Genki desuka?

Thursday was too long and busy for my taste. Fortunately, it was also very fun. Sports Day was easy to enjoy from behind my camera and under the shady tent near the free iced tea. It was probably another story for the students. I had been comparing the Japanese Sports Day to the American Field Day in class by explaining that it wasn't such a big deal. We had no brass band, no marching, no spectators. The teacher asked who preferred the American way over the Japanese. About half of the students raised their hands. Needless to say, Sports Day was enjoyed by some of the students and scorned by others. Generally, it pleased most since it was a day without class, and that is good in any system.

Sports Day led to a meeting at the elementary school which led to my weekly cooking class. All of the activity kept me awake longer than I should have been, meaning that I was not well rested for my first day of teaching at the elementary school.

Friday, I rose early so I could swing by the JHS to pick up a few materials I'd forgotten. Saying a brief hello, I grabbed what I needed, and hurried to the elem. I had been scared of teaching at the elementary school. Little kids aren't real people, and what do I do with miniatures? I was worried they would go berserk, that none of the teachers or students would understand what I was trying to say. That I'd be a failure. The funny thing is that the kids did go berserk, and I seriously doubt they could understand what I was saying, but I was no failure. They loved every minute of it, and so did I. Little kids, despite not being reasoning people, are lots of fun and excitable, cute, and easy to engage. I got to play music, dance, and make kidlets snap, whistle, jump, yell, wiggle, and move. They might have even learned something.

My energy was running high after my four classes with the 10 year olds. Sadly, that energy was sapped by the 3 mindless hours I was forced to spend in the staff room to even out the working day. One of the teachers had died the previous Monday, and many staff members had gone to her funeral. I managed to pass out the taffy I'd brought as omiyage to the other teachers. They liked it a lot. I felt bad because I miscounted and I think I stiffed two people. The gifts to the Principal and VP weren't very successful. They liked them, to be sure, but one of the gifts was a Fourth of July candle that I got at the dollar store. The Principal remarked that it was made in Vietnam. The VP asked me why I'd given a candle with the French flag on it.

With nothing else to do, I returned to my desk (my corner in between the printer and two dusty, ancient-looking computers) and counted down the minutes to 3:30 when I could leave. To keep myself from falling asleep, I found a world map with country flags on it, and picked my favorites. The winners? Turkmenistan



and Kazakhstan.



In case you were wondering, my boredom was so great that I have a complete list of favorites that numbers around 40 or so. Don't worry, I'm not going to pass that boredom on to you. However, if you want to see some cool photos concerning life in Japan, I uploaded some photo albums which you can access from the sidebar. Tell me if something doesn't work.

Respect for the Aged Day

Today is Respect for the Aged Day and with it concludes my three day weekend. Although today was spent sleeping and watching FNL, the rest of my weekend was full with activities. After a good time at dinner on Friday with a group of ALTs, I woke early Saturday to attend my elementary school's Sports Day. I haven't taught a class there yet (my first will be this Friday), but the date had been mentioned to me earlier so I thought I'd see what all the excitement was about.

There were so many people at the school. I even saw many of my junior high school students. Sports Day is like a prolonged half-time show at a football game. There was a little sport, then maybe three dances, then another short race, followed by more dancing and pom-poms.

It was a lot of fun. I think I will enjoy the middle school one more since I will know the people participating, and might be able to help out instead of just watching.

Some pictures:








Sunday was the trip to Karuizawa in Nagano. I almost missed it. Although I had set my alarm, I never heard it go off. Luckily I woke up without it, but I woke up with less than 10 minutes before the train I wanted to be on left. Needless to say, I missed that train, even though I was able to make it from bed to out the door in less than two minutes. After the stress of getting to the train station (all along wishing my bike was in working order), I managed to arrive at the meeting place just minutes before the bus pulled up. It was a delightful bus ride through winding roads, mountains, and forests. Bottles of tea, boxes of rice cakes, sweet potatoes, ginger, and sweet buns were passed around. Our first stop was a local grocery store where we were able to stock up on local produce and omiyage (gifts for the co-workers). Next was the meal. It was scrumptious. No pictures of the meal since we ate it so quickly. But here is a post-picture. You can spot the deserts.



After lunch, we went to a museum. It's an old house, and apparently very famous, but I couldn't figure why that was. It was a lovely house though.



After that, we went to a famous street with lots of shops on it. It seemed very European. I even spotted a Turkish store. For souvenirs, I bought a belt (which I had been regretting not bringing) and a small framed picture of the town, Karuizawa. Around 6, we boarded the bus to head back to Ota, and encountered the worst traffic. We didn't move for an hour. Finally the traffic broke, and we were able to continue back to Ota.

Blah-Cakes with Anger Icing

I had cooking class tonight. It was a lot of fun, per usual. I am glad I signed up. However, it took much longer than I thought it would, ending almost and hour later than scheduled. Already exhausted and missing home-time, I was looking forward to taking the train, riding my bike, and arriving home minutes later to crash and refresh. I went to grab my bike from the train station's parking lot and discovered that someone had removed the key to the back wheel lock. Without the key, the lock keeps the wheel immobile. I couldn't ride my bike. I had to carry my heavy bike all the way home. It sucked. I can't figure out why someone would take the key. Either someone was thwarted while trying to steal my bike, or someone meanly meant to frustrate me and piss me off.

Yesterday was a school wide practice for the upcoming Sports Day. It's the Japanese version of Field Day. Everyone must participate. I'm not sure what exactly happens, but there is certainly more pomp than my Field Days. The students were made to practice marching in straight lines around the track. They were led by students with signs and flags for each class. The brass band helped keep the rhythm. When the students with the signs or the flags passed the principal, who was standing on a raised platform, they had to slow down and turn the flag/sign so he could admire them. It was all very militaristic. The teachers were particularly hard on the students who were not marching with enough enthusiasm.

After the practice (which ended with a sprint around the track for the whole school), I returned to the staff room, where I refreshed my internet page and saw that the Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, had resigned.



Japan doesn't have a leader right now. No replacement is in office yet. His resignation was expected in general, but no one thought it would be yesterday. Congress had just reconvened three days earlier. The other teachers were shocked, and quickly turned on the news.

Sports Day practice suddenly seemed even more hollow than it did when we were outside with teachers manically swinging their arms and stomping their feet to the beat of a patriotic march. The practice, a display of national pride, no longer bolstered that aim, but seemed ill-timed and ignorant.