Credit

I feel that in my current commentary I might give the impression that everything at my school is terrible. It isn't. There are a lot of kids that I really really like. And, as most who teach will understand, there is a lot that I like about the kids who cause a good deal of the trouble. Case in point. Sakamoto, who played a large indirect (as is his M.O.) part in the last two days shennanigins, started off class today sullen. We played a trivia quiz game. After about ten minutes in the corner by himself, he was the best player on the team. His listening skills are really exceptional for English. For the last question I challenged anybody to spell 'Mississippi.' After a few minutes messing around with it, Sakamoto actually got it right. That is a first. He is a con man and a jack-off, but he won't always be.

Kids I really like:

All of the 1st years. They could go bad, but now they are just stupid sometimes.

The entrie girl's softball team. Every day they wave to me a and yell my name. Tomo, the diminutive fist baseman with braces always yells "I love Wes." and gives me a hug. Nana plays outfield and is also the class president. She is smart and rad. Chihiro is the pitcher and looks like a pro softball player.

Most of the girl's basketball team. Especially the captian. She is one of a set of twins on the basketball team. The captain is Rena, the other one is Hazuki. They look as much like husky, middle-aged women as they do like each ther. I told Hazuki that I could tell them apart because Rena always looked serious and she always looked happy. That made her laugh. The way I really tell them apart is that Rena looks like she has a purpose and Hazuki looks a little lost.

Kaku, captain of the swim team. He is left-handed and shit at English. When you tell him he is shit at English, he will put a hand on your shoulder and apologize. He is a sweet kid.

Aoki. His mom teaches somewhere else. He likes to speak English and begins every sentence with "Oh!" As in, "Oh! Wesley. Can you play krate?" "No. Do you do karate?" "Oh! Yes." He got his black-belt.

Sayaka. She lived in America for a few years but she tries to hide that she can speak English. Her family is very rich and apparently she has a crush on me.

Kagawa. He is the class vice-president. He is big and lumbering and had grey hair until he shaved it off the other day. He always says "good morning." And smiles a lot.

Yoshiki. Have you ever taught a kid that you wanted to tell people how ridiculously beautiful they are but you worry that they think you mean sexually and that you will sound like a pervert, but some kids are just absurdly beautiful in a really abstract, classical way? Yoshiki is that. She also has a very strange voice and is awkward and confident in equal doses.

Yano. Is an asshole but I like him. He is the captian of the tennis team and is pretty much what that would be in America. Smarter than most kids. Talks a lot. Very sure of himself. Tan.

There are a lot more, but I wanted to mention some.