Grocery Day

Today held my biweekly trip to the grocery store. I just love picking out what to eat! I usually eat the same things every day for a few weeks, then switch to a new routine. These days it's been yakult and natto toast for breakfast, potato or veggie soup and bananas for lunch, and okonomi rice for dinner, with the occasional imitation crab and onion patties. Just to make sure it's not too healthy of a diet, I also try to throw in every imaginable form of chocolate I can find (bars, bread, truffles, ice cream, pudding, cakes, cookies, milo, etc.)

Rice, Eggs, Mayo, Okonomi Sauce, and Seaweed Flakes

Bread, Fermented Soybeans, Mayo, and Cheese

I know you're jealous

Usually I bike to the store, but today I decided to walk. It felt revolutionary, the idea that one's shopping could be close enough to home to reach it by foot. And that under 15 minutes! It's such a nice stroll, too, just following the footpath by the river, crossing through the park, and wa-la!

My backyard

It is such a sweet novelty to be able to walk to places I need to go. The grocery store, post office, bank, train station, and one of my schools are all within 15 minutes from my house on foot! It's hard to believe that could be the case after growing up in the outer suburbs of the Twin Cities, where people drive their cars to go everywhere - one's own mailbox included.

English Camp

Stress for me is usually something that operates beneath the surface. It's like dirt being sprinkled into clear water; evenly distributed, tinting everything without changing the actual form of the water. Eventually it all settles and is forgotten. This weekend, however, I got to experience a new kind of stress. This one was more like a rock being tossed into that same water, throwing up a big splash and relentless waves. Unlike that ambiguous, dirt sort of stress, this rock kind made it very easy to pinpoint the reason - English Camp!

Every year my school puts on an English Camp for the 1st grade (10th grade) students. 30 students sign up, and 10 ALTs volunteer to help run workshops, play games, and be genuine native speakers for the students to talk to. Actually, 8 ALTs volunteer, and the two unfortunates that work at Kitako are told to create and run the camp. I happened to be in that later half.

So in January, Thomas and I began preparations for this weekend. There was the deal of figuring out how to arrange the schedule, then finding activities to put into every time slot (36 hours is a LONG time when you have to keep 45 people occupied for every minute of it!), convincing other ALTs to give up a weekend to help, organizing workshops, and finally keeping everyone in the know of all the latest information they need to know. If it had ended there, it might have been ok. But then came this weekend.

The weekend started for me Friday night when I started eating the oncoming stress through pudding and cookies. When Saturday morning came, I tried to ignore it by having a cleaning frenzy, but eventually was off to school. When we got on the bus, I had a terrible stomachache and headache, and every nerve in my body was taut. Although this lasted all day, I simply wasn't allowed to be sick, so plastered a smile on my face and tried to ignore it.

Luckily Thomas was there to take the reins and direct the opening activities. We all introduced ourselves, and played To Tell the Truth with interesting facts about ourselves. My lies were horribly unconvincing... Next we played a Matching Game, where students have to guess the ALT's answers to questions like "Favorite fruit?" "Name a cold thing", etc. We did pretty well! Lunch was a delicious buffet. After that all of the ALTs did their workshops, with 6 students rotating in for 40 minutes each. In Katie's and mine, they had to solve some English riddles.

Things began to fall apart after that. Everyone was tired and needed an improvised snack break, so we busted out the snacks that were for the party later on. Then there wasn't enough time for the scheduled Skit Practice, so we had to break it up so that everyone could go to the campwide (the facility was a kind of retreat center with other groups staying at the same time) assembly, lower the flagpole, eat dinner, and come back for some people to practice skits and others to just hang around. Then students went off to bath time, ALTs hung around, and a final party to end the night before bedtime.

Without describing everything in detail, we had a lot of problems. Pretty much between every activity there were debates between me and Thomas about what to do next, given the time we had or didn't have. Then the JTEs, who mostly hid out in their secret room and had nothing to do with us, would randomly appear and tell us to do something at a certain time and start more debates and more delays. The party is where everything really melted down. A third of the group started their own game to pass the time and started having a blast, so we didn't want to break them up, yet everyone else was sitting around waiting to be directed on how to enjoy themselves. So we started a bit late, then went through a couple games, but a faction broke off for snacks in the middle. "Should we start snacktime early? Should we go ahead with charades?" We ended up giving up on the group games and just breaking out with more snacks until blessed 9:15 and we sent the students to bed, and ALTs to bathe. It was a great relief.

Sunday was a bit better. Thomas had about given out by this time, but I regained my feet and was able to finish out the day's activities at long last. It seemed like there must have been some secret energy reserve stored in me for this day, else my visions of fainting from overwhelmsion might have come true. My last act of endurance was to have a cohesive stream of conversation between me and my bus neighbor on the hour long ride back to school instead of lapsing into a stupefied daze.

Ok, ok, I'm making the whole thing sound pretty bad. That's just because I'm writing it right after I got back from the grueling weekend. Really, I think the students had a good time and were able to use plenty of English, so in that sense, it was a job well done. The other ALTs were really helpful and flexible, and ready to spice up all the games with the humor and energy that neither Thomas nor I had the strength to muster. And, believe it or not, I even heard rumors that it was fun!

Little too cold for swimming, but the view was great!

Not only that, but I learned some lessons from the experience.

• Leaders of big events like this shouldn't be in one of the groups as well. It's almost impossible to direct activities, keep track of time, and prepare for whatever is coming up while still trying to socialize with your group and be involved in whatever they're doing. 
• Onsens are extremely dehydrating and you need a jug of water upon coming out (actually I learned this at the last English Camp (that I wasn't in charge of), but only just remembered when it was too late this time). 
• People who try the hardest are the first to get blamed when things go wrong. (as poor Thomas will be when we get to school tomorrow)
• Even when my power tank completely runs out, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And that with a smile! Saturday might have been on my own power, but there is no way I could have done Sunday without snapping at people, running away, or simply wilting in front of everyone.

        

Sit, Stand, Bow

Last week I got to attend the graduation ceremony at my super English school. They had been working up to it for several days, with cleaning of the school, preparing of all the diplomas (the calligraphy teacher wrote out each student's name), and a 2.5 hour assembly to run through the graduation beforehand.

It was on Thursday morning, March 1st, as high schools all over Tokushima commended and sent off their graduates. The teachers squeezed their cars all over the school grounds so that parents could take the parking lot. The sun was shining and the temperature up to a breezy 55 degrees, with bright spring grasses peeping out beside the blossoming plum trees.

I had been told that it was a very formal event, and that I ought to wear a suit, so I picked out a navy blue suit with grey tights and turtle neck. Conservative enough, right? Well, when I got into the staffroom and had a look around, it felt like I was wearing neon compared to the straight black and white that all the other teachers wore. Granted, the homeroom teachers of the 3rd years (seniors) were dressed in colorful and classy kimonos, but they had cultural sanction to do it. No one hammered me down, but for once I wasn't too pleased to be "the nail that stuck out". Believe it or not, though, the show went on, and I have a much better idea of what to wear next year.

At 9:15, we all filed into the gymnasium. There was blue and white striped paper strung up around all the walls, green mats laid on the wood floor so we could wear our slippers inside, and a thousand chairs lined up in perfect rows. All of the second grade students were already seated in the center section, and the staff took our seats along the side, perpendicular to the stage. Soon the parents ushered in with hushed excitement, all well-dressed in perfectly black clothes.

After waiting a good ten minutes in general quiet, the school band started playing this song. That queued the 3rd graders to begin their march into the room, two by two. They sat in class order, nine classes of 40 students all in their dark green uniforms, lined up according to stude

nt numbers. When the band finished, there were several long moments of complete silence. Then, over the loudspeaker: "Ichidou...kireitsu!" the entire gymnasium stood in unison. At "Rei", we all bent forward 45 degrees in a formal bow, waited 2 seconds, and stood, then dropped to our seats once more upon "Chakuseki."

So began the ceremony, and so it continued. There were speeches from the principle, a teacher, a motivational speaker, and a member of the PTA. As each person came onto the stage, they first bowed to the dignitaries sitting near them, then to the dignitaries across from them, then to the Japanese flag as they ascended the stage, and finally to the audience, who responded in turn with a bow. The process would be repeated in reverse each time someone left the stage.

During the speeches I was able to let my mind wander, and only listen for the random "kireitsu". I think they sprinkle these in there to make sure no one falls asleep, with about one every 10 minutes. So I got to think back on my 3 graduation ceremonies in the past 3 years. At PACT I made faces at the camera the whole time and whispered things to Justine. At ARCC I tried to espy my partner from an online class that I'd never seen in person, and at the U of M I crocheted a tassel for myself. This time my only amissness was to tuck my feet under my chair instead of having them flat on the floor like they told all the students to do.

Instead of walking across the stage, each homeroom teacher read off the names of their

students. Several of them choked up while doing so, but were able to keep up a steady rhythm of names. As each name was called, there was a loud "hai!" and up popped a student from his or her chair. They did this for all 360 of them, which gave me plenty of time to compare all their ways of saying "hai", see the height differences and patterns between classes, and imagine a garden popping up in the springtime with little people plants all grown up. Then a student representative went through a bunch of bows to get up to the stage and present the principal with gift, and he in turn gave the student a fancy paper.

All throughout, I had plenty of time to observe the beauty in all this ritual, and the perfection in everyone's uniformity of both look and actions. The finale was the best part, though. The 3rd grade teachers all stood at the front facing their students. Just as music began to play, one student from the front row called out "KIREITSU!" and those students all stood up together, shouted "arigatou gozaimashita", and bowed. With perfect timing, the students on the end of each row led them out once more, two by two to exit the room. Several seconds be

fore the last student from each row had cleared, the next would do their own stand, thank you, and bow, then merge out into a perfect stream of green. There were tears everywhere, from students, teachers, and parents. Everyone clapped til their hands were sore and lingered after the last student had gone.

In their home rooms they said their final goodbyes and received diplomas, while we back in the gym set right to work with cleaning up. No one announced any duties, but everyone helped in stacking up the chairs (that fit perfectly beneath the stage and are stored in little roller carts), rolling up the green floor covering, and taking down the wall decorations.

I went off to a 3 hour English Club farewell party, received a delicious bento (complete with sashimi!), and signed many yearbooks. It was a lovely day.