And then there's "just because" It’s been pointed out recently that I often write when I’m feeling rather "pit of dispairish", and therefore my posts are, on occasion, a smidge below cheerful. Today, however, I’m feeling pretty good. Besides the fact that I discovered a student had scribbled “baka” (stupid) over the “Holidays Around the World” board that I so painstakingly arranged, I’ve had a pretty good day. I saw the chalk “inscription” right in the middle of class, though, and rather than concentrating on my lesson, I kept trying to convince myself it had another meaning. (note: what else can “stupid” really mean when it’s directly written on something…?) Eventually I failed and resigned myself to my fate. Maybe next month I’ll do something on the world cup, not on boring ol’ holidays. Sheesh. But anyway, as I was saying, it’s been a GOOD day. The rainy season gave us a “yasumi” today and the sun peaked out in the afternoon, bringing with it some much pined-for heat. Let’s just say even I don’t normally wear sweaters halfway through June. But alas, the weather here has demanded it, lest I freeze my tootsies off. I guess I’m starting to realize that I really do feel some connection here. The relationships and bonds come so gradually sometimes that if you were to track them, it would be something like watching your hair grow. Not much progress from day-to-day, but one day you look in the mirror, and compare it to former days, you realize somewhere in the last 9 months, a lot has changed. Kawaai sensei remarked just yesterday on how long my hair’s getting (at least I think that’s what she said because she kinda pulled on it and said something in Japanese…). Unfortunately there’s nobody to randomly remark, “Wow, Holly, you’re really growing in relationships with your teachers and students.” Gee, wouldn’t that be nice? If it were actually tangible? But I have other indicators. Such as: Ryo (1 nen sei), with wide, eager eyes, as I was passing out stickers, yelling, “Sensei!! * Me mou** three!” as he held out both of his hands. *Teacher! **too Finding on my camera, after lending it to the basketball and table tennis teams to take some shots of the last 9th grade practice, random shots that were, hmmm, slightly different than what I'd asked for...but a lot of fun. More on that later (perhaps an example...) Kasumi yelling "L - O - V - E" whenever I see her after school. = ) Hiroyaki working with me and joking around to help get Ryo (3 nen sei) to participate in class (Hiroaki was so shy when I first got here that he wouldn't even look at me.) Ryo participating in class. I think he's actually starting to trust me. Teachers who are very embarassed about their English pulling it out for the sake of fun conversation. However...one that didn't say a lot about how well we know each other: 2 of the teachers with whom I've worked for the last 9 months being shocked out of their pants that my real name is not actually pronounced "Hoh-ree". At least I got a kick out of their reactions!