I was off to work today to participate in the school sports day. It was my first sports day at my new school, and my first junior high school sports day. I was eager to find out how it would be different from my old school.
Mainly, it was pretty much the same. There were races and relays, and a few kind of weird games to play as well. I was surprised that there were actually dances, performed by different groups of students. The baton club did a dance, and each school year’s boys and girls did some exercise routines. In my high school sports days, it was just events – no dancing around.
I really didn’t have anything to do, so I walked around and talked to various students, parents, and teachers. Everyone was really nice, and as usual it was a good way to talk to students who are normally too shy.
One thing I thought was interesting was that they did some of the exercises with the handicapped students. They even built a makeshift frame that went around the wheelchair-bound student, and another student stood on top of the frame at one point while the other students paired up and stood on another student’s shoulders.
Even Habatan, the official mascot for the upcoming prefecture-wide sports festival, made an appearance. It was the cheesiest Habatan costume I’d ever seen. Maybe homemade. Some of the P.E. teachers were goofing around in the costume, and they got a lot of laughs from the students.
We had a surprising amount of guests at the event. The school was surrounded by cars, and people filled up the seats to watch the events. Students from a local kindergarten came by to watch for a while, too. They were really cute – even my students were fawning over them.
I even got a chance to run in one of the events. There was a teacher relay, and I ran only about 100 meters, and passed the baton on to Kawai sensei. It was fun and easy, and the students were impressed. They said I was the fastest teacher, but they must be mistaken – maybe it is just an illusion because I am tall – I’m sure I’m not fast. No teachers were injured, and we came in last place behind all the other students, so it was considered a success.
The day ended with a victory for one of the first year student classes – a big embarrassment for the second and third year students. There were lots of speeches before and after, and then we all pitched in to help clean up the grounds. I helped put away chairs, we got everything done by 5:30 or so.
At six o’clock the teachers boarded a bus for a post-event party in the nearby town of Ashiya. It was at a Japanese traditional-style restaurant. The food was pretty good, and they had a new fall seasonal menu that I really liked. My favorite was your own bowl of nabe, with just a bit of parmesan cheese over the top. The old-fashioned teachers were thumbing their nose at adding cheese, but I liked the flavor. But, I love cheese no matter what it is in or on.
I drank happily with my new co-workers, and talked with some people that I don’t normally get a chance to talk to. It was fun, and they asked lots of questions about me and life in Japan. I get the slightest sense or disappointment from the teachers that I’m not a totally green foreigner. Part of it is that they want to see me experience things for the first time, and part of it might be that they enjoy the dependence I would have on them. In my workday I rarely ask people questions because I’ve already been through most of this at my first school, and all that experience has paid off. Maybe at this school they are used to people coming that don’t have a clue.
We wrapped things up with closing comments, and a closing ceremony. When you have a closing ceremony for a drinking party, you must be in Japan. If there was an opening ceremony, then you’re gonna need a closing ceremony, no matter what condition the participants are in. They finished the evening with everyone standing up and singing the school song. They really belted it out, too, and I looked on with some bewilderment because I don’t know the words. I think most of my teachers didn’t really want to sing the school song, but since the principal and vice-principal were there, they had to go along with it. Just my sense of the situation, though – I could be wrong!
I got home around 10:30 in the evening, and Kuniko was still up trying to write a letter of recommendation for one of her students in English. I helped her jazz it up a little bit, and then we hit the hay. Spending all day out in the sun really wore me out.
Pictures from the day here.
