Rewinding the first week

It's really not possible for me to pick a single event out of my first real week of teaching that's worth writing about more than the rest, so I'll try (albeit rather ham-handedly) to lump it all together into one entry.
I teach junior high school, grades 1-3, which is the equivalent to American 7th - 9th grades. The ichinensei (first grade) know basically no English, unless they were lucky enough to have some meaningful* exposure to it before their former studies began. The ninensei (second grade) theoretically know enough to carry on a basic conversation, but in practice they have the confidence of a pygmy shrew, so don't count on it. The sannensei (third grade) are pretty fun; they seem to enjoy class participation a bit more than the rest. While it's possible that this is because they've developed enough English skills to have confidence in their abilities, I'm much more inclined to chalk it up as a freak accident.

*not American TV

Noteworthy experience number one would have to be during one of our "What is..." activities with the ichinensei. I first ask them a number of "What is..." questions which they repeat. The second time through, they answer the question instead of repeating me, but that's not the important part. One section includes several "What is your favorite..." questions (you hardcore geeks out there should see where this is heading), and one of my students handily earned the nickname of Tim by repeating one of my questions back to me as such: "WHAT!!...is your favorite color?"

Blue. No, yell-- Aaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!

Next was skit time with the sannensei. They are working on memorizing a lengthy dialogue in which one visits the home of the other and they are enjoying some refreshments. Part of the memorization process is for the students, after practicing the transcript with their partners, to try to write out most of it w/o looking at the original. All was going well and good, 'cept for one guy in front who is called squid-boy for completely unrelated reasons.
Squid-boy speaks darned good English for a 15-year old who's been at this for 3 hours/week for a little over 2 years. He finished his writing very quickly...he made one teensy mistake, though, that nearly made me burst out laughing in class. The correct line in the dialogue was "Please help yourself." He had written "Pleasure yourself."
Once I had finished stifling my laughter, I pointed this out to him by just asking him to look at that section. He, without the slightest smirk or bat of an eyelash, asked me if there was a problem with his work. Did he seriously just make an unintentional masturbation joke? ...I think he may have.

And finally was an event from just this morning, one that still has me a bit...God, I don't know. Baffled? Stunned? Something like that.
One of the instructors works (well, worked) part-time here. He's an older guy, and I'd honestly not even had the chance to speak with him in the week or so that we've been working in the same school. During morning announcements, the vice-principal announced that due to some medical issues (back problems, if I understood correctly) this would be his last day. Suddenly the principal's secretary was hurtling down the middle of the room, armed with a bouquet of flowers that probably weighed more than her. She presented them, the guy said a few words about how he'll try to rest and get better, and then he was gone in a cloud of smoke. Well, very nearly. Did this guy just ninja-retire? I think he may have. Not the slightest sign of pomp or circumstance, just an enormous bouquet and a few words.
Afterward, all I could think over and over again was that I didn't even know his name.