For the past two months I've been teaching weekly English time at Gunge Elementary school near our home. I just finished the four lesson round with the four Fifth grade classes last week, and in thanks for teaching, each class gave me an envelope full of personal notes from the students. There are more than thirty students in each class, which means I received nearly 140 notes in all. Most of them said typical things like, "Thanks for teaching," and "Your lessons were really fun," and "We'll miss you," but a few are worth quoting verbatim.

�gDear Teacher, Learning English from you was really fun, especially your cow impersonation!�h

�gDear Teacher, Learning English with you was fun. Especially the part about not giving dead fish handshakes or monkey wrench handshakes.�h

�gEverything we learned in English class was really fun. Please come to Japan again and eat lots of delicious Japanese food.�h

�gTeacher, Your English is really good. I would have liked to learn more from you. It was fun.�h

I�fve still got five lessons with each of the four sixth grade classes at the school over the next four weeks, so I�fm sure there will be more to add to the list.

Walking into an elementary school in Japan is like being a movie star. EVERYONE stares at you, points, and waves, says hello, and goes out of their way to bow, or otherwise greet you. Some of the younger kids forget where they�fre going when they pass you in the hall and end up following you around. When you leave a classroom you are thronged by kids who want to shake your hand, give you five, carry your backpack, and get your signature. I was a little nervous at first, mostly overwhelmed by the sheer size of the classes I was teaching, but have come to enjoy my weekly visits to the school, and am beginning to recognize a lot of the kids. I have even seen a few at the grocery store, or at McDonalds and said hello to them. This is really a small town, and the more I get to know the people, the smaller it becomes.