Typical school day…

On several separate occasions, students stare at my face in wonder and make the comment “hana takai! hana takai!” (big nose) to me in the hall and/or class

Students ask me in class if my hair color/eye color is natural (“Katie-san, colored-o contacto?”)

Student repeatedly asks me in class if I know someone named “Maka-san” and also how to say concabu paipu, senso, and hikoki in English (corncob pipe, war, and airplane respectively). I told the student I had no idea who “Maka-san” was…the student then proceed to try and explain who this person was by drawing a series of pictures and showing me portions of his history book. Still confused, I asked one of the Japanese teachers…turns out the student was talking about General Douglas MacArthur. Apparently MacArthur was in charge of the allied occupation of Japan after WWII…did we learn this in history class at Monroe City R-1?

Student asks me if Americans are really as big as they look on TV

Student asks me who my favorite character is (by “character”, student was referring to animated character). Most normal adults back home don’t really have a favorite animated character…however in the past, this response has proved to be unacceptable by my students. My now standard response is “SpongeBob Squarepants”.

Was blown literally off my feet and into a rice paddy while waiting for the bus in front of the school…luckily the rice paddy was empty, so only thing damaged was my pride (it’s very windy in this part of the country…)

General MacArthur with "concabu paipu"