My name is Yuuta, and don't you forget it!

Today I was sitting in the school office at Nayoro Junior High, and a boy comes up to my desk. He says "Hello, My name is Yuuta." So I replied, "Nice to meet you! I'm Jenna" He then asked me how I was, and I told him I was fine. He then turned to a random teacher and asked "How do I say 'remember my name?' in English?" The other teacher told him that he didn't know any English, so I then told the student that I understood Japanese. He didn't seem to believe me, because then he told me "I don't speak any English"(In English), and turned to the other teacher again and asked "How do you say, 'I want to become good at English' in English?" The teacher then told him again that he didn't know any English, and the student turned back to me and said "I want to learn English." Then he said "I like math," and after that said "I don't like Japanese and English," which I found to be hilarious, seeing as he had just told me that he wanted to learn English. Although I suppose I can understand, I don't particularly enjoy studying Japanese, but I do want to be able to speak it!



The thing I found really weird about this encounter is that his name was Yuuta. I mentioned another student at Higashi Junior High named Yuuta. The first time I met that Yuuta, he also specifically told me to remember his name. They are the only two people that flat out said, "Remember my name!"

I love when students voluntarily come and speak what little English they know to me. It gives me courage to try and speak Japanese with other people, even though I am not very good. That, and it's so cute!

Oops...

Well. It happened. The worst mistake I've made since I've been here. Here goes...

The grade 7 class at Nayoro Junior High was learning how to say "Yes, he does" and "No, he doesn't." They had sheets with questions on them, like "Do you play the piano?" and "Do you play baseball?" They then asked their partners these questions, and wrote down their answers. My job was to then go around the class and ask each student "Does he/she like baseball?" So I would look at the students partner and choose the correct pronoun. You may see where this is going...

So everything was going great. I'm almost finished the whole class. Then I look up, and to my horror realize that I have no idea if the kid's partner is a girl or a boy. And I panic. I have a split second to decide what to do.

So I guess.

Me: "Does........he play soccer?"

And I guessed wrong.

I threw off the poor kid who had to answer the question. So he replies, "Yes, he?...she?..." and the teacher helps by saying, "She" which is when I realized I had definitely failed in guessing the right sex of the student. Not only that, I am very sure that my teacher realized my wonderful error as well. Oh, the embarrassment.

And in my defense, a LOT of boys here have long hair.