Today, finally, I got to go to my school, the Third Middle School of Tsuruoka, and meet the Prinicpal and Vice Principal. Ishikawa-sensei came to back me up, which was handy, because the heads of the school speak a little bit faster than my brain works in Japanese at the moment. Still, I was able to impress them by speaking Japanese (thank you, Meguro-sensei!), even if it`s still the initial “He said hello and strung a sentence together! He`s great at Japanese!” phase. We talked for a while about how hot it is in Japan (the soul-crushing humidity continues unabated, if you`re curious), where I studied Japanese, and how the Principal uses a lot of the Shonai dialect (which, from what I can gather, gets a bum rap for making you sound like a total country bumpkin).
Then, it was time for an assembly! Where I was to introduce myself in front of all the students! On stage, with a microphone! Huzzah! I figured this was coming, but hadn`t prepared anything. It was okay in the end though. The principal introduced a new English teacher (the current teacher is abroad in Canada, and returns Monday) first, and then me. I was a little more nervous that I imagined I`d be, because ALL THE KIDS WERE LOOKING AT ME, even when I wasn`t on stage. I knew this would happen, but it`s one thing to mentally say you`ll be fine, and another thing to experience it. Nonetheless, I did a simple intro speech in English (and one of the kids even said “Good Morning!” back to me. Extra points!), and then a similar speech in Japanese so they could understand me better. All the kids clapped for me as they`re supposed to, but it felt like there was some excitement in there. I hope so, anyway!
I probably won`t be back there until at least next Friday, though I`m supposed to visit my first elementary school then, too, so we`ll see what happens. Overall, I think I`m going to be pretty comfortable with the teachers here, and I can`t wait to actually start working!
頑張ります! (Ganbarimasu!; I`ll do my best!)
In other news, the Japanese Language Proficiency Test registration opens August 28th! That gives me just enough time to figure out which level I want to shoot for. Right now, my gut feeling is Level 2…my kanji (Chinese characters the Japanese borrowed to make writing harder but reading somewhat easier) skills have seriously deteriorated, and I feel like a functional illiterate sometimes (sorry, Meguro-sensei!). With a lot of practice I might feel confident enough to try for Level 1, but I`m thinking I`ll start with Level 2 and work up to Level 1 next July. Again, 頑張ります!
For now, though, I`m going to enjoy an evening with all the Shonai JETs as we celebrate the lovely Virginia`s birthday! You may remember Virginia from such blog posts as “Kanpai!” An on Saturday evening, we have the Yamagata Prefecture welcome party in the nearby (by car) city of Shinjo, and I`m not one to say no to the possibility of karaoke. Expect pictures if I can find some internet afterward!
Mata, ne!
I’ve been reading about the humidity levels and resulting heat stroke death count, which seem to have spiked this year. Do all of your assigned schools have air-conditioning?
Haha, air conditioning in the schools! Good one, Dad. In all seriousness though, the heat is really bad this year and the heat stroke count has spiked. Schools are typically not air conditioned nor heated though, so we’re toughing it out. So far so okay.
頑張れ、セミオ！
Knock the socks off the little munchkins!
How did they like the salt water taffy and cool Phillies hats? Or is that coming in another post?
Anxious to see video of karaoke…
No videos just yet, but there are some photos in the latest post.