"Sho" me the way...

Hi everyone -

Long time no blog! I really wish we were allowed to post pictures of teachers and students, because today was wonderful...

I visited Maki Kita Shogakko, which is one of the local elementary schools. My mission: have fun.

The kids there were completely energized which was a welcomed reprieve from some of the sleepy classes I've endured at the JHSs. Of course, relative pronouns with a dab of present participles on the side are not always a guarantee of yuks. No, I got a break from the rough stuff and had fun with greetings, Simon says, and SpongeBob stickers.

The morning started with me pedaling, once again, through Maki's back streets, only this time through a torrential downpour that Noah might have been impressed by -- and that dude saw some rain! I made it to the school, two-stepped the steps, and was greeted by a cherubic-faced teacher, Mr. A (because of the new blog limitations I will refer to him from an alphabetical perspective). He guided me to the teacher's entrance and showed me my shoe locker for the morning. Impressed by the fact that I had brought by my own shoes, Mr. A smiled and called the vice principal over to say hello. Mr. VP graciously took my sopping wet coat and led me up the stairs where I was to meet my new teaching colleagues.

But the room was empty. It was then that I noted a thundering barrage of cheers and stamping feet coming from the belly of the building. But a moment was all I was afforded as the VP ushered me in to meet the principal.

The aisatsu went as tradition dictated; Mr. P offered me his business card, I offered a poor excuse in Japanese for not having one, all involved break down in laughter. But he was great. An Aikido enthusiast in college, Mr. P asked me several questions about my past and what types of interests I had in Japan. I did my best to answer coherently, but he got the gist of what I was saying.

In the room seated already were three folks, sipping on sencha. They were part of a camera crew that was filming for a Niigata television program -- specifically the Maki Kita Undokai. They chatted with Mr. P for a few more moments and then left the room. As I watched them leave, I noticed a beautifully crafted 'Hannya' mask on the wall above the door. This mask in particular was one that scared me to near death as a child -- a representation of it hung in a similar position in my Uncle Dave's old room. That Hannya mask has since gone missing; I have since conquered my fears and intend on getting one for him in the near future -- keep it a secret, will ya?

Anyway, I simply said, 'Hannya,' and Mr. P's face lit up with amazement at my recognition -- we then chatted away like old school chums, all the while me wishing there was a warm cup of sencha in hand to wisk away the slight chill I had brought along with my travels. But time would not allow this luxury...

Enter Ms. I. She was to be my contact at the school, as per the staff at one of the JHSs... She took a moment to talk about some of the ideas for the classes, but I noticed a lack of English being used.

Uh oh.

It was then that I reached down in to the depths of my soul and extracted the will to teach SOLO!!! I nodded my approval of her ideas and immediately began to think of ways to change her mind.

As we headed out, I began crafting ideas all the way to the gymnasium -- the location of the thundering yells and stamp. Wait. Why wasn't I going towards a classroom?

It became quite obvious that I was being led into the Colloseum of sorts, except all of the lions and tigers where small children dressed in matching athletic clothing. As soon as I reached the door, 300 faces stopped in unison and turned my way -- they had been in the middle of what appeared to be a jazzercise routine which the TV folks were filming. But the MC got them back in to rhythm and the stamping continued.

"I'm sorry, what was that you said?"

Ms. I had been yelling something into my ear.

"Garble garble garble SPEECH IN FRONT OF EVERY ONE garble garble rrrrreeerrrererrrr..."

Can I curse on this thing?

She led me up along the wall ask the kids began missing beats in order to catch a glimpse of this new sacrifice. Before I knew it, I was standing in from of all the kids with a microphone in hand. I decided to ad-lib this time around...

While the other ones were painful, this speech was actually A.O.K. and set the tone for the rest of the day. I was charismatic, smooth, and I didn't even trip walking up this time!! Stupid in door shoes! Sorry...

I proclaimed my love for Doraemon, all things washoku, and kaki choko, to booming applause. At least, I'm pretty sure it was applause, but it might have been laughter.

I spent my few free 'thought' moments walking out of the gym getting back to the lesson plan issue; but once we reached the classrooms it was obvious that out of all four classes I was to teach, all of the teachers were more than happy to hand me the microphone. So I ran with it.

Never before have I acted out adjectives with such passion...such drive...such a disregard for my own pride. But the kids were great. They bellowed 'happy!' when I bellowed 'happy!', wimpered 'sad' and wiped a tear when I did, and most importantly shouted, "LET'S GO METS!"

(I had to offer SpongeBob stickers at first, but they got the idea quickly.)

There was no way I could have brought enough pencils, stickers, or whatever for the day. They seriously went nuts for the stuff. But the kids ended up having fun despite the final 'lack of supplies' I experienced during my final class.

As a parting gift they peeled a sticker off of one of the crayon cans in class and presented it to me proudly -- I bowed my thanks and then signed several autographs -- this is teaching, right?

The best part of the day was as I was leaving one of the students ran up and gave me an acorn after which my heart was an ice cream cone in the sun.

SEND PENCILS!

(^ ^)

Keep surfing!

Brendan