I’ve gotten some questions about Japanese schools, so I’m going to try to describe what Japanese school is like from my limited understanding. Some things that I’ve experienced may not be the way it works in all of Japan. But I have a feeling that a lot of it is pretty similar across the board.
In Japan, school is divided into elementary (grades 1-6), junior high (grades 7-9), and senior high (grades 10-12) schools. But they just start the counting over in each school. So I teach at a junior high, but refer to all my students as 1st, 2nd, or 3rd graders.
School starts at 8:15, when all the kids need to be in their classrooms. At this time the teachers all have a meeting in the teachers’ room. (The Japanese like the open plan for offices, so everyone has a desk in one giant room). Then the teachers that have homerooms go and take attendance and do whatever it is they do in homeroom.
Typically, all students stay in the same class together and the teacher move from classroom to classroom. There are 6 class periods of the day and each subject is taught a certain number of times a week. The government requires that JHS students get 3 class periods of English per week. Classes last either 50 minutes or 45 minutes. The school uses two different schedules, though I’m never quite sure why they sometimes go by the shortened schedule. Class size tends to be big. I think 30-40 students in a class in junior high is pretty normal. (But it varies based on the size of the community. One of my friends visits a school on an island that has about 70 kids in grades 1-9 total). The students also eat lunch in their classroom. Everyone eats the same school lunch, including the teachers. In each class, a group of students serves the lunch. I’m not sure if the servers rotate periodically, but I do know that they wear white smocks and headscarves when they do it. At some point in the day (at the end in my junior high and after lunch in my elementary schools) is cleaning time. There isn’t janitorial staff in Japanese schools, so the kids sweep, empty garbage, wipe the windows and whatnot.
In junior high, after school ends the students have their club activities. Unlike in the US, the kids are in one club. Most kids are in some sort of athletic club, but there are also kids in band and in computer club at my school. I can’t think of any other non-sports related clubs at my school but depending on interest, there could be more at other schools. So the kids practice their sport every day for about 2 hours after school, year-round. (No wonder the school lunches are so big and filling). Usually only the ichi-nen-sei (1st) and ni-nen-sei (2nd year) participate in club activities. The san-nen-sei (3rd year) quit their club activities and start going to another study school after school to prepare for high school entrance exams.
The elementary school kids go to school in their own clothes, but they all have adorable little matching hats. Everyone else has a school uniform that they practically live in. In Japan you can see kids at any time, any day, including weekends, in their school uniforms. They all have their formal uniforms and their gym uniform. They wear their gym shorts and shirt underneath their formal uniform so when its time for P.E., they can just change in the classroom. And once they get to school they have to change their shoes and put on indoor shoes (as do the teachers). They have little cubbies in the entrance where they keep their shoes. All the kids wear the same shoes inside the school.
Hm…that’s all I can think of for now. I don’t really know much about high school since I don’t teach there. But feel free to ask any questions and I’ll try to answer them.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Natto
"Do you like natto?" giggle giggle.
For those who are not well-versed in Japan's less palatable cuisine, natto is fermented soybeans. Loved by (some) Japanese and universally loathed by all gaijin (foreigners). Foreigner disgust of natto is so well known that it's a constant joke. Therefore the question above is quite common. (The Japanese giggle at everything though). Despite its far-reaching reputation, I vowed to give natto a try before I said I didn't like it.
Today appeared to be my chance. One of the English teachers told there was natto for school lunch (more of a warning) and told me I didn't have to eat it (which of course I know because I routinely leave behind part of my 900+ calorie lunch). After all that hype, I chickened out. I'm disappointed in myself in that I could not work up the courage to try natto. I've been so good about trying new foods the past few years. But after everyone telling me that it's bad (including about half the students) and after seeing how sticky it looked, I decided not to. Maybe if I'm confronted with it again I'll be braver...
For those who are not well-versed in Japan's less palatable cuisine, natto is fermented soybeans. Loved by (some) Japanese and universally loathed by all gaijin (foreigners). Foreigner disgust of natto is so well known that it's a constant joke. Therefore the question above is quite common. (The Japanese giggle at everything though). Despite its far-reaching reputation, I vowed to give natto a try before I said I didn't like it.
Today appeared to be my chance. One of the English teachers told there was natto for school lunch (more of a warning) and told me I didn't have to eat it (which of course I know because I routinely leave behind part of my 900+ calorie lunch). After all that hype, I chickened out. I'm disappointed in myself in that I could not work up the courage to try natto. I've been so good about trying new foods the past few years. But after everyone telling me that it's bad (including about half the students) and after seeing how sticky it looked, I decided not to. Maybe if I'm confronted with it again I'll be braver...
Monday, September 24, 2007
Adventure Sports and Outdoor Dance Parties
This weekend I went on a trip with about a dozen other Miyagi JETs to Gunma Prefecture to go canyoning and to attend a Full Moon Party. We drove down to Gunma, which took about 5 hours.
I was not familiar with canyoning before I went on this trip. (Note: The activity was canyoning. I did not go canoeing). Canyoning was described to me as 'a waterslide, but the slide is rocks.' Even though this description did not sound particularly fun, (or pleasant for that matter) I decided to go anyway. The description turned out to be fairly accurate, but canyoning was amazing.
We went to the canyoning place on Saturday morning and were greeted by a bunch of crazy kiwis (and some crazy Aussies, and one crazy Hawaiian) who ran the place and facilitated the trips. After signing waivers in which we all put down each others' cell phone numbers as emergency contacts, we were faced with our first challenge--putting on all the gear. We were given 2 wetsuits each and sent to changing rooms to attempt to pull them on. After much struggling and groaning, one by one we all succeeded. At this point we put on the special shoes we were given and made our way outside don the rest of our gear: a harness, a life jacket, a helmet, and gloves. Once properly suited up, we all waddled over to a bus and had a short ride to the river.
We all climbed down the gorge and into the river. After a brief safety lecture on the importance of bent knees and straight arms, we were off. We slid down some currents and some waterfalls feet first and others head first (Superman style). One rather large waterfall involved the use of ropes and carabiners for safety. At the bottom of that one was a rather deep pool. Here some of us participated in another challenge. It involved climbing out of the river gorge, climbing over the railing of a bridge and sitting on a platform swing. The swing was then pulled out over the center of the pool. Then the participant had to hold on to a bar above them and pull their weight off the swing. The swing was pulled away and the participant was left to hang over the river and let go to free fall into the water! We also jumped off cliffs/waterfalls, swung on a vine into the river, and had a splash fight with our helmets.
When it was over we went back to their facility and struggled to remove our wetsuits. Afterwards, some of us went to a beautiful swimming hole in the river nearby and hung out for a while. Some people played on a rope swing there and dove off of large rocks. But I was done with the adventure part of the day and was moving into the chilling out part. The water was cold but the air was hot so it was great.
Some parts of our group went to an onsen, while others went back to the place we were staying to take a nap. A few of us decided to stay at the canyoning place, which had a little bar and was just a good place to chill out. In the evening we had a yakiniku (BBQ) party for dinner and went back to the place we were staying to chill out before the full moon party.
This little town has a big outdoor dance party every full moon. It was a 5 minute walk from where we were staying. There were 3 stages with DJs. The music wasn't the type that I'm normally into, but I had a bottle of wine and I like being outside, so it was quite good. Lots of
people dancing, some playing with glowsticks, and others spinning fire (including one of the guys in our group). At some point around 3 am or so, all of the people in our group spontaneously go together. Some of us started a massage chain, which 2 Japanese girls joined for a minute. They didn't quite get the concept because they were dancing in the massaget line. And then they left and started taking pictures of us. They probably think that its a crazy gaijin (foreigner) dance or something.
Sunday we made the long drive back and luckily it was a three-day weekend, so I spent today resting my aching muscles and joints. Canyoning was so fun and very scary. It's something that I will either never do again or will be much more adventurous next time I go.
I was not familiar with canyoning before I went on this trip. (Note: The activity was canyoning. I did not go canoeing). Canyoning was described to me as 'a waterslide, but the slide is rocks.' Even though this description did not sound particularly fun, (or pleasant for that matter) I decided to go anyway. The description turned out to be fairly accurate, but canyoning was amazing.
We went to the canyoning place on Saturday morning and were greeted by a bunch of crazy kiwis (and some crazy Aussies, and one crazy Hawaiian) who ran the place and facilitated the trips. After signing waivers in which we all put down each others' cell phone numbers as emergency contacts, we were faced with our first challenge--putting on all the gear. We were given 2 wetsuits each and sent to changing rooms to attempt to pull them on. After much struggling and groaning, one by one we all succeeded. At this point we put on the special shoes we were given and made our way outside don the rest of our gear: a harness, a life jacket, a helmet, and gloves. Once properly suited up, we all waddled over to a bus and had a short ride to the river.
We all climbed down the gorge and into the river. After a brief safety lecture on the importance of bent knees and straight arms, we were off. We slid down some currents and some waterfalls feet first and others head first (Superman style). One rather large waterfall involved the use of ropes and carabiners for safety. At the bottom of that one was a rather deep pool. Here some of us participated in another challenge. It involved climbing out of the river gorge, climbing over the railing of a bridge and sitting on a platform swing. The swing was then pulled out over the center of the pool. Then the participant had to hold on to a bar above them and pull their weight off the swing. The swing was pulled away and the participant was left to hang over the river and let go to free fall into the water! We also jumped off cliffs/waterfalls, swung on a vine into the river, and had a splash fight with our helmets.
When it was over we went back to their facility and struggled to remove our wetsuits. Afterwards, some of us went to a beautiful swimming hole in the river nearby and hung out for a while. Some people played on a rope swing there and dove off of large rocks. But I was done with the adventure part of the day and was moving into the chilling out part. The water was cold but the air was hot so it was great.
Some parts of our group went to an onsen, while others went back to the place we were staying to take a nap. A few of us decided to stay at the canyoning place, which had a little bar and was just a good place to chill out. In the evening we had a yakiniku (BBQ) party for dinner and went back to the place we were staying to chill out before the full moon party.
This little town has a big outdoor dance party every full moon. It was a 5 minute walk from where we were staying. There were 3 stages with DJs. The music wasn't the type that I'm normally into, but I had a bottle of wine and I like being outside, so it was quite good. Lots of
people dancing, some playing with glowsticks, and others spinning fire (including one of the guys in our group). At some point around 3 am or so, all of the people in our group spontaneously go together. Some of us started a massage chain, which 2 Japanese girls joined for a minute. They didn't quite get the concept because they were dancing in the massaget line. And then they left and started taking pictures of us. They probably think that its a crazy gaijin (foreigner) dance or something.Sunday we made the long drive back and luckily it was a three-day weekend, so I spent today resting my aching muscles and joints. Canyoning was so fun and very scary. It's something that I will either never do again or will be much more adventurous next time I go.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Barnyard Bilingualism
Today in one of my classes, one of the phrases that the students were repeating after me involved the word 'bad'. One of the boys said it quite loudly several times, making him sound rather like a sheep: baaaad baaaaad. I laughed and said this, but the joke was somewhat lost because in Japan sheep say 'me' (short e sound). This started the class on a brief tangent of what sounds various animals say in Japanese and English. Apparently Japanese cows say 'ma'. And the kids got quite a kick out of my impression of a chicken.
Pretty much the only exciting thing that happened in an otherwise really boring school-day.
Pretty much the only exciting thing that happened in an otherwise really boring school-day.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
A Shoutout...
...to those who made my life awesome today. My parents and Kathy. You guys rock!
(And for a brief explanation of why they're awesome and how YOU can be awesome as well).
I peeked in my mailbox and there was something there from Kathy and a slip saying I had a package (which was from my parents). Now I can't stop smiling and tomorrow morning I have a big decision of which good coffee to drink (3 choices between the two packages!) Going from no decent coffee to 3 packages of good coffee is just excitement overload.
It's amazing wonderful getting mail is (*wink wink nudge nudge*). Thanks guys. Also thanks to everyone who has sent me postcards. Those routinely make my day and make me feel loved.
(And for a brief explanation of why they're awesome and how YOU can be awesome as well).
I peeked in my mailbox and there was something there from Kathy and a slip saying I had a package (which was from my parents). Now I can't stop smiling and tomorrow morning I have a big decision of which good coffee to drink (3 choices between the two packages!) Going from no decent coffee to 3 packages of good coffee is just excitement overload.
It's amazing wonderful getting mail is (*wink wink nudge nudge*). Thanks guys. Also thanks to everyone who has sent me postcards. Those routinely make my day and make me feel loved.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Tokyo Whirlwind
I had an extra day off on Friday to compensate for having to work the previous weekend. So I decided to hop on a train to Tokyo.
My first experience on the Shinkansen ("bullet train") was fantastic. Taking Shinkansen is like flying if flying didn't suck. The trains are crazy-fast, quiet, with lots of leg-room. And I just showed up at the station, bought the ticket from a machine, and hopped on.
Although the train ride took less than two hours, it took me half an hour to navigate my way out of the train station. Most of the train/metro stations in Tokyo were massive labyrinthine structures, full of huge crowds.
I wandered around practically the entire city while I was there. When I first arrived, I wandered around the Ueno district, going to the large park there and to a shrine in the park. After eventually making it to a hostel, I dropped off my stuff and hopped the metro to Shibuya.
Shibuya was full of neon lights, crazy fashions and young people. I found some cool music stores there. Afterwards, I went over to Ginza, which has less neon but fancier stores. Not really my scene, but just like visitors to Paris must stroll down Champs-Elysee, visitors to Tokyo
need to go to Ginza. However, I did find a Belgian themed bar that had my all-time favorite beer on tap (which I have not seen outside of Belgium). That beer alone, made the trip worthwhile. I also had a nice chat with the guy sitting next to me at the bar--a Japanese who studied French and cooking. Back at the hostel, I chilled with an actual French guy.
On Saturday I got an early start, bought an all-day metro pass, and saw just about everythin
g Tokyo has to offer (or at least it felt that way). I saw the Imperial palace, 
which has a moat around it. Walked through the Imperial Gardens, hopped the metro to Harajuku where there weekends. There were only a few are supposed to be a bridge with people in crazy costumes onkids in costumes when I went there, and they weren't that good. In Harajuku I saw the Meiji Shrine, which is one of the biggest (or maybe the biggest?) shrines in Japan. The gate to the shrine is
the biggest of its kind anywhere. To pray at the shrine, you first wash your hands outside. When you walk in, you toss a coin into a box, bow, clap three times, pray silently, bow and walk out. Afterwards, I went across town to 
Asakusa where there is another famous shrine. There were also street vendors and other interesting scenery. Asakusa is an older, more traditional part of Tokyo (no neon lights).
Later in the day I met up with Ruriko! It was very good to see someone from IWU. We met up in Shibuya, had some coffee, walked around, ate dinner, and walked over to Harajuku and hung out in the park there. Eventually we parted ways and I decided to go to Roppongi to go salsa dancing. (Hey, if I'm in an international city, I have to do international things that I can't do at home in Miyagi).
On the way there, I decided I like Roppongi because the name is made up of three kanji that I know (literally six-book-tree). This is the hot nightlife part of Tokyo. As it was still early, I wandered around looking for different salsa clubs or possibly an interesting bar to get a drink in. Somebody handed me a drink ticket for a bar and I decided to check it out. I ended up chatting with the guy working the door, who was Israeli, but then I decided not to go to that bar after all. Since I was planning on catching the last train back to my hostel, I went dancing pretty early. Despite it being on
ly 9 o'clock or so, the club was full of people dancing. There were a lot of good dancers there and I had a great time. Eventually I ended up hanging out with a few Chicanos and got to use my Spanish for the first time in quite a while. (Probably haven't spoken Spanish as long as I haven't gone dancing). At one point the DJ played Mana and we rocked out and later there was a mariachi performance. But I had to leave shortly before midnight so that my train didn't turn into a pumpkin. On the metro, I made friends with a random Japanese girl.
On Sunday, I went to Ueno park again. In the park is the Tokyo National Museum. This was a fantastic art museum of a lot of Japanese artwork of all styles. I enjoyed it very much. And I got a discounted ticket with my IWU ID (yay for there not being dates on that thing). After a bit more walking around, I eventually went to the train station and got on the shinkansen to go home.
Now I'm quite satisfied, but my legs are tired and I have to go to elementary school tomorrow.
My first experience on the Shinkansen ("bullet train") was fantastic. Taking Shinkansen is like flying if flying didn't suck. The trains are crazy-fast, quiet, with lots of leg-room. And I just showed up at the station, bought the ticket from a machine, and hopped on.
Although the train ride took less than two hours, it took me half an hour to navigate my way out of the train station. Most of the train/metro stations in Tokyo were massive labyrinthine structures, full of huge crowds.
I wandered around practically the entire city while I was there. When I first arrived, I wandered around the Ueno district, going to the large park there and to a shrine in the park. After eventually making it to a hostel, I dropped off my stuff and hopped the metro to Shibuya.
Shibuya was full of neon lights, crazy fashions and young people. I found some cool music stores there. Afterwards, I went over to Ginza, which has less neon but fancier stores. Not really my scene, but just like visitors to Paris must stroll down Champs-Elysee, visitors to Tokyo
need to go to Ginza. However, I did find a Belgian themed bar that had my all-time favorite beer on tap (which I have not seen outside of Belgium). That beer alone, made the trip worthwhile. I also had a nice chat with the guy sitting next to me at the bar--a Japanese who studied French and cooking. Back at the hostel, I chilled with an actual French guy.On Saturday I got an early start, bought an all-day metro pass, and saw just about everythin
g Tokyo has to offer (or at least it felt that way). I saw the Imperial palace, 
which has a moat around it. Walked through the Imperial Gardens, hopped the metro to Harajuku where there weekends. There were only a few are supposed to be a bridge with people in crazy costumes onkids in costumes when I went there, and they weren't that good. In Harajuku I saw the Meiji Shrine, which is one of the biggest (or maybe the biggest?) shrines in Japan. The gate to the shrine is
the biggest of its kind anywhere. To pray at the shrine, you first wash your hands outside. When you walk in, you toss a coin into a box, bow, clap three times, pray silently, bow and walk out. Afterwards, I went across town to 
Asakusa where there is another famous shrine. There were also street vendors and other interesting scenery. Asakusa is an older, more traditional part of Tokyo (no neon lights).Later in the day I met up with Ruriko! It was very good to see someone from IWU. We met up in Shibuya, had some coffee, walked around, ate dinner, and walked over to Harajuku and hung out in the park there. Eventually we parted ways and I decided to go to Roppongi to go salsa dancing. (Hey, if I'm in an international city, I have to do international things that I can't do at home in Miyagi).
On the way there, I decided I like Roppongi because the name is made up of three kanji that I know (literally six-book-tree). This is the hot nightlife part of Tokyo. As it was still early, I wandered around looking for different salsa clubs or possibly an interesting bar to get a drink in. Somebody handed me a drink ticket for a bar and I decided to check it out. I ended up chatting with the guy working the door, who was Israeli, but then I decided not to go to that bar after all. Since I was planning on catching the last train back to my hostel, I went dancing pretty early. Despite it being on
ly 9 o'clock or so, the club was full of people dancing. There were a lot of good dancers there and I had a great time. Eventually I ended up hanging out with a few Chicanos and got to use my Spanish for the first time in quite a while. (Probably haven't spoken Spanish as long as I haven't gone dancing). At one point the DJ played Mana and we rocked out and later there was a mariachi performance. But I had to leave shortly before midnight so that my train didn't turn into a pumpkin. On the metro, I made friends with a random Japanese girl.On Sunday, I went to Ueno park again. In the park is the Tokyo National Museum. This was a fantastic art museum of a lot of Japanese artwork of all styles. I enjoyed it very much. And I got a discounted ticket with my IWU ID (yay for there not being dates on that thing). After a bit more walking around, I eventually went to the train station and got on the shinkansen to go home.
Now I'm quite satisfied, but my legs are tired and I have to go to elementary school tomorrow.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Playing at Recess
Today I went on my first elementary school visit. It was a busy day. There are six classes in the school (one for each grade 1-6) and I played with (I mean...taught) each class. These kids were insanely cute. I nearly died from cuteness overload. And they were so excited by everything I said and everything we did.
I showed up in the morning and quite a few kids on the playground immediately wanted to talk to me and be my friend. As the foreigner who visits occasionally I'm almost a celebrity to these kids.
They set me up in a nice big carpeted room that was labeled play room in katakana (I'm starting to be able to decipher some kana!). I mention carpeting because shoes don't go on carpet, so I got to spend practically the whole day barefoot! Yea, I'm easy to please and being barefoot is one of the little things that make me happy.
I had very similar lessons for each grade. I introduced myself and had them practice introducing themselves in English and shaking hands. Then I taught them either fruits or foods. I played a fun game involving running to the board and slapping a flashcard with some of them. The first class that played the game broke one of the props in their enthusiasm. It was one of those plastic fans and I have roughly 400 more, so no big deal. I sang a lot of head-shoulders-knees-and-toes. The kids got excited over everything! A picture of the Chicago skyline, American money, a picture of my family, everything I said or did. A lot of these things I showed to my JHS students and they barely cared. So it was refreshing.
During morning recess I literally ran around with the kids. Some second-graders would take me by the hand and start running. I jump roped with the kids, played on the swings (even jumped off them), went down the slide, flipped over on the monkey bars... During lunch recess I played dodgeball with some kids. I miss recess.
I was so active today. I ate a bigger portion of the 900+ calorie school lunch than I ever have. I heard a lot about how tiring elementary school is, but this is clearly coming from people who have never been camp counselors. Seven hours of high energy children was fantastic. No boring downtime like I have at the JHS.
I can't wait for my next elementary school visit!
I showed up in the morning and quite a few kids on the playground immediately wanted to talk to me and be my friend. As the foreigner who visits occasionally I'm almost a celebrity to these kids.
They set me up in a nice big carpeted room that was labeled play room in katakana (I'm starting to be able to decipher some kana!). I mention carpeting because shoes don't go on carpet, so I got to spend practically the whole day barefoot! Yea, I'm easy to please and being barefoot is one of the little things that make me happy.
I had very similar lessons for each grade. I introduced myself and had them practice introducing themselves in English and shaking hands. Then I taught them either fruits or foods. I played a fun game involving running to the board and slapping a flashcard with some of them. The first class that played the game broke one of the props in their enthusiasm. It was one of those plastic fans and I have roughly 400 more, so no big deal. I sang a lot of head-shoulders-knees-and-toes. The kids got excited over everything! A picture of the Chicago skyline, American money, a picture of my family, everything I said or did. A lot of these things I showed to my JHS students and they barely cared. So it was refreshing.
During morning recess I literally ran around with the kids. Some second-graders would take me by the hand and start running. I jump roped with the kids, played on the swings (even jumped off them), went down the slide, flipped over on the monkey bars... During lunch recess I played dodgeball with some kids. I miss recess.
I was so active today. I ate a bigger portion of the 900+ calorie school lunch than I ever have. I heard a lot about how tiring elementary school is, but this is clearly coming from people who have never been camp counselors. Seven hours of high energy children was fantastic. No boring downtime like I have at the JHS.
I can't wait for my next elementary school visit!
Monday, September 10, 2007
Speech Competition
Today was the county-wide English Speech and Recitation contest. LIke the title says, there are 2 categories of speeches: those that a student memorized out of the textbook and those they've written themselves. The textbook prints the worst stories ever.
I've been working with 4 students on their speeches. All their hard work paid off today because one of the speech students got first prize in that category and one of the recitation students got second place in that category. These two will be participating in the Sendai-area speech contest on Wednesday.
I'm so proud!
I've been working with 4 students on their speeches. All their hard work paid off today because one of the speech students got first prize in that category and one of the recitation students got second place in that category. These two will be participating in the Sendai-area speech contest on Wednesday.
I'm so proud!
Oops
I realized that snapfish is stupid about letting other people see my pictures. Apparently I have to invite others via email. So that last link in my previous post won't get you to my pictures. Sorry. Email me (ritayamin@gmail.com) if you want an invite. And I suppose I'll move my pictures to a less-stupid picture hosting site.
School Spirit
This weekend was Taiwa JHS' sports festival (undokai). This event is a huge deal. Classes were canceled to have time to practice. Kids practiced after school. A lot of preparation goes into the junior high's sports festival.
The school was divided into 5 teams: orange, red, blue, green, and yellow. Each team consisted of one class from each grade. The kids all wore headbands of their team's color. Each class also made a flag, so the whole event was very colorful.
The festival took place on the field (sand lot) in front of the school. Many parents brought picnic lunches and sat on the side watching.
The event began with all the students marching across the field. I can't decide if the marching is cool or kind of scary. Then there were quite a few opening speeches, a lot of bowing, some shouting from the team leaders, and stretches. Everyone stretched...the students, the principle, the PTA members...
The morning was filled with lots of fun events. There were some almost-western style relays, except an entire class ran as one relay team as opposed to 4 people. The ichi-nen-sei (1st year students) jump roped. Only they did it in cooperative Japanese style, where the entire class or 30 or more jumped together with one rope. While this seems impossible to the independently focused Westerner, they were surprisingly good at it. During one practice, I saw class 1-4 jump 23 times in a row. The ni-nen-sei (2nd year students) had a crazy relay involving alternating groups of three boys with legs tied together (like a 3-legged race) and pairs of girls who had to run with a balloon between them. The san-nen-sei (3rd year students) had a relay race where groups of 8 had their legs all tied together in a row. This event was tons of fun since it involved the most falling. The girls then had a basket toss competition. I helped make those bean bags that they're throwing. Afterwards, the boys had a huge, fierce tug of war.
After lunch, there was a cheering competition. Some san-nen-sei from every team made up chants and singing/cheering. They practiced really hard. School was so loud while they were all practicing. I recorded very low quality video of all the cheers, so feel free to watch. Green Yellow Blue Orange Red While figuring out who won that competition, we had roughly 700 more relay races. They just wouldn't stop with the relay races.
The event ended with the students marching once again, more speeches, bowing, and stretching.
I recieved a lot of questions as to whether we have sports festivals/jump rope/tug of war/whatever in America. I have to say, this was a very interesting Japanese custom.
The rest of my pictures from the sports festival are here.
The school was divided into 5 teams: orange, red, blue, green, and yellow. Each team consisted of one class from each grade. The kids all wore headbands of their team's color. Each class also made a flag, so the whole event was very colorful.
The festival took place on the field (sand lot) in front of the school. Many parents brought picnic lunches and sat on the side watching.
The event began with all the students marching across the field. I can't decide if the marching is cool or kind of scary. Then there were quite a few opening speeches, a lot of bowing, some shouting from the team leaders, and stretches. Everyone stretched...the students, the principle, the PTA members...
The morning was filled with lots of fun events. There were some almost-western style relays, except an entire class ran as one relay team as opposed to 4 people. The ichi-nen-sei (1st year students) jump roped. Only they did it in cooperative Japanese style, where the entire class or 30 or more jumped together with one rope. While this seems impossible to the independently focused Westerner, they were surprisingly good at it. During one practice, I saw class 1-4 jump 23 times in a row. The ni-nen-sei (2nd year students) had a crazy relay involving alternating groups of three boys with legs tied together (like a 3-legged race) and pairs of girls who had to run with a balloon between them. The san-nen-sei (3rd year students) had a relay race where groups of 8 had their legs all tied together in a row. This event was tons of fun since it involved the most falling. The girls then had a basket toss competition. I helped make those bean bags that they're throwing. Afterwards, the boys had a huge, fierce tug of war.
After lunch, there was a cheering competition. Some san-nen-sei from every team made up chants and singing/cheering. They practiced really hard. School was so loud while they were all practicing. I recorded very low quality video of all the cheers, so feel free to watch. Green Yellow Blue Orange Red While figuring out who won that competition, we had roughly 700 more relay races. They just wouldn't stop with the relay races.
The event ended with the students marching once again, more speeches, bowing, and stretching.
I recieved a lot of questions as to whether we have sports festivals/jump rope/tug of war/whatever in America. I have to say, this was a very interesting Japanese custom.
The rest of my pictures from the sports festival are here.
Friday, September 7, 2007
Typhoon
Today I experienced my first typhoon. This storm hit
Yesterday I told people that this would be my very first typhoon. Everyone was shocked! I guess if you live in a country that consists entirely of islands in the middle of the ocean, it’s difficult to imagine places that are unaffected by ocean weather. One of the English teachers even had a stereotypical Japanese television reaction: ‘eeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaah?’ But I explained that
This morning one of the English teachers called to inform me that the weather was too severe for the students to come to school. So they get to stay home, safe and dry. But the teachers still had to come in, so here I am, blogging in the teachers room. I looked out the window, and thought ‘you’ve got to be kidding me. I have to go out in this shit.’ But I’m a trooper, so I put on my raincoat and grabbed my umbrella. School is a 15 minute or so walk from my house. I was immediately soaked, because no matter which way I held my umbrella, the wind changed directions and I got soaked. My umbrella kept alternately flipping inside out and bending far more than those metal stays are meant to bend. The last 5 minutes or so, I was holding the umbrella straight out, parallel to the ground instead of over my head, because that’s how the wind and rain were blowing. I got to school with my pants completely soaked through. I actually wrung them out in the sink. It’s a good thing I had a pair of sweats at school. My umbrella broke because of the wind. The fabric ripped off two of the stays.
Typhoons blow!
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