A smile can give you genki

Yeap, you have not misread the sentence. Genki is an adjective in Japanese... and it means fine. So for example, "Watashi wa genki desu." translates to "I am fine." and I have seen this Japanese word used as shown in the title above several several times. :) It's really so interesting to observe and see how the Japanese have incorporated EL into their daily life, or vice versa.

I am smiling because I am so genki. Actually I feel very relaxed now and I could have chosen to go to bed early today. Instead, I am eating corn... sweet, lovely, tasty corn on the cob! Sometimes, I just don't want to hit the sack. Tonight is just one such night.

These last few days have been super hectic for me, especially Sunday and Monday. Still, I am glad I chose to go through it regardless of the result. I had to finish 3 important pieces of documents all in Japanese and it's really a tremendous learning experience for me. One of them was an essay of 1500 words and it stretched me!!! Yet staying at home the whole of Sunday just to do it was a super-nice and fruitful experience. This kind of feeling of sitting down, concentrating on studying and writing for an entire day has been long forgotten.... The last time I spent such long hours studying was 5 years ago when I took JLPT 2!!!

Anyway, I am so relieved everything turned out well and the documents were sent out just in time. Many many many thanks to those who helped and encouraged me! ありがとう！

And then there was the "Open High School" event on Tuesday and I must say I am so so so proud of Nishi and Komatsu who did their Show-N-Tell in front of the large audience. It was really brillant and I believe they must have grown quite a bit too through this experience, reason being they had to present everything in English and it's really no simple feat for the students here. Many of them crumble, fumble, stumble... when you try to even get them to stand up in a class to answer a very simple question or make a really short speech. Therefore I know that Nishi n Komatsu must have really practiced very hard, memorizing everything, rehearsing over and over again... n it was so funny and heart-warming to see both of them so nervous and yet eager and excited.

Anyway, here's to these 2 boys! (Photo uploaded!)


And then I had a farewell party from the ESS (English Speaking Society) and man... I was so thrilled. I received a Yukata from them!!!! It's so pretty and it's not cheap too.. Arigatou!! And Koike sensei played his guitar and sang "Imagine" pitch-perfect! And Kurokami sensei baked plum cupcakes and Hiroko's sister baked a lovely chocolate cake... and there were so many different snacks and drinks too... Nice and cosy. :) Thank you ESS!


Koike sensei on his guitar


Pretty Yukata


ESS members... and we have grown from a mere 3 people to this many! Amazing! And there are a couple of missing first-year students in this pict too. Way to go!

And this must be the best gift I have received from the students so far... Maluco painted this for me and even framed it up... Really very very touched. Thank you dear Maluco. I really like the picture. And I will definitely miss her gentleness, her diligence and superb attitude in OC2 class, her thoughtfulness, her joy ... her genki!! Her smile gives me genki too! :) Let's keep in touch ok!!!!!


Can you find "God of Smile" in the painting?


A smile can really make a difference. :)

Ok, that's all for now. I must now decide whether to hit the books or the bed. Wahahhahaha. :)