School Bonding Day

Last Friday at the JHS was school bonding day.  I dread this day each year because it’s basically a day for me to stand around and look even more awkward than normal.  This day happens once at the beginning of the year and is a way for the the old students to bond with the new students and for all students to bond with the teachers.  There are no classes that day, and the students and teachers play a lot of icebreaker games together.  (I hate playing icebreaker games in English.  I’m too socially awkward to find the enjoyment.  I ESPECIALLY hate playing icebreaker games in Japanese.)  Normally everyone walks together as one big happy family up to Green Palace, the park in Yunomae, to spend the day.  However, last year’s bonding day was rained out, and everyone had to cram into the gym for the day.  Since it was my first bonding day, I wasn’t exactly sure what was going on the whole day, so I felt really awkward.  This year’s bonding day was A LOT more fun.  It started off a little rough, but I soon found my groove and ended up having a great time. 

The day started off with an opening ceremony in the gym.  Then we all went out to the sports field and had another ceremony in which the student council described the day’s events.  (Like I previously said….Japan loves its ceremonies!!)  Then row by row, the students marched off the field and onto the road.  I hung back because I wasn’t exactly sure sure what was happening, but the vice principal was waving at everyone (including me) and saying, “take care!”  I has assumed that we were taking a bus to Green Palace…. but silly me!  This is Japan!  In the country of ganbatte, we weren’t about to take a bus!  We turned left onto the road instead of going right, and I was confused.  I thought that maybe I hadn’t understood where exactly we were going, so I asked one of the teachers near me.  She said “Gu-ri-no-pa-re-su.”  Green Palace.  I pointed behind us and said, “…but isn’t Green Palace that way?”  She nodded and then made a huge looping gesture with her fingers.  Awesome.  We were going way out of the way for a more scenic tour.  The forced march through Yunomae was nice (since it was a beautiful day to be outside!) but awkward.  What I’d give to be normal and not have social anxiety when talking to people!  I was quiet for most of the walk, hanging toward the back of the group and only talked a few times.

 

Once we got to the park, it was time for more awkward standing and waiting for someone to guide the dumb foreigner.  There was another speech by the student council, and then the new class of 1st graders had to come forward and sit down in the front.  Each club (kendo, tennis, judo, art, baseball, track, volleyball, and brass band) put on a quick skit to show off their skills and recruit new members.  That lasted for a while and was pretty enjoyable to watch.  The final event before lunch was “recreation.”  This is where the awkward games come in.  There was a janken (rock, paper, scissors) game in which music was played, and when it stopped, you had to rock, paper, scissor with the person closest to you.  If you won, the person began a human chain behind you.  If you lost, you had to begin a human chain behind the person.  The more times the music stopped, the fewer players there were, and the longer and more snake-like the human chain became.  I was praying that I was NEVER the last person standing (and thankfully I wasn’t!) because that person had to answer two Japanese icebreaker questions. 

 

After “recreation” time, there was lunch.  Everyone had brought a bento (pre-made boxed lunch) from home.  I settled in with some of my 1st grade girls who I like.  What I found rather funny is that the kids would sit on the dusty ground all day, but when it came to lunch they each pulled out small individual picnic blankets to sit on.  They all had looks of horror on their faces when the dumb foreigner plopped down on the ground without a blanket between my rear and the dust.  I had packed a tuna sandwich (some of the juice leaked into my backpack, so I smelled like tuna for the rest of the day) and an apple.  They were really surprised when I bit into the apple and watched in delighted amazement as I bit it again and again.  Foreigners are weird!  (In Japan apples are cut and sliced, and that’s pretty much the only way the are eaten.  For them, it was as weird as us watching someone eat a sandwich with a fork and knife.)  Sweets are rarely given for lunch, but when it’s bento day, it’s much more accepted.  I had packed chocolate candies, and in order to make friends with my lunch mates, I gave out a candy to each person.  Since it’s Japan and you can’t get a gift without receiving one, each of the girls shared their sweets with me.  I received a Kit-Kat, caramel, mouth-puckering umeboshi (sour plum), and a few other treats that I stored away in my bag. 

Once the bento boxes and picnic blankets were picked up, it was break time!  I walked around in search of a friend to play with and met up with some of my 2nd grade girls.  I actually had a good conversation with them, and then they asked me if I wanted to play badminton with them.  I LOVE badminton, so I said yes.  I knew that since the girls were tennis players, I was probably going to get creamed, but actually just the opposite happened.  Granted…the wind WAS blowing in my favor, but I SQUASHED those girls (……and tried not to do TOO MUCH of a victory dance.)  No…..I’m not competitive at all……..

After the extended break time, the students and teachers assembled once again.  The next thing that happened absolutely amazed me.  We have cleaning time everyday at school, but on a dusty ball field, what is there to clean?  Once the announcement was made that it was cleaning time, each student took a plastic sack out of their backpacks and circled around the field and adjacent park area looking for trash to pick up.  The Japanese are so clean that there really wasn’t any trash to pick up, and when I did find a piece of garbage, I’d get excited.  It was almost like hunting for Easter eggs!  (But honestly…could you imagine American kids picking up a public place after they used it…?) 

We took the shorter walk back to school, and cleaning time continued even then!  As we walked back, some of the boys picked up random bottles or garbage they found along the road and in ditches or rice fields.  On the walk I started talking with several of my 1st grade girls, and we had the BEST communication time!  I picked dandelions for them along the road and tucked them behind their ears while they squealed KAWAIIIIIII!!!  Then we started having the conversation of “What’s this word in English?” which morphed into animal sounds in English and Japanese.  We started off with easy animals.  The cat says “meow” in English instead of “neow.”  The dog says “woof, woof” instead of “wan, wan.”  The two animals that absolutely killed them, though, was the frog and cow.  The frog says “ribbit, ribbit” instead of “gero, gero.”  They couldn’t believe that!  The cow says “moo” instead of “mo”.  MINDS.  BLOWN. 

So….to summarize: the day started off awkward and ended on a great note.  The purpose of the day was to build relationships and bond with the students, and I feel like it was a complete success!  YAAAAY!!