Opening Ceremonies

Yesterday marked the end of summer vacation: it was the first day of school, which was actually the first day of second semester. This meant a lot of things were different: I had to arrive one hour earlier, which translated into me being 5 minutes late. I had to dress more formally, which meant long sleeves, cuffs, and a collar. Fuji Higashi swarmed with kids, bicycles, and busy teachers. Being in a full teachers' room (with about 60 teachers, all returned from summer vacation) is like working at NASA, minus the headsets. Teachers in between rows of desks, talking in pairs. Teachers at their desks. Teachers carrying stacks of papers. Teachers dropping stacks of papers. Teachers helping students with homework. Teachers using the microwave. Teachers making tea. Teachers going back and forth between computers that work and don't work. Teachers talking to me in English. Teachers talking to me in Japanese.

And all the while I am sitting at my desk, repeating my short speech in Japanese over and over, hoping I won't forget anything when I introduce myself in front of the whole school (we have about 1,000 students).

The gym is under construction so the ceremonies were held outside in the heat. I felt bad for students, sitting in perfect rows on the ground, facing directly into the sun. All the girls had the same posture, with knees bent and feet out in front of them, arms wrapped around their shins. "I shouldn't be nervous because they can't see me anyway," I told myself. Everybody was squinting into the sun. At least my face was shaded and I had put on sunscreen. Some teachers stood with towels on their heads in an attempt to stay cool.

At some point I heard the principal say "Amerika" and I knew it was my turn to speak. I climbed up the metal stairs to the microphone. I was nervous and the students were sweating out their boredom. I pretended to be relaxed, hoping my real feelings would catch up with the mask. I leaned into the microphone and exlclaimed, "Atsui! (It's hot!). All the students laughed and that was enough for me to feel better. I made it through my speech, forgot the verb for "teach," recovered in a few minutes and finished okay. Evidently my speaking was up to speed, because for the rest of the day everyone approached me in Japanese. "I didn't know you could speak Japanese!" they all said excitedly. It was encouraging but also very frustrating. Learning a language requires a lot of patience, and I want to be fluent now. I can't speak Japanese - I had just memorized a few lines well enough to say them smoothly. But I was amazed and very humbled by how nice and encouraging everyone was. I'm very grateful to all these teachers for their kindess, so I hope I can repay them by doing a good job.

Today the students are taking an exam, all day long, so things are a bit quieter. I am exhausted from the excitement of yesterday. This morning I made a word search about me, made 330 copies, and now I'm putting the finishing touches on my first lesson plan.