'H' to the 'A' to the 'M' to the 'S, T, A!'

About 3 months ago, grade 5 got a pet hamster. It is the teeny, tiniest thing I've ever seen! Having said that, I hardly ever see it because it is nocturnal! Every time I teach grade 5 I ask if the hamster has got a name yet, but it never has. This doesn't surprise me as the rabbits also have no names and one of them is 8 years old!

Today, at cleaning time, I helped out in the 5th grade classroom and was greeted by the joyous news that the hamster had been named. Yippee! It's called 'Hamu ski'. Dear Lord! So, the word for 'ham' in Japanese is 'hamu' and 'ski' means 'I like' so they have come up with an oh-so-funny play on the word 'hamster'. Dunno whether it's the hamster that likes ham, or the kid that named it? But, there you go, the little mite's name is 'Hamuski Hamster'. It sounds like a dodgy name of a 90's rap act to me!

At 9.45 this morning I found myself getting a little peckish so I delved into my bag for a kitkat only to find that it was not there. Eeeeek! I must have eaten it! Oh no! I'd got over 2 hours until lunchtime! So I decided to go for a wander around the school to take my mind off the hunger. Just as I stepped out of the teachers' room I heard a 'Sha-ri sensei!'. I turned around to see the 6th grade students waving at me to go into the cooking room. It turns out that they were having a cooking party! All my prayers had been answered!

As it was their last ever cooking lesson, the 6th graders had been allowed to make party food and then eat it all together. Well, you should have seen it! I thought I was a bad cook! The first thing I was given was a cream sandwich. Yep, you heard correctly, a CREAM sandwich! They had literally just squirted cream onto pieces of bread and then shoved another piece on top. Interesting! Actually, it wasn't as bad as I'd anticipated, but then again, it's also not something I intend on repeating! I was also given tacoyakki (octopus dumplings), bread dipped in raspberry juice, and crusts fried in oil and sugar. I honestly have no idea how I managed to keep my face from screwing up as I ate it and told them how delicious it was! And you should have seen them wolfing it all down! Crazy! Well, that'll teach me to forget me kitkat!