What a great scam

So I taught at an Elementary School for the first time this week! It was great. I loved it. I learned a few very important things, too.

1) Children are creatures of absolutely manipulatable impulse and appetite.
Corrilary: Get them excited and they will love it... this has NOTHING to do with how cool the activity actually is, or how difficult. Make them want to play, and they will work their brains into a smoking blaze.

2) They WILL grab the picture of Spiderman if it is within reach.
Corrilary: If you can`t find magnets to hold the pictures of Spiderman and Venom on the blackboard, DO NOT put them on the floor or you WILL spend the next 4 minutes trying... and I mean trying... to retreive them from the bottom of a dogpile of hot and sweaty 60 lb. Japanese bodies.
Corrilary: If you didn`t conceal it, it was meant to be taken on sight.

3) No amount of immune boosters will save you. Schools are germ-ridden hives of infectious snot-wads.
(I taught on Tuesday, and I`m STILL getting over it.)

4) No, that`s it. I only learned three things. I had a lot of fun, though, and only hope I don`t get ragingly, miserably sick again next time.

And now for the scam. I have discovered that Japanese school children will do almost anything for a sticker. They are all future gamblers, and so small shiny or colored objects that represent raw 'special points' will drive them into a frenzied lust for any token. So, Suich Sensei has established the economy of 1 1cm yellow smiley face sticker for a vigorous 30 second shoulder rub. Too weak or too short results in no sticker. The kids form a que to do this.

I have been making model paper castles in my free time at school. My free time vastly outweighs my actual work time. When I come back to America, I will be ruined.

I love my job.

Speaking of which, I am going to church in Fukushima (about 30 minutes north) tommorow. I am very excited. I`m meeting the Costanzo`s who live to the north. Apparently they have a circle of about a dozen Christian English teachers in the area. I may have struck pure gold here. I`ll report back ASAP.

Christ Keep You All,
Joshua P. Suich, aka スイっチ Sensei