Slow day today. I have no classes today and the Vice Principal isn't here, yay! I mean it's not only fun and exciting for me though. When the VP is here, the atmosphere is always quite stifling so I'm always leaving the room and doing something, whether it'd be talking to students or just dropping in random classes. It helps me out because I get to talk to students and I'm not in the room, and it wakes the students up because they get all excited when they see me coming. I remember the first time that the VP wasn't in the office, it was like two months ago...
Whenever you walk in to a room, you have to greet. Whether it's morning, afternoon, whatever, it brings attention to yourself so everyone knows you're here. The person who enters the room is the one who must greet everyone first, then wait for a response back, since that person is the one who's intruding...well okay maybe not intruding, but some people make it feel that way. Some people, after giving a greeting, are ignored. It has nothing to do with that teacher as a person, just if people in the office are too busy, or aren't paying attention, the person entering won't receive a greeting back. I mean the culture insists that you must say some kind of greeting when you walk in, so it sucks to not get a response back, according to Japanese people. There are about 8 regular teachers that are in my office (including the VP), but only like 4 or 5 would be in the office at one time, because of classes and stuff. So when I walk in and greet, only like 2 or so would say anything, and that's okay! As long as one person greets back, then it's acknowledged. When the VP is in the office, that's the norm. Only rarely have I gotten no response, but it doesn't really "hurt" as much as Japanese people describe when it happens to them. Sometimes I would walk in, and the VP wouldn't be at his desk, but there would be books open on his desk that shows that he was there, so that just means he's not in the office and he'll be back soon. So, imagine MY surprise when I walk in, VP's not there, no books out showing that he's there, and when I say my greeting, I get 7 voices at different sound levels greeting me back. So I'm like, okay, what the hell is going on and what's this strange atmosphere of relaxation and amiability? Only to find out that yes, the VP was on a business trip and won't be here for the rest of the day (Wednesday). I'm like, "Oh....(YES!!)," and just the way the teachers were when the VP wasn't there shows that they too feel this weight lifted off of them for 9 hours. This happens two more times in a row and those three days were three of the most relaxing days I've had at the job. The VP is important because he takes care of vacation days, so all teachers have to go to him, ask if it's okay if they can take nenkyuu, then withstand his stupid and unnecessary questions. I mean, it's not only me that thinks that! The Japanese teachers of English and even other teachers tell me all that time, "...he asks questions that make no sense and expect me to answer them," or "he complained that my kanji is too big," and other stuff like that. I mean he did that to me once.
I was getting Golloyds set up (you can send money from your Japanese account, to your home country's account, good stuff), and I needed to photocopy my passport. Most foreigners in Japan know that you have to carry your passport with you at all times, in case you're harassed by a police officer. If you're caught without a passport, the officers will chuckle and put you in jail. After living here for more than a month, you need to get a foreigner ID card and after you get that, you don't have to take your passport with you everywhere, because(of course) you CANNOT lose your passport. So, I had no classes, and it was quite the relaxed day so I wanted to hurry and finish the application. Although I don't think I had to ask him, I was told that I should ask him if I can go back to my apartment and pick up my passport. I don't feel as though I had to, simply because I wanted to do it during lunch time and whatever I do during lunchtime is my business. But anyway, I was told that I should, and I did. I go, "Hi. (while showing him the forms that are in Japanese) I need to complete this form to send money home (which is mad obvious because it's in Japanese, but you have to be specific), and my passport is in my apartment so may I please go get it?" This moron, "Why?" I go, "????....to send money home to my family....here it is on the application that I'm filling out right now that says that I need a copy of my passport." This guy, "Yes, I see that...but why?" I'm like, "???????????" I don't know what the hell he's talking about, it's quite simple really. Then he talks to one of the JTE's in Japanese about me, and obviously I understand him, he indirectly asked me why is my passport in my apartment. I indirectly answered that I don't have to bring my passport everywhere after I get my foreign ID card, if I lose my passport then I can't leave. You would think though, that someone who has dealt with other ALT's and must have for years would f***ing know that. Whatever. I still think I didn't have to ask him.
He's the annoying father figure of EVERYONE, even people slightly older, or the same age as he. It's due to his position of course, but he watches over everyone and jumps on their case if it seems like they're not doing work. He's the one that scolds students AND teachers, so teachers feel an extreme amount of pressure to do well and not be scolded, so I can only imagine how the teachers that are in this room feel. It's quite the position of power, perhaps TOO MUCH power.
So most people at the office have long since mastered the ability of looking busy without actually being busy. It's quite the thick veil, I mean I'm always fooled until I ask one question, and I end up getting speeches and history lessons, all the while thinking, "Yes...this is your fault...you shouldn't have asked about tangerines and Korean snow...." and just patiently wait until it's over before I smile, give a slight "thank you" nod and go back to doing something else. So when the VP comes back, it's back to that stifling atmosphere.
Today though, it's quite relaxed...people are laughing lol...like so. I can't sit in the office all day, despite that, so I'm going to go the crazy kid class since they're going to watch a movie..."You've Got Mail," ugh...I know, but the lady JTE here LOVES Meg Ryan...for whatever reason.
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I've been here for 8 months now...it really doesn't feel like it though. The ALT position arranges it so new ALTs end up coming in during the 2nd semester of Japanese high schools, which is a little silly, but I think that convinces me that JET prefers recent college graduates. I arrived here in late July, early August after graduating from college in May. The new school year in Japan starts in April, there are 3 semesters and seniors graduate in March. So I got here during the 2nd semester, during the month long summer break that the students had. I'm not sure if it's ACTUALLY a summer break because there were still plenty of students coming because of their club activities.
The graduation date for high schools, Japan-wide, is March 1st. I've only known the seniors for about 7 months, but I've gotten to know all of them because this is such a small school. Of course they had their annoying moments; the "cool" ones who decide English isn't worth knowing so just sit there or just talk to their friends. Strangely enough though, it seems like the ones who are "bad" kids tend to be the ones who know more about Jamaica and reggae than just Bob Marley :-\.....
There were the girls that didn't really give a damn and would fall asleep, despite sitting in the front row...yeah...that's MAD rude lol, but it's okay; a giant book accidentally falling near their ears tend to clear that up quite easily. Even those girls though, would be incredibly chatty outside of class, in Japanese of course. One time, I ran into them at the arcade and those girls were dressed in very....I guess you can say provocative clothes, tight short dress, tights and thigh high boots with more than enough make-up. I'd look at them and go "Aahh! Where are the rest of your clothes??" in Japanese, of course, and I'd get, "Haha, sensei is soooo cute! Picture! Picture!!!" (No that's not me, it's a friend).
However, there were some students that were genuinely interested in learning English and would try and use it outside of class. Those tended to be the ones that wouldn't need Japanese translation and would translate for everybody else in class. At times I would speak Japanese to them outside of class and I'd get the not-oft heard "ENGLISH PLEASE" demand. Then I'd have to go "Okay okay.....if you want!" There's this one girl who is literally one of the cutest girls ever. She is sooo shy! She's only like 5 years younger than me since she graduated, but still! She participated in an English debate contest, in which those results REALLY pissed me the hell off.
A little about the debate contest: For whatever reason, the judges seemed to give points to high energy, not the difficulty of the piece that students choose. They also decide to give EVERYBODY praise and not give any actual constructive criticism, so the students would be left to wonder they received comments like, "Good energry! Wonderful speech!"... only to be in last place. The judges were other ALTs from different parts of Miyazaki. Also, you'd have some cheery girl who memorized the easiest English fairy tale ever (which was actually a Japanese story just translated into English), against two of MY students who actually picked substantial material. My male student picked one of Obama's speeches, and the cute girl picked an excerpt from Charlie and Chocolate Factory. They both struggled with some pronounciation, which is natural since it's a little difficult to get the English intonation while trying to pronounce "religion." In any case, the pieces didn't seem to matter, so I was quite bitter. I was and so was another ALT from Miyakonojo. She had her best student (all of her students have a higher level of English than my students because of the type of high school she has) memorize and act out a college level piece, and she didn't even place either, but whatever! That's how the (faulty) grading system works.
Also, in Japan, if you have a Japanese parent and a non-Japanese parent, you're called a "half." Yes, that's quite offensive since of course it's not supposed to be honoring the pairing. There were some kids who competed that had a non-Japanese parent, but it's a toss up. Some parents decide to not teach their children the language of the non-Japanese parent, while some do. However, the ones who do teach their children the language of the non-Japanese parent, whether it be English or not (I will talk about non-Japanese, English speaking people because of the English debate contest), clearly have an advantage over the students who don't hear and speak English at home. At the same time, there are some children who know zero English and struggle with consonant and vowel pronounciation like any other Japanese child there. So, is it unfair that those children, who are taught English at home, are allowed to compete and are almost guaranteed to win? I don't know. It can be said though, because some Japanese people are completely intolerant of a bi-racial child (When I say that, I'm referring to one parent being Japanese), being fluent in another language and knowing about another culture might be the only advantages they have when living here (unless they become a famous entertainer, singing, dancing, dramas, whatever).
Getting back to the topic at hand:
There were ups and downs, once time was drawing closer and they had their post high school plans figured out (out of 168, most of them are going straight to work, about 17 of them are going to college), most of them had some serious senoritis. Even the good ones that understood most of my English would just kind of...hang around...stare blankly at everything. Most of the teachers were shocked and angry at how the students acted, so I had to explain that this is quite common... worldwide, I'm sure.
So, you know, if the good kids had senioritis, the bad kids DEFINITELY had it and made my life slightly more difficult for 50 minutes. It was all in good fun though, I would call on them for answers and chuckle about how they didn't know anything. Fun stuff...
So fastforward to March 1st, typical long, drawn out speeches from random people, which had like, half of the people in the audience (kids, parents and teachers) knocked. Everyone must know by now that long speeches put people to sleep, but everyone does it...without fail. Even though the graduation felt unbelievably long, it was actually only like 1 and a half, 2 hours. It started at 10am. That's not TOO bad, but that was only because there are technically two graduation days. It's March 1st, and the day before. However the official graduation day, where parents come and people dress up, is March 1st. I CANNOT imagine what would happen if graduation happened only one day. ;-\
Once everyone woke up to sing some songs (one of the Japanese graduation songs is actually that "Auld Lang Syne" song that everyone sings for New Year's..I don't know either), it was the students' turn. The way this graduation goes is, they call out one student at a time, the student says, "Hai!" and stands up. Then one representative from that class goes up on stage and formally accepts a graduation certificate for the whole class, then everyone bows together and sits down. After 4 of those, during the last one, there was one student who was chosen for the WHOLE graduation class to go up on stage make a speech to everyone. That someone...was my cute, serious student from the English debate and from class. She goes up there, and her voice is so shaky when she talks because she's so nervous. It was a very nice speech about the good memories that she had being here...then as she was thanking parents and teachers and saying goodbye to her high school friends, her voice broke and she started crying as she was talking. I could not tell you, how that made me feel. Everyone in the room felt the emotion and sadness as she was talking, and some students were crying because she started as well. Once she returned back to her seat, the formal exit of the students started. While the students leave by class letter, you have to clap for about 10 minutes until it's over. I had to be one of the strong ones for students, but then I saw so many students and teachers, especially my best students crying and even some of the male teachers and students crying (one of them was my Obama speech guy), there was nothing I could do. Quite a few tears escaped, even though I didn't want them to. After that emotional scene, me and plenty of the other students were on the verge of tears for the whole day. Afterwards though, it was just joking around in a relaxed setting until the eventual parting.
After the graduation, you would think that they would leave since they've graduated right? Nope. The students had to return to class with parents and all the students were given individual official certificates of graduation and had to say a few words. Homeroom teachers are with the students for the whole year and they are regarded almost as parents to the students because the students are in school for so long. So it was understandable that the teachers getting extra emotional were the homeroom teachers. I went into all of the classes and took pictures, I didn't want to say anything because I was still near tears by then, so I just cracked some jokes during picture taking and went along to the next class.
I told the students who were in the English club (the 5 who were quite helpful during class and knew more English than most students) to find me so I can take pictures, and they pointed out that they wanted me to sign their yearbook. I didn't mind. The rest of the day though...was quite hectic. My camera died during picture taking so I had to bike back to my apartment during lunch time to get my charger, order some food along the way, and make sure to get back before they leave. They were going to leave at like 130, and lunch time started at like 12, so I didn't have that much time left. It was quite an exhausting day, to make the rest of it short though: I picked up the wrong USB charger, so I had to run all over the school to find the teacher who was in charge of the school digi camera. The "bad" kids kept on following me around because their "bad friends" wanted to meet me since they told them that I'm Jamaican. They followed me around just so they can say "BOB MARLEY!" but whatever. I got the food but I wasn't able to eat it for another 2 hours since I had to take all those pictures of the students and chat with their parents who were very adamant about meeting me and touching my hair. I already had food, but one of the parents "honorably offered" that I take her giant bento box. Some of you don't think that's a bad thing, BUT those of you that are here realize that it's a just another freakin' thing that I'm gonna have to properly recycle.
It was all worth it however, as I was walking down a hallway after I returned the camera, I ran into the girl from before who I told to find me. She was like "Hey! There you are! We're all waiting for you in your office!" I was like "Ooh crap", so then I had to run back to find that damn teacher again to get back the digi cam then run up to my office. There were a lot of students there, more than those that were in English Club of course because they all wanted me to sign my their books in English, I didn't mind. After I translated it for them, the ones from the English Club gave me hugs and wished me luck in the future. One of the last girls, her voice broke as she was saying goodbye to me and I was like "No, no no! Don't cry! If you cry, I'll cry! Don't do it!" as my voice was getting all shaky. Yeah, we both failed that... but overall, all of them, including the "bad" kids, were good kids and I hope they do well in the future.
All that happened before 2pm, so after the students finally went home, I found some of the other students, 2nd graders and 1st graders still hanging around for club activities. There's this 2nd grader duo, one plays the guitar and sings back up while the other sings. They performed for the cultural festival and decided to do an impromptu concert for the chicks. They attracted a giant group of adults and students. They're quite good! One girl started crying while they were singing..... yeah, I dunno either...I mean it's not like she won't see them like...tomorrow lol. Most of the 3rd graders who were still there stuck around just for the impromptu concert and everyone sat around until the singer was like "Alright....I'm done singing..." I left school normal time, around 4:15. The graduation was on Saturday and Sunday, I had a day off on Friday and had another one on Monday. I didn't realize how exhausted I was until I saw my futon....sweet, sweet futon. :-)
It's interesting seeing the new students, and getting the "Omg it's a black girl!!!" stare, but I'll just do what I did when I first got here. That was a sad day, but then life moved on and in come the new wave of students. I have a feeling though, that this is going to be a good year.