First week of school

Snapshots of my week...

The teachers:
The teachers are all lovely and happy to talk with me – even if they don't know much English. I've had a few chats with the special education teacher, the Japanese teacher and the home economics teacher, among others.

So, what has been going on?
Preparation for the sports carnival! A very important event which is on next Sunday. The preparation includes spending hours practising marching and jogging in formation. This week I have spent 8 hours watching and I'll probably be spending most of every day next week doing the same. I'm going to come home very tanned! Wearing a hat is not compulsory, so only about 20% of students wore a hat! (Don't forget it's summer here – equivalent to February in Australia, but a bit more humid). I wore a hat and sunscreen and still got burnt!

English classes:
In between practising for the sports carnival I've had a few English classes. This have gone quite well. I've talked about myself and Australia mostly.

In class the students are taught a very formal greeting, “Hello, how are you?” “I'm fine thank you, and you?” “Fine thank you.” While this works well in a classroom situation when they all say it together, they also respond this way down the street! Some time we might have to teach the students an informal greeting!

Lunchtime:
I've been having lunch with the students. The students have lunch at their desk in their classroom and there is usually a free desk that I can sit at. I've mostly been eating sushi for lunch (rice wrapped in seaweed with some sort of fish in it – but it's very cheap about $1 for a roll or a triangle) sometimes with some fruit. The students all have rice and vegetables with some meat in a lunch-box. It's been a good chance to spend some time with the students. Eventhough the conversation is limited we have been getting to know each other.

Yesterday I had lunch with the special education class. This was quite fun. I think they enjoyed having me and the teacher said I could come everyday! I haven't had lunch with all the classes yet, but I'll reserve Fridays to have lunch with them.

Out for dinner with the English teachers:
Last night the English teachers took me out for dinner. It was a great to spend time with them away from work. It was nice and relaxed and we had a good time getting to know each other better.

The food was rather interesting. It started off with a few pieces of raw fish (actually, I quite enjoy raw fish!) and some salad. Next came the main course. We were given the raw meat and vegetables and cooked it on the table in a very tasty broth. In the pot we had various bits meat, including stomach(?) it was rather interesting with a very strange texture. I guess I'll have to adapt to the beef in Japan - not quite what I'm used to in Australia. All in all, it was very tasty and the veges and tofu were particularly yummy!

So, when is Daniel coming over?
Daniel has been very busy at work recently, either he's thought of lots of things that he wants to do before leaving or has realised that when there is no misses to come home to he can work all night! We talk over on the computer everyday which makes it much easier. Daniel's visa is almost ready, so he'll probably come in the next 2 weeks or so (give or take).