Mandatory, but fun!

A few weeks a go all the students found out that there is a mandatory Friday activity where all of the students would be split up into groups of three or four and sent to different schools in Hikone. I wasn't too excited because we had to be up earlier than we normally would have to be, I was almost late that day but some how I made it.



I was paired with two lower level classmates and I immediately knew that I would have to translate for them. I was nervous because there were some manners that we were supposed to follow, but I don't think they knew that. So with a little fumbling and general translation I was able to (successfully??) give them the gist of what the principal was talking about. He went over our schedule of what was going to take place, and then asked us a little  bit about ourselves. After more bumbling he began to show us pictures of some of the things that the students did.

Things like calligraphy, band, to gym activities and he also told us that there were pictures of kite flying but we ran out of time, our guides were there to pick us up, and thus began our adventure in the Elementary school!

On our way to the meeting place, where we were supposed to meet the students, we found out that the assistant teacher spoke English to a certain extent but we were able to communicate with her which was the good! After chatting with the assistant teacher and showed around some of the classrooms, we were shown to the music room.

Once at the music room we were asked to introduce ourselves in English or Japanese I chose Japanese, we were then asked a few questions: what's your favorite food, can you write  Japanese characters, just to name a few. After the questions they preformed for us! They sang and they also played their instruments for us! When I normally think of elementary school I instantly think recorders, but they had recorders, large drums, piano, xylophone, tambourines the whole deal!

Pretty much we were all surprised.

To top it off they sang for us too. It was so adorable, I wish I could have taken pictures! Moving on to the next part of the trip, we were shown around the school, by some of the students while the other students moved around. (I'm not sure what they were doing, but I can assume that they were putting away the instruments and moving to the next classroom.) I can say the schools are generally the same in the United States and in Japan, except for the additional room, they called it the cooking room. In elementary school they learn basic cooking skills...I remember making stuff in middle school...and not in elementary school, but then again their school system is completely different than ours.

Continuing on, we made it to our next destination with out issue. It was just a large room with a propane heater in the back of the room, to warm it.

You would think that Japan being one of the most technological advanced countries would believe in central air right? Nope they don't believe in that.
Air Conditioners but no central heating, it's a take it or leave it country!

Anyways, we were supposed to play games with the kids for about an hour, games ranging from:

Otedama (Juggling)

Kendama

Darumasan wo koronda

Darumasan wo koronda is the one I mostly played, because the others were busy with juggling and with the kendama. Darumasan wo koronda basically means Mr. Daruma fell, in a sense it's kinda like Jenga, but you have a small hammer to knock away the blocks that's holding the daruma up, if it falls then you start over.

After playing the games for a while it was time for us to go back to JCMU because we were only allowed at the schools for a few hours. So we said our goodbyes and headed back to the principal's office which led to an issue.

We didn't know what time the taxi was coming to pick us up.

So we started talking among ourselves and we ( I ) asked the principal when it was coming and he didn't know. So it led to us calling JCMU ( I had to talk for some reason...I was using Japanese but I didn't have to, it was choppy anyways. Yikes!) After finding out when the taxi was coming I was told to tell the principal, (that was choppy too doubles yikes!)

Over all the trip to the elementary school was fun and interesting, it was mandatory but it was also fun. I was able to use my choppy Japanese skills and I was able to translate the gist of what they were saying to my kouhai (lower classmates). Also I feel that this trip has made me a little bit more confident in myself Japanese skills and maybe in myself when it comes to speaking at least. I'm not for sure but we'll see, it's almost March.