While lately I’ve been feeling rather irritated at work and ready for that last day of work to arrive, today was one of those days when I REALLY felt like I was making a difference and renewed my love of the JHS! It doesn’t take much…a simple compliment on the skirt I wore to work, a good lunch conversation, a student ACTUALLY saying something more than a mumbled “I’mfinethankyou,andyou?” when I ask how he/she is, etc.
Ever since last Monday’s conversation with a few of my 1st grade girls about our infatuation with Taylor Swift, they’ve been congregating to me during their break time. The 1st graders were gone on a field trip on Tuesday and Wednesday. On Thursday during break time, I took my May English board down so that I could hang up my June English board the following day. A couple of the 1st grade girls helped me take it down, and then I explained who was in the pictures while they giggled, said how much I look like my sister, etc. On Friday, they helped me hang up my June English board. Since June 12th is our anniversary, I had a few pictures from our wedding on there, and the girls absolutely ate that up! They wanted to know how long Ian and I had been married, if the big cake was real, what it tasted like, if my ring was real diamonds, how much it cost, what bridesmaids were, who my bridesmaids were, etc, etc, etc. We talked almost the entire break time!
Today I went to the library to finish up a game I was working on for my kiddie eikaiwa class this week. I sat down at one of the library’s table, and some of the 1st grade girls actually CAME OVER AND SAT WITH ME. This is unheard of! It NEVER happens! Usually the students are waaaaaaaaaay too afraid to sit at the same table as me. I don’t know if they think I’m going to bite them or force them to speak in perfect English or what, but usually they avoid sitting at my table like the plague. (I might have a few kids come over to see what I’m working on or ask a question or two, but usually it’s nothing other than “hello!”) I showed the girls what I was working on and then offered them the glue stick to see if they wanted to help me. THEY DID! The three of them created an assembly line: one cut squares of construction paper, one glued the little clothing flashcards to the construction paper, and the final person smoothed the cards and arranged them into piles. I was so happy! A job that would have taken me another twenty minutes was finished within ten.
After that, we still had plenty of time before break time ended, so I flipped over two sets of the cards, mixed them up, and we played “Memory.” I’ve never been really good at that game because I can NEVER remember where the dang card I need is! But still….I was just tickled pink to have students interested in playing with me. I might try to take some cards to them tomorrow and really blow their minds by teaching them “Spoons”!!
And switching gears, I wanted to talk about some of the crazier things that I learned about Japan. For example, did you know that there is a word in the Japanese language to describe the time that parents send their kid out to run an errand for the first time? They might send him/her down the street to the neighbor’s house to fetch something or to the grocery store to buy some chicken for dinner. The errand doesn’t make a difference. The whole point is to send the kid out so that he/she will learn responsibility. Would anyone like to take a guess how old these kids are when this action is performed? What do you think….10….12….15? WRONG. Usually the kids are pre-school or kindergarten age. They send six-year-olds out into the huge world to run errands to learn responsibility….AND IT WORKS! I know that this would never work in the States because:
1) Parents are terrified of pedophiles. (You don’t hear about too many pedophilia cases in Japan…)
2) Responsibility isn’t learned by kids until an older age. (Responsibility is pretty much taught from birth in Japan.)
3) THE STATES IS A TERRIFYING COUNTRY FOR A SIX-YEAR-OLD TO WANDER AROUND ALONE IN. (I’m sure in more rural areas things like what I’m talking about actually do happen because it’s safer, but good gosh, between stranger-danger and the disregard for pedestrian traffic, I don’t even have kids but I wouldn’t let mine to go out ANYWHERE in the States alone.)
In general, I’m really surprised at the freedoms kids have here as far as safety goes. Since safety isn’t a concern, it’s like living in 1950s America. When kids actually have free time, I’ll see them riding their bikes through town unsupervised, hanging out at the supermarket, playing in a neighbor’s yard, etc. Over 90% of students (including even the younger elementary kids!) come to school either by bike or their feet. Every morning I hear them walking to school, and every night I see them walking home. I know that some of my kids walk for up to forty-five minutes ONE WAY to get to school. Only the most rural of rural kids get to bum a ride to school from their parents. It’s just another way that kids are taught to be responsible.
In other fun Japanese things news….Ian partied we a few local policemen recently and learned some fun facts about traffic laws in Japan. For example, a cyclist can legally only ride on the sidewalk when there is a sign like the following posted:
This sign tells pedestrian traffic that both cyclists AND walkers can use the same sidewalk. If there is no sign, cyclists MUST use the street, and technically COULD get ticketed if they don’t. Whoops….. Lord knows that I generally stick to the sidewalks just because I feel safer on them than the actual road.
Another fun fact is that scooters are only allowed to go either 30 or 40 kilometers per hour (I can’t remember which) as a max speed on any roadway, which is generally slower than vehicular traffic. Therefore, scooters are generally hugging the left side of the road (remember, we drive on the left), and you have to pull around them if you want to pass. It is also legal for scooters to lane split….something that absolutely and positively drives me insane. We don’t see it as much in the Hitoyoshi area because few roads are multi-lane, but anywhere in the city it’s a HUGE problem. For those who are confused as to what lane splitting is, when there is a red light, instead of scooters stopping behind the car in front of them so that it’s a car-scooter-car sandwich, scooters can pull up to the front of the line and get in between cars in different lanes. Once the light turns green, they then zoom on by. It’s annoying as crap because you CONSTANTLY have to watch for idiots on scooters.
Another fun driving rule is that while scooters can only go 30 or 40 kilometers per hour, the speed limit for BICYCLES is 50 or 60 (once again, I don’t remember which exactly). Therefore, a bicycle could TECHNICALLY pass a scooter, and it’s a legal move. That cyclist would have to be booking it, but it’s legal. I find it strange that a CYCLIST can legally go faster than a SCOOTER. Crazy, huh?
Anyway, that’s all for today! Even though it’s rainy season, today has been a beautiful sunny day, and I’m looking forward to a bike ride after school!! :)
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