They're growing on me...

...the boys that is! Today was a better day and I got a lot done with them. I drew a line and they responded. No, I'm not talking figuratively. I mean I literally got tape and made a line on the floor. I kept them behind the line when I needed them to do something, and if they crossed the line when they weren't supposed to, I stopped. They understood. The English director heard me complaining about the boys and I was asking for help/suggestions. She ended up stopping in and helping me with the introduction of the body parts flashcards. From there, we played the flyswatter relay. The boys understood that they couldn't cross the line, and we figured out that they are so low in their English skills that they really don't even know what EAR is in English! I honestly think they repeat things after me, but aren't trying to internalize it at all or make connections to the Japanese word. They are just there to play!

Over lunch, the director told me how she didn't realize how basic I needed to make it for them (she's a preschool teacher!) and she kept exclaiming how they had NO CLUE! But, she was nice and said that they liked me because they kept crowding around me and wanted to sit close to me. So it is kind of hard to make things basic enough without babying 10 year old boys.

Since today is Wednesday, I read Wacky Wednesday to them. I kept them behind the line and told them I needed their help. (I followed it up with Japanese to make sure they understood). I read the first couple of pages and pointed out the wacky things happening in the picture and then only called on those sitting silently to come up to the book to help me. Wow...they did a good job with it! I wish I had my camera handy but they would have hammed it up for the camera instead of focusing on the book. We counted together in English the number of things wrong on each page, and I stopped when they started to get silly. From there, we sorted transportation items into LAND, AIR, and WATER categories. They placed the flashcard in the appropriate pile, and then they had stamps of the items to use in their notebooks for the three categories. Some took the rest of the time to stamp and label the items in their notebook. The ones that were finished sat on the carpet with me and helped me finish the rest of the Wacky Wednesday book. They were hilarious and were crawling all over me! I needed my line again but we were past it (and only had 5 minutes left so I didn't really care).

I made the decision today to go to the doctor. Another teacher went when she first got a sore throat. She told me it wasn't expensive at all, and she got a bunch of meds and just wanted to get better fast. I woke up this morning with my throat totally raw...I keep coughing throughout the night and it's a really tight, deep cough. It's been about 2 weeks now, so I just want relief (and a good night's sleep!). I also started sneezing today, so who knows what that is about, since I'm taking Zyrtec every day. When I heard that the English speaking doctor is 2 blocks away from Auntie Leslie's place, that sold me on it! :)

When I first talked to the doctor, I told him that I've been sick for 2 weeks and that it started with the sore throat, was in my head/congestion for only a couple of days, but then it's just been the cough since then. I had a few coughing spells while talking to him and he'd cock his head and look at me funny. He looked in my throat and said it was really red in there, and he asked if I've ever been this way at home back in the US(?). I told him that at home, I do get colds that start with sinuses, drain into my throat, end up with a cough, and then I'm better. I told him I usually take an expectorant to loosen it up but that it doesn't normally hang on for this long. He said it didn't sound like it was in my sinuses and then asked if I was coughing anything up. I said no, and that I wasn't blowing my nose and having anything come out either. He cocked his head to the side again and asked if I wanted antibiotics. I figured I shouldn't take them unless I need them (?) so I said I wasn't sure. I told him I'm just really tired, not feeling rested when I wake up because as soon as I lie down I get that intense need to cough. I cough so hard that the back of my throat hurts (but I guess I am getting an ab workout!!!) I told him I've been pounding on my chest myself to try to make it less tight and it hurts a tiny bit less when I cough.

Then he scared me a bit. He said that he is going to prescribe an expectorant for me, but that he doesn't really want to suppress the cough because he wants me to be able to get rid of all of the stuff in my chest and not keep it in (as a suppressant would). He suggested not filling the prescription yet for the antibiotics...to try the other stuff for a couple of days to see if I start to feel better. If I don't start to feel better in a couple of days, he wants to give me a strong antibiotic to see if that knocks it out. Then he said if I'm not feeling better in a week, he wants me to see a respiratory specialist. I asked if he meant back home, and he said no, here in Japan. He said he didn't want me to get on a plane until I knew for sure that there wasn't something "more" going on in my chest. GREAT! Then he mentioned that I probably wouldn't want to get on a plane with this cough given the looks I'd get from the others on the plane! So, I'm going to take a bronchial dilator, an anti-inflammatory, and a mild cough medicine and see how I feel.

For a little while, I was feeling bad that I wasn't dealing with the boys in my class better. I questioned myself, wondering if I'm a bad teacher for not being able to handle them. They are just boys, after all! But, thinking about it now, I should be happy I'm getting through the days at all feeling this way...never mind what kind of teacher I'm being!!!