Hanging with the Little Kids

Today we made our first school visit. We had to get up really early, because we were headed to an elementary school, and for some reason they wanted us there early to see the kids arriving to school. I wasn't sure what that is all about, but once we got there, it was a lot of fun. Those kids were cracking me up! Most of them said "Good Morning" as they walked by. You could tell that some of them were really intimidated by us, and would duck their head when they walked by us (you would too, I bet...16 teachers all pointing cameras at you). I felt bad for those kids. However, there were some that absolutely loved it, and would hang around trying to get us to take their pictures. Of course, you know how that went over with me...I'm not amused by kids who are overbearing, so I just ignored them. Most of them played on the playground before school started. We would NEVER see a playground like this around home. It was a ticking timebomb of a lawsuit. But, right now I am not in a country where people sue each other left and right, so I guess it was okay. We headed inside the building and saw what some of the other kids were up to. Many of the girls were bustling around picking flowers and arranging them. This is the Japanes art of ikebana, and let me tell you, these arrangements were stunning. The ages of these children? First through sixth grade. Had I been the one arranging flowers it would have looked horrible.

We had our official meeting with the principla, who warmly welcomed us to her school and told us to feel at home and walk from room to room with no supervision. WHAT!?!?! I cannot imagine people freely walking into my room at home. But, hey, I wasn't going to let it stop me, so off we went!

The first period of the day is spent on module lessons. Sanyo Onoda is a leading city when it comes to these. It's a pretty bizarre thing to witness. A lot of it involves math drills, recitation, and quick reading. The recitation was LOUD. Now, understand, this is an open classroom environment. Every room has windows to the outside and also into the hall, which are kept open (by the way, it was our first cold day in Japan...really cold...and I left my coat back in Tokyo, which was just stupid), so when these classes begin reciting, the class next door, which may be working on a math drill, has to deal with the loudness. It made me crazy. I don't fully understand the module system, a lot gets lost in translation, but their test scores are going up so I guess it works for them!

Second period I watched a calligraphy lesson. This was really fun, but very messy. I even got a chance to try! I wrote three Japanese letters, and as I was writing, the kids would gather around and ooh and aah...okay, they would mostly laugh. I had a great time with this class, which is good, since I would wind up eating with them later.

Third period I did a number of things. First, I had been up for a while, so it was time to pee. Unfortunately, all of the toilets were Japanese style. Sigh. Squatty potties. And, this is the first time that I ran into the phenomenon of changing your slippers for the toilet. Today was our first slipper day, which is kind of fun. But when you go to the bathroom, you don't wear your regualr slippers. The bathroom is considered dirty, and I suppose because people may not hit the squatty, you don't want to wear your good slippers there so I had to switch my slippers. They keep a pair in the bathroom...you don't wear them anywhere else. It was weird to put on shoes that many others had put on, and they weren't big enough. It was definitely an experience. I then went for a break in the library, which had become our room for the day. I drank some green tea and talked with other teachers about the module system. I then went to watch a social studies class. When I got there, I kidd you not, a little boy got up from his seat, walked over to another kid, and proceeded to beat the tar out of him. It was amazing! The teacher got up, escorted the hitter bck to his seat, and kept on teaching. No trip to the office or anything. Once he got the class working on something, he talked to the two boys. Very different from what we do, don't you think?

The kids had a short break after this class, and I was in the hallway when it happened. Before I knew it, I was surrounded by a herd of children who all wanted my autograph. Not really sure what that was all about, but I kept on signing. By the end, I was making my signature fancy and adding things to it. Let me tell you, it does not take long for fame to go to one's head!!!

Fourth period...arts and crafts. The topic for the day was painting, but a lot of the kids were not interested. In fact, some of them never did any art work, and they were never reprimanded. It was loud and seemed unorganized, especially when you turned your head and saw an English class at the other end of the room (it was a long room). How did they get any work done with this racket? One kid even took the paint bottle and held it as if he was peeing when he was getting the paint out. Seriously. Kids are the same no matter where you go! This class literally made me crazy, and made me extremely glad that I teach high school. I've said it before, and I'll say it again...there is a special place in Heaven for elementary school teachers. I'm not sure if it is a land of wonder or a padded cell, but there is a special place.

Lunch time! We had to go back to the principal's office to pick up our lunch, and then I went to the class where I observed the calligraphy lesson. I wasn't allowed to take pictures here, so I took pictures from another class. The kids do all of the serving and cleaning up, which I thought was pretty cool. It took a while to organize everything, but you could tell that there was a pattern to it all. I handed out my meishi (business cards, remember?) to the kids. We then had a tea ceremony in the principal's office. It wasn't an official ceremony, but the tea was made traditionally with powdered green tea and the bamboo whisk. We had two litte sweets to eat with it. Not bad at all!

Fifth period I watched an English class. TO me, this was the class more in line with our style of teaching. The class was led by Marck, who is from Cheshire, England. Fantastic accent. He played games with the kids, and he and I (and Sandra) got into a discussion over whether or not the kids should say "to-may-to" ike we do or "to-mah-to" as they do in England. He's the teacher, so naturally they had to learn his. Those English, so stubborn.

Okay, after English, the sixth grade had a special presentation for us. We went to the gym and got to observe taiko drumming. This was really cool! We saw two perfomances, one by the boys and one by the girls. It was definitely very cool to watch and hear. You can see where there is a bit more discipline in the sixth grade as compared to the lower grades. They were very precise with their technique, and they were truly a joy to watch. The kids even brought us benches to sit on so that we didn't have to stand.

After school we drove up to one of the highest points in Sanyo Onoda to get a bird's eye view of the city. We drove by the beach on the way there, which appears to be gorgeous. Since it was cold, no one was out there, but I think I am going to try to convince my host family to take me there at some point. Not to swim, but just to go. I love beaches! Anyway, the high point was really cool. It was very foggy, so we couldn't see too far out, but you could see the outline of the mountains of Kyushu, one of Japan's four big islands, not too far off. Awesome! I may not have been able to visit Kyushu, but I have seen it!

At this point, I was worn out again. I came up to the room to blog, but instead took a short nap. LeeAnne and I decided to check out the rotating sushi bar, so we took off toward the mall, which is where the sushi bar is located. We ran into Mel, Nick, and Sam on the way. Mel and Nick had eaten at McDonald's but Sam was up for some sushi, so he joined us. We had so much fun! The place was busy and there were all kinds of sushi on the bar. We wanted to get some sea urchin for Sam since he had never had it, but we couldn't figure out the word. LeeAnne went up to a poster and pointed to a roll that had sea urchin in it. It was taking forever! We figured that the roll would be ready in no time, but time kept dragging on and on and on...before we knnew it, a waitress came by and presented us with this huge platter of sushi. What?!?! Turns out, a LOT was lost in translation, and instead of bringing us one sea urchin roll, we got a platter (which interestingly enough did not have sea urchin in it). The manager was extremely apologetic, and although we offered to pay for it, he knew there was a misunderstanding. Instead of taking it back, he gave it to us as a gift. Dang it...these Japanese are way too polite, and we felt awful about the whole thing. We promised to come back to eat again (oh, to have been able to read the thoughts in their head at this point...), and the manager told us we had to eat the sushi tonight, not tomorrow. Oh, man! We were stuffed, and didn't know what to do. On the way back to the hotel we decided to give it to the hotel desk clerk. He was amused but very happy to receive a whole sushi platter for free. What a day!

Note: It turns out that the platter cost around 1000 yen, or roughly $10. We figured it to be around 2000 yen, easily. So, that helped put aside a little bit of guilt. Still feel badly about it though...