I love this job

So I've had two weeks of giving the same self-introduction class over and over. It got incredibly tedious- and by Wednesday I was so sick of talking about myself I was tempted to start making things up. 

Today finally I got to teach another lesson. I was given the brief last week- they showed me which chapter in the text book the kids have just finished doing- and then I come up with a fun lesson that is related and helps them practice that language. I got very excited and actually had the time to be creative. And come up with a good lesson. Today was the make or break for my lesson entitled "a weather story" - a true test of my capability after my celta and italy experiences- I polished this lesson plan off on wednesday- and woke up eager to try it out. There were moments were I thought the kids might not get it- is this too hard for them? Well... it worked better than I imagined!!! I'm not going to bore you with the actually lesson plan- but I had such a great day. I did my weather story lesson 3 times and I think I had really nailed it by the end of the day. The teachers at my base school are so great- it's a pleasure to teach there. 

My day was so busy for the first time- it just flew by- teachers were leaving things on my desk they wanted me to go over for other classes- I had loads of marking to do- I read all the stories that students had written in my weather story class (that's 40 students a class and 3 classes- you do the math)- so great to see them using vocabulary you have just taught them. I didnt have time to go on the internet or check my phone, which was very refreshing after a whole month of only doing these things. I spent an extra hour after school with one student to help him work on his interview skills- he wants to study english at university - I felt like I had so much advice to give him after all my experience- that we've arranged to meet up next week. I hope I haven't overloaded him- I was just excited!! I was jumping around my lesson like a mad-woman and it was great- the students fed off my energy - (rather than laugh at how geeky I get about teaching). When I was leaving school a group of girls who I had taught today rushed over to me and wanted to talk- naturally tell me I had a small face (is this a compliment in japanese I wonder?) and of course tell me I am Kuwaii - my single most received compliment (means cute). Last week I gave a singular sneeze in class and students were beside themselves with how Kuwaii they thought it was - this and genki (energetic) are the most overly used expressions in this country. I have already started to incorporate genki into my english vernacular. "I am so genki about this weekend" etc. 

I feel great!! This job is the best!!! 

I know I probably won't be on a high like this everyday (especially as some of my schools are quite rough and low-level) but if I can have just one day a week where things go smooth like this- then I know I'm in the right place.