July 26, 2015
With it being summer vacation for the students, the teachers have so much free time! And by teachers, I mean I have so much free time. The teachers surprisingly are still pretty busy. But the environment at school is a lot more relaxed when children are not there.
The students have been on vacation for about a week now.. But there are still some students that come in for extra help in math. All the teachers take part in it except me.. which is probably a good thing.. I would be no help to those students. To commence the start of summer vacation, every school has a closing ceremony. What goes on I’m not exactly sure but certain students are recognized for something. The ceremony lasts for probably an hour.. maybe hour and a half and then the students are free to go and the teachers go back to the teachers room for a party! Just kidding, there’s not party. So far, I’ve been using my time at school to clean out the junk the person left before me, and create lesson plans for when the students come back! Oh and I did some arts and crafts for my lessons.
Since school got out, it’s been pretty relaxing. I got to go to a professional soccer game with my teachers. Every year, the teachers at the school go on an outing together I think it’s usual just a one day thing. Some schools go to Tokyo and tour around and some schools (like mine) go to sporting events. We saw Kashima Antlers play the Saitama Reds. Both are Japanese professional and both are amazing! First off the stadium is huge! I think someone told me it holds 40,000 people or something like that.. And, the food was good! Game food here is way different than America (go figure). Instead of hot dogs, there’s curry, katsu curry, yaki niku (basically meet on a stick), ramen, and udon. You know, stuff people pay a lot of money for in the states…. And we can get it here for 100-500 yen! I think that’s about $1-$5..?
This was my first time going to a professional soccer game and this experience is definitely makes the 3 sporting events in my book. I would say it’s almost as good as a hockey game. The game was really cool to watch! The way the players handled the ball was pretty awesome. Plus, the fans were crazy! Not crazy like in America but crazy energetic! I don’t know what soccer games are like in other parts of the world, but, if they’re anything like the one I went to I highly recommend going to one! I don’t think there was a moment when the fan section wasn’t chanting or singing. They’re situated right behind the goal and they were waving flags, had section leaders, and drummers! It also probably helped that our seats were the third and fourth row in the center(ish) of the field… Just a little.
Not going to lie, I was worried about going on this teacher’s outing because there is a slight language barrier. But with our combined efforts, we were able to communicate fine and have a good time. Besides, when you’re both into the game as much as we were, does language really matter? (hint: the answer is no..) After the game, we chased after our Principle through the crowd to get to the cars (one teacher might have compared it to playing Pokemon Go).. Who knew a woman of a stature that looks fragile could move so fast?! I need to take some lessons from her because she can weave through people like nobody’s business!
Now, I get to look forward to getting to see my brother and my mom (at different times) and, going to Tokyo Disney Sea! What’s Disney Sea? I’m not 100% sure, but, my students tell me it’s better than Disneyland! Also, since it’s August (almost), it’s festival time!!! Beginning of August Mito has a fireworks festival, the week after is Obon and there are a bunch of other festivals in there too. I’m going yukata shopping with a friend so we’ll (I) will blend in with the crowd! I hope my friends don’t lose me ?.
