An elementary school in Japan

Well, today with the culture class we went to a Japanese elementary school. We were greeted by the principal and as always took off our shoes before entering the building. We were shown up to the washitsu or the traditional Japanese style room. Here in a large building of classes and such, there's suddenly a room with traditional tatami and shoji screens . . . weird? I think so, but that's the Japanese way. In our walking from the front to the washitsu, kids stopped what they were doing to yell and laugh at us. It kind of felt like being a fish in a fish bowl.

After arriving in the washitsu, we obtained nametags and split up into pairs to go and meet some fifth graders. It was basically split up so that a pair of American students were with 5 or so Japanese 5th graders. They did quick introductions in English, where they said their name and that's about it, and then they showed us scenes around Kanazawa. We were supposed to guess what they were. They were actually pretty simple, but don't tell the fifth graders that. Then they showed us how to do origami to make a ninja star. They were so cute!

After origami, some of the other groups had already wandered out of the classroom, so we followed their lead and went to the gym. Here we practiced throwing our ninja stars (I admit, mine didn't fly very well.) Then the teacher's decided to organize basketball games. 4 American students vs. about 10-15 Japanese 5th graders - Scary? I think so. There were so many of them all over, but luckily the height advantage let us get a two-pointer. The kids were really good at moving the ball around, but when it came to scoring they beat us 4 to 2, so the little kids still beat us, but that was how we wanted it to end.

Then we went back for a "break" in the washitsu, but it ended up that the kids were having a break too, so it wasn't a very relaxing one. I think every single first grader climbed up the stairs to the room we were in so they could gawk at us. They yelled and screamed at us for the entire 10-minute break. They had a lot of fun with the student with green hair, who we've nicknamed midori-chan. I don't think teachers would allow kids to be that loud in an American school, but I honestly don't think the Japanese teachers even noticed. There's a lot less rules in their elementary schools. I think the kids learn responsibility for themselves somehow through it.

After the break, we headed to the 6th grade classroom where one of us did an introduction, and we showed them the hokey-pokey (Its been a while since I've done it - I think I might have to get people doing it again!) The kids thought we were so funny when we were turning ourselves about.

Then we split into groups to learn about different parts of Japanese culture. We headed to a room with caligraphy sets set up. The kids in our group did self introductions - this time with what they liked to do as well (these were 6th graders this time). Then they had us practice our caligraphy skills. Thanks to Mrs. Semba, I think they were pretty impressed at my elementary caligraphy. They also offered to make our names into kanji (the third alphabet in Japanese based off of Chinese). I already had it, but they had a fun time trying to change my partner's name.

We practiced quite a bit, and they gave us pointers. After a while, it was time to head back to the washitsu for a short break before an observation of some of the classes. We then headed back to campus, lunch, and then 2 hours of classes followed by a project meeting and dinner. That's about it. I promise I'll stop writing so much daily soon. It will become more boring and more classes and not much else soon. I have a homestay Saturday and Sunday this weekend, and I think after that, the schedule doesn't goof around as much and we are forced to study bunches.

Nighty night!