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Hee~ Yesterday I had a conversation with a couple elementary school 5th grade girls about Bleach. .^_^ A small conversation, of course, but I enjoyed it.
Several months ago, during class, I saw one of the girls had a keychain of Byakuya attached to her pencil case, so I was like "Ooh, Byakuya!" And she was like "You know Byakuya!?" And I was "Yes, I love Byakuya!" =D (All in Japanese, of course.) Then later, maybe a few weeks ago, I saw she'd put pictures of Hitsugaya all over her folder. She looooooves Hitsugaya. And in one of the pictures he was wearing a Santa outfit, so I pointed at it and was saying "Cute!" And she says "It's Santa Hitsu!" .^,^
So yesterday I was eating lunch in their class, and sat next to her, and her and a friend asked if I knew... some anime I'd never heard of, so I said no. And she said that I did know Bleach, and asked if Bleach was popular in America. Of course I said yes. She asked if Gintama was popular in America, but I don't actually know if it is or not, so I said "So-so." Gintama is super popular here, so I assume it's made its way to the U.S., but I hadn't actually heard of it when I was there, so if it is popular, either it's been really recently, or I was living under a rock while there.
Anyway. I was then asked who my favorite Bleach character was, so of course I said Ukitake. .^_^ And the two girls were like "Ooh! The one with long, white hair!" And I said "Yes!" "Squad 13's captain!" "Yes!" And then the girl points to her friend and said "She likes Zaraki! Isn't that weird!?" XD And I said "No~ Zaraki's cool!" It was fun. ;P
I've tried to downplay that I like anime since I've come here, since I don't want people to get the impression that that's why I came, but as others have said, it's actually good that I know some anime, because it gives me something I can connect to the students with. Even if our talks are simple, between their English and my Japanese, it's something. I feel closer to them because we have a common interest.
My other fun work story is, at the junior high school the 8th graders were learning "if," and so had a worksheet where they had to write a statement using "If I had much money..." (note: I didn't make the worksheet, and I question using "much money." I think it's technically correct, but feels awkward for some reason....) I was correcting the papers, and while most of them wrote "If I had much money, I would buy clothes" or "I would buy CDs" or "I would buy a house," someone had written "If I had much money, I would buy a bear."
I laughed.
Several months ago, during class, I saw one of the girls had a keychain of Byakuya attached to her pencil case, so I was like "Ooh, Byakuya!" And she was like "You know Byakuya!?" And I was "Yes, I love Byakuya!" =D (All in Japanese, of course.) Then later, maybe a few weeks ago, I saw she'd put pictures of Hitsugaya all over her folder. She looooooves Hitsugaya. And in one of the pictures he was wearing a Santa outfit, so I pointed at it and was saying "Cute!" And she says "It's Santa Hitsu!" .^,^
So yesterday I was eating lunch in their class, and sat next to her, and her and a friend asked if I knew... some anime I'd never heard of, so I said no. And she said that I did know Bleach, and asked if Bleach was popular in America. Of course I said yes. She asked if Gintama was popular in America, but I don't actually know if it is or not, so I said "So-so." Gintama is super popular here, so I assume it's made its way to the U.S., but I hadn't actually heard of it when I was there, so if it is popular, either it's been really recently, or I was living under a rock while there.
Anyway. I was then asked who my favorite Bleach character was, so of course I said Ukitake. .^_^ And the two girls were like "Ooh! The one with long, white hair!" And I said "Yes!" "Squad 13's captain!" "Yes!" And then the girl points to her friend and said "She likes Zaraki! Isn't that weird!?" XD And I said "No~ Zaraki's cool!" It was fun. ;P
I've tried to downplay that I like anime since I've come here, since I don't want people to get the impression that that's why I came, but as others have said, it's actually good that I know some anime, because it gives me something I can connect to the students with. Even if our talks are simple, between their English and my Japanese, it's something. I feel closer to them because we have a common interest.
My other fun work story is, at the junior high school the 8th graders were learning "if," and so had a worksheet where they had to write a statement using "If I had much money..." (note: I didn't make the worksheet, and I question using "much money." I think it's technically correct, but feels awkward for some reason....) I was correcting the papers, and while most of them wrote "If I had much money, I would buy clothes" or "I would buy CDs" or "I would buy a house," someone had written "If I had much money, I would buy a bear."
I laughed.
