Last day of training!

I survived~  XD  I'm pretty proud of this, even though it's not like I planned on running away or anything.  By 'I survived,' I mean that I feel like I improved and was able to present a final first lesson demo that I felt pretty good about.  I definitely made some mistakes, but I also heard some good things back.  ;D


I ate a bit for breakfast, but wasn't feeling my best due to nerves.  When we split into groups after the first assembly, I wanted to volunteer to go first, but we went based on where we sat down.  It worked out that I went fourth, which was fine because I was able to steal an idea from Nicola based on hers.  I think the "ohayo/Ohio" joke Cliff helped me with (ie - came up with for me) went over well.  People laughed, so I think the kids will like it.  I hope so.  I planted the jackalope as planned, but since that's more for the real deal, I was just practicing ignoring it (as I do in the schtick we devised last night).


We got through about seven people and a half people before we had to stop and go down for our health check.  <________<##  We had to take the urine samples (btw - the guy from the ministry or whatever kept saying 'oorine' which was pretty funny) and turn them in.  Then we were weighed, measured (height, waist), and eye checked.  I had my blood pressure taken, then some blood taken, then a quick check with a doctor (throat glands and quick chest listen), a hearing check, and EKG, and a chest x-ray.  O_o  All in just a few minutes because it was like an assembly line.  Health checks like this are standard in all school and companies in Japan.


After lunch (sweet potato cut into french-fry shapes, but just boiled as usual over rice), we resumed and finished our demos.  Out group was done quite early, so we had some time to go back to our room before the ending wrap-up.  After demos of the best lessons (and they were REALLY great!!) from each grade level, the people running the show wrapped it up.  Mike read from my pre-training 'homework' when he was finishing (he read a bunch of other bits from other people, but he started with mine).  My long-answer about the importance of apologizing in Japan:


"Apologies keep the peace and social balance in Japan.  Japanese apologize for everything – things that are both under their control or not, they apologize and belittle gifts they are giving, etc.  This helps them keep the playing field level.  By humbling yourself, you give the other person control of the situation, making them feel more comfortable.  This also shows an understanding of their culture and willingness to participate in it.  A little bit of humility goes a long way!"



I was rather flattered.  He even over-looked a huge typo which I fixed before posting here.  


I missed the chance to talk to the trainer I wanted to talk to because he had to leave early, but I was able to stop by and thank Cliff for yesterday and promised to tell him how the joke and jackalope go over with the kids.  He said he thinks I'll do really well (and it even seemed genuine).  TT^TT  ~~TOUCHED~~


After that sicko-Niko (I'm sure you'll love reading that I called you that) and I came back to our room to be tired old ladies.  I ate the rice out of my bento, but I'm REALLY SICK of boiled veggies.  After a bit, we field-tripped to the 7/11, which is further than the Mini-Stop.


I'm really sleepy, so I'm going to cut this off.  Tomorrow is the bus trip to Hamamatsu.  We have a chartered bus, which should be nice, then branch training begins on Sunday!


Oh, and I found out the guy making the videos in in my branch!  XD  New goal - try to get him to mention me in a video without knowing that I'm watching them.


TTFN~