Whew! And there goes another month . . .
May was great because we had three big events: Golden Week (three consecutive national holidays), Ferris' Sports Day (体育大会= taiikutaikai), and Ferris' annual excursion (遠足= ensoku).
I'll start with pictures of Sports Day. At this event, the entire school was divided into four teams (A, B, C, and D). Each team was a different color: A = red, B = white, C = blue, and D = green. Every team had all six grades represented, so the ability levels based on age/development were represented fairly. In the end, the blue team won.
Really, I should be calling this event "Relay Games Day" because they didn't play any sports. Most of the activities were running relays, ball games, or dance-style performances. In the above picture, the girls had to throw as many of their teams' color balls into the net within a certain period of time. The team to get the most balls in the net was the winner. There were also a few gold balls for each team, worth a lot more points than the regular ones.
The video below is an impressive formation they made during the S2 students' (11th graders) fan dance. It was really awesome to see their entire class (all 188 of them) doing this dance completely in sync with each other. Their lines were ruler-straight and their motions so tight and fine-tuned that it was as if they were all one person. It was so impressive.
The next picture below is from the white team's cheer/dance. Each team prepared a cheer, then the teachers and staff had to vote on which team was the best. The judging criteria included such things as neatness of formation, uniformity, enthusiasm, creativity, etc. I can't remember who won, but I thought they were all pretty entertaining. Really, they're just cute. :o)
The next two pictures are from when I was walking around, cheering on my students. They were all so surprised to see me, as if they didn't think I'd be there. I showed them -- of course I wouldn't have missed it!! They were all excited to take pictures with me. Aren't they so cute? These are of my J1 students (middle school, first year).
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take any pictures from our "ensoku," or school excursion. I went with my S1 students (senior high, first year) to 金時山, or Mt. Kintoki. It took us a couple of hours to finally reach the summit, but when we did, the view was absolutely breathtaking. I'm so sorry I didn't take any pictures! Actually, I was designated as the photographer with the school's camera, so once the students learned that I had the yearbook camera, they kept me busy by asking me to take their pictures rather than letting me take pictures with my own camera. Bummer. That's alright. There's next year, too, right?
Anyway, on this day, we reached the top right around lunchtime, so it was planned perfectly for us to bask in a beautiful view while enjoying each other's company. The day before, I bought a TON of snacks so I could walk around to all the students and offer then some treats. It was "bonding" time . . . tee hee. I also brought some left over rice krispy treats from Green House' gathering the night before. The students loved them. Yumm. After all the excitement, it took us only about half the time to descend the mountain. Our group actually got slightly lost. The other teacher and I were having fun talking and didn't notice where the group in front of us went. Oops. We all made it back just fine, though. In the end it worked out. The poor girls were getting nervous, especially since one of the teachers leading them was a gaijin. They probably had less faith in me. At the end of the day, after the long bus ride and bathroom stops, we finally reached Landmark Tower in Yokohama around 5:00. We left that morning at 7:30. Whew...what a long day.
Well, as for the month of May, that's about it. Besides these major events, the month was all about adjusting to our new schedules and routines. I feel like the school year is off to a good start with my new students. I'm excited to see what God has in store both at school and at Green House. Thank you for your prayers~~!
