my kids

i've been trying to find ways to take some pics at school without seeming creepy or disruptive. so today i asked my new friend the part-time home ec teacher if i could come to her class and take photos, and here they are! they are the first to be taken with my brand new camera! RIP lumix. and how symbolic, that they are of "my kids". As one of my (summer camp) mentors once said, "If you're not here for the kids, then you probably shouldn't be here at all." There is so much crazy fun stuff going on here outside of school that sometimes you can forget that we are, really, here for the kids.

i've started getting a little more involved at school, correcting homework and learning some names. some kids on their homework write little notes to me and draw pictures. so they are, actually, as cute as they look. also, one of my JTEs picked up on the fact that english class for them is japanese class for me, and makes me try to read the translations when he writes them in hiragana on the blackboard, solely to entertain the students. (i'm getting better, i swear)

This is a class of ichinenseis (7th graders) making a delicious carrot and daikon (radish) salad.

look at the size of those knives! pretty sure there would be law suits about this in the states.

my kids' sculptures..i'm working on trying to sneak into art class

the "great room", if you will, at my school