We’ve officially survived a third of the school year, with many memorable events such as the Student Council Election. Congratulations to those who won. However, student leaders are not the only new addition to OYIS. A new team of wonderful teachers have joined us and since some of us may not be familiar with the teachers who work on the other campuses, here's a bit of background about a few of them. We'll fill you in on the others in the near future.

Mr. Arinobu Kimura

Mr. Arinobu teaches Japanese Language Acquisition to grades 7-10 at OYIS. He was born in Osaka, his favorite food is udon, and his favorite color is red. 

He says that what’s most embarrassing to him is the moment after yelling in a classroom. I am sure that we have all at one point experienced the awkward atmosphere after we get mad at somebody, and would want to avoid it if we could. 

When asked who he would haunt if he were a ghost, Mr. Arinobu stated that he would haunt former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, because he would like to “expose him for all of the evidence he hid from people”. (Check out this article for more context.)

Every morning on his way to school, Mr. Arinobu listens to English audio books and at the moment, he is listening to "Amal Unbound" by Aisha Saeed.

Mr. Chris Baier

Mr. Baier was born in Connecticut, U.S.A., and teaches math and science for grades 9 and 10 at OYIS. His favorite food is mashed potatoes and his favorite color is green. 

To him, the most embarrassing thing is to “to watch and listen to people singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to someone else”. Personally, I would have agree with Mr. Baier, although having somebody sing “Happy Birthday” to you is even worse than watching it all happen.

Mr. Baier's biggest pet peeve is cats and/or cellphones. “The worst ever would be cats using cellphones”, Mr. Baier states, and I must give him props for his creativity. 

Mr. Baier would also like everyone to know that he can sleep with his eyes open. The next time you see Mr. Baier staring holes into space, be careful not to wake him. 

Mr. Ted Brugman

Mr. Ted was born in Boston, U.S.A., and is in charge of counselling at OYIS. He is a big fan of the color grey and maple syrup. 

On his bike ride to work, Mr. Ted enjoys singing or even making up songs in his head. 

When asked what he likes best about himself, he responded that he had “a strong affinity for anything associated with [American singer/songwriter] Bruce Springsteen , and other rock’n roll aesthetics”. If you ever need to bribe Mr. Ted, maybe give him something related to Bruce Springsteen, but definitely not a burger that comes with pickles; his biggest pet peeve is when his burgers come with pickles. “Please don't assume everyone likes pickles. You can't just take off the pickles like nothing happened. That pickle juice has forever soaked into the burger, bun, and/or fries, and it will never again be the same”, he says—so be wary of these factors when serving hamburgers to Mr. Ted.