The Munchkins

My work has recently provided me an opportunity to work at a bonafide elementary school once a week. But it's occurred to me that I've never really went into what it is I actually do on a daily basis. So here it is!
 Note that I can't actually take pictures of the kids. The best I can do is post up pictures of pictures. Eh, whatcha gonna do.
 "My Gym" is a fitness center for kids that actually exists (and originated) in North America. We in the Japan branch also teach all our lessons in English. Groups are separated by age, and contain up to 10 kids (at the gym I usually work at.) Our youngest are 6 weeks old. Our oldest can go up to 13 years (but our current oldest is 8.) We follow a rigid and packed schedule; the kids come in, play a bit, and then gather around as we do introductions, sing a song, do a dance, and then go into gymnastics and so on and so forth. Of course, what types of gymnastics we teach varies by age, and can be as simple as forward rolls and as complicated as front flips.

 Once in a while the gym also hosts events and camps during holidays. The last camp had us going to a zoo.
It's interesting to note that there are actually behavioral differences between Japanese kids and North American kids. Being children, both like to tease. North American kids do so by calling people names, eg: poopy-face, big fat meanie, etc. Japanese kids poke people in the butt and run away.

All in all, I love my job. I relate to the kids more than I do to my coworkers, and it's great to be paid a more-than-fair sum to jump around and play all day long. Granted, it's tiring, and I've lost my voice a number of times already, but I can see myself doing this for quite a long time still.






Last but not least, I'd like to share a drawing one of the kids made of me. Whether she intended that huge black mass on top of my head to be my hair or my hat is up for debate, but it's quite precious regardless.