"Ms. Gemma doesn't have to speak perfect Japanese."

"Are you bald?" Moe-chan asked me with a smile.  You see, M-chan and I were perched over the classic board game of Guess Who. I have a small travel-sized version of it, and brought it into school this week to entice some students to play with me. To prove that I've been trying to study Japanese, I retorted with "hage!" (The Japanese word for "baldness.") When I played with the new Chinese student, she actually asked me for some clarification about English grammar. Like whoa. 

My contract says that I can consider lunch recess as my personal time. I often choose to hang out with my students. When I don't feel like "cold chatting," I come armed with tricks. Guess Who, card games, funny Youtube videos on my Mac, my iPod Touch, etc. Last year, I used to play a round of cards with the baseball team. I was popular with them, because I brought in a shiny deck of cards emblazoned with Canadian hundred dollar bills. (They were stuck playing with a deck of cards they fashioned out of paper scraps. It's against school rules for them to bring in things like candy or games, I guess.)

It still frustrates me when I can't communicate easily. When I call the taxi dispatcher, I'm pretty sure my limited Japanese makes me sound like I'm three years old. My set phrases basically translate into: "Hello. 1:30. The train station, pretty please. Thank you! Yes, the train station." 

Last week, however, the kids wrote something on their handouts. They had to practice using "doesn't have to" in their sentences. When they brought up their answers, I found that a lot of them had written "Ms. Gemma doesn't have to speak perfect Japanese." For some reason, that notion really struck a chord with me. Sure, these kids probably mimicked the sentence structure from their textbook. But still, they truly made me realize that I don't have to speak perfect Japanese! 

At a dinner this week, my supervisor remarked that my speaking skills have come along way. Even M-san said I've learned a lot! I use a lot of slang, but I mostly sound overly formal in tone. Still, it's nice to hear that my BoE thinks I've improved. And I was pretty happy when I was able to sit down on a picnic blanket at a recent sports meet, and share some stories with the mothers' of the volleyball girls. They seemed delighted when I could recognize their kids. And one mother even said she was pleased Saki was able to e-mail in English with me! 

がんばります！("I'll do my best.")