Friday = Not the Last Day of the School Week!

Good afternoon from a sunny, beautiful Saturday in Senshu University High School. What??? Did I just use "Saturday" and "School" in the same sentence? Yes, I most certainly did. For many students in Tokyo, Saturday is just another school day. It is a half day. Here at Senshu, students have their choice of "elective" classes to take today - English, Music, Sports, more practice of other subjects, and many more. This morning we had the opportunity to sit in on a Cross-Cultural Understanding class, in which the Japanese students presented different aspects of their culture to the six of us ladies. These aspects included information about famous Japanese actors and actresses, a Japanese rock band, Japanese sports, Japanese horror movies (kind of disturbing, not gonna lie), and things girls do for fun here--photobooths and makeup. Fake eyelashes are REALLY popular here, and our students have already purchased them and are some are wearing them. Something about it just reminds me of drag queens, so I will stand firm with the eyelashes God gave me! Ha ha!

Yesterday (Friday) was another fun-filled and full day here. We started our day with a visit to Sennan Junior High School, about a 15 minute walk from Senshu HS. This is a public school that was built only about eight years ago, and WOW--is it beautiful! Something that is constantly standing out to me is how much character the buildings, streets, schools, and everywhere around us possesses. I can't imagine always being exposed to this much architectural beauty and artistic genius every day. We were taken around to various places in the school and had lunch with 9th graders (junior high here is 7th-9th grades). Like the elementary school, students eat their lunches in the classroom. There is no "packing lunches" allowed--rather, you eat what the school has prepared for you. This helps to keep things healthy, and as far as I'm concerned, it's a great idea because it forces students to eat what you give them--no picky eaters here, that's for sure! Americans are so much more close-minded when it comes to trying new things, and we have our own self-perceived set of foods we like and don't like. I'm trying to try EVERYTHING here--whether it's squishy, raw, or smelly. If I don't like it, I just don't eat any more of it, but at least I tried it!!! The students put on chef-like attire and serve their classmates in a cafeteria line style. Before we eat, we always say "Eat-uh-docky-moss," which means "thank you for our food." Or something like that. We had a nice time visiting the school, although it was VERY cold. We even got to sit in on a 7th grade music class! WOW--were those students ever talented!

When we returned, we were helped by Shoko and Mariko (our tour guides from the first day here) with writing our goodbye speeches for our farewell party. I already had a lot of mine written, thanks to the help of my dear friend, Juyoung, but I was able to add a few more phrases. I sure hope that everyone understood what I was saying, because I felt like a robotic record being played backwards!!! The farewell party was very nice, and we had a big turnout. We were given SO MANY gifts both last night and again this morning. I think I mentioned this earlier in my blog, but gift-giving is extremely popular in this country, both when you arrive and when you leave.

The night was concluded by Jen, myself, the principal, and 6 English teachers going out to a very nice, traditional Japanese restaurant where we sat on the ground, but our feet went into a hole under the low table. Man, oh man, did we ever have the food to try out! We tried everything from sashimi (raw types of fish you dipped in a sauce), shake-shake french fries, hard-boiled egg pizza, snap peas, fried chicken, raw cuttlefish (our least favorite), salad, grilled chicken and spring onions, fried string beans (tempera), and soooo much more that my brain can't remember right now. Once again, we laughed so hard tears came to our eyes as we did karaoke. Jen and I think that the principal found something we enjoy (karaoke) and are running with it. We've done karaoke 3 times within 4 nights! Needless to say, our throats are paying the price today, but the videos I have from the occasions are priceless!!! If you got paid for the most hardcore Japanese karaoke videos on youtube, I would hands-down be a millionaire by now. To my family and my students: Be prepared to laugh at all of my videos when I return!

Hard to believe that this is the almost the end of the road. At times this tripped seem to last longer than I expected, and other times it seemed to fly. Tonight Jen and I were taken by two of the English teachers to Asakusa, an "Old Tokyo" type of city that was packed with people (Dad, if you're reading this, I did the "Moooo" just for you!). I was able to get a lot of Christmas presents for friends and family back in the States. My students: I got you different candies and cookies to try! Everyone needs to try them...I think you'll like them! They are two of the most popular sweets for kids here in Japan.

We're continuing to have a meaningful time here in Japan, being treated like royalty, and making memories to last a lifetime. I would love to return to Tokyo again sometime, especially if it's with this program again. It is such a fantastic opportunity, and it has truly shown me that even though I am away from the school I know, learning never stops for me. I am constantly learning from those around me, relating it to what I already know, and seeing how I can turn it into a learning experience for my own 3rd graders. LEARNING NEVER STOPS!!! :-)