Wednesday:
Wednesday was my elementary day. I learned a new word that day. I took oatmeal for lunch, and everyone was wondering what it was. They wrinkled up their noses at it. They will eat some of the grossest things here, (Natto is fermented soy beans. It’s gooey, stinks, and smells horrid.) so I wasn’t about to let them wrinkle their noses at oatmeal. I looked it up on my phone and was able to tell them that it was mugi which is oats in Japanese.
It’s always fun to read some of the Engrish shirts that the students wear. Some of them are downright hilarious. Either they don’t make sense, are absolutely weird English, or are inappropriate. One shirt that one of the elementary kids had on said “Grand Island, Nebraska.” I’m no rocket scientist, but this shirt made me turn my head. I’ve been out of the States for a few months now, but I’m pretty sure that there are no islands in Nebraska. Nebraska is pretty much as far inland as you can go. I actually googled it, and as it turns out, there is a Grand Island, Nebraska. Just in case you were wondering, it’s a town of 48,000 and is the county seat of Hall County.
That afternoon, I got to sit in the second graders’ Japanese class. On my schedule, it said that I was supposed to attend their PE class. I confirmed with the teacher before class, and she said that (oops!) that wasn’t right. Instead, they had a test during that class period. She said sorry. I wasn’t worried about it. That meant a free class period for me! I went down to the teacher’s room and was on my computer. A little while later, a couple of second graders came to get me. I was a bit confused why, but when I got to the classroom, the teacher said it was Japanese class, and I could sit in. I guess she felt bad about changing the schedule on me, so she wanted to include me in the class. I kind of felt like the dunce in the back of class because I couldn’t exactly understand what was going on. I know it was about the calendar, (The Japanese calendar is like the Chinese calendar. This year is the year of the rabbit. Next year is the dragon.) but I’m not exactly sure what about. I heard Christmas and New Year’s in her conversation, so I think it was about holidays. The girls in front of me were sweet and occasionally turned around to attempt to explain what was going on. It was definitely an experience!
In one of the last blogs, I told about Ian’s food creation. He made it on Monday and put it in the refrigerator. We didn’t eat it on Tuesday since we went to Hitoyoshi, so he cooked it on Wednesday. I’m not sure what to call it, so I’ll describe it. It started with a mush of rice, carrots, and pineapple. He wrapped that in beef and wrapped the beef in dumpling wrappers. I jokingly told him that since he put so much time and effort into it, it probably won’t be any good. Sadly, I was actually right. I felt so bad for him! It really wasn’t THAT bad, but he was so down on himself about how horrible it was. It wasn’t as bad as he made it out to be, but it definitely wasn’t good either. 
Thursday:
Thursday at school the schedule was different. That afternoon, there was a long distance race at the school. I was very uncertain of what was actually going on, and I should have asked someone about it. The lunch period was an hour earlier, and I didn’t realize that, so I ended up eating lunch by myself. 
After lunch, everyone went outside. There were four different races: A, B, C, and D. A was the shortest at just under two kilometers, and D was the longest at just over four. I felt really awkward because I wasn’t sure were to stand or what to do. I talked to a few of the students and wished them good luck. Everyone watched race A take off. It didn’t take long to complete since it was so short. It was really fun to cheer on the students as they crossed the finish line. I felt bad for the last girl. You could tell she was hurting. The principal had joined her somewhere along the course, and together they crossed the finish line. 
Since race D was much longer and went around town, teachers had to be stationed at certain points to make sure that the runners went the right way. One of my English teachers asked if I wanted to come with her to her station, and I said yes. It was actually right behind my house. She asked if I wanted to call Ian so he could cheer on the students as well. He walked over to us and waited with us. It was a great opportunity to talk with my English teacher. I often feel like she’s too busy to talk, so I don’t bother her at school unless it’s work related. We talked about anything….our dislike for running, Christmas, vegetables in Japan and how they differ from America, my plans to stay a second year, etc. We were there for at least an hour, and once the runners passed, we went back to school. Once again, the schedule was off, and I really didn’t know what to do. There was the closing ceremony and announcement of who won, but I after that, the teachers seemed to be in a big hurry. I found out it was because they had a meeting with the PTA.
Thursday night class was another lesson about Christmas. We made snowflakes this time, and it was amazing! Those kids are phenomenal with anything that has to do with folding paper. At first some of the kids didn’t fold the paper right, so their snowflakes became squares or fell apart, but once they got the hang of it, they did a great job. I thought that I had brought more than enough paper, but once they finished one, they asked for another and another and another sheet. We had so many snowflakes!
Friday:
I played spoons with some of my girls at school on Friday. They really enjoy it as do I. Every time I play it reminds me of mini-block in high school and how we would play, have tournaments, and take cards games waaaaaaay too seriously. My students are always amazed when I shuffled my cards. I do the bridge, and despite multiple attempts, they haven’t quite mastered it.
Friday night was the Kumamoto Winter Formal in the city, but Ian and I didn’t go. We would have liked to, but we didn’t feel like we could afford it. Tickets were about $50 each, and once we added in the cost of a room, gas, parking, etc, we felt like it would be better if we stayed at home. We have two big trips to save for, Osaka and Okinawa. Instead of going, we visited Mary in the hospital again. She had planned on going, but since that didn’t happen, we decided to take the formal to her. We got dressed up in our finest formal. Melissa and David also came with us. Melissa had made Mary a paper flower corsage, and it was simply adorable! We stayed and talked for a really long time. Visiting hours officially ended at 8PM, but we played the dumb foreigner card and stayed until 9PM. Ian and I hadn’t eaten supper yet, so we were starving when we left. We stopped at a conbini (convenience store) on the way home for food. I got this delicious steamed dumpling and a chocolate chip scone. I’m not sure why, but I’ve been craving scones. I don’t see them often in Japan, so I had to jump on the opportunity.
I’m going to end here for now, but I still have the weekend to go! Stay tuned!
No comments:
Post a Comment