Sugoi Gaijin

This is a phrase one needs to get used to when teaching in Japan. You see, a lot of the times, teachers forget that you DON’T speak Japanese and you’re NEW to the school, so they forget to tell you about events that are happening. It all started when I was teaching at my Heart Attack School (the very next day). It didn’t go so bad the second time around, really. I only had 3 classes to teach and they were all in the morning: 1st, 2nd, and 3rd periods. That means I had 4th, Lunch, 5th, and 6th periods off. Half the teachers were also gone that day, because half the school went on a field trip. I just sat at my desk in the teacher’s room, staring into space during 4th period and lunch, but then I got waaaaaaaay too bored (and hungry…still fasting, remember?) so I asked Kocho Sensei if I could leave to go teach at my base school. Yeah, it would have been smarter to just go home, but I’m not a jerk and I’m sure the students could use my help (whether they like it or not!!!). So, I walk on over to the JHS and find that most the students and teachers are in the Gym. I ask the English Teacher what’s up and she’s like,

“Oh, what’re you doing here?”
“I got off early, what’s going on here?”
“Ohhh! I forgot to tell you! By the way…”

So there’s another sports festival tomorrow, that everyone had neglected to tell me, and apparently there was going to be a ceremony that very day! Thanks for the heads up there! The students were all huddled in groups going over some sort of victory dance/cheer or something, I don’t know what, nothing is never quite explained to me in full. Also, the sports festival was less of a fun activity as it was before and more of an actual sports competition where students compete against students from neighboring schools all in one day. And so, since there was a Sports Competition on Saturday, this meant I had Monday off. It would also have been nice to know that I would be coming in on Saturday and having Monday off ahead of time, but that’s ok. I can handle it. I’m used to the “oh by the way…” speech by now. Later I learned that not only was Saturday a school day, but Sunday was too; a testing day! So this meant that Tuesday would also become a holiday! Quite the serendipitous gain! But I’d have to come in on Saturday and Sunday and that sux…

The ceremony they did later was more of a Japanese Pep Rally. Only the 1st and 2nd years are allowed to be involved with sports, because the 3rd years are all preparing for High School entrance exams. Japanese pep rallies are different from American ones, which are usually led by cheerleaders on acid, teachers that think they’re cool, and SGA members that truly believe that we care about what they do. Honestly, the only part I ever liked about pep rallies were those times where free t-shirts were involved. But like I said earlier, Japanese pep rallies are different. All the sports teams line up on one side of the gym and stand parallel to each other and face the other side of the gym where the 3rd years and 1st & 2nd years (who weren’t involved in a sport) line up and face the sports teams. A couple of select 3rd years are lined up in the center facing the sports teams and they’d each take turns standing on a pedestal and giving a fight cheer for each of the sports teams. I know it soulds difficult, but it was refreshingly repetitive, so I managed to get it after the first 8 or 9 times of hearing it.

Later back in the teacher’s room there was an additional surprise! Kyoto Sensei said I didn’t have to come in on Sunday! Sweet! He called it a Mandatory Sleep In Day. I said to him, “よく頑張るつもりです！ (I indent to do my very best!)” So this meant that I had Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday off. A nice little 3 day weekend, with a much needed mandatory sleep in, what could be better? Walking back to the train station it struck me, had I not left my heart attack school on a whim, I would have never seen the pep rally, nor have learned about the sports competition, or the fact that I had to come in on Saturday, but had Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday off. It’s weird how sometimes, things can actually turn out better in the end. And to think I felt bad for asking Kocho Sensei back at heart attack school to leave to teach at another school. I have no regrets.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 29th, 2006 at 9:28 am and is filed under In School. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.