A MOMENT OF SILENCE

Yesterday, during 4th period, the vice-principal interrupted class over the intercom to have a moment of silence for the 6,000 victims who died in the Kobe earthquake of 1995. When he made the announcement, I didn't understand everything being said, then soon after everyone in our class stood at attention and bowed their heads toward the ground for about a good minute it seemed. I pretty much did the same, figuring it was some sort of moment of silence, I just wasn't sure for whom. The homeroom teacher explained it to me immediately afterwards. Not to be facetious, but if they had a minute of silence for the kobe victims, they need to have like a day for the near 30,000 Iranians who died in Bam.

I had a pretty interesting day at school, overall. I had a class with the 2nd graders, which I taught by myself. The teacher had asked me to run the class solo, because she had to leave school during that period to go to the hospital to get a shot, I think. the class went pretty well, with no problems. that particular 2nd grade class is my favorite, because we get along so well and most of the kids are pretty bright. Actually, I wasn't completely alone because the principal had come in to take pictures for the school newsletter, which was published by that afternoon. It's kind of cool that some teachers trust me enough to run their classes on my own, especially considering the language barrier between myself and the kids.

Lunch was pretty good. Part of the meal was some kind of breaded curry-flavored lotus root. I was skeptical at first, thinking it was a slab of fried pork, but it wasn't--It was pretty good, actually. I think this was the first week where I could eat just about all the school lunches everyday, without plucking alot of stuff out; although, there was one day where I had to fish some weiner sausages out of my soup.

After lunch, one of 4th grade teachers asked me to come outside and play jump rope with her class. I was reluctant to go outside in the cold. Inside the school was cold enough. But I threw on my jacket and went out there anyway. It was pretty cold outside, but I had fun. Most of the kids were wearing short sleeves and even shorts, which is their P.E. uniform. They didn't really seem to notice that they were freezing half to death. I had on long pants and a leather jacket and I still felt nippy.

Wow. It's actually snowing yet again today--however, it's not sticking.