Good-bye Letters from Class 3-1

Yesterday was my last day at school with students. ;( I'm really sad...but, surprisingly, I wasn't that emotional yesterday. It was a HUGE relief, because I fully expected to be sobbing on stage in front of 550 students and staff while trying to give my speech twice-- once in English and once in Japanese. Giving speeches is stressful. Giving speeches in Japanese is more stressful. Talking while sobbing is embarrassing. Giving a speech in Japanese while sobbing is my nightmare. I am so glad that I was okay. And I was able to just talk from the stage without crying much and without being super nervous. I got a lot of help with my Japanese translation from my good friend, Matsumura Sensei. :) Right before the assembly where I gave the speech, I had my last class. LAST CLASS!??! It was with a san-nen-sei (9th grade) class. Here are some excerpts from their letters...

I enjoyed your class. Because you teach me a lot of things with your smile. I never say "Good bye". Because I will met you again!! -Kazuya

But I love the class of the Mya. -Chinatsu

You are kind and tender. You are cute and good smell. -Chihiro

That is made annoyingly at class and not breathed in always. However, Mya taught always gently...It is lovery Mya and it exists indefinitely. -Riri

I am poor at studying English paticulaly. But thanks to Mya. I am good at English a little. -Yusuke

When the earthquake occurs, Mya didn't return. Everybody was very relieved. We love you very much. -Momoka

I owe like English to you. -Aika

I think that want to you give something to thank. But I can't. So the letter write hard. -Miki

How was your staying in Japan? good or bad? I lived all this while in Japan. It's a very good place. -Seina

Thank you for the earthquake's happening and teaching English though it was serious. -Katsuhisa

えいごのじゅぎょうでこころにのこっているのは、　here と hear　をまちがえたことです。 -Takahiro

Student Good-byes

On Friday I had my last class with 3-3 (3rd grade (U.S. 9th grade)
class 3)...sad!! Masayuki, who is the English gakkari (student in charge of checking in with the English teacher regularly and relaying important info to the rest of the class), presented me with a book of letters from all the kids in the class. Here are some of my favorite lines...

I enjoy going to school every day...Thank you for teaching us native English. --Toshiki

By the way, My hobby is watching TV. -- Keisuke

I don't have dreams so I will find dreams. --Haruka

I'm not good at English. But I like English. --Ayaka N.

Answering my question all the time. I always enjoyed Mya's class. --Yuri

I like fish very much. But you doesn't like fish, doesn't you? Fish is very delicious. So I want you to like fish someday. ...And you always dress well. --Mao

I don't forget you. --Sota

Thank you for teaching. I didn't like English. But I like it now. :-) -- Ayaka I.

We speak and study and have a good time. --Daiki

If I'll be a English teacher, I hope like you!! --Tetsuya

By the way I'm so so. --Rikiya

You have worked hard in this school trying to make us develope English. --Ken

I want be very good father. --Ryuya

I love love love love Mya. Thank you for answering my questions. --Mikiya

I love sweets. Because I can be happy. --Honami

I have a stecker from Mya so I'm happy. --Takumi

my dream is wont to speak English it --Kyouhei

I want to speak English. --Kenta

I'm tired and sad and soso and fine and angly and hungry and sleepy and by the way I love you. --Ryonosuke

Aaah...I'm SO sad to leave these kids. I can't believe I have to say good bye to 20 more homerooms full of kids in the next week and a half and give 7 good-bye speeches, plus try to catch up with the kids in the 4 classes I don't have anymore classes with. やだ。　本当にさびしい。

I'll tell YOU what I think is strange.

I don't get it. Today when I was eating lunch with a class of 9th graders, Kenta turned around from his desk, gave me strange look...with his nose sorta upturned like he was appalled at what he saw, and said scoffingly, "Mya. Water??" Oh, THAT'S what that look is for? My water bottle?! A little chuckle escapes from my mouth, and then I matter-of-factly reply, "Yes", as though it's the most normal thing in the world to drink water with lunch. BECAUSE IT IS! IT IS normal to drink water with lunch! But Kenta doesn't think so. To my calm, "Yes", he retorts, "Why?!" and again makes that face of disgust. OhMyGosh! Are you kidding me? This is a conversation?! I mean, it's really something that elicits questions and emotion? It's a bottle that I filled with tap water to drink because I like water and water is healthy and it's a hot, muggy day so I don't feel like drinking milk for lunch...eewww. I don't really know what to say to his emotionally-charged "Why?!" that sounds like how you'd say "Why?!" if your skinniest friend told you she was going on a diet, so I just say, "I like water." And Kenta says, "Oh", in his slightly rising-intonation Kenta-thinks-you're-dumb-but-he's-too-nice-to-say-it OR Kenta-doesn't-understand-the-English-words-you-just-used voice. Kenta understands the English words, "I like water." Kenta doesn't get why I'm drinking water. He probably attributes it to my gaijin-ness (foreign-ness) and is trying to be open-minded to such a bizarre custom as I have just introduced him to. The fact that Kenta initiated this conversation means that probably all 36 other kids and the homeroom teacher of class 3-3 were thinking the same thing. I talk and laugh with Kenta and his friends all the time...so he's comfortable enough with me to say what he's actually thinking about this situation (and yes, this is a "situation")...whereas the shy boys who aren't confident of their English ability and the sweet girls won't be honest with me about what they think is strange about me. But Kenta's response tells me that they think this is strange.

Well, I'll tell YOU (and by "YOU", I mean Japanese teachers and students) what I think is strange. I think it's strange that you clean out your nose with a Q-tip while sitting at your desk in the staff room. I think it's strange that you eat donuts with chopsticks. (I know, I know! You think it's strange that I pick mine up with my fingers. Thank you teachers for not gawking too much when I do this during lunch. Next time donuts are on the lunch menu, I'll make sure to eat with Kenta's class so I can find out what you're really thinking.) I'll tell you what I think is strange. I think it's strange that you have conversations with each other-- teachers to students-- while you are brushing your teeth in the staffroom and have toothpaste coming out the sides of your mouth. I think it's strange that in preparation for field day, you have a school-wide event to pick up pebbles and trash from the playground.....two weeks before field day.....in the prefecture that is famous in Japan for its strong wind. This is really 3 strange things in 1. Let me clarify this strange event that we had: #1. More than 300 students and teachers go outside and scour the ground for any pieces of rock that are larger than a baby ladybug, and then collect said baby ladybug-sized pebbles in buckets to be removed from the playground. This will keep people safe. ?? #2. It's two weeks before field day. I think that more unsafe obstructions will find their way onto the playground before field day occurs. #3. Gunma is the windiest place in Japan. More pebbles and litter will undoubtedly find their way to the playground in the following two weeks. Okay next. I think it's strange that you take off your shoes and socks and sit barefoot while you grade papers at your desk in the staffroom. I think it's strange that you are in 9th grade and you are embarrassed for anyone to know who your boyfriend or girlfriend is. I think it's strange that the day before field day you have a school-wide rehearsal for the warm-up exercises that you will do on field day. You aren't actually warming up for any physical activity; you're just practicing for the warm-up exercises that you will do tomorrow when you do actually do physical activity. And you aren't practicing for actual field day events that you will compete in; you're just practicing warming up. Really, it is helpful to practice stretching and jumping jacks? I think it's strange that at every assembly one person uses a microphone to announce that someone will come to the microphone now to say something...why doesn't that person just go up to the microphone and say what he needs to say? Why do you need to tell everyone that he is going to tell us something now? I think it's strange that sometimes when the person who is going to tell us something finishes telling us and then leaves the stage, and then you (okay, we!) all bow, and then someone will announce that the same person is going to say something and then that person goes back up to the stage and we all bow and she says something that is on a different topic than the previous time she was on stage ("previous time"=90 seconds ago; that's how long it takes her to exit the stage and for you to announce she is going to say something and for her to reascend those steps and make it back to the microphone). I'm just telling you what I think is strange, but I realize you probably won't take it very seriously since it's coming from the strange teacher who drinks water at lunch.

Recipe for Life in Japan

One day at school 3 months ago I was struck with several pervasive elements of Japanese life that are relatively non-existent in American life. I felt boxed in on every side. I pulled out my school journal and wrote

blood types
rules
speeches
rules
rules

no scarves. no watches (at school).? no water bottles at elementary lunch. no buying (!! buying?!) tortillas [at a Mexican restaurant] alone without having them cooked with something else. I'm surprised they don't say, "No curly hair."