Gone til September

Ooh, my first blog for September. Which means... I've been living in Japan for a month now! 11 more to go! Well, this month has gone by pretty fast and yet when I think back to my first days in Tokyo, it feels like ages ago. I was starting to feel a little homesick looking at pictures today but I must stay strong!

Today I had my first official class. It was the 1st year junior high students. They are a pretty rowdy bunch except when they're hot and bored. I was worried about them being bored during my little introduction speech but I also prepared a quiz about the US and NYC and that livened them up. They answered most of the straightforward questions easily (prez of USA, where is the White House, etc.) and they also answered my question about how long a flight from Tokyo to NYC is (14 hours, granted it was multiple choice). But when asked how long the flight from LA to NYC is after showing them a map of the US, some thought it was a 20 hour flight! I guess the map made it look really far, which it is, but thankfully it's only a 6 hour flight. Another question I asked and just found out the answer to recently is, how many languages are spoken in NYC. The answer is 170 and they got it right but I think they were just arbitrarily choosing a number. I think they finally understood the question in the end though. Ooh, I hope none of the other students are reading this and cheating!

Tomorrow I have another junior high class and then elementary schools for the rest of the week. I'm excited to meet the little ones but at the same time, it's going to require a lot of happy energy!