Fish, Dish, and Jam

Feb 11, 2005 7:57 PM (Makabe)
Feb 11, 2005 5:57 AM (Ottawa)

I just finished saying goodbye to my favorite class. a group of 5 incredibly "genki" grade schoolers.

Wakana: A very fun and energetic girl who likes to chase me around the classroom. She prefers to be called "Fish", but I have never been able to figure out why. She and her best friend Hitomi (Dish) keep trying to call me "Jam". They seem to think it is funny to say "Fish! Dish! Jam!"

Hitomi: Wakana's best friend, and the only one capable of matching her intelligence and energy. I am not sure why Hitomi likes to be called "Dish", but I am certain she has no idea what being called a dish in English means. Just in case though, I DON'T call her that.

Satomi: The least energetic girl in the class, but still a lot of fun. Satomi tends to follow the lead of Hitomi and Wakana. She smiles a lot, but doesn't laugh and joke around with me like they do.

Nana: The smallest girl in the class, she absolutely idolizes Wakana. If she could, she would take Hitomi's place as her partner in crime, but instead she is pretty happy to just be their sidekick.

Yoji: The only boy in the class. In about 2 years he is going to start looking at Hitomi and Wakana quite differently, and it should be funny. He's a smart kid, but those girls already own him... Once he noticed they are cute? He's screwed.

I got gifts from everyone but Nana in this class (she was absent). Wakana's letter was even in English, and she gave me her address so I can write from Canada. I think I will, it could be fun. Wakana also gave me a little stuffed toy that she says is an "Owl of Happiness", never heard of that, but it's cute.

Satomi and Hitomi wrote their cards in Japanese. I look forward to being able to read them someday.

Hitomi also gave me a Dragonball Z cellphone charm, and a Toy Story alarm clock. I wear a Dragonball shirt to class sometimes because the kids get a kick out of it. I am not sure why she got me the Toy Story clock, but I guess now I will have to see the movie sometime.

Yoji's family got me a bouquet of flowers, despite knowing I have to ride home on a bike for over an hour. I will keep them in the classroom for now.

I told the class the new teacher's name will be Travis, they decided they didn't like that, so Wakana and Hitomi renamed him "Trabbit". Apparently he's a rabbit. This poor guy has no idea what he's getting into.

Japanese Pet-Peeve: People that speak English often pretend they don't because they are afraid to make fools of themselves speaking to a real English speaker.

Oh Canada: I miss nightclubs. Dancing, watching idiots get drunk and make fools of themselves, no smoking (Yay Ottawa!). What's not to like?