week 7

So a whole week of proper teaching! The self introduction i had planned for the classes went well and i was pleased with the students response. The first yrs (ichi nensei) enjoyed the games and interacted after they realised they had to talk. This unfortunately was not something that the second years (ni nensei) realised. They sat in complete silence, uninteractive and shy beyond belief. I was practically singing, dancing and pleaing in order to get them to say at least one word answers and it was like trying to get blood from a sodding stone... roll on the next year! The third years (san nensei) however were brilliant and really good fun, although the girls still needed constant reassurance that it was good to talk and it didnt matter if they got things wrong.

Apart from the teaching i had a realllly busy week. Along with the usual tennis playing, i also ended up doing 13hr school days on tuesday and friday because i was practicing a dance routine that i had been voluntered for. The dance routine was to be performed with 3 other female teachers at the Culture Festival on saturday. I like a drunken dance to a bit of r'n'b and cheese, but a proper dance routine, on a stage, infront of 500 people, dressed in a cheer leaders outfit!?!?!? And this wasnt any old dance routine it was to a song by a japanese comedian who dresses up as a woman, and the song was about as fast as it could have been and so my routine looked like i was having some grand mal epileptic fit. But the kids really enjoyed me making a fool out of myself and i think it was a good way for me to have a laugh with the teachers and become part of the school. Shame it had to be videoed though...

The culture festival was a good day. It involved the kids putting on plays, performaces, games and dance routines to the rest of the school, parents and PTA. Each class also transformed their classroom into something for people to look at. The ichi nensei rendition of The sound of music was quite comical as was the brass band's performance of 'let's groove tonight'. The brass band were in fact excellent and i was really astounded by their ability.

On wednesday i also went to my first Taiko lesson!! Taiko is the traditional japanese drum playing. I thought a fly had more rhythm than me, but it turns out that i could actually do some of the drumming, and it sounded amazing! I got such a buzz from the evening. Not only was it great making such amazing rhythms but it was also fab watching some of the really good drummers play. They looked so fluid and graceful and made it look effortless, which it most definitely isnt!

Friday saw the long awaited arrival of my car!!! YAY! About time! It really is a god send. It is so nice not to cycle 2hrs a day! And it is the newest and nicest car i have ever had...my new baby..

On sunday i went with the tennis team to ishigawa prefecture for a tennis tournament. The location was stunning. The clouds were really low, and we were in between mountains with plentiful dark green trees around us. It was a fun day although i found it really embarrasing at times as i really wanted to talk to people but couldnt because of the language barrier :( But the tennis was good and i had my very own bento made for me by Nagata-san- or his wife should i say. My team of course won and i so we got little goody bags! This was the end to a good but exhausting week!