one of my favorite pictures from that day, it's one of my screen saver's now.

This was awesome inside!

Tight fit up here!

It rained for 2 minutes then a rainbow appeared =)

I shot some cans with a BB gun

Jumper for the kids...don't ask!

He doesn't look too happy

Not sure what this means.....

Real Japanese komono's!

A high school teacher from school took us grocery shopping a few nights ago to show us some different foods. We bought shrimp, chicken, cheese, bread, water, 7-up, iced tea, instant coffee, pancake mix and soup. A little better than our first set of groceries, right? =) We have made grilled cheese twice this week.

This fish was in the seafood section at the grocery store!!! YIKES!! You could definitely smell it throughout the store!

It's hard to believe I've been here over a week already. Sometimes it feels like much longer than that. It's been hard to get in touch with everyone on the phone because of the 16 hour time difference. I usually go to bed around 10pm (6am your time) and wake up around 6am (2pm your time). If those hours don't work for you, you can always leave me a message on my skype number FREE or on my apartment answering machine. Weekends will be much easier to get in touch =) I'll keep you posted on the first week of school, keep me in your prayers Monday (or your Sunday). Miss you, keep in contact!

I'm here, I'm Safe

Josh, Philip, Linsday, Savannah, Paul John, Trav and I saying goodbye at LAX, Thank you for helping me get checked in and carrying my bags...but no thanks for looking back a few times as we departed :(

Sorry it's taken me so long to get this post up, I will have lots more pictures posted on here soon, I promise! If you don't want to read the details you can skip below to my pictures =)

Japan is beautiful, a cross between Hawaii and Jamaica. No trash, anywhere, and everything is lush and green. I have yet to see a house, everyone lives in apartments because it's so crowded. Apartment buildings...all buildings are very old and because of the humidity they look even older. Vending machines galore and humidity like no other. Cars are small but don't go very fast. Met most of the staff from school and many of them are very friendly and helpful in taking care of us and showing us around.

I got internet in my apartment a few nights ago and just got a Skype number which is a 626 number you can call me at anytime, even leave a voicemail and it's free for everyone =)

So much to blog about but I'm sure you don't want to read too many minor details so I'll keep it as short and sweet as possible.

Starting back to Monday, aka, departure day...all 3 of my suitcases and my 2 carry on's met the weight limits at the airport and I checked in without a problem thanks to Paul John, Lindsay, Philip, Josh and Trav all helping me with my luggage. My roommate and I found each other right away. I slept for 8 hours of the 13 hour flight which is abnormal for me but I'm thankful because it made it much easier! Interesting meals served on our flights, we were given a fish/potato sandwich at one point (I ate the bread and cheese). When we arrived to Taiwan for our layover and met a lady from the states who lives part time in Okinawa with her husband who is stationed here. She offered to show us around an gave us her number. Nice way to start the trip off. Landing in Okinawa we had to board a shuttle to take us to the airport terminal. We felt the humidity before even stepping off the plane. Definitely the must humid place I have even been in my life!!

Our principal, his wife, the Japanese teacher and another American teacher were all at the airport to greet us. Unfortunately the van we were picked up in didn't have air conditioning so we experienced the hot, HUMID heat while being crammed together in the car for a few hours. We decided to dive right into Japanese cuisine so the principal treated us to sashimi. Hands down the freshest sushi I have had.

We arrived to our apartment which is all wooden paneling and shaped like a box. We chose our rooms (I got the bigger closet but my room seems to get hotter faster so that makes up for it) and settled in quite nicely (that means showering, putting my sheets, comforter and pillow on my bed and falling asleep). It's definitely comforting to have my bedding from home here =) Jet lag had me up by 5am but I was able to unpack, go for a walk and take pictures all before 8am.

We were picked up and taken to our school campus. There were 2 school buildings last year and there is only one this year which means that EVERYTHING has been combined to one building. I quickly saw how much work needed to be done with supplies galore everywhere you could imagine. I was able to get internet access on campus and made some calls home which made me feel much better.

We ate at a hibachi grill with a few teachers from school Thursday night. Food was good, a lot like hibachi grill in the states. Really different types of soft drinks though, I tried to get Pepsi but ended up with a 7up type of drink that looked like milk. Not too bad though.

We got our car and I drove home from school Friday....WEIRD!!! Right hand drive but you drive on the left side of the road!! I followed the Japanese teacher, Rocky which was must easier than finding my own way on the road. I did well with the exception of my neighbor knocking on my apartment door to let me know I didn't park in my parking space right and he couldn't fit his car in his parking space. I also kept turning on the windshield wipers instead of the blinker. I found mochi ice cream which made me very happy!

I started cleaning up and organizing my classroom with Sarah, the other American teacher who I will be team teaching with. We have A LOT to do but we are getting there. We just can't decide where to place our students desks....teacher dilemma!

I'll update you on today's day soon, hope this is enough information for you for now =) Love and miss you all very much!

Japanese Dinner on the plane, salty but edible.

Our first view of a "Japanese" style toilet in TaiwanAfter many hours of traveling, my first authentic Japanese meal, sashimi!

Shopping in a Japanese super market shortly after we arrived. Carts are only used to push baskets in.

The first groceries for our apartment. Yes I know, so very American of us...but it was just to get us through the first few days (and give us a little comfort =)

My apartment is the the first door on the right, on the 2nd floor.

Inside my apartment, the view from the front door.

Dining room and kitchen area.

My bedroom, like the rest of the apartment, all wooden paneling but I got the bigger bedroom with the bigger closet so I'm not complaining =)

My "big" closet =)And I have sliding glass doors that help brighten up my room =)

Small toilet room with a super small sink

Shower room is separate from the toilet room...weird but not bad.

View from my front door. Can you spot the ocean?

Vending machines on the street right next to our apartment...and EVERYWHERE else!

Back balcony, with Coleman chairs!View from the back balcony...of a junkyard I believe.My roommate, Jessica and I share the Mitsubishi guppy. I've gotten it up to about 50 km so far =)

My first time behind the wheel here! Definitely different but not too difficult.This it the building I'll be teaching in...I won't be teaching or attending beauty school =) This is the new school campus so things are still in the process of getting changed.