Sports Day
October 3, 2007
My new article is out again in that citywide monthly publication I mentioned a while back. I knew because I walked into three different rooms today with someone holding the article up to my face saying, “hey, did you see this?”
They seem more excited than last time. Here it is:
Sports Day
I always marvel at how well the students and teachers get along at *****Junior High. My American junior high school experience was considerably different, and sometimes I wonder why there isn’t more unruliness to tame.
The school experiences that Japanese junior high school students receive from their teachers and peers is worlds apart from my own. For example, one practice not observed in American schools are the three big festivals. Last year, though still groggy and disoriented from the newness of my new island of residence, I vividly remember the events I witnessed at the Sports Festival.
The emotion and tension in the students’ cheering, the hysterical sobbing when the awards were doled out, and the confidence in the winning students’ speeches were all demonstrative of the incredible power of an intense cooperation like I had never seen. It was a fantastic introduction to Japanese way of life and thought. I was perplexed but jealous that such comradery could exist among them.
I continue to see this kind of cooperation throughout the year at various activities like the festivals, and in daily practices such as staff and students cleaning the school together and serving each other lunch. I feel fortunate to ever be invited into such cooperative activities. Thus this Saturday, I will happily be a member of Team Red at the ***** Junior High Sports Festival.
Afterwards I will enjoy another wonderful aspect of Japanese cooperation and comradery, imbibing sake with my fellow teachers and practicing my Japanese. It is times like this, when I am invited to share time with people over food and drinks, that I feel a little less foreign and more a part of a real life. This life has many differences from the one I had in America, but it feels thoroughly my own; it simply happens to take place in Japan.
I was a bit lazy on multiple counts; I didn’t dumb down my speech to make it easier for the translator, and I accidentally wrote “…the newness of my new island of residence…” Duh.
One of my advanced students told me he could barely read it, so I will consider myself in the clear this time…
