From Shogakko to Graduation

Allo! The last few days have been particularly busy. Thursday was shogakko's mass 'birthday party', Friday was my last lesson of the school year at the other shogakko, Friday NIGHT was a big ol' potluck party at our apartment, and today was the graduation ceremony for our middle school third graders. Let's go in order, shall we?

Oh wait a second. First I have to do some stuff I promised to do a long time ago.

The English classroom is on the third floor of the school, and it falls to me to decorate it, which is cool, because I enjoy doing stuff like that. When summer changed to autumn last year, here's what I put up for my first wall decoration attempt.


Yeah, Nightmare Before Christmas! That's Jack, Sally, and Zero if you've never seen the movie, which would be tragic.

Except you probably wouldn't like it, Mom.

Please ignore the "Micky (sp) has more Easter Eggs than Minnie" over there. That has nothing to do with fall or Halloween. I just forgot to take it down before taking the picture. Eh heh.

Anyway, the kids really liked this. There were a bunch of the pumpkins, but the first graders stole/dismembered/destroyed a bunch of them, so.

Oh hey look, the winter decorations! As you can see I put a bit more work into these. Two of the penguins and most of the snowmen have become tragic casualties of the ichinensei (first graders).

But eh, middle school kids, whatcha gonna do.

I had a lot of fun making the snowflakes, and a lot of the kids were like, "How did you DO those?" For being Japan, the home of origami and papercrafts, I was really surprised to find that paper snowflakes were not a standard art form like in American elementary schools. But hey, that's cool! I'll teach them, someday. Mwaha.


This is the door to the nurse's office.

Apparently we get outbreaks of headpidgeons fairly frequently, and here you can see many little anime children of various hair colorosity waiting in line to have their headpidgeons cured by our sweet school nurse.

Bonus points if you get the reference. :D

Anyway, so the party on Thursday. The fourth graders were celebrating their collective tenth birthdays! The previous time I had told them that, in America, the tenth birthday party was a big deal. And we have parties of various types, etc, etc. They liked the idea of a theme party, and so they decided on their theme....

Princes, Princesses, and Samurai. Epic precious.

This is exactly as awesome as it looks. I caught this kid mid-conversation and it looked like Junior Hamlet.

See all the crowns and capes and stuff? They made those themselves, along with little samurai swords and broadswords, and little magic wands for the princesses. It was AWESOME.



Also, I taught the kids how to play Pin the Tail on the Donkey, hence the above video. If you listen, you can hear the kids yelling directions to their friends - "Migi" means 'right' and "Hidari" means 'left.' At the end of the video when you hear them yelling "Hai! Hai!!" they're volunteering to go next.

Here's a good shot of most of the class sitting together. One of the little princes has a red cape. It was supercute. SUPER CUTE.

There was even a girl samurai. You'll see her later though.


Then we all ate apple cake! The teacher, (standing in the middle) Aiko-sensei, asked me for a Michigan type of recipe, maybe with cherries.

But cherries are really, really expensive in Japan, so I went with something cheaper that also is really popular in Michigan - apples!

It was darn good cake. The kids all made it together. I was proud of them.

And now our different costume sets! First we have the Princesses.

Yep. They made me a crown.

This is probably the dorkiest picture of me that ever made me look like a dork, but I LOVE IT SO THERE.

See their magic wands and necklaces? They made me a little star necklace covered in foil, too. I will treasure it for ever and ever, or until I lose track of it which I do all the time.


And here we have the handsome and valiant princes! The one kid is determined to keep his sword in front of the other kid's face. I don't have any pictures of them where he's not doing this. It's kinda funny.

They all had so much fun with this. It was adorable.

And there are the brave and steadfast samurai! (with a prince stowing away in the picture in the back.) I thought it was so cool that one of the girls wanted to be a samurai, too! I was proud of her.

These guys had fun too with their ACTION pose.

I love my elementary school kids.

So then, on Friday, I had the first graders at the other elementary school!! They were so precious! I got totally mobbed though. That's always fun. We played musical chairs (which was easy for them, since it's really close to fruits basket, a traditional Japanese game. Also, musical chairs is really flipping easy, and I'm pretty sure SOME kids play it in Japan) and since I have all sorts of Super Mario Brothers music loaded on my iPod, that filled them with epic glee. And, they really know how to tell me what colors they like now! "I LIKE BLUE!"

Then I ate lunch with them in the lunchroom. Usually the lunchroom usage swaps between grades and classes, since there's only one small lunchroom for a huge school. The other classes eat lunch in their classrooms. The unique thing about Japanese schools is the students themselves serve lunch....even the first graders.

They all wear aprons, head-kerchiefs, and face masks, serving lunch to their classmates.

Everyone waits patiently (or impatiently) until everyone is served, and then the day-leaders stand in front, and yell "Be quiet!" repeatedly until everyone else is quiet.

This usually takes a while.

Then, everyone says "Itadakimasu!" (I humbly receive - kind of a secular grace that is rigidly followed in Japan) and is free to eat. Eating before 'itadakimasu' is a heinous offense and will result in several squeaking, peeping students suddenly bursting into a cacophony all around the offending party. It's adorable.

There you can see their school lunch. Fish and vegetables (The fish was full of bones!! No way would they get away with that in America! Some kid would choke and people would get sued and we'd only be able to eat pureed Fish Product or whatever. Still, I thought it was amazing!) along with a tofu-vegetable soup, a bowl of rice, an orange, and a carton of milk. No, you can't choose between white and chocolate here like ...well, like the schools I went to when I was a kid. But it's been a while since elementary for me so probably that was more of a middle-high school thing.

Then that night was the potluck party. I made spinach-artichoke dip and Alex made homemade pasta. Both were awesome. The rest of the conversation group brought stuff too. Really, really good stuff....in fact, too much, and way too much variety. I ate way too much and the next day I was like "UGGHGHGHGHHGH." It was unfortunate. But soooooo worth it.

Mmmmmmmmmmm.

Then, today was graduation, and I bawled. But only because everyone else was bawling, even the male teachers. I'm going to miss the third graders. It was a big formal affair. The principal did a speech, the mayor of the town (wearing a kimono) did a speech, the new student council president (one of next year's third graders) did a speech, and the graduating student council president (a really sweet kid) did a speech. Lots of speeches. And songs. And tears and sniffling. But it was a good time.

Twice in a week? WHAT.

It's me again!

I had elementary school today. The whole morning, the whole day, I prayed. I was like, "please don't let this be a horrific disaster that ends in me feeling like I got hit by a truck."

It wasn't. Thank God.

One of the fifth grade classes has a new teacher. I'm not really sure of the details, but I think she started from winter break. About ten minutes into class I got that she had about the same feelings about the class as I did, so that made me relieved that it wasn't just me.

But again, they weren't so bad today. I ate lunch with the fifth grade class with the new teacher and sat with the kids while they played Pokemon shiritori. Shiritori is a game where you say a word and the next person has to come up with a word that starts with the last letter of the previous word. It's pretty easy unless you limit it to something. Like Pokemon.

I'm embarrassed to admit that I could contribute to the conversation...but. I knew just enough of the Pokemon names in Japanese (and enough of the ones in English that were the same both ways) that the kids were really kind of confused. It was cute.

I'm zonked, folks. I can't wait to wipe out this weekend.

Typical.

It's snowing in Iwataki!!

Not incredibly heavily, but there's big flakes blowing around and it's starting to stick. I'm really happy about this. I hate cold weather, but if it has to be cold, I'd rather it be cold and snowy than cold and just BROWN.

However, I also have Not-So-Angelic elementary school to go to today.

They insist I have lunch with the students (which is cool) but today the classes I'm teaching are both after lunch. Before, I thought this meant I could have lunch here and go to elementary afterwards.

Nope.

They're expecting me today at lunch, which is at 12:20. That's cool. The thing that gets me is that the students have like an hour of time between lunch and fifth period, which starts at around 2:20? So instead of leaving at 2, I'm leaving at 12, eating lunch with the kids, and sitting like a rock in the teachers' room for an hour. Awesome.

A little while ago, the administrator of the elementary school called. I perked up my ears, since, because of the snow, most people have been like, "You're riding your bike to Iwataki-sho today? That's kind of dangerous, isn't it?" and I'm like, "Well, it's quicker than walking.." so I thought it would be something along those lines. For a moment I was like, "Awh, they're worrying about me! That's so sweet."

Turns out it was just a reminder for me to bring money for all the school lunches they have me eat with the kids.

Typical. X3;

Kyoto And The Difference Between Schools

As Alex said, I've been SUPER busy last week. I've got a student who enjoys inviting himself over to play video games now, and this Sunday he proclaimed that he (and his younger brother, who I teach at elementary school) would be coming over every Sunday from now on. I was like, "Erm. I...might be busy...some weeks." Oi.

Last Tuesday and Thursday I went to Kyoto for an ALT (Assistant Language Teacher - basically we crazy foreigners teaching in Japan) conference with Ms. Matsuda, one of the English teachers here. We had a ton of fun - the conference was illuminating (though some of the speakers spoke TOO FAST for the Japanese teachers!! Holy cow, slow down!) and we got to hang out and shop in Kyoto after it was over.

Shijo-dori and Kawaramachi-dori, two of the huge shopping streets, are definitely places I want to take anyone who decides to visit us. The bus system of Kyoto is intensive as well, but you can get an all-day pass for 500 yen - a little more than five dollars. Kyoto is also one of the most historically significant cities in Japan, as it was the old capital before it was moved to Tokyo. So it has a ton of beautiful gardens and castles and pagodas. HINT HINT. COME VISIT US. I WILL SHOW YOU A GOOD TIME.

Also I found a shop that sells import goods, like.. (gasp) CHERRY COKE and tortillas!! I know tortillas are easy to make, but I haven't done it yet and when I saw them I freaked out. They also had feta there. I bought some for Alex. It was epic.

So on the train home I had Subway (another find -- I had a roasted chicken and avocado sub) and Cherry Coke for dinner. Mmmmmmm....I needed that.

Then, Thursday and Friday I had elementary school to go to. I go to the Angelic School every other Thursday and the Demonic School every Friday.

This particular Thursday and Friday I was given a very clear-cut example of the differences between the two schools. I was teaching both sets of students about Christmas. I'm not allowed to talk too much about Christian stuff, since they ARE public schools, but I focused on the family aspect of it instead of being like, "You get lots of cool stuff and it's awesome!"

Angelic School: A tiny first-grade girl approached me after the lesson and asked me in a sweet voice, "Natalie-sensei, do you know about Jesus? <3" I almost cried. It was the most precious thing in the world.

Somewhat Less Angelic School: The kids got into two seperate fistfights while making Christmas cards. Before lunch, a tiny first-grade girl approached me and asked me in a sweet voice, "Natalie-sensei, why are you so fat?"

Gotta love teaching.

Natalie-senseiiiiiii!

I was woken up this morning by the sound of elementary school students screaming my name in the street. It was kind of surreal. But, I did tell them where I lived, so I guess it's only natural. They've been getting a lot more genki lately, last week they kept poking me in the chest. o_O Weird.

This past week was kind of busy. Tuesday we had the English recitation. Neither of my students won, even though I think both of them should have at least placed - but my school brought home first place trophies in every category last year, so I think the judges might have wanted to spread it out a bit. Me and the other English teachers were cordial and mature about it in the contest, but as soon as we got back in the car all three of us got angry and were loudly proclaiming that it wasn't fair. :) The students weren't with us, obviously. Our third grade girl was heartbroken and sobbing, and our second grade girl was quietly disappointed. They both worked really, really hard.

But I had to wear a mask because it was the high school's turn to have Swine Flu, and that's where the recitation was held. XD So here's me in a mask. The Japanese really like wearing surgical masks for pretty much every reason conceivable, and Swine Flu is no exception. They also wear masks when they have colds, when other people have colds, when they travel, when they're around other people who traveled, if there's a sandstorm, if pretty much anything happens, if Godzilla is rampaging in the streets and kicking up dust, anything.


Additionally, one of the people we met at the Aberysthwyst (sp. whatevs) karaoke night....passed away. Her name was Kumiko Oda, and she was not much older than I am. She was a gamer, and we were really looking forward to getting together to play video games. It turns out she died of a heart attack in her sleep. Her mother didn't try to wake her up for a while, because she'd gone out the night previous and her mother thought she needed the sleep. It was really shocking.

Also, on that note, I just want to say something -- we had a friend back home pass away as well recently, Isaac Loughrige. He was a great kid and we would play together when we were young and living in Marshall. He was part of my brother's little cadre of neighborhood boys and is just unforgettable. He passed away of complications from Swine Flu a few weeks ago. So, if any of our friends from Crossroads read this, please pass on our condolences to the Loughrige family.

The teachers are all worrying because we're getting a new student at our school starting Monday. She's from the Philippines and doesn't speak any Japanese. She speaks some English and one of the Philippine indigenous languages, but no Japanese. They've hired an assistant for her who speaks Japanese (but notably not English or the Philippine language...brilliant) but mostly the other teachers are going to be relying on me and the other English teachers. This includes one of the English teachers who is really not confident in his own ability, and essentially begged me, if I don't have any other classes when she's in his class, to come and help him.

So I'm going to be a lot busier from here on out....

Jesus gave me buffalo wings while I was PMSing last week.

That was pretty much the best sentence I could ever have hoped to type in this blog.

Short Post

The second graders were all sent home for the second half of the day today. We've got a total of five kids who've come down with the swine flu. All the teachers are really paranoid now, because it's come out that it can cause aneurysm, especially in children under 15. Soooooo....yeeeeaaaah...

Alex's farfalle (below) was AWESOME. There was lots so I took the leftovers to school for lunch and ate them smugly while the other teachers drooled. I'm so lucky. <3

I went to elementary school by myself. There's a huge hill that I challenged myself to bike all the way up. It doesn't really LOOK that steep, but it's loooooooong. And winding. I made it about half way and DIED. I was walking the rest of the way up heaving. Something to work up to, I guess.

Elementary school kids really make me feel like I don't know any Japanese. Plus, I forgot my self-intro materials, and my dictionary, AND my school slippers, so I just felt like an all around loser.

But one of the kids ran up to me and we had a conversation that went like this -

Little boy: Natalie-sensei?
Me: Hm?
Little boy: DYNAMITE!!!!

"I'm NOT HAVING a GOOD DAY!" ;_;

I'm trying to get myself to post more. In addition to having readers, I know that keeping this blog is the best chance I have of remembering this time. I mean, I have a hard enough time remembering what happened this morning, let alone a year ago.

Ummmmm...so Friday. Friday was Mime Time. I was so freaked out. Japanese people dancing and bouncing around in harlequin outfits. ugghghhghhh.

It was fairly entertaining though. They CAME INTO THE AUDIENCE, however, which caused me and Ms. Matsuda to cling to each other in terror. The whole time they were looking for people to sink their fangs into and drag onto stage to submit to their horrible whims we were murmuring "Kuruna, kuruna, kuruna, kuruna..."which translates to "Don't come here, don't come here" etc. They took Tatesawa-sensei, the popular second grade teacher who lives in the apartment below mine. He's a really nice guy. I felt bad for him, but as soon as they chose him (He was sitting right next to Ms. Matsuda) we looked at each other and said "Sei-fu." (safe.)

They effectively humilated them in front of their peers before sending them back into the crowds, thoroughly humbled by their brief stint in the world of mimery; the memory of the colorful harlequin hats that were forced upon them likely to be repressed in the bowels of subconscious memory for decades and influence how they treat their children.

But I got invited on the class trip to Kyoto!

This weekend I was like "I'm going to make the BEST LUNCH EVAR to bring to Kyoto." so I got to work. I tried to make my mom's rice balls with cheese, but I had no idea what I was doing, so what I ended up making was closer to...cheese...onigiri...which was still pretty good, but not my intention.

The meatballs I made alongside them, however, were FAN-FLIPPING-TASTIC. I'm so proud of myself. I used...

- 'bout a half cup/cup of panko (breadcrumbs)
- around a pound or so of hamburger
- around three tablespoons of worcester sauce (however the heck it's spelled.)
- a healthy couple tablespoons of leftover skordalia (Though you could probably just sub in about like five cloves of garlic, heeheehee. <3)
- TABASCO SAUCE. What probably amounted to two tablespoons of tabasco sauce. I'm drooling just thinking about it.

That's right keeds. Worcester, garlic, and tabasco.

Rolled 'em up and pan-fried them in a little bit of vegetable oil and they were awesome.

So I packed them all in a lunch for today.

Woke up really early this morning ready to go, put on my cute clothes, got everything ready and --

nobody was here. I fidgeted around. The school janitor showed up and was like, "Have you been waiting here for a while?"

Turns out the school trip is actually on Wednesday, not Tuesday. I wrote Wednesday on my schedule and everything. I'm just dumb.

I went home, and came back to school about forty five minutes later, changed and with like zero will to teach. I looked at my schedule for the day and it looked as though I only had three classes, so I was like, "Oh, well, at least all my classes are in the afternoon; I can wake up in the morning."

Then two of the teachers came up to me, about ten minutes apart, and were like, "First period is with me. :D" "Can you help me in second period?"

GRUMBLE.

When my brother used to get yelled at or in trouble when he was little, his big sparkly eyes would tear up and he'd say, with his little cute baby speech, "I'm NOT having a GOOD DAY." and go stomp off to pout. We used to laugh, but holy crap did he know what he was talking about.

Also on Friday I had elementary school with the three little kids I always see on the way home from middle school. It was fun. I got to eat school lunch with them. There was pumpkin soup.

As Promised

Okay, I finally uploaded/fixed up the pictures I took!! Yay! So if you want to take a look, here they are.

If you want to see the whole image, you have to right click and choose 'View Picture' since this is only showing half and I DON'T KNOW WHYYYYYYY



This was my lunch that I took a picture of that one day. The main-looking thingie is a croquette, which had potato, ground meat of some sort, and cabbage inside it.



This is the view from the music room. You can see Amanohashidate on the horizon, the line of pine trees. It's actually just a very thin strip of land, but we're directly facing the bay that it crosses, so...



Some of my students! They're so cute.



The kids are practicing dances that they made up for the Sports Festival. Each class practices together in the hallway. Now they practice outside so they can spread out.



Here's the school band. I love them. <3 They're playing the theme from Ponyo (In Japanese, not the stupid (so I hear) English version), the theme from Lupin III, some Star Wars, and a bunch of other stuff that I think might be too tough for them....but good on them for trying!

Also, yesterday was my first day teaching at Ishikawa elementary school. It was so freakin' adorable. One kid kept asking questions about American food. "How big are American hamburgers?" "Are American hamburgers better than Japanese hamburgers?" "How big is American pizza?" "What do you like on pizza?"

The teachers tearfully shook both of my hands in theirs and thanked me fervently after the classes. One of them said, in Japanese, "I think the students are going to get very close to you very quickly." And the other said, "You're a fun and interesting teacher. I'm very happy to work with you." I was a little taken aback but blushed a lot and thanked them. They seemed to stare at me in absolute awe when I was speaking Japanese with them...I guess the elementary school program doesn't really require its teachers to speak English well, since it's not technically an English class, but English practice... so they were all immensely relieved that I could speak Japanese.

On the way downstairs after class, I saw two little first graders, who couldn't have been older than seven, dressed all in white with little chef hats, working together to lug a huge pot of food up the stairs together. It was the cutest thing I've ever seen.

Then when I got back, I was watching the kids practice for their sports festival. One of them was sitting aside, and I asked her, "How are you?" to which she promptly gave me a pathetic look and said "NO."

I couldn't keep myself from giggling.

"How Are You" is translated to them as "Ogenki desu ka?" which is literally asking "Are you healthy?", to which the logical answer would have indeed been "No." I sat with her and talked a little bit - I couldn't figure out what was wrong with her, but she said something-byo (-byo means 'sickness' so I could really only figure out that she was sick) so I left it at that.