また久しぶりに書いている、ね？！ mata hissashiburi kaiteiru, ne?!
This list has been formulating in my mind for months...but I've yet to record it:
Evidence That Japanese Teachers Don't Get Sued Like American Teachers Do- 300 1st through 6th graders go out to recess unsupervised.
- A couple 9th graders, unsupervised, climb 8-foot ladders to hang a mosaic in the gym.
- A Japanese teacher jokingly puts a student into a headlock.
- A Japanese teacher pats a student on the butt.
- 100 9th grade boys are left in the gym unsupervised by any teachers (except me...but I'm not really a teacher and no one was counting on me to be there). (No fights broke out! Wow!)
- During recess at elementary school, students are free to go wherever they want...the playground, the library, the hallways, the bathroom, their classroom, any other classroom, the broadcast room...and NO ONE knows where they are. They are not individually accounted for. ?!?
There are more, but I can't recall them now...
あいかわらず, I have about a million things to write about, but not that much time or energy. So, here are just a few memorable moments that occurred recently...
1. Today a new Social Studies teacher came to my school. He is very handsome. :) But very young.
2. Arai Sensei teared up and took off his glasses when he read the Good-Bye/This-Is-How-Much-I-Like-You/These-Are-Some-of-my-Favorite-Memories-with-You card I gave to him on Tuesday, which was his last day at our school. I was watching him from 3 desks away. Then I teared up too.
3. Suzuki Sensei, who I haven't had that many chances to talk to, surprisingly brought me omiyage (a present) back from his trip to Kyoto last weekend.
4. My supervisor at the kyoiku-inkai (Board of Education) ended the meeting of all Takasaki City jr. high and elementary ALTs (Assistant Language Teachers) yesterday by saying-- in his cute past-middle-age Japanese man way-- "And never do the drugs, ne." ("ne" is like ending a sentence with "okay?" or "right?") HAHA! He laughed and so did we. It was the best punchline of any meeting I can remember.
5. On Sunday, my friend Mischa and I went to a tea ceremony exhibition that my kyoto sensei (assistant principal) had invited us to. During two back-to-back tea ceremonies and while waiting in line for one of them-- about a total of an hour-- we had to sit in seiza. Please go to Wikipedia and search for seiza. You will find that it sounds like a kind of torture. (And in fact, I have heard that it was previously used sometimes as punishment in Japanese schools). At the conclusion of the 2nd tea ceremony, 18 people stood up and bowed and thanked the hosts and merrily went on their way; 2 people, namely Mischa and Mya, were on their hands and knees in utter disbelief that it had become physically impossible for them to stand up again. With red faces, and eyes wide with panic, we looked at each other and laughed while repeating, "I can't get up....Oh my gosh, what are we gonna do?" Meanwhile the next 20 guests waited outside the door elegantly in their kimonos and chuckled at us.
What number am I on? 6. Okay, probably the last for today. Recently I have been in several situations where I've had to eat seafood...A LOT of seafood. Raw and cooked. And I have eaten it. Not all, but A LOT. And I didn't throw up, so that was nice.
7. Aaah! There's so much to say! The plum blossoms are out. The cherry blossoms are just beginning, and there is much excitement as we anticipate their full bloom...which could be any day now. The honeysuckle trees I smell here and there as I ride my bike take my breath away. Their scent thrills me! Spring in Japan!
Okay, before I think of an 8, I'm going to post this!
Tonight was the end-of-the-year enkai (dinner party) for my jr. high school. The 1st year (American 7th grade) teachers did all the planning, and they included a student survey quiz show as part of the entertainment. We, the staff, had to try to guess what the students, who had been previously surveyed, said were the "Besto Five" (that's Japanese-English pronunciation for "Best Five") things that happened at our school this year. #1 - 30th Anniversary Celebration, #2 - Culture Festival, #3 - Field Day, #5 - Mya came to our school. :) Wow! I couldn't believe it when I heard the quiz show MC say my name! But then when he opened the #5 game board window to reveal the answer, there it was in Japanese-- my name! Cool!
#4 was - Robbers broke into the school in the middle of the night.
I WAS BEAT OUT OF THE #4 SPOT BY VANDALS!!?? HAHA! I'm not sure which part I liked more-- the surprise and heartwarming feeling of actually making the list, OR the hilarity of being edged out of the #4 spot because, although students think that me coming to their school is amongst the Best 5 things that happened to them this year, they like the fact that vandals broke in better. ;D
