The All-School Volleyball Game

As a sort of farewell to the senior class, the lower classes wanted to play volleyball with them, so the school had all the students meet at a gym near the high school to play volleyball all day long. Now, I like volleyball. I really do, but to have to watch the games all day long... Shigata ga nai, I guess. It's a part of my job to be at school wherever that happens to be and to do whatever the teachers are doing. I have to admit, the first half of the day was fun. The kids are pretty good so watching really wasn't too bad. The horrific part was that there were six games going on all at once and then the kids on the sidelines would have balls of their own to practice with. I enjoyed watching the games, but the whole time I was waiting for some random ball to smack me in the face--hard because those kids can hit really, really hard. I recall watching this South Park episode where the kids play dodge ball with these Chinese kids whose throws are so powerful they decapitate players from the other team. An exaggeration, I know, but not too far from the truth from where I was sitting.

The other entertaining part of this game is looking at the team shirts. Each class was a team and they were able to design their own shirts--apparently without teacher supervision. I'm not sure about that, but I do know that some of what they wore would not fly at my old high school in America. I took pictures. Please, enjoy.

Here is the first one I saw. As there are very few Christians here, one of the teachers did ask if it was offensive. I said it wasn't and just commented on how strange it is to see one culture used as such in another where it is uncommon to see.

Then, there was this one:

Of course you have to have Kitty-chan:

Artistic smoking graphics:

This one was cute on the back

and the front. (By the way, yes, that is a boy pointing at his "Home Girl" t-shirt.)

Then, there were the ones where I figured out that the teachers had nothing to do with designing nor approving of the t-shirts that they, too, had to wear.

And this one:

And this one:

Yes, that is Bob Marley's head.

So, as you can see, left to their own devices, kids are the same the world over.

Chopsticks

I learned a sort of game from one of the students I eat lunch with. You take your waribashi (disposable chopsticks) and hold them at the tips. Then say the name of the person you like. As you say each syllable his or her name you move your fingers step by step up the chopsticks. When you run out of syllables, you break the chopsticks. One chopstick should represent you and the other should represent the one you admire. Typical waribashi chopsticks never break evenly, so the side with the most wood on it is the one who loves the other more, like this:

I'm represented by the stick on the right, so I am loved more. More often than not I am loved more, which I am reminded daily by a certain someone...

These days, though, I think about the environmental impact of all these waribashi and how wouldn't it be a great idea to have an eco club at school and have the students sell reusable chopsticks as a fundraiser and then donate the funds to some environmental organization or a scholarship fund for those wanting to study environmental sciences. That's just one idea I've had. I don't know how well it would go over, though. Maybe I'll ask my English club kids if they would be interested at all. We could read articles in English and discuss them, perhaps. Hmmm...maybe. I know I would like to start a Save the Environment club at my school when i return home. I wonder how many kids would be interested. We'll see.

I found a couple of websites, by the way, discussing the impact of waribashi. Here's one to get started if you're interested:

http://www.well.com/user/indigo/donna/waribashi/faq.htm

And here's a blog about what one group has been doing with waribashi. It looks pretty cool: 

http://waribashiproject.blogspot.com/2005_06_01_archive.html

Tea Ceremony

I took part in a tea ceremony last week. All the kids were doing it. I just wanted to take pictures, but everyone was waving me to come in so I did. I watched for a little while, then several students tried to include me buy setting a cup of tea in front of me. I had watched for a little bit and understood part of it, so I thought, "okay, I can do this." I was wrong. 

Tea ceremonies are haaaard. You have to remember to say certain things at certain times--not that I understood all that I was supposed to say. My favorite was the one thing that was translated for me. When you have finished drinking your tea, you set it down and bow and say something to the equivalent of "goodbye, little cup." Everyone was very nice and patient with me, though. I'm glad I did it with all my students who were learning and running around and posing for pictures with the women dressed in kimono. I was, however, a little dismayed when the tea ceremony teacher was trying to tell me what to do in Japanese and turned to the student next to me to ask her to translate and she waved her head and hand frantically to show she couldn't. Aah, but that's a teacher's life sometimes.

Fruit Customs

Before coming to Japan I read all about different customs and traditions and all about typical life in Japan as to better prepare myself for fitting in, as well as an American could, in Japan. Today I learned something new that I never saw or read anywhere. Granted, a lot of what I know about customs comes from manga, anime, and Japanese movies and TV shows. But even with all that I had never seen or heard about what I learned today.

I eat lunch at my base school with one other teacher and a few students. We eat. They talk in Japanese and I try to keep up. Every now and again I make them speak in English and I only speak in English to them (usually). Today, however, the body language was very clearly in communicating the students' shock as they watched me bite into an apple. ...I know. It struck me as very odd that they would think it was strange that I was biting into an apple and not peeling, cutting, and then eating it slice by slice. In my head I quickly ran through every manga or anime where I would have seen a character eating an apple. Of course Light and Ryuk jump to mind first. Did L eat apples? What about Naruto? Surely the uncouth Naruto would have simply bitten into an apple, perhaps without even washing it. Then I realized just how much I rely on Japanese pop culture--manga and anime in particular, to base my everyday experiences and expectations on. Truly astounding when I realize just how accurate those characterizations truly are in general. Now, of course, people are not exactly how they are in manga and anime just as not all Americans look and act like they are portrayed on Family Guy or South Park. But some of it is based in reality, based on a general stereotype of Americans.

All in all, I just thought it was funny that my students were so shocked at something so very commonplace for me. I wonder what will shock them next week...