Meirin Elementary School
Even though today is a holiday for most students at the university, I woke up at about 7:30 a.m. to go to Meirin Elementary School, right around the corner from Kansai Gaidai. There were about 10 of us international kids, and 10 Japanese, and we were going to go speak to the first and second grade students there about our countries.
We got there at about 10 a.m., on foot, and passed through the gate. The only joint is gated off. There's even barbed wire around the athletic fields for some reason that I never found out. I would have brought my camera to show you, but we weren't allowed to take pictures.
Anyway, we started by going to see the principal and get the low down from him. We made name cards, in Katakana, and got a tour of the school. They took us to the older kids' classrooms first, starting at 6th grade I believe. The first thing I saw was a classroom of yelling 6th graders cooking. Their teacher was wearing athletic gear, like though swishy pants, and all the kids were cooking what looked like sushi. If your teacher has to wear athletic gear... well, let's just say I started to get a little nervous. Next, we saw the music room. 5th graders playing Pomp and Circumstance on about a zillion different sizes of xylaphones. They actually weren't bad.
That was the third (and top) floor. On the second floor were 4th graders reading kanji. They are much better at reading it than me. Then 3rd graders learning addition and such.
Then... downstairs... to the 2nd and 1st graders.
I got placed with four other international students and five Japanese students with the 2nd graders. And man were there a lot of them. 48 total, from two classes, I believe. The classrooms were right next to each other, and between them was a narrow, but open, hall. They all gathered there and sat on the floor and just looked up at these strange aliens who just appeared in their school building.
It started with a simple introduction. Just name and country. Then the kids broke into five groups and one international student and one Japanese student each went to a group. There we did more introductions. The kids had practiced how to introduce themselves in English. "Hello. Nice to meet you. My name is ____. Thank you." Some of them were really good at it. And those who weren't good got plenty of help from their classmates. I made sure to look at each kid while they did their introduction and say "thank you" when they were done. Then I was supposed to introduce myself, so I just used the same expressions they had used for me. Then they went around telling me their favorite animes. A lot of Pokeman fans. "I like X" was pretty much how it went.
After that, the groups switched so we could play games. They taught me their game and then we all played it together in that little hall. FIrst game was basically red light, green light. After that, it was a game where you lay your hands on the floor and everyone is close together and one person goes around touching each hand to the beat of a song. Wherever the song ends, that person is "It" for the next round. I think they went easy on me in this game, because sometimes the song would stop and it would be on me and they would just keep going anyway and the next person got it.
The next game was pretty hard, for me. You start by doing Jan-Ken-Pon. Whoever wins, they're the front of the choo choo train. So you have to put your hands on their shoulders and follow them around while they do JKP with more and more people until everyone is in one long train and one person is in front of everyone. But since I was way taller than then (hey, they're 2nd graders after all) I had to crouch down really far and my legs got tired. I have to admit I was relieved when that game was over.
The last game was basically duck duck goose. But instead of just tapping their heads, you have to sit with your eyes closed and your hands behind your back and someone will drop the handkerchief in someone's hand. For some reason, only boys were playing this game. Not quite sure why.
Then, we had a break. It was like I was a rockstar when we left the room. Everyone waved and wanted to touch our hands and stuff. We only went to the principal for a few minutes, warmed up, got tea and then came back though.
Then it was time for us to teach them games. I tried to explain "Heads Up, 7 Up," but needed some help from the Japanese students to do so. Still, I think they really liked the game when they got to play it.
Finally, then, time for foods. Japanese elementary school lunch. I was actually really interesting in knowing how this part would work before I went there.
The kids, even in 1st grade, actually serve themselves. They're pretty good. They can be trusted with ladeling out soup and distributing milk and everything. We got our own food, but then went back to the kids to eat with them. It was really fun. They were so curious about me. I ate with four kids, two girls, two boys. One, named Mio, said my eyes looked like water and were pretty. She was a really cool kid. She asked all kids of questions about things I like and America and stuff, and spoke slowly so I could understand. Still, I have trouble understanding spoken Japanese even now, so it was a little rough. They thought I was very old when I told them my age and thought it was hilarious that my favorite anime was Sailor Moon when I was a kid. And for some reason my arm really freaked them out. They were showing how they could see the vein on their wrist so I showed my wrist and they actually reeled back a little because the vein is so visible I guess. Then they had me hold my hand in a fist and touched the part just under the thumb and somehow determined from that that I will have one kid. Haha.
Unfortunately, that's when we had to leave for real. I was really, genuinely sad. I had gotten quite attached to Mio. I wish I could have given her my e-mail address or something, but I think it would have seemed creepy and perhaps been in appropriate. When we were leaving, she grabbed my hands and said "goodbye Michelle san." It was so sad.
When we were walking out, all the kids ran to the gates and I saw her again and made sure to say "goodbye Mio" so she knew I was talking right to her. Some of the kids were even climbing the gates and stuff to watch us for as long as possible as we left. It was so so sad. I want to go back and play wiht them every day. And I normally don't even like kids!
It's funny how much and how quickly they liked us though. If I get on a train, no one will even sit next to me and I hear them muttering "gaijin" to each other. But these kids were so open and willing to accept us and just loved having new people to play with it. It was a really refreshing change from the reactions we usually get.
I guess kids are just kids, everywhere you go. Except the thing about the eyes still kinda bothers me. I've gotten that reaction more than once now. I hope little Mio doesn't think her eyes are somehow not beautiful. I wish I had said something to that effect. Because she told me that nobody in Japan has eyes like water like me. So I wish I had said that that's fine and that her eyes are beautiful too.
She and classmates wore me out though. lol. I don't think I could process it all fast enough to respond most of the time. Almost as soon as I got home, I fell right asleep. Probably going back to bed rather soon too.
We got there at about 10 a.m., on foot, and passed through the gate. The only joint is gated off. There's even barbed wire around the athletic fields for some reason that I never found out. I would have brought my camera to show you, but we weren't allowed to take pictures.
Anyway, we started by going to see the principal and get the low down from him. We made name cards, in Katakana, and got a tour of the school. They took us to the older kids' classrooms first, starting at 6th grade I believe. The first thing I saw was a classroom of yelling 6th graders cooking. Their teacher was wearing athletic gear, like though swishy pants, and all the kids were cooking what looked like sushi. If your teacher has to wear athletic gear... well, let's just say I started to get a little nervous. Next, we saw the music room. 5th graders playing Pomp and Circumstance on about a zillion different sizes of xylaphones. They actually weren't bad.
That was the third (and top) floor. On the second floor were 4th graders reading kanji. They are much better at reading it than me. Then 3rd graders learning addition and such.
Then... downstairs... to the 2nd and 1st graders.
I got placed with four other international students and five Japanese students with the 2nd graders. And man were there a lot of them. 48 total, from two classes, I believe. The classrooms were right next to each other, and between them was a narrow, but open, hall. They all gathered there and sat on the floor and just looked up at these strange aliens who just appeared in their school building.
It started with a simple introduction. Just name and country. Then the kids broke into five groups and one international student and one Japanese student each went to a group. There we did more introductions. The kids had practiced how to introduce themselves in English. "Hello. Nice to meet you. My name is ____. Thank you." Some of them were really good at it. And those who weren't good got plenty of help from their classmates. I made sure to look at each kid while they did their introduction and say "thank you" when they were done. Then I was supposed to introduce myself, so I just used the same expressions they had used for me. Then they went around telling me their favorite animes. A lot of Pokeman fans. "I like X" was pretty much how it went.
After that, the groups switched so we could play games. They taught me their game and then we all played it together in that little hall. FIrst game was basically red light, green light. After that, it was a game where you lay your hands on the floor and everyone is close together and one person goes around touching each hand to the beat of a song. Wherever the song ends, that person is "It" for the next round. I think they went easy on me in this game, because sometimes the song would stop and it would be on me and they would just keep going anyway and the next person got it.
The next game was pretty hard, for me. You start by doing Jan-Ken-Pon. Whoever wins, they're the front of the choo choo train. So you have to put your hands on their shoulders and follow them around while they do JKP with more and more people until everyone is in one long train and one person is in front of everyone. But since I was way taller than then (hey, they're 2nd graders after all) I had to crouch down really far and my legs got tired. I have to admit I was relieved when that game was over.
The last game was basically duck duck goose. But instead of just tapping their heads, you have to sit with your eyes closed and your hands behind your back and someone will drop the handkerchief in someone's hand. For some reason, only boys were playing this game. Not quite sure why.
Then, we had a break. It was like I was a rockstar when we left the room. Everyone waved and wanted to touch our hands and stuff. We only went to the principal for a few minutes, warmed up, got tea and then came back though.
Then it was time for us to teach them games. I tried to explain "Heads Up, 7 Up," but needed some help from the Japanese students to do so. Still, I think they really liked the game when they got to play it.
Finally, then, time for foods. Japanese elementary school lunch. I was actually really interesting in knowing how this part would work before I went there.
The kids, even in 1st grade, actually serve themselves. They're pretty good. They can be trusted with ladeling out soup and distributing milk and everything. We got our own food, but then went back to the kids to eat with them. It was really fun. They were so curious about me. I ate with four kids, two girls, two boys. One, named Mio, said my eyes looked like water and were pretty. She was a really cool kid. She asked all kids of questions about things I like and America and stuff, and spoke slowly so I could understand. Still, I have trouble understanding spoken Japanese even now, so it was a little rough. They thought I was very old when I told them my age and thought it was hilarious that my favorite anime was Sailor Moon when I was a kid. And for some reason my arm really freaked them out. They were showing how they could see the vein on their wrist so I showed my wrist and they actually reeled back a little because the vein is so visible I guess. Then they had me hold my hand in a fist and touched the part just under the thumb and somehow determined from that that I will have one kid. Haha.
Unfortunately, that's when we had to leave for real. I was really, genuinely sad. I had gotten quite attached to Mio. I wish I could have given her my e-mail address or something, but I think it would have seemed creepy and perhaps been in appropriate. When we were leaving, she grabbed my hands and said "goodbye Michelle san." It was so sad.
When we were walking out, all the kids ran to the gates and I saw her again and made sure to say "goodbye Mio" so she knew I was talking right to her. Some of the kids were even climbing the gates and stuff to watch us for as long as possible as we left. It was so so sad. I want to go back and play wiht them every day. And I normally don't even like kids!
It's funny how much and how quickly they liked us though. If I get on a train, no one will even sit next to me and I hear them muttering "gaijin" to each other. But these kids were so open and willing to accept us and just loved having new people to play with it. It was a really refreshing change from the reactions we usually get.
I guess kids are just kids, everywhere you go. Except the thing about the eyes still kinda bothers me. I've gotten that reaction more than once now. I hope little Mio doesn't think her eyes are somehow not beautiful. I wish I had said something to that effect. Because she told me that nobody in Japan has eyes like water like me. So I wish I had said that that's fine and that her eyes are beautiful too.
She and classmates wore me out though. lol. I don't think I could process it all fast enough to respond most of the time. Almost as soon as I got home, I fell right asleep. Probably going back to bed rather soon too.