Rock Stars at Saijo Elementary School

Today was the first day we got to go to a school and experience the teaching environment in Japan. It was AWESOME!!! I had so much fun with the kids. They are characters. During most of the school year the students wear uniforms, but they just stopped because the weather is getting warmer. Although they do not have the clothing uniforms all the children have yellow hats, the same backpack and yellow umbrellas when it is raining like today. I got some really cool pictures of the kids, but the school asked us not to publish them on the internet. So you will have to come see me to see them. In the school, children change their outside shoes to inside slippers or shoes in a practice of keeping the building clean. Even the bathrooms have slippers! Some bathrooms, like one of the ones I used yesterday, is for men and women and both men and women use them at the same time! HA! Me and the bathroom talk. I am just fascinated.
So back to the schools. After each break the students have 10 minutes or so to use the rest room, go out and play or wonder around the halls. It is so much different from what we are use to and so much different from my ideas of the Japanese school system. Many of us found the school to be very chaotic, but in a fun and exciting way. I am sure that the students were just excited to see us also. This excitement lead to all 16 of us American teachers signing our autographs for the students on what ever surface they wanted, hand, hats, notebooks, little pieces of paper. It was great. I felt like a rock start. During lunch the students each lunch in their room with their teachers. They put on these white lab coats and face masks and get the food from the cafeteria to bring back to the room. They also bring serving utensils and plates and such. Then the students serve the meal in these same outfits. I included a picture of my "lunch" today. :{ I saw the fish on their and thought, "Oh boy, this is going to be interesting. They don't waste food, so suck it up Jen!" I tried to suck it up and almost lost my lunch by taking a bit of the little fish. It wasn't so much that they tasted bad, it was that they were squishy and I kept thinking about squishing their heads and eyeballs in my mouth! YUCK!
After lunch a group of students from each class cleans the room. They sweep, mop, dust and even CLEAN THE BATHROOM. The Japanese highly recommend that American teachers do this. The teachers help out in the cleaning also. I thought it was a pretty cool job. I'm sure our maintenance people might be a little upset about our students taking their jobs. They don't have the same rules for child labor here as the do in the U.S.
Most of the teachers were very understanding of our distraction to their class and we had a good opportunity to experience life in a Japanese elementary school. I have been finding that not very many places in Japan have air conditioning which makes for smelly Americans. I felt bad for the English teacher today. She is from Canada and is participating in the Jet program. She has been over here for 2 years teaching English to the students. She had sweat dripping down her face and didn't look like she was enjoying the heat. I felt bad for her. It wasn't even that hot today either. It was just more humid.
I have been thoroughly impressed with the amount of respect the Japanese people have given us and the opportunity they have given us to visit this city and their country and not only visit but pay for it too! They are awesome. Don't think I could stand to live here though. I revolted from Japanese food tonight and originally was on a hunt for McDonnalds, but the closest one was a 30 minute drive. So we settled for a more "American" restaurant. Much better. :) I even have a big roll for tomorrow so when my fishy breakfast doesn't fill me up, I can eat that!
I had a great day today and am looking forward to more school visits.