Hanami and Footie

Sorry for the delay guys! I have been without internet for a couple of weeks or so. Time for an update on my last two weekends of fun, which have involved two things...one very Japanese...hanami, which is "flower viewing" and one very British...going to see the footie, but it was oh so very Japan-style.

The flowers that you "view" at a hanami party are called "sakura" or "cherry blossoms". They are Japan's national flower and their blooming is awaited with great anticipation (and much Japanese fuss) all year round. The joy and beauty of sakura and the hanami parties were sung at me on a more or less daily basis right from the onset of winter, as they would signify the start of spring and were just "so beautiful" etc. To start with, I was very excited, but, after a while (as I got to know more about Japan and it's fussing ways) I began to suspect that cherry blossoms were in fact just going to be exactly the same as the annoying pink blossoms that we get in the UK that are pretty for about 20 minutes until they got washed away by some drip drip drop little April huge fuck-off storms and become a horrible mush that sticks to your shoes. However, this time, Japan had a right to fuss. They were truly beautiful. The last of them are just fading now, which is such a shame, but there are so many trees that blossom all at the same time, which just floods the country in white, creating many a Kodak moment. A hanami party basically consists of sitting under the sakura trees somewhere and having a picnic and drinking yourself silly...so I was all up for a bit of that. I enjoyed myself very much, and it is nice to say that, after 4 months of feeling quite a lot like an icecube, that spring has FINALLY sprung! (except for the brief interlude of SNOW last Friday that I have still not forgiven Japan for yet.).

Last weekend, I did something very British...I went to watch a game of football (or soccer as I have disgustingly now started calling it, just to make myself understood by Japanese people). Me and some other English teachers went to see our local team play (and lose 3-1) in a home game in the second league here. The atmosphere was actually incredible. Forget your drunken racist wankers making slurs at every other fan/player/ref etc. (ok, so I'm a West Ham fan) and replace it with a very family atmosphere and thanking the players when they do well (or even when they don't), not criticising/abusing them. The guy in front of us kept shouting "Thank you goalkeeper" in English for some reason, even though our goalkeeper was truly awful. In the UK, I would be sure that that was sarcasm, but in Japan, I am equally sure that it wasn't. The chanting literally lasted from before the start until the very end, without barely a pause for breath (or even to actually watch the game), which suits me, cos 90 minutes is a long time right? Haha. The chants were ridiculously organised and joyous, with leaders announcing which one would be next and everyone joining in word-for-word. Me and my friends were maybe not so good at working out when to start and stop and how many claps to do etc, but it was great fun. I the Japanese crowd are wicked at the World Cup. In true Japanese stlye, I finished the day by buying a "strap" for my phone, which is a little string thing with the mascot on to hang on your mobile and jingle jangle wherever you go...no Japanese experience is complete without something cute and annoying like that.

The Big Graduation Ceremony....from Primary School??

In the UK, we only really have a big graduation ceremony of fuss when we graduate university. I have heard that in the USA, there is one for high school, but in Japan there is one for when kids leave primary school!! More worrying still...I have heard that even some NURSERY schools have graduation ceremonies!!

At primary school, everybody sings the school song and the kids apparently walk under some banners with paper flowers on them, and I imagine there are an awful lot of speeches and a hell of a lot of bowing! The academic year ends in March here, so the year 6 leaving events are all cropping up....they are numerous, fussy (any excuse) and slightly ridiculous as they will all be going to the same school next year anyway. It's all very emotional though it seems....at the "West" school, where the sixth graders are a NIGHTMARE half the time, and never listen or talk to me, they all ran up and asked me (well, I say "asked"...the didn't speak, the just shoved) to sign their English textbooks for them like some kind of celebrity! Ironically, I will be teaching them next year anyway at their next school, so they have plenty more time to ignore me yet! The East school's year 6 have finished their English lessons too, but I love them (and they love me a little bit I think), so while I'm still going to the school to finish off the lessons with some other classes for this academic year, the teacher has asked me to go to their PE lessons! I was "refereeing" volleyball the other day...the teacher says "Do you know the rules?" I said "No" ( I mean, I know the ball goes over the net, but it ends there.). He said "It's a game up to eleven points", I nod, look over at the net, waiting for the next rule and then turned around to find him gone, refereeing another game...so I knew that they had to get to eleven points, but just how that happened I had no idea....suffice to say that lead to a lot confusion and a LOT of points being decided by rock, paper, scissors (that is used ALL the time here)...it really descended into more of a rock, paper, scissors contest with a couple of hits of the ball sparsed in between.

Anyway, back to the year 6's leaving....my favourite thing so far happened today...the year 6 of the South school are having some sort of extra event on top of their graduation ceremony and this boy came into the staff room today, all nervous, and gave me an invitation to it, that he'd written in English and read it out to me and I swear he was shaking he was so worried...I am gonna type it for you here cos it's just too cute to miss....

"Hello Mr. Mark. I open the meeting of thanks in a gymunasium at 3.00 of March 15. In the meeting of thanks, I play a game and do laughter live broadcasting and a dance show or dinig together. Because I make it happy, please come by all means. From the class six years pine evening capital."

I can't even believe they managed to put that together...some of it sort of makes sense, right? I'm not sure what it is, and I certainly don't know what a pine evening capital is, but I shall let you know.


In other primary school news, I have been having a wicked couple of weeks, where all of my lessons have been going so well (touch wood) and I've been bonding with more of the kids. One of my special needs boys, who never ever speaks (he only really says yes or no in Japanese, let alone English...not because he can't speak, but he's just socially handicapped or whatever you call it) came up to me at the end of a lesson the other day and said "thank you" and then came running down the corridor to me the other day going "sign sign sign!!" waving a bit of paper (he's also year 6, so I won't be seeing him for TWO WEEKS until he starts the next school, so obviously he needs a signature to look at in the meantime). Anyway, he grins and waves every time he sees me now, and his name is Tiger, so it's one of the few I can actually remember, which is nice. I also bonded with this slightly weird year 6 girl in the East school (didn't realise she was weird until I did volleyball with them...I suppose volleyball just brings it out in some people, I dunno lol). She was crying and I patted her head and bought her with a sticker (they love a good sticker here...I told her it was from the UK, but it was actually from the pound shop down the road lol)...so anyway she loves me now too...she'll probably forget by the next time I go, but still...

So, to summarise this message...everybody loves me, but then you didn't need to read this to know that did you? End of.