Where can I find 17 pairs of earplugs?

Yes, that's right. 17 pairs of earplugs...16 for my students and 1 for me. Why you ask? Because one of my kids screamed/cried/threw a tantrum ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLL DAAAAAAAAAAAY LOOOOOOOOOOOONG. From the time she arrived at 8:45 until she left at 2:15...screaming, crying, saying "mama waaaaaa" not to mention stomping, kicking off her shoes, etc. You get the idea. I was doing okay until about 1:00 when it was time for the kids to start their stations (like centers) and I couldn't do ANYTHING but hold her in order for her to be quiet enough (yes, still crying and screaming) so the other kids could hear anything I said. I broke down. I cried. In the middle of class. The kids didn't see me...but I was crying. It was rough to say the very least. The other k4 teacher and I didn't leave school until 7:00 and I brought work home with me. My eyelids need kickstands. My head needs about 4,000 extra-strength Excedrin. My day needs to be about 12 hours longer so I can take a nap and then get more work done. My sanity needs about 12 hours of sleep (totally not happening).
Other than that, my day was fantastic :) My other kids are AWESOME. They play together, they (usually) obey, they try to participate, they eat all their lunch...they're great. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE all my kids. Even when they cry and scream and cry some more. I'm just looking forward to the day when I don't have to focus all my attention on one kid instead of being able to spread it out evenly between my 16.
Pray for my kids. Pray for me. Pray for comfort...for me and the kids.
Tomorrow is a new day, and I will rejoice in it.

More Frequent Posts??

This might come as a shock to the few of you who actually read my blog, because I know I have said it before...BUUUUUUUT I am seriously 100% totally going to try to update more often. Since I now have my own class (more on that later), I feel like there will be more things for me to update about since I will actually have a "schedule"...well, as much as a schedule as you can have working at MeySen. So, HOPEFULLY you can look forward to reading more about the 16 cutest little Japanese Bunnies MeySen has ever seen. And yes, that is a biased opinion :)

SOOOOO to start things off, today was Opening Ceremony. Basically all that means is that it was the first day of Kindergarten for these kids and there was an assembly where a lot of Japanese was spoken, songs were sung, and skits were performed. None of which I actually understood. Anyway, the kids and their parents (and some grandparents and siblings, too) got to school this morning around 9:30, changed from their outside shoes to their inside shoes, came inside the classroom, put their bags and school hats (which are adorable, by the way) away on their hooks and got to playing. Some of the kids are REALLLLLLY shy and tried to hide behind their parents, while some of the other kids were running around and playing with any and everything they could get their hands on. Then we lined everyone up with either their mother or father and marched into the auditorium (hall) for Opening Ceremony. (Insert 30mins of Japanese here.) Then we left the hall, went back to the classroom, and I taught the very first of their many English times. I read some books, sang some songs, and talked to the kids in English...I had a lot of blank faces looking back at me. OH! While I was singing the Red Song, the videographer for MeySen was in my classroom. Videoing. Me. Singing. BY MYSELF. It was terrifying...and will probably end up on the MeySen website. Yikes. Anyway, then the Japanese teacher talked to the parents...not really sure what all she said. Finally we went back to the hall to take a class picture (which will DEFINITELY be on the website in case you're interested) and then the parents of my kids took about 2384092384902 pictures of me with their kids. My face is still sore from smiling so much today. But, I will say that I'd rather have a sore face from smiling than have had my kids cry and/or puke...only one girl shed tears and she was fine after just a little bit. It was the most fantastic of days, and this is only the beginning. Tomorrow the kids come without their parents, but thankfully I'll have a translator in my room for most of the day AND it's only a half day. It will be good :)

Thanks to everyone who even thought of me today...all your prayers were answered and the Lord gave me so much peace! It couldn't have been better!

Also, on Thursday I am going to WineStudios (the company that makes all the MeySen curriculum among other things) to record the narration for a promotional video for the international university in Sendai. So not only will I become famous, I'll be getting paid a LARGE sum of cold, hard Yen for this gig. 15 minutes (probably more, but who's counting?) of fame: check!

approximately 6 months ago....

i was on a plane traveling across the world to live in a place i'd barely even read anything about. a place where i wouldn't know the language, the culture, the people. i haven't made a better decision in my life. living in japan has brought me closer to the ones i love in america, and close to so many new people i'd never have met otherwise. sure, it's been hard--learning something new, somewhere new for the first time--in a country where i can't read or speak no less. but i've grown SO much. i've learned that i am capable of much more than i ever thought possible. it's ok to get out of my comfort zone and even ok to fail miserably. it's ok to miss people and things. it's ok to get lost and have a meltdown. that's how you grow. experience is the best teacher.
when i found out i got this job, i had to continually remind myself that i was the one who had to live my life--i couldn't waste mine watching other people live theirs. so i've stopped saying "i'm sorry i can't be there" or "i'm sorry i missed _______" because the truth is, i'm not sorry. sure i'm sad i couldn't be there for a certain something or other, but to me being sorry would mean that i regretted making the decision i did when i chose to leave everything i knew for an adventure that is just beginning. and thus far, i regret nothing. i can only hope the next 6 months of my adventure are as great as the last 6 have been. and that the 6 after that are better than the previous 12. with a new school year starting and getting my own class of japanese-speaking 4-year-olds, the next 6 months look promising.
God has been showing me some great stuff here and He's been opening my eyes, ears, and heart in a way i've never known. it's refreshing to my soul to be surrounded daily by encouraging people who share my passions. i keep praying God will continue to show me joy in the little things, and see where these itchy feet will go next....