What a week...warning: keeping it real ahead. Beware of bad words

Tuesday was a blast. My lessons went over really well.  Poor rokunen ni kumi. (6th grade- second class).  They are always first to receive the sixth grade lesson.  And it's always the least good.  Its in no way shape or form bad, but the most confusing, and slightly hectic.  And then I get 20 minutes to sort out everything that went wrong, and the rest of my classes are seamless and fantastic.  Not that they don't learn what they need to, its just always the most bumpy ride.
I played dodgeball for the first time.  A girl from 6-1 grabbed me by the hand, which is normal for any student to do, so I thought nothing of it, and led me to the dodgeball area.  Then she dropped me off on the boys side and the game was on.  No, she didn't ask.  She just put me in the square and threw a ball at me.  I caught it, but still.  I played dumb and didnt throw the ball at anyone, I just passed it along.  So they thought I didn't understand the rules  They explained then to me.  They asked if I understood and said yes.  SO I explained it back to them in english, while miming the actions.....and thats where it happened.
The Dogeball Tango:
"Now I'm standing in the doge zone, miming out the actions for dodgeball. Minding my own business.  In jumps a roku nensee with a happy face. "Ganbatte, D sensei!" He says.  He was crazy.  And he kept on screaming
"Ganbatte, D sensei!"...And then he ran into my fist.  He ran into to fist 1 time."
If you're not familiar with the musical chicago, go here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4_H65XoykY. Fast forward to 3:35. Enjoy
Also, I look FANTASTIC in my new clothes.
Nothing too big to report for wednesday.  I went in, taught 6 classes and got out.  Went to the duck for onion rings and a beer, and called it a night.
There is nothing good about Thursdays.  I hate them.  The kids are bad. The teachers don't care, and there's nothing I can do.  I almost hit a kid.  I was able to adjust my swing at the last second, but I almost clobbered him.  So, that whole grabbing each others' private ares thing that we are taught NEVER to do?  Here, its just something that happens.  And if you're 3 and havent been taught any better, I'll dodge the best I can and tell your dad to help me.  And if your an adorable second grader giving me a hug, or part of a swarm of children trying to get as close to the cool teacher as you can, I will move your hands away from vital areas and deal.  But if youre a sixth grader, and you ask me about sex, and I diffuse the situation and try to walk away, and then you decide to grab my penis, I might punch you.  And if you're a sixth grader and you put up your dukes and I put up my hands cuz you want to punch them, cool.  But dont try to then punch me in the dick.  It's not ok.  If I tell them to stop in English, they "don't understand." If I tell them to stop in Japanese, they think its funny and try to get me to speak in Japanese again, by molesting me.  I dont want to talk to the teacher, or really the office staff at my company about it, because I dont want anything to get lost in translation. But something needs to be done.
So my first lesson on friday was ok.  Nothing fantastic, cuz these kids don't care about learning.  My second class was awful.  The kids were straight up boo-ing the new song I tried to teach them.  So I stopped.  Whatever.  Then we tried to do some drills on the new vocabulary.  And they just.....didn't do it.  They wouldn't repeat after me.  They wouldn't say what I was pointing to, and the teacher did ABSOLUTELY nothing to help me.  We tried to do the book activity.  Draw a line from the month to the corresponding holiday.  And they were just like "no."  They sat there and either stared at me, or talked amongst themselves. And I know they understood me. 1 Because weve done more complicated thing. 2 because its obvious. 3 because I mimed it. and finally, because I explained it in Japanese.  Nothing. Cool.  So I decided to call them out.   I got super excited about the game, blackboard battle, and got them really hyped.  And then I explained it to them and started the game.  And the couldn't do it.  Cuz only 3 people in the class had been paying me any attention at all the entire day.  And they were PISSED when we stopped the game to go back to drilling.  And I felt bad for them...because I hate to see good students suffer.  So I was pissed, and I let it show a little bit, with some sarcasm.  The third class was a lot of the same, actually.  they did a little better on the drilling, because their teacher actually tried to make them, so we were able to play.  But it was mostly the girls squashing the boys, because the boys NEVER pay attention.
I had 1 good lesson.  Did my intro lesson for some second graders.  They flipped out and we had a great time.  Then it was back to fifth graders.  And nothing quite completes a crappy day like ACCIDENTALLY smacking a kid in the face.  If I had made the decision to smack a kid, I'm sure it would have made me feel great.  But we were playing the game, and this poor girl was right behind me, and I reached back to motion the next kids forward without looking, and clipped her right in the chin.  So hard that I had to catch her before she hit the ground.  Needless to say, she cried and went to the nurse for ice.  I felt like shit.
Today was amazing. I got to play with the first graders.  Cuz that's all my intro lesson is at this point.  Me playing around on the blackboard with little kids making them scream at me in English and singing a song.  Got to do that twice.  Then I went to my 5th graders.  Who are just tops.  There's the one class with the teacher who is beguiling beyond belief, and there's the class with my favorite special needs student of them all, Daisuke.  So the first class, we just had a lot fo fun talking in English about emotions and expressions and playing the games and stuff.  Time flew by in there.  Those kids are really smart, and a big part of it, is because their teacher is completely involved.  She is the one teacher where I sometimes feel like I have to compete with for the kids' attention.  Its fun.  I like a challenge.  Then I went to the next class.  This class has a lot of kids who make it difficult for others to learn.  Whether its learning disabilities or just bad behavior, we have to try a little harder each week for that class.  Things were going along smoothly, then BAM! Out of nowhere, THE BOARD OF EDUCATION, COMPLETELY UNANNOUNCED, WALKS INTO MY CLASS TO OBSERVE ME!!!!!!...............................................WHAT??!?!?!??!?!?! WHAT HAPPENED TO, "YOU WILL RECEIVE WARNING ABOUT THE BOE VISIT"????? So they watched me play "D says" with the kids for a while.  Got to see them listening carefully, and gesturing in correspondence with English words.  I could hear them muttering, and what I heard sounded good.  I was just a little surprised. ちょっとびっくりしました！The head English teacher said I have nothing to worry about.  All the kids think I'm interesting, and she loves my voice and the inflections I use.  She's happy about my use of eye contact, and even more happy that the kids focus on me the whole time, at least in her class.  Its good to hear.  I wore my "cool biz" attire to work today.  Everyone said I looked cool and handsome.  I was just happy to not be sweating like a beast.
Last two classes were 6th grade.  They went over really well.  They loved the 12 month blues almost as much as I do.  As we were leaving for the day, me entourage of children grew from 4 to 10.  I felt like a GOD!  And they were like "sing the new song you taught us. Right now."  And I obliged, so we sang it all the way back to the teachers room.  They stopped, pulled out my guitar, cuz they were carrying it, and made me play along while we sang it.  The vice principal, I think, saw it happening and said "subarashii" which is wonderful.  I guess from an outside point of view, they see me in class from time to time, drilling words and playing games.  Then all of a sudden, I walk out of a class with 10 kids singing the 12 months of the year in English, and I think that they are happy to see something good coming out of it.  And at the very least, Im awesome at teaching the joy of communication.
Now its time to forget work officially for 36 hours, and drink beer while watching soccer.  And then drinking more beer tomorrow.
Dexter OUT