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19/4/07
Program report
19/4/07 21:32--I was busy setting things up-- running to get the Playstation hooked up to the projector, running to brew the tea-- and dashed back into the programming room to find a nursing mother who had a desperate baby and nowhere else to go. Her older child chirped at me while I was setting up.
"I'm showing a movie for some bigger kids."
"I'm three and a half."
"Bigger than that."
"My dad is forty-eight."
Mom: "Next she's going to tell you her social security number."
--At quarter of seven, a girl came in and greeted me with "POCKY!"
"It's not technically snack time yet."
"POCKY!"
--There are the fangirls who go SQUEE and the fangirls who shrink into a corner. Lessons learned: if it could be anxiety, don't read it as boredom and take it personally. It is fine for there to be socializing and squeeing, but it's best to move along to a structured activity soon enough that those who shrink into a corner have something to do. There's always time after the program's over for socializing-- it was pretty great to see conversations blooming and people exchanging their e-mails and phone numbers.
--I twice got to utter the phrase, "Don't drink your ink." Seven times I got to transcribe people's names into Japanese. Three times I gave directions to Toyo Shokuhin, the store where I found the honey Pockey. (YUM!)
--Playstations suck as DVD players in terms of the sound volume. I knew this before, but it seemed I had forgotten it. Luckily there were subtitles.
--I enlarged some kanji and traced the outlines and let the kids fill them in with ink; I'm surprised how well this went over, and I'm surprised how pretty they turned out.
--I put up a bunch of Japanese novels, novels set in Japan, and books on Japan/ Japanese cooking/ origami along the edges of the room. And a girl checked out some Murakami! I felt an obligation to warn her that Norwegian Wood was sad and Hard-Boiled Wonderland was weird.
--The honey Pocky had some really egregious riddles. I can't believe I threw away the packaging--I'll have to get more--but I do remember these:
-What can you grab with your right hand that you can't grab with your left hand?
-What do you find at the zoo that's "chi tsu te to"? (requires Japanese)
( Answers under the cut )
"I'm showing a movie for some bigger kids."
"I'm three and a half."
"Bigger than that."
"My dad is forty-eight."
Mom: "Next she's going to tell you her social security number."
--At quarter of seven, a girl came in and greeted me with "POCKY!"
"It's not technically snack time yet."
"POCKY!"
--There are the fangirls who go SQUEE and the fangirls who shrink into a corner. Lessons learned: if it could be anxiety, don't read it as boredom and take it personally. It is fine for there to be socializing and squeeing, but it's best to move along to a structured activity soon enough that those who shrink into a corner have something to do. There's always time after the program's over for socializing-- it was pretty great to see conversations blooming and people exchanging their e-mails and phone numbers.
--I twice got to utter the phrase, "Don't drink your ink." Seven times I got to transcribe people's names into Japanese. Three times I gave directions to Toyo Shokuhin, the store where I found the honey Pockey. (YUM!)
--Playstations suck as DVD players in terms of the sound volume. I knew this before, but it seemed I had forgotten it. Luckily there were subtitles.
--I enlarged some kanji and traced the outlines and let the kids fill them in with ink; I'm surprised how well this went over, and I'm surprised how pretty they turned out.
--I put up a bunch of Japanese novels, novels set in Japan, and books on Japan/ Japanese cooking/ origami along the edges of the room. And a girl checked out some Murakami! I felt an obligation to warn her that Norwegian Wood was sad and Hard-Boiled Wonderland was weird.
--The honey Pocky had some really egregious riddles. I can't believe I threw away the packaging--I'll have to get more--but I do remember these:
-What can you grab with your right hand that you can't grab with your left hand?
-What do you find at the zoo that's "chi tsu te to"? (requires Japanese)
( Answers under the cut )
