He never hung his hat up at Kitty’s place

Quest: Halloween Costume part II

Outcome:  The beast gasps its dying breaths

 

I’ve been a good ALT for two years.  I try to look busy when really I have nothing to do, I talk with the students during break periods, I do whatever my JTE asks of me whenever she asks, heck, I even go to sports club tournaments over the weekend.  Recently I started bringing my sewing into work, and I sometimes feel a twinge of something not-unlike guilt, that I maybe I shouldn’t be doing that. But no one seems to disapprove, in fact, they are all very curious about it.  First I brought in the baby dress I was making, and as it was for the previous ALT, almost everyone in the office personally knew her. 

Most recently I brought in my Jessie hat.  It’s made of red felt and shaped with wire.  Bringing the wire to school was interesting because I’m pretty sure the teachers had no idea what I was doing, not to mention I couldn’t find my wire clippers, so instead I practically sawed through it with my dull little scissors. I was actually surprised how well the hat turned out despite me technical difficulties and lack of know-how.

           
            Teachers and student’s kept stopping by my desk and asking what I was doing. As it gained shape, they would ask if I was making a hat! Huzzah, the thing I’m making looks like the thing I’m making.  I always felt the need to justify myself though, or rather, I had the satisfaction of justifying what I was doing. I would tell them “Yes, I’m making a hat. It’s for my costume for the Childrens’ English Class Halloween Party this Saturday.”  It’s nice in a way because it’s like saying “look, look at me, I do work outside of just this school.”  My vice-principal once asked if I played games with the elementary students when I do my elementary visits. I told him yes and he asked if I played games like soccer with them.  What? No!  I play English games, because I TEACH ENGLISH.  As fun as elementary school visits are, it’s not happy free time, it’s work.  Granted, during school vacations when I go to the Elementary daycare I just play with the kids, but during class, we do English. But I made my hat, it’s cute and looks just like Jessie’s.  My principal lives in the apartment below mine, and when I walked back from school he was pulling out and gestured for me to put on the hat so he could see it.
 Win.