Opening Ceremony

Yesterday was the opening ceremony for my middle school. I heard “ceremony” and “dress” so I assumed that this was to be a formal affair. I mean I was going to have to come in on a Sunday. Surely it would be worth it right? So I wore a black suit. Something I thought would be appropriate for a ceremony and making a good first impression on everyone. Turns out I was a bit overdressed. I was definitely the only one wearing a tie and one of about four people wearing a tie. To add insult to injury, this “ceremony” was held in the gym. Which was about 10 degrees warmer than the outside. So picture me in a suit in the middle of nasty Japanese summer with about two to three hundred casually dressed Japanese people around me. I was about to sweat to death and was using a fan to try to stave off my incoming heat stroke when one of the office ladies informs me it’s rude to use a fan during the ceremony. She has made the list and is going to work pretty hard for me merely to hate her.

The ceremony itself was short and cultish. One teacher was going up and down the aisles and making sure each of the students were correctly sitting/standing/resting. Two of these postures Nazis had been nominated for the morning affairs. Say what you what about the hell we all endured at Antioch Middle School, but I was never reprimanded for not having my hands placed a correct distance apart while in the resting position. Also at the ceremony, teachers were handing out sports awards for summer tournaments that apparently the entire school had been participants. If the students did not say, “HAI!” when their name was called, they were asked to sit back down and respond properly. (“hai” literally means yes and is used as a way of saying “I understand” “I’m here” or “I’m listening”)

Today was the actual first day of school. It’s not really, but on the calendar it is. They have been practicing for the sports festival all day and will continue to practice all week. Which means I sit in the office with nothing really to do. This morning I “graded” papers for one of the English teachers. The students were supposed to fill 20 pages with English writing. It didn’t matter what the words were, it was only a writing practice. I think out of 80 students, only one had less than 25 pages filled. Almost every student had exactly 25 pages in their journals. To me it’s no different than our middle school way of doing the least amount of work possible to survive onto high school. The only difference is that here overtime and extra work is pretty much mandatory even at this age level. It’s mind-boggling.

I made a slide show on PowerPoint for my self-introduction lesson that I will do at an elementary school on Friday. I thought it was pretty clever. I’ve assigned a picture and a word with the ABC’s to introduce myself. Like K is for Kansas. D is for Dog. Etc. I figure it’s more interesting than just talking for 30 minutes. Plus I can really use it for all levels by adding on more information to each letter or asking questions at the end. And to think I majored in International Studies.