Today was a Wonderful Day

Today really was wonderful.  And this is one of the reasons why:

(Yes, another Kyushoku-related entry ^^;)

I walked into Akitsu today and found the November lunch menu on my desk.  To my surprise and excitement, the lunch for the day was tonkatsu!!!  The nutritionist had told me to look forward to this month's lunch, and I'm glad I did! :)  

But before I get into lunch, lets talk about the morning.  I found out I wasn't teaching until 5th period, which left me four periods before lunch to do whatever.  Luckily the 2nd grade teacher saw me sitting at my desk and asked me if I wanted to join the 2nd graders in making steamed bread cakes with the sweet potatoes they harvested.  Of course I said yes!!!

The second graders at Akitsu are perhaps the most well behaved class among all of the classes I have ever taught at Iiyama, including my regular 5th and 6th graders.  They are all polite and always excited to see me and participate in whatever I engage them in.  They did an awesome job with the cakes!

This is mushi-pan, or "steamed bread"(basically pancake mix) with chunks of sweet potato in it.  They put the batter int he aluminum cups and placed them in a frying pan, poured water around the cups in the frying pan, and steamed for 10 minutes.  It was delicious!

3rd and 4th period I spent studying kanji at my desk.

Lunchtime!!! 

Okay, so backstory.  Tonkatsu is basically a pork cutlet, but incomparable to any type of breaded cutlet you find elsewhere.  It is my favorite food in Japan, which is the first thing I told my students when I did my self-introductions when I first got here.  

As I headed to the lunchroom (with a big smile and a skip in my step) the kids saw me and made various comments about the lunch menu.  Lunch was served, and I took the snapshot you saw above...oh what the heck, here it is again! 

Also served: milk, white rice, a salad of cabbage, cucumbers & carrots with chunks of ume (sour plum) in ume dressing and veggie miso soup with daikon.

At Akitsu, Chika Sensei reads a "Lunch Letter" from the nutritionist that talks about one of the items on the menu.  Today she talked about tonkatsu, and which part of the pig the meat came from (it's called hire "hee-ray", the less fatty part of the pig).  Chika Sensei then asked the entire school, "Who do you think requested this lunch today?" 

A chorus of "CURISUTALU SENSEI!!!!!!!!" was shouted out from about 100 students as their eyes scanned the lunchroom for me and found me in the back of the room with the 5th graders.  It was quite embarrassing but incredibly cute at the same time!  

I then played janken (rock paper scissors) with the 5th graders to decide who would get the extra piece of tonkatsu that was leftover because of an absent student, and of course I lost.  But I was surprised with a pleasant gift from the 3rd graders who decided they wanted to give the extra piece that they had to me!!!  I was elated.

After lunch I taught the 6th and 5th graders, who were awfully participative today and really into the lesson.  I had three of the 5th graders cry during the lesson today, but two stopped when we played a new game, and one was fixed with a bandaid.  The kids even said the lessons were fun! 

Tomorrow is Friday, and they are finally having Mitzi and my welcome party!!! (only 3 months late) Should be fun! :D