The School of Rock

I was almost late for school again on Saturday. For some reason, I somehow always make myself late for Kitamoto school. This week, again, I confused my in-time and my start-time and was happily preparing myself to arrive at 10.30 when it dawned on me that was the time of my first lesson and so I ran out of my apartment with damp hair and my make-up half-done. It`s actually less of a problem than it would be at home, as it`s perfectly acceptable to wear enormous hair-dressing clips in public and do your make-up on the train here, so this is what I did. I`ve seen girls sat with portable tongs and their entire cosmetic collection sprawled across restaurant tables without a flicker of embarrassment.

I got to school and had 35 minutes to prepare for a six-hour teaching day, but now I know my kids better and have covered most of the topics kids learn with us, I have a good idea of how to cobble a lesson together. I have a few stock games that always go down well (if all else fails, let them play dodgeball) and had Pamela`s Pop-up Pirate to teach the kindergartners `in` and when to say please. I had to taiken two four-year-olds, which I was dreading in case their mothers came in, but as they were a little older, they were more than happy to leave their mothers outside. There is nothing worse than doing Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes with an adult audience. I have to deal with it though. I had my Monday schedule faxed to me as it had changed - I have to taiken a two-year- two-month-old baby. There is no way I get to do that without the mother. I imagine I will basically be revising red, yellow and blue with her and the kid will gormlessly gaze in the opposite direction. Maybe I`ll do cat and dog too.

Last night, Sean, Adam and myself went to another teacher`s flat: School of Rock Rob (I had snidely given him this name as he`s in a band and thinks he`s cool, but after last night I agree with him). It was a real laugh. We spent far too long looking up eggs on the internet (whether those we eat are fertilized and are ever likely to hatch, prompted by a brief conversation about a vegan teacher who absconded after Christmas). On the way, we got lost and School of Rock Dave (he is also in the band and also much nicer than I initially gave him credit for!) and his girlfriend had to come out on their bikes and find us. We were miles from anywhere, lost in Omiya park, but we did find the outside swimming pool, which will be handy when it warms up properly.

Spring is here and it`s already apparent why the Japanese word for hot is also the word for thick (atsui). The air feels heavier already, but while I am down to my spring jacket, the Japanese are still turning out in coat and gloves.