Wednesday October 7

I was up very late last night sewing the ribbons and elastics into Joisan's toe shoes. We thought that she was going to be starting ballet tomorrow and she needed to have time to break them in beforehand. We found out today though that they are on a break this week (due to the performance last weekend) and it turns out that I didn't need to have stayed up until 1am this morning. Oh well. I had some quality time with myself and a chance to chat with a friend on Skype so I guess it was worthwhile!
After Skyping with Mum and Phoebe this morning I went off to do some planning at the city office. I spent about an hour on the computer and organizing the desk trying to get a handle on what I was going to do at the Warashibe this afternoon. I went to the Chugakko to meet with the English teacher this morning to work on the speach I have to give on Tuesday morning. I wrote a very brief message and she translated it for me so that I can attempt to give it in Japanese. I practiced and practiced today and I will have to keep practicing so that I can give it without totally embarassing myself on Tuesday. When we were finished I came home for lunch with Ian and the kids and worked on some supplies for the class this afternoon.
I was a little nervous about the first class today with the people at the Warashibe so Ian and Hiro came with me. I wasn't sure about what activities I should be doing with them or what I should be aiming to accomplish. I ended up planning to focus on the If You're Happy and You Know It song. I made faces to represent the verses in the song with the word under them. We sang the song and played some games and I thought it all went very well. It turns out though that my focus was a little off. I was told afterward that I'm not really meant to be directly teaching them - more just leading fun activities and exposing them to English on the side. There is quite a variety of capabilities in the group - everything from unresponsive and confined to a wheelchair to mostly mobile and highly functional. I'm not sure where I'm going to go from here so if anyone has any bright ideas for me I would really appreciate hearing them!
On the way home we stopped at the office and arranged for a couple of desks to be brought to the house for the kids to work at. We also made some plans for a Halloween party we will host here at the hall on Halloween. I have to do a bit of organizing for that tomorrow and make a poster. I will also start planning for some of the elementary and kindergarten classes as well as the after-school programs. We've got a busy weekend coming - there are three festivals we will be attending and then Tuesday is the first day for the kids to go to school.
I have uploaded our first batch of photos onto a photoshare. I have linked to the photoshare from the top of the menu on the right - there are far too many photos there - sorry!