hello again dear reader,
Since you have last read of my adventures I have managed to suddenly feel considerably more integrated in my communities here in Ojiya (and managed a significant amount of time wasting to boot!) Let's remember together the first ten days of September...
Last Wednesday the 1st was the first day of school. I had to give a 1 minute introductory speech at the opening assembly, which I managed with sufficient preparation. In hindsight I could have been more eloquent, but the whole assembly was very formal to the point of stifling, filled with all sorts of extremely polite speech. These niceties do not translate at all into English; I could here tell an anecdote about once when I was watching the anime Princess Mononoke in Japanese (and not the English dub, as I prefer for this specific movie) and being very put off by the jarring shift one character makes from brash everyday speech to a polite form, but I really don't want to bore you, and plus it's too late for that anyway. So suffice it to say, the assembly ended and the children immediately went back to Sports Day practice.
On Thursday for some reason there were some classes and I went to a second year class (the equivalent of 8th grade in the US) and they were very shy. I did my self-introduction for the first time of approximately ten million that I have had to do my self introduction and remarkably enough after that class I was already tired of it.
Saturday the 4th was finally Sports Day, or undōkai (運動会) - literally "exercise meeting/party." I finally got to see the completed puzzle after seeing the students diligently practicing all the pieces all week long. The whole school (600 students) was divided into 2 teams, the Red team and the White team (obviously) and each team was responsible to not only "try their best" (ganbaru 頑張る) "with all their might" (isshokenmei 一所懸命) at the games of physical strength and power, but was also judged on their spirit (kokoro 心) and cheer/support (ouen 応援). So while the White team really trounced the Red team at nearly all the physical games -- relay races, tug of war, a game with really huge balls, an odd game with teams of 4 and stealing hats, a tire-stealing game, and a very violent and aggressive capture the flag with large poles (that one boy actually needed to be carried away on a stretcher from) (he is fine, he just got thwoncked in the knee) --- the Red team overall had much more spirit and cheer. This was measured both in their multiple cheer routines during the various events, as well as the 6-minute, extensively choreographed cheer routines that both teams of 300 had to create and implement.
Throughout the day people kept asking me how it compared to Sports Day in America, and of course I said we don't have such a day in the slightest, and besides that we don't have many of the games on display, and besides that it was very rare in America for boys to be into cheerleading. And this was perhaps the funniest difference to the Japanese people, that in America cheerleading is almost exclusively for girls (and that this difference was the funniest for the Japanese people is perhaps the observation I think is funniest).
After clean-up, I went to my first enkai (宴会) "party or banquet" with my colleagues !!! I had been waiting for this event since I got to Japan, as it was the first time I was able to interact with my coworkers in a non-school setting. I had to give a speech here too, because it was both the post-Sports Day enkai as well as the new teacher welcome enkai, but this one was much more eloquent than the one I gave at the opening assembly. Enkai are also known as nomikai (飲み会) or "drinking party" and it was really remarkable to watch normally hardworking, diligent, self-composed people very quickly turn into college freshmen. I went to the nijikai (二次会) -literally "second-next party" but more loosely, afterparty- with about 9 others at a nearby izakaya (居酒屋, japanese bar) where they taught me a really great game. Imagine Russian roulette, but with sushi and wasabi--everyone takes a piece and one or two secretly has way, way, WAY too much wasabi. I thought it was hilarious the first two rounds, when we all put the sushi in our mouths and suddenly one or two people's faces turn to an expression of sudden horror. Even the third round when I won (lost, really) it was still pretty funny (at least it's funny now!) After all that happened last Saturday, I really began to feel comfortable with my place here.
Needless to say I woke up very hungover on Sunday and could not, unfortunately, go on a bike ride at 9am with the other JET who lives in my town. I finally met him after a month of nothing, and he probably seems like an interesting person but since the internet is a public place that is all I will say on this here.
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