My Best Summer Memory

I had my first official ALT day today, woot!
I introduced myself to two 1st grade classes (quick note: 1st grade in Japanese Jr. High is roughly 7th grade where I come from -> read: 12 and 13 year olds) and then they played a game of "Kirsten Bingo" where they tried to guess facts about me (not my idea, I swear). Overall, I had a blast, and am impressed how witty these guys are...and also how tall! As far as I can tell, Japanese children reach their adult height sooner than Westerners because at the moment, I am teaching 13 year olds that can look me in the eye. That's impressive for 13 year olds in general I think, not to mention Japanese (my JT is shorter than me which is a bit awkward because he's a pretty built guy).

Anyway, after class I was correcting some 3rd grade (read: 9th grade) papers on what the students did over summer vacation. They were supposed to write about their favorite memory and I found myself laughing out loud at some of the entries. These kids are so witty!! Their English wasn't perfect, but still completely comprehensible (well most anyway, but I'll get to that later), and they were great! I want to share with you 2 entries that I loved. I'm transcribing their paragraphs exactly as they wrote them so the humor isn't dumbed down by my editing...

Paper #1:
“I fought with two cookroachs today.
When I was sleeping on the floor,
They appeared. Then I was surprised.
But I fought with them. Hit, hit, hit!
But I couldn’t hit. They were so quick.
So, I pleyed them a bug killer. Them
they died. I was tired. I’m winner.
YEAH~”

Paper #2:
“Today, I was reading a book all day.
I read ‘Seiji’ two times. It is very interesting.
A hero called Seiji is a strange person. But
I sympathized his opinion.
I have a headache.
I learn to shouldn’t read books all day.”

Aren't they great? There were many more I loved, but limited myself to sharing two.

I want to share one more, but because I feel like this next student was trying to say something substantial and I just can't understand it! The kid drew an empty baseball diamond with 'Boooo' written across the top. Below, was written the following...

Paper #3:
“I play baseball a championship series,
I there a teme a match got, I there a right
fielder out play a got I too Don’t activity
good lost I Don’t can’ all Don’t be useful
a thing. very puite fell pass Don’t cry.”

Am I just imagining something about a pitiful pass, game lost, and don't cry? I wish I could understand what the student wrote. This obviously was a very significant event in this kid's summer, even if it was not a happy memory.

On that note, I have to run to Fuji and spend a small fortune on bread so I can make exotic PB&J sandwiches for my Eikaiwa tomorrow. Haha, even Paul makes fun of that one, but I don't quite understand it when Aussies have Vegemite: a spread made basically from condensed beer. Yuuuum. (actually, I have to admit that with cheese it's pretty tastey, but that's beside the point).

Don't rush to comment on my blog too fast now ya'll, you might hurt yourselves. *wink*