Today was BEAUTIFUL.
Really I could just end this there and it would be a pretty accurate characterization of the overall theme of the day, but I might as well expand on things a little.
Today was a sort of field / recreation day for all of the Oshima / Sakito schools. Yep, all of them. We were all supposed to be together, but for some reason it ended up just being the junior high, East Elementary, and the kindergarten being in one place, with the other schools off in other locations. Maybe it had something to do with the crazy heavy rain yesterday, but I don't really know.
The day's festivities started out at each individual school, so I can only comment on the junior high. Everyone assembled on the school's field for the opening business, and then it was a big hunt for 100 or so little cards that the student council had hidden around the grounds. After that the cards were collected and we all set off for Wakkodo no Mori (maybe I spelled that right?), which means something like Young People's Forest and consists of some sports fields and a small mountain / big hill looking out over the ocean. The park itself would have been enough but we were surrounded by hills covered in trees filled to the top with all sorts of green leaves. A couple times I just stopped and looked around to take everything in.
It was maybe a few kilometers to the park (after the beach but before the high school, for the five or six people that know what that means), and it didn't take us very long to get there. Once we arrived, everyone assembled once more before the chaos was unleashed. Myself, I went straight for the soccer field.
Basically, with the exception of the time specifically allotted for lunch, we were constantly playing soccer. We were there for four hours. It was phenomenal. We had representatives from all three years of junior high school as well as a couple elementary school kids. This does not include all of the random kids that would run across the field in the course of their own games. As far as teachers go and in addition to myself we had Nakayama-sensei, Nakamura-sensei, Hayashi-sensei, and Nagano-sensei, so it was a pretty ridiculous array of players. The field got a little crowded, but it was wonderful.
I only stepped out for a bit to go play with the kindergarteners, partly because I want to get a lot of face time with the new kids to make them comfortable, but also just because I love them and they are adorable. Mostly we played what amounts to a variant of Red Rover (with added Rock Paper Scissors), but a couple kids challenged me to sumo as well. Like I said, they are adorable.
Now of course though we are all tired and thinking that maybe Friday would have been a better day for the outing, especially because you can't have a big school event without having a celebratory party that evening. So, we're not quite done yet. Since it is only Thursday though, there probably won't be any second or third outings after the main event...
So the recap: tired and sunburned after a day chock full of running around and playing with some great kids. I told you it was beautiful, right?
ridiculous mexican soccer announcer future love,
-greg.
ps: but oh MAN i had no idea how badly i got sunburned until i got home. maybe it's the lower latitude?..
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Friday, April 11, 2008
let's do the time warp again! [2008.04.11]
I usually get up at five of seven or thereabouts, so when I woke up today and saw that it was a quarter after I jumped out of bed and started getting ready.
Well, okay, I rolled over and grumbled inwardly to myself for five minutes and then grudgingly worked my way to a standing position. It is mighty difficult to "jump" out of bed when one's bed is a mat on the floor.
Semantics aside, I rushed through a slightly compressed version of my morning routine, went out the door, and looked over at East Elementary. I was a little confused to see two lone people jogging around the field as opposed to the expected hoard of small children, but I brushed it aside, thinking that perhaps they had already gone inside.
Riding my bike out of my neighborhood I surprised someone else who was jogging, which seemed strange because I had never seen anyone jogging in the morning before. My suspicions were even further aroused when I passed Nakayama-sensei's apartment and his car was still sitting cozy in his space. This was completely unprecedented and provoked great confusion on my part.
When I turned out of my block and onto the street next to the little harbor (or "boat basin") my mind was in full revolt. Where were all of the shipyard workers?! There should be a steady stream of men in brown jumpsuits riding bycicles, but there was barely a trickle! I looked across the water to the junior high and saw only two cars in the parking lot. Eh?! My fears were confirmed when I turned the corner and glanced at the clock across from the little square: SIX fifty five, not seven!!
I turned into the school's parking lot and Kawaguchi-sensei opened the door laughing as I rode up to her car. She had come early to prepare for her day, but the Vice-Principal wasn't quite there yet to open the school. I was so stunned, I just kept saying "I don't understand.." and she kept laughing. A whole hour of sleep! Why?!
On second though, let's not do this particular time warp ever again.
future love, now with 4% more future!
-greg.
Well, okay, I rolled over and grumbled inwardly to myself for five minutes and then grudgingly worked my way to a standing position. It is mighty difficult to "jump" out of bed when one's bed is a mat on the floor.
Semantics aside, I rushed through a slightly compressed version of my morning routine, went out the door, and looked over at East Elementary. I was a little confused to see two lone people jogging around the field as opposed to the expected hoard of small children, but I brushed it aside, thinking that perhaps they had already gone inside.
Riding my bike out of my neighborhood I surprised someone else who was jogging, which seemed strange because I had never seen anyone jogging in the morning before. My suspicions were even further aroused when I passed Nakayama-sensei's apartment and his car was still sitting cozy in his space. This was completely unprecedented and provoked great confusion on my part.
When I turned out of my block and onto the street next to the little harbor (or "boat basin") my mind was in full revolt. Where were all of the shipyard workers?! There should be a steady stream of men in brown jumpsuits riding bycicles, but there was barely a trickle! I looked across the water to the junior high and saw only two cars in the parking lot. Eh?! My fears were confirmed when I turned the corner and glanced at the clock across from the little square: SIX fifty five, not seven!!
I turned into the school's parking lot and Kawaguchi-sensei opened the door laughing as I rode up to her car. She had come early to prepare for her day, but the Vice-Principal wasn't quite there yet to open the school. I was so stunned, I just kept saying "I don't understand.." and she kept laughing. A whole hour of sleep! Why?!
On second though, let's not do this particular time warp ever again.
future love, now with 4% more future!
-greg.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
special uninvited guest [2008.04.07]
... came in through the back door.
Except that's not right at all. Tomorrow is the entrance ceremony for all of the new students at the respective schools and, just like they did for graduation, East Elementary has sent me an invitation to attend. Katsuki-sensei, the new English teacher, said that being a special guest is certainly something to experience; he has never been invited as an honored guest. Maybe I am not really normal, but I think I would rather not be.
In this role I am included with all of the various important heads of everything: Board of Education, city representatives, principals, distinguished members of the community, police chiefs... pretty impressive eh? Generally everyone is taken into a special room and given some tea, some little cakes or something, and they can chat and whatnot until they are led to their special seating area right before the event begins. So what have I done to merit rubbing elbows with such an illustrious group? Absolutely nothing.
I am there because I am the foreign English teacher, the perpetual guest. While I do try to appreciate the consideration and honor of it, in many ways it is just another reminder that I do not really belong.
At the kindergarten graduation I was on the side of the room with all of the important people when I would have much rather been on the other side of the room with the teachers that I work with and have become friends with. When I sat with all of the specially invited guests at East Elementary's graduation I would have vastly preferred to be sitting with Nagao-sensei sharing in the happiness and pride of his daughter's graduation. Only at the junior high's graduation did I sit with the other teachers, and there is nowhere I would have rather been.
But that's pretty rare I guess, so tomorrow I will drink my tea and eat my cakes and enjoy it. To be fare, being a sometimes teacher at four schools means I am not a full-time teacher at any of them, and I am incredibly grateful for the ever-present kindness. This is not a complaint in any way, it is simply an alternate perspective. In the pre-Japan prep they say that being the "gaijin star" is simultaneously the best and worst thing about coming here. Damned if that ain't the truth.
mom always said i was special,
-greg.
Except that's not right at all. Tomorrow is the entrance ceremony for all of the new students at the respective schools and, just like they did for graduation, East Elementary has sent me an invitation to attend. Katsuki-sensei, the new English teacher, said that being a special guest is certainly something to experience; he has never been invited as an honored guest. Maybe I am not really normal, but I think I would rather not be.
In this role I am included with all of the various important heads of everything: Board of Education, city representatives, principals, distinguished members of the community, police chiefs... pretty impressive eh? Generally everyone is taken into a special room and given some tea, some little cakes or something, and they can chat and whatnot until they are led to their special seating area right before the event begins. So what have I done to merit rubbing elbows with such an illustrious group? Absolutely nothing.
I am there because I am the foreign English teacher, the perpetual guest. While I do try to appreciate the consideration and honor of it, in many ways it is just another reminder that I do not really belong.
At the kindergarten graduation I was on the side of the room with all of the important people when I would have much rather been on the other side of the room with the teachers that I work with and have become friends with. When I sat with all of the specially invited guests at East Elementary's graduation I would have vastly preferred to be sitting with Nagao-sensei sharing in the happiness and pride of his daughter's graduation. Only at the junior high's graduation did I sit with the other teachers, and there is nowhere I would have rather been.
But that's pretty rare I guess, so tomorrow I will drink my tea and eat my cakes and enjoy it. To be fare, being a sometimes teacher at four schools means I am not a full-time teacher at any of them, and I am incredibly grateful for the ever-present kindness. This is not a complaint in any way, it is simply an alternate perspective. In the pre-Japan prep they say that being the "gaijin star" is simultaneously the best and worst thing about coming here. Damned if that ain't the truth.
mom always said i was special,
-greg.
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