Day 10: The School Visit

This is part of the program I'd been dreading since before I took off. I was told a few days before boarding the plane that everyone would be visiting a Japanese elementary school and doing short activities with the kids of our choice. I got assigned to the second grade class. I couldn't imagine the second graders would speak much English—and my Japanese still isn't good enough to effectively communicate with people on the fly—so coming up with an appropriate activity was somewhat confounding.

O_O

The visit was spectacular. We received a welcome fit for royalty. The entire school gathered in the gym to greet us, bearing flower archways for us to pass through as hundreds of children bathed us in song. We made our way onto the front stage, where we witnessed an amazing taiko drumming performance, followed by another song. Two young representatives of the school then greeted us in English and Japanese to which two of our students responded in Japanese and English. Children from each grade level then took our hands and led us to our respective classrooms.

Japanese elementary schools are amazing—and huge. This one was five floors, and each floor stretched far and wide. None of the classrooms were completely divided either, there were classroom-sized alcoves branching off from the main hallways, but there were no doors to them. Each only had three walls as well. One side of the classroom was completely open to the hallway, so they really weren't very separated at all.

Cranking up the adorable factor to 11.

The students were studying Japanese, kanji, calligraphy, math, and what I guess translates as socioeconomics. I joined my class just as they were preparing for lunch. The students actually served each other, donning white chef clothes and filling up trays with rice, fish, pears, vegetables, and milk. Everyone was very polite, so no one would start eating until everyone had been served. One student then lead the class' "itadakimasu" (customary to say before eating to show appreciation for food) and everyone dug in. Even then, though, there was a required three minutes of silence before people could converse during lunch. Once we were all finished, another student lead the class' "gochisousamadeshita" (said at the end of a meal to show appreciation for food). These 7-year-old children were all so polite and well behaved. It was startling.

This is just a small part of the outside area.
This school is huge!

We then went outside for lunch break and played Sprint-For-Like-15-Minutes tag, which had me and the rest of the foreign participants gasping for air and begging for water by break's end.

We went back inside and another CIEE student and I lead our classes in a game of Four Corners—which I hadn't played since elementary school. It went surprisingly well, considering I had trouble explaining the rules in Japanese.

We finally said our goodbyes to the students, and headed up to the roof to see the pool (this place has a 5th-floor rooftop pool!) and watch the children depart from above.

It was such a special opportunity to be a part of a foreign elementary school for a day and see how another part of the world does things—and the welcome ceremony had me tearing up. I'm so thankful to have been a part of this.

My elementary school didn't have a rooftop pool...

I headed out to Harajuku with some friends that night for some food and fun, but this post has already gone on long enough. I'm thinking these will probably become less regular once classes start and my days become even more busy. I'll likely switch to a weekly format at some point. For now, though, expect daily updates.

Oh, and this is for you guys, Aislyn and Pat.