So today we had a meeting with the superintendent of Sanyo-Onoda City Schools. He was a very nice man, but the meeting dragged on a bit. It was twice as long as it needed to be because of all of the translating that took place. I have a really hard time being quiet and sitting still for a long time, so it was difficult for me to be alert the entire time. He truly did have some interesting things to say about how students need to get more sleep, stop watching so much television, and that they need to eat breakfast. He showed us charts that show how test scores improved in the district for those students who made improvements in at least one of these areas. We then met with some parents. We were asked not to videotape this discussion so that the parents could speak freely about what was going on in the schools. All of them agreed that the schools needed to be stronger in the area of discipline, which is something I agree with (sorry, kids) because I sometimes feel that we allow our students to get away with far too much.
After lunch we went to a community center where we learned how to make raku pottery. This was so much fun! It was at a senior citizens community center, and the members of the pottery club have only one requirement for membership...you must be over 60. Luckily they made an exception for us today and taught us some new tricks. I'll let my pictures do the talking here...
**Blogger is being a pain right now and is not letting me upload...I'm going to go ahead and post it so I don't lose it, and will post pics later!**
After we got back from making pottery, I relaxed in the room for a bit. I'm not really sure what there is to do in Sanyo Onoda, so I didn't feel a pressing need to get out and explore. It was nice to be able to sit back and relax though. Around 7:30 I went out with Chris and LeeAnne to a noodle shop. I am 100% certain that the guy working there thought that we were crazy (I now call him Noodle Man). Noodle Man laughed at us quite a bit. He was a funny guy. Since many don't speak English here, and because our group knowledge of Japanese is extremely limited, you generally have to resort to charades to get what you want. I had udon, as well as Chris, but LeeAnne wanted soba. Udon is served hot, whereas soba is cold. To make sure that Noodle Man understood us, LeeAnne acted out hot and cold. Very funny to watch.
That's all!
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3 comments:
Hi Ms. Emily! How are you doing? Yes, I remembered your blog. It sounds like you're having a great time. Wish I could say the same! Fall break has been both boring and drama filled, but at least we aren't bogged down with homework and tests! Like David said, class was a little boring last week, but it was nothing we couldn't handle. Still, you are a better teacher than Mrs. Lind! Hope you keep having fun!
Oh, if you ever try fugu, good luck! See you in two weeks!
Kristin Kennedy, fourth period.
Hi Kristin! I am hoping to try fugu tonight. I am going to another rotating sushi bar, and I hope that they will have fugu on the menu. If you don't hear from me, you know what happened!
I hope your fall break gets better!
"Clowns to the left of me, Jokers to the right,
Here I am stuck in the Fugu with you..."
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