final farewells

My final day entailed three visits.  One was to an elementary school (similar to the prior post; at this one a student read a message to me in English with tears in her eyes and it was all I could do to avoid breaking down right then and there).

The other two went to my junior high schools.  Both were difficult farewells, but one was especially tough.

Of the anecdotes above and throughout the past year, most all of them have been from one school in particular.  If you recall graduation in March, I was pretty bummed to miss the ceremony at one of the schools--it's the same one.  I've come to love all of my students, but I especially relish every chance with the ones at Hatto.

...I try really really hard not to cry.  Call me bull-headed, old-fashioned, stubborn, whatever; it's an emotion I take very seriously.  I try especially hard not to cry with an audience.

I cried when I said my goodbye at Hatto. I wasn't the only one.

I thanked my students for fun classes, and for their smiles--their smiles, welcoming me from the beginning, when I was nervous about my life as a teacher in Japan.  I told them that I enjoyed seeing their energy, in class and out, and that they had gone from shy students to friends who would stop anywhere to say hello.

I told them that I was going to medical school, and that, since I was becoming a student again, we should both do our best at our studies, together.

I told them that I'd never forget them.  And I sobbed out a final "thank you".

They gave me flowers.  They gave me a book full of farewell messages. They gave me a round of applause as I left.

Elementary Goodbyes

Farewells at the elementaries were really bittersweet.  At one they had a rather elaborate ceremony* worked out, including one of the students reading to me in English (granted, he was reading it with Japanese phonetics as it was written, but still, !!) while at another they all sang to me.  Really touching stuff--mementos aplenty, with drawn-up thank you notes from all my 5th and 6th graders, complete with picutres of us together.

I was doing really really good at not crying until I was leaving one school--they accompanied me to the exit and saw me off from the parking lot; I was still good pulling out, but as I went down the hill by the school to drive away, the students started running along the top of it alongside of me, waving and shouting "goodbye!"

I could still see them in my rear view mirror as the tears welled up.

"Ganbatte kudasai [please do your best]!"

Had my very last class at middle school; at the end I told them a bit about my plans ("I want to be a doctor"), and students wrote farewell messages (being 9th graders with at least 3 years of English under their belt, they only got 10 minutes--lots of hurried textbook flipping looking up words!).

After class, Shie, perhaps my very favorite student (she's the one who pointed me out in the Backstreet Boys Video--I've got a bunch of anecdotes just about her.  Super-energetic and completely unabashed in her English use), came up to me.

"Doctor," she says, "Great!"  and curls a clenched fist in show of solidarity.
"I'll do my best!"
"You are doctor, I am nurse!" she giggles, rushing off excitedly.

I'm really gonna miss my students.

"Since Matt-sensei is single, how about...?"

During lunch with the 1st graders at one of the elementaries we were chatting about  the usual fare for a while ("What animal do you like?" "How old are you?"), until finally one asks the inevitable:

"[Do you have a girlfriend?]"

I inform them that no, I in fact, do not, and am immediately paired off with one of the assistant teachers.  Awkward eye contact and apologies from/to the paired parties ensue while the children giggle; despite the homeroom teacher's reassurances that, fact that I was leaving Japan aside, I didn't need the help of the first graders to find a girlfriend, the students kept bringing it up.

"Well if Matt likes curry rice, ~sensei can make it..."

Their innocence really is touching.

"Three!? Three WHAT, huh?"

Went swimming with my elementary school students Friday a week ago.  I showed off my butterfly technique (when I told them it was my specialty, they were all "oh! awesome!"); being 5 years out of practice means I left the pool really sore, but I still got it!

The elementary students were of course keen to study my body moreso than my technique--lots of requests for muscle flexes and such, along with plenty of poking and some hugs, the hug being a new tactic in an attempt to sap my body heat (it was a cool overcast day at the outdoor pool).

At one point on the deck, a 6th grade boy leans over and examines my crotch*.
"Yappari, mit-tsu aru. [I knew it, there's three!]"

Something about curiousity and cats.  He got a good poke attack for that one.

(*I was in a speedo--I've kept it from high school.  It's so small, why not pack it everywhere?)

"This is 'Tuba.'"

I went through band practice one day last week.  The students are spread in different rooms practicing their various instruments (mostly woodwinds, but there was the drum/xylophone room for the percussionists too).

As I walked into the percussion room, one of my favorite girls, Yui, comes up to me (she's sort of in charge of practice), offering an emphatic "Hi!" (which is why she's one of my favorites).

She then proceeds to lead me through the rooms, stopping to introduce me to all of the instruments in English, without any prompting from me whatsoever.

At one point I tell her I played sax back in high school.
"!! Me too!" she excitedly replies. She even let me HOLD hers.  Got me nostalgic for my high school jazz band days.  More than anything, though, it made me really happy--it was very much a "she can SO use English!" moment, and I'm not sure which of us was prouder for it.

Japanese Snot Eaters

Checking out baseball practice on my way home one day, one of my normally quiet 7th graders starts talking to me a bit--being a 7th grade boy, of course, he has some typical boy questions.  For instance:

Him: "What's this?" while pointing at his nose.
Me: "Nose?"
Him, in Japanese now, "no, [Japanese word I haven't learned]."
gestures at something reminiscent of picking your nose.
Me: "..Snot?"

"Su-not!" he giggles.  

He points at his friend.  "You are 'snot!'"  His friend gives him a quizzical look, while Yuu* (the first boy) repeats the accusation, cracking up.

He turns back to me.  "What's [a bloody nose**?]"
My translation is too long for his liking, so he immediately moves on.
At this point a 9th grader, Daijiro, has come over to supervise.
"What's [poop?]"
Me (faux innocent): "I don't know."
Yuu squats, and gestures from his butt.
At this point Daijiro interjects telling him to stop it.  ("You are a bad man," Daijiro scolds, but being a lowly 7th grader Yuu needs a translation to get the insult.)

I of course refuse to tell him anything more at this point, seeing what he's already done with the little I've given.  Yuu tries to get a couple more perverse but typically boyish words translated, along with hilarious gesticulation--I've never had as much fun playing dumb as when he was gesturing at [from] his crotch looking for confirmation of what it's called while some two dozen of his classmates looked on cracking up. Eventually he gives up and goes back to his old ways.

Yuu: "This boy likes snot. He eats snot!"  "You are su-NOT!"

I'm glad I'm still making friends even with the end so close.

(*He spelled his name as "You," using the well-learned English pronoun in his farewell note.  Adorable. 

**For the record, a bloody nose is a sign of perversion in popular media here--blood's all rushing around so much that the nose gives out).

"Did you enjoy?"

Last week I stopped in on some students working on their art after school. These students are some of my chattiest (nothing all that substantial usually mind you--just "hi! how are you!" but still better than most students will give unprompted).

At one point they're going back and forth about who likes who--two of the girls tell me that  "She," pointing at a third girl, "likes her neighbor!"  but she retorts with a "SHE likes my big brother!" and proceeds to allude to some rendezvous had (something about spending a night together, very scandalous--I'm assuming it was on a field trip or such), the other denying it the whole time. I asked her if she enjoyed it, and they all cracked up.

High School Reunion

About a month ago walking back from school I bumped into some students coming from the high school--no longer my students, they'd graduated in March, but I didn't see them at first and they remembered me, calling me over by name.

We exchanged some brief pleasantries--I asked them about how high school was ("...enjoying...enjoy...fun! It's fun!!" one of them exclaimed.  She always was one of the best students--most never realize there's a translation beyond "enjoy"), and we went on our way, but the...joy at the chance encounter buoyed my spirits for a whole week.

Preparing for Succession

I finally got my successor's information week before last. Been e-mailing him information and selling him my car, etc...it's really starting to hit home just how soon I'll be leaving. With less than a month to go, I've started packing up my extra (winter) clothes to send home, and just generally have shifted to more of a "the end is nigh" mindset. I met people this weekend, for instance, who could've been good friends in other circumstances, but in this case we simply part with a "farewell."

I'm particularly dreading saying goodbye to my students--with only a few weeks of class left I've only a couple classes at most with each grade left. This Friday will be my last time teaching at the elementaries, and the following week they'll have a "farewell" ceremony for me, which is probably going to make me cry. For whatever challenges I've had with adjusting to living and working here, one thing remains undeniable; I love these children. Seeing my middle school students now, I remark to myself on how they've grown and matured over the past year, about how the non-working troublemaker has at least tried to pay attention on occasion, or how my 9th graders from last year have moved on to high school--I ran into a few not long ago and had a great old-friends moment with them. This is why I love this job, and why leaving will be bittersweet.

Swine Influenza Fever

I returned from China the first Tuesday in May, had Wednesday off, and went to work as usual on Thursday.  During the day, my supervisor (at the board of education) called a few times: once, to confirm whenI had gotten back; again, later, to tell me that for the sake of my elementary schools, I should take tomorrow off and not teach (my thought: you DO realize you're telling me not to go to school...while I'm at school, right? I assured him I was fine); and finally, he called to tell me that, well, since I said I was healthy, I could go to work after all.

Ridiculous.  The next day at the elementaries I got a round of questioning to the effect of:
"So you went to China, huh?" (yes, it was fun)
"Did you hear about the swine flu?" (some warnings on the flight over, and a lot on the way back, yep)
"...did they test or check you at all when you got back to Japan?" (yes yes, I had to fill out a form and... [at this point I exaggerated the trouble of the process so it sounded a little more rigorous])
[to the staff, visibly relieved:] "He was checked!"

Sigh.  The trouble with today's widespread information network is that it's very easy to get people into a panic.  At least my middle schools have some sense; no panic there.  Though I did mess with one of my students at lunch (this is the same one who thought I was Howie of BSB fame; when she asked about the flu ("pork influenza;" good vocabulary!) I feigned a few coughs and got a rise out of her before I assured her I was joking.

This is to say nothing of how much things have escalated in the 3-week interim; more on that in another post.

A Grand Entrance

Entrance ceremony is not so different from closing--dress is less the serious, black with white tie, more color (it being spring and all), but still the parents in the back (fewer tears), still lots of speeches, still lots of "stand up" "bow" "sit down" action (averaged a good eight instances of this at entrance; graduation was ridiculous, definitely over a dozen).

Knowing all the new 7th graders from teaching them in elementary school made it really fun to watch all the proceedings. Somehow most of the students were still surprised to see me there, even after I'd told them all at our last classes that I'd see them in junior high school. I won't be teaching them right off the bat (they want to get all their fundamentals down with reading, etc first) but I'm really looking forward to seeing them all in the halls at school (and getting to know the newbies at my other school next week).

Graduation

Students bow to the principal as they receive their diplomas.

Graduation here is a very momentous occasion, very formal. Teachers are all dressed up in formal suits, and it seems like every mother of a graduating student came (only a couple dads though, interestingly), handkerchief at the ready, and all descended into tears when (before, during, after) their child's turn came.

I go to two middle schools; unfortunately, they operate on the same schedule, so I could only attend one graduation--also unfortunately, I wound up at the school where I felt less connected to my students. I found myself a little emotional too, in part because I empathized with all the emotion in the students (many of whom were crying themselves) and the parents, but also in part because I realized that I couldn't see the students I had really connected with and then felt guilty because I realized I hadn't been doing well enough by the students at this school.

At any rate, the day was theirs, not mine, but I appreciated being able to be a part of it all, however small.

Later, I got yearbooks from both schools--and my other school had gone so far as to produce a DVD of the proceedings, which I got a copy of. (I've yet to watch it). The best, though, was the copy of one of the graduating classes' memory book--filled with pages from the students themselves (CTY folk might see the similarity). It was from one of my favorite classes, and on one of the pages there were notes for me that really made my day:

"Dear Matt-sensei,
at first I was nervous but then I enjoyed talking to you. Since I met you, I like English more. Thank you.
-Shihori"

"Dear Matt-sensei,
I LOVE YOU
-Kota"

"My School Life"

Year end is swiftly approaching. I've all but finished seeing my 9th graders, who take their entrance exams next week (if they haven't already) and have their graduation ceremony the week after; things are similarly winding down with a lot of my other classes, but I'm at least bolstered by the knowledge that I'll get to keep working with them, if in a slightly different context.

At one of my schools the 9th graders wrapped up their year of English by writing about their experiences the past 3 years in junior high school, and ending with a message for their classmates as they all move on. There were some great ones, ranging from long narratives about experiences and feelings to the following:

"DESTINY
I joined the baseball club.
DESTINY!!
I became class leader.
DESTINY!!

Message is sausage."

Various other non sequiturs were had by some of the other jokesters with only so-so English, to hilarious end (another interspersed his memories with "oh, no, I dropped my cola"...bolded and at least 2x the size of the rest). Really been enjoying the time with my students, and I'm really gonna miss them when they move on!

"What do you call this kind of music?" "Uhhh...classic rock."

One of my co-teachers is on a really big kick of using music in class lately--this week we spent some time introducing such contemporary artists as the Beatles and the Carpenters to the 7th and 9th graders, complete with videos ripped from youtube to provide some watching material. (Hm, old groups the kids had never heard of singing music in a language they didn't understand all that well? You'd be proud, Dorsey-sensei).

We're at that point in the year where we're running out of material that has to be covered, but there's still some time before the end of the year (remember, school year ends at the end of March here), so we can totally get away with this sort of thing--we'll do maybe one song that's listen-able with lyrics, followed by a few more for them to simply enjoy.

The last two songs we studied: "What a Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong (kids got a BIG kick out of his facial expressions when he sings) and "I Just Called to Say I Love You" by Stevie Wonder (which, at the end, I was made to sing solo--this is what I get for trying to encourage the kids to come out of their shells by example).

School Culture Festivals

This was a while back (before the election), but I went to culture day activities for both of my middle schools on consecutive weekends in early November.

The schools were very different in what they put on—while one of my schools had myriad performances (including taiko drumming, koto playing, and, during lunchtime, tea ceremony), the other one centered largely on plays that were put on by both of the 9th grade classes. They were pretty hilarious to follow; both were based off of the well-known American stories, Snow White and Alice in Wonderland (apparently not well-known in Japan), and both had great twists from the students. My personal favorites from each: a scene at the end of Snow White in which the prince and Snow White duke it out with the witch and her henchmen to the battle theme from Final Fantasy 7 (and with similar arrangments of the characters on either side of the stage), and a scene at the start of Alice in Wonderland in which Alice's sister reads her a story—in this case, Spirited Away, as a dozen students run out on stage and act out various scenes simultaneously.

Both schools ended the day with a chorus competition, as each class performs the school anthem and another song of their choosing. I got to help with the judging at one school, and at the other I got to jump in on the singing (which was a unique challenge—sight read music I'd only practiced twice before, in hiragana. I would pick my spots to jump in with full voice, and spent most of the rest of the time following a half-second behind the guy singing next to me in a weaker voice). Events culminated with the best class receiving a prize (mostly bragging rights)…pretty entertaining on the whole.

Obamawesome.

ALL of my students of course know "Obama" at this point (though I enjoy asking them to tell me his first name: "…ba…la-ku?"), and everybody knows the "Yes we can" chant. It's kind of hilarious and adorable, especially when my elementary school students whip it out on me. Way back when Obama won the election, the following week at an enkai (banquet) my kocho-sensei (principal) ended his toast for the previous day's culture festival with "I know this is supposed to be about culture day, but…'Yes we can!'" and we all toasted to "Yes we can!"

If you're stuck stateside and have any doubts about the man, know that his election = instant credibility in the international community.

Impending graduation...:-(

Being back in Japan and seeing my students again is a great joy. I left at a point where I was just starting to get really comfortable and settled with my working situation and my students, and I've returned not missing a beat. Students are more comfortable interacting with me, I'm continuing to get to know them (though I must confess, there are still far too many for me to remember all their names) and I feel like we're both getting more out of class--them, more English, and me, more job satisfaction (directly related to the former).

Sadly, the Japanese school year changes at the end of March, which means that all of my san-nensei (3rd year students, or 9th grade in America) will be graduating and moving on to high school (hopefully). As my oldest and most English-competent students, I've perhaps connected with them the most, and will really miss them after they leave (even though Japan's year changes, I am under contract through the summer). On the upside, though, I get to have a fresh start with all of my other students, and I'm especially excited for my elementary school 6th graders, who become middle school 7th graders at one of my schools in the spring (and move from "fun" English games to actual English class).

I may dominate 1st graders at Dodgeball...

...but 3rd graders proved significantly more challenging (I blame the uncatchibility of the ball).

HOWEVER, in soccer my two years of experience hosing slightly older, smarter students at CTY left me very well equipped to handle even 5th and 6th graders.

Last week I played with a big group of boys. Scored one goal, but he highlight came when a ball rolled out of bounds for a goalie kick (they let the goalie punt on a goalie kick, and by "goalie" I mean "anybody").

"Matt-sensei, douzo!"
WHAAAAAM! (ball flies past ALL the kids, easily 2-3x as far as any of their previous kicks)
all: "ooooohhhh! Matt-sensei, Soccer wa tsuyoi (strong)!"

"Cute Eyelashes" Count:

3