5th Graders, Go Fish, and Tears

Yes, I know the title of this is quite funny, but the sad part is that it is true. To make class more interesting for 5^th graders, the teachers’ book recommends the game “Go Fish”. Simple right? This was the last group of 5^th graders to play the game, so I thought I had all kinks figured out. I guess I overlooked the 5^th grade boy. All of a sudden, a seemingly easy game of “do you have blue shorts” -> “yes, I do…No, I don’t. GO FISH!” got way more emotional than it should have. It wasn’t my greatest moment, watching this poor 5^th grade boy cry because of a card game, but oh well, life must go on!

Last week was my last 5 day week of 2010! I’ve only got 3 more days of school and then I’m America-bound! I’m quite excited to see my family, although packing is going to be tougher than I originally thought (Christmas gifts really add up!).

This weekend I got a double dose of golf, which also meant I got nothing else accomplished. On Saturday, I was lucky enough to play with the Mayor of Mitake again and two other members of the town office. We played at a prestigious golf course, at least that’s what I translated from the conversations on the course. I played well and I must say, I’m really starting to enjoy the after golf onsen (hot spring) time. Every course has it and it really is just part of the routine.

On Sunday, I played with some of the teachers at a JHS in Mitake. This was the second time I played with them, and they are quite the characters. I learned some new Japanese phrases, some of which they said I shouldn’t say when playing with the Mayor. For all of you golf fanatics out there: in Japan, when you sky your tee shot, they call it “tempura”. Yes, like the food. Let’s just say, I couldn’t stop asking if they “tempura-ed” their tee shot for the rest of the day :) Being on the golf topic, I thought I’d clear up some golf differences from Japanese to American golf courses.

- Okay, most golf courses here have two greens.

- On Sunday, we played golf when the ground was still frozen, something that never happens in America.

- In America, you pay for the round before you play. In Japan, you pay after.

- In Japan, the cost includes breakfast, lunch, 2 drinks on the course, the round, the cart, and the onsen. If you think about it, golf is pretty reasonable.

- In Japan, golf cars seat 4 people in Japan and drive itself (pretty awesome).

We were learning country flags, since we are most commonly referred to as America, I asked the 6^th graders if they knew USA. They did. Then I asked them what USA stood for…That was amusing. The best response, “The United Super of America”. Personally, I liked it.

As I sit here at my desk, I’m listening to the fighter jets fly overhead, which is fine, but every time I hear them now, I wonder if North Korea is starting a new war. A war I definitely don’t want to be involved in.

On Tuesday, I had the privilege of eating lunch with the special education students. They are by far my favorite, most of them (there are 6-7 of them) will start a conversation with me, whether I understand what they are saying or not. This really doesn't happen in other school lunch situations. There is this one 4^th grade girl whose English level astonishes me. We were playing Japanese alphabet Karuta and she would look at a card and think of the word in English, 3 out of 4 times, she knew the word. One that really got me was bicycle. Back in October, the 6^th graders couldn’t understand what a bicycle was, I had to draw pictures. And here is the 4^th grade girl, just saying bicycle like its no big deal. I love it when simple things like that can brighten my day!