My "smile list"

This week I remembered to keep track of the things that made me smile so here you go! I hope they make you smile too!

-Playing the "particle guessing game" while studying Japanese with Bob and Teresa... It went something like this every time I needed to use a particle...
" 'wa'! (pause) oh... that's not right? oh I know... it's 'o'! (another pause) really? that's not right either? OH! I got it... it's 'no' right?! (longer pause) uh oh, I'm running out of particles to use. wait..I got it for sure this time! it's 'de'! (this is where the laughter starts) GRR! Seriously, I don't know which one to use... WAIT! I've got one left I can use.. is it 'ni'?? (and this is where the applause comes!) YAY! I got it right...and only after a few tries!" ...This repeats itself SEVERAL times! I can't wait to have these silly particles mastered! Thanks for your patience Bob and Teresa!

-the excited chatter among my students who hadn't seen each other for a whole month... it's so fun to watch them make friends :)

-my 'friend' that at the bakery I stop in at every Thursday...maybe one day I'll be able to say more than "this looks delicious" and "it's hot today isn't it?" :)

-Discovering a the pastry I bought has chocolate in it!! :)

-long e-mails and letters from special friends

-My gas man trying to read the amount of my bill English for me when he came to collect my money

-Japanese pears! Yum Yum!

-"Catching" Mom wearing one of my necklaces (again!) thanks to a webcam and skype! I think it's cute my Mom wants to be just like me! :P

-a big can of calpis soda for 100 yen in "my" vending machine when it's usually 120 or 130 everywhere else... oh how I love the satisfaction of knowing you've saved money!

-My Thursday night class... they are seriously SO much fun and it's the best class to finish the week off! This week we were reviewing present continuous and I had the students practice asking each other questions in the present continuous. One of them says to another student, "Are you sleeping?" That might not sound so funny, but it was extra funny because this student actually did look like he was sleeping! The apology after the question made me laugh too.
Then I was asking the students the questions and I asked someone, "Is she studying English?" (which obviously she was) and the other student quickly and confidently answered "No, she isn't!" She was so cute! I think it was because I had asked the last 3 questions expecting a negative answer, so she had probably rehearsed her answer in her head for when it came to her turn! We all laughed and she also ended up apologizing to the other student! I love this class and it was such a blessing to finish my week with them this week. We laughed so much :)

-Another 2 hour skype call with Dayna... which led to her finding me the "yip yip family" song on Youtube... and the fact that I had remembered it word for word and to the right tune before I watched it! ah, don't we all just love Sesame Street?! :)

-a full moon and being able to capture a pretty picture of it over the water (see my last post)

-Finishing my weekly required Japanese study hours before 6:30 on Saturday! (usually it's closer to midnight or after!)

-A budding romance between two of my students... and the pride that comes with knowing that I called it in my mind a few weeks ago!

-Quiet time at "my spot" for an extra long time on my day off...
there's actually a funny story that goes with this one so I'll try to make it sound as funny as it was when it happened.

I had been praying out loud when I heard some voices on the road that was 'above' me. I stopped because I knew they could probably hear me talking. Then I could tell they had stopped talking too so I turned around for some reason to look at the top of the stairs and I happened to 'catch' an older man looking down at me, probably trying to figure out what I was doing there just sitting there talking to myself! He was really embarrassed when I turned around though! He quickly jumped back and I think he mumbled "sumimasen. konnichiwa." (excuse me. hello) I got quite a laugh out of that, but maybe it was one of those 'you had to be there moments'. I'm sure I looked pretty crazy!

-a helpful student who apparently didn't understand my definition of 'review' and timidly tried to tell me that we had already done these pages!

-Stephen Curtis Chapman's new song "Heaven is the Face"... actually it almost made me cry rather than smile because it's about his daughter that died last year, but the image of them reuniting in Heaven puts a big smile on my face... especially the line that he uses about her leading him to Jesus. I recommend watching the video (I hyper-linked it in the title) and read the lyrics here if you can't quite hear them.

-hearing that Mom and Dad had picnic by the river in my honour :)

-peanut butter chocolate chip cookie dough for breakfast

-reading and understanding a whole paragraph in my Japanese textbook!! (There was just one word I didn't know, but I successfully found it in my Japanese/English dictionary!) I was also able to understand one of my students mothers today when she told me her kids wouldn't be able to come to class the last Saturday of this month. (It helped that she was pointing at a calendar... but I was able to pick up that they would be absent because of something at school) I'm amazed at how our brains work... how they piece things together and process different languages.

So, there's my list... I'm sure there's more that I forget, but I'd probably put you to sleep if I posted every little thing that put a smile on my face!

Make sure you let me know what made you smile this week... last time my family members were the only ones to comment!

Thank you once again, Father, for a week full of smiles. Thank you for giving us laughter when we need it. Thank you for the many things that you have given me to be thankful for! You are so good to us!