buggery.

Glancing around the teacher's room, I see Winnie the Pooh (affectionately known as "Pooh-san" in Japan) notepads, 101 Dalmations binders, Disney pencils, Snoopy this, Little Mermaid that, Aladdin coffee cup coasters, and multifarious Hello Kitty accessories. Oh, and the password to the school computer is "disney".
Yes, the signs are clear, I'm back at elementary school now. Not that it's much different at junior high school though. Slightly less Pooh, and slightly more Hello Kitty perhaps.


However, with the beginnings of mastery of the Japanese language now under way, that is, currently able to understand bits and pieces of spoken Japanese, I notice how interesting my elementary school students really are (apart from their rabid, continual foolery and catatonic jumpiness noticed in previous visits) .

and thus,
Today's gems:

Teacher (in response to a question): "Me? I'm 25 years old."
rabid, jumpy student: "I'm 300 years old!"

Teacher: "I'm from Canada...where are you from?"
student: "I live in America, hahahaha"

another student(upon seeing a picture of Vegeta, a famous Japanese cartoon character):
"Ohhhhhh, Vegeta! Long time, no see!"

Teacher: "What are your hobbies?"
and another student: "Bugs."

Teacher (waving the Canadian flag): "What country am I from?"
yet another student: "A foreign one."
(well, can't really argue with that...)

after class, a student comes a-runnin'...
student: "Mr. Ball, Mr. Ball! What's your favourite bug?!"
(I guess he really had to know...bugs are important)


no end to the madness...