The Very Hungry Caterpillar

This week has been so exhausting because I have had a new Elementary school to go to everyday. Monday was Iwadeyama Elementary, which is the counterpart of my Junior High School and has around 300 students. Tuesday was Nishioosaki Elementary school, which has only 60 students. Wednesday was Kaminome Elementary school, which has 56 students. Thursday was Mayama Elementary school, and I counted about 33 students at the morning assembly. The elementary school children are cute beyond belief. Some of the schools were so small that when the day was over, the children don their little yellow hats and walk home in lines. They live so close to their schools that they don't have a school bus! I felt kind of like a travelling salesman this week going from school to school. The product I am selling is America and the English language. At some of the schools, I think I have more of a grasp of Japanese language than some of the English teachers do of the English language.
Today, at Mayama Elementary school, the highlight of my day was when I got to read The Very Hungry Caterpillar to a group of 1st and 2nd graders, complete with acting out of the story with a stuffed caterpillar. I identify with the very hungry caterpillar, because no matter how much I eat, I am still hungry. Except I do not turn into a butterfly, no matter how much I eat.
At one point in the day two little 1st grade girls came to the teacher's room holding up a book that was bigger than they were, and pointed at letters in the alphabet and asked me in Japanese what it was. After I told them a few, they said "thank you" in Japanese and left. I have never moved so fast in my life as when singing "head, shoulders, knees and toes" with these children and I have had to sing so many different versions of the alphabet that I could sing them backwards. I can't believe I am getting paid to have this much fun.
Tomorrow, I will finally go back to my Junior High School and resume some semblance of a normal schedule for a few weeks until I go to a new Elementary school.