Last Friday was my school's annual sports festival!! I think it was one of the most fun days of my year! We had been preparing in PE since April, learning our dance routine and marching routine, and in the past couple weeks things really picked up. Students spent any free time practicing for the events, even skipping lunch and staying after the bell in PE, a dedication I wouldn't expect to see in America... The week before the festival, we took half a day off of classes to hold preliminary rounds for the 6x100m relay and do a practice run-through of the other events. The relay is the biggest deal, and only some teams get through the preliminaries to race at the festival. My class is fast, and both of our relay groups got second in their rounds and one would have gotten first but a girl fell. It was really intense, we all screamed when she fell, and there were a lot of tears afterward from the classes that didn't make it.
Finally, full of nerves and excitement, we all met Friday morning at a large indoor arena obnoxiously far away. I had to wake up at 5am and my friends who live farther had to wake up even earlier. The other classes came in their PE uniforms but us third graders had to wear our fancy uniforms for our formation marching, something only the third graders do. Like at the fall school festivals, everyone tried to look their best, girls sneaking eyeliner and wearing their hair in the braid styles they'd been practicing, boys trying to get away with hair gel. The entire day was filled with cellphone selfies and general picture taking.
After some last marching practice before the other grades arrived (they staggered us so we wouldn't overflow the transportation system), we had our morning assembly and started the day's events. One of my events, the 50 meter race, was first, which I was glad of. I got second in my heat of six and most of the girls from my class got first. Then was my favorite event of the day, bōhiki! It's kind of difficult to describe, and being in it I couldn't take pictures, but I'll do my best. The participating girls (a girls only event) from each grade were divided in half, on opposite sides of the arena, with eleven ~12ft poles lying on the floor in between. There were three rounds, all with different girls, and each side was broken into groups of four for each pole. Everyone ran forward to grab the poles and take them back to their sides, with a tug-of-war when people from both sides got a hold of the same pole. The best part was that after we were done with our first pole, we could go help with other poles still being fought over, so there were sometimes 40 girls swarming one pole. It got kind of violent, with lots of screaming, and everyone watching said it looked really scary. It was a lot of fun, and my side won all three rounds :D
Then was the relay, and unfortunately one of our fastest boys was injured on crutches and another was in trouble with the police for driving a motorcycle without a license or something and couldn't come... So neither of our teams did as well as they could have, and there were some tears over that :( Our 10 person/11-legged race team did well, however! I liked how they had big mats at the end so the teams could collapse face forward to finish. The cheer/baton club performed and were very impressive because they practice for hours everyday. The dance club was also very good, in cute Mickey/Minnie outfits. My second favorite event to bōhiki was kibasen, where teams of three boys carried a fourth one wearing a baseball hat and ran around trying to steal other teams' hats. It kind of reminded me of kangaroo boxing, with the guys frantically pawing at each other's heads. My class' group did decently, sneaking up on people from behind hehe. There was a lunch break and more relay racing, weeding out more teams, and then jump roping. Each class was divided into two teams of 20, to try to get as many collective jumps as possible. The middle schoolers had 2 minutes to get as many jumps as they could, but the high schoolers only had one try. Our first team messed up on their first try and got 45 jumps on their second, but unfortunately it didn't count because they'd already used one try. The second group, mine, got one before messing up, so our class had a total of one jump, kind of sad. When they had announced the totals at lunch, my class, G, had been well in the lead, but everyone was kind of down after the failures of the jump rope and relay, both with big points possible. The final event was the third graders' marching. The grade was split into two groups of guys and two groups of girls. We made pretty rows and columns and walked in various patterns, and it went really well! The girls also had a brief dance routine after the marching. The guys were especially impressive, I wish I could have gotten pictures but again I was participating!
Finally, all the students gathered on the floor in our well-practiced rows for the finishing speeches and announcement of results. Aaaandd somehow, even with our mishaps, G WAS THE CHAMPION!!!! I was so happy!! Some of the girls cried over that too, it was a very emotional day. There was more picture taking, and everyone was in great spirits.
The next day in school, everyone was sleepy and sore, but feeling pleased and bonded. I am really glad this festival was at the end of my exchange, now that I can understand what's happening, feel a part of my class, and could generally appreciate everything. After class on Saturday, our sensei threw us a celebratory party with snacks and it was really nice. That night, we all met out for dinner and more pictures/purikura, it was wonderful. My purikura (the fancy photo booth) skills have improved a lot from the beginning! Yes, it takes skill. I feel so close to my class now, lately school has been good every day, which will just make it so much harder to say goodbye! My flight is in exactly two weeks from today and my last day of school in a week and a half, wahhhh. I need to think of some good last words, I foresee tears ;(
Sunday, June 22, 2014
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Fukushima, Parents, and Speechifying
Hello again, for once not too long an absence! The past few weeks, as usual, have been busy in a good way :)
When I last wrote, I was about to go to a Rotary conference in Fukushima. I was initially concerned about traveling to Fukushima, the area hit with a terrible earthquake three years ago that caused radiation leakage, but the place I went was far inland and perfectly safe. My fellow exchange students and I with two Rotarians travelled there by Shinkansen and normal train, about five hours total. It was extremely unfortunate because one of the girls, Mika, missed the Shinkansen!! They had said, "don't be late, the tickets are pre-reserved so we can't wait for anyone," but these things never actually seem to happen. It turned out that she suddenly got really sick though and was glad she stayed behind, but it was still sad. On the way we met two other exchange students, from France and New Zealand, and at the conference I think we met nine new students total and a lot of great Rotex. One of the guys, Ryne from Indiana, I had met before coming to Japan so it was cool to see someone I knew! It was soo great meeting everyone, all long-term exchange students just seem to have this immediate bond and understanding with each other, and there's always a lot to talk about. It was really interesting hearing about everyone's totally different experiences, and realizing how lucky I am to live in Osaka. Here there are always places to go and I can easily meet friends and travel around independently by train, while the people in smaller towns are far from their friends, don't have much to do, and can't easily go out on their own. As for big cities, it's cheaper than Tokyo, and reportedly friendlier. There is so much luck involved in exchange, with location, families, school, Rotary club/district, and exchange student group, all of which can really impact an exchange, and I somehow managed to get on the lucky side of all of these!! It's amazing. Anyway, at the conference there were speeches with some visiting Austrian Rotarians, and we all had to work on presentations about the earthquake but it was very confusing so it was mostly left to the Rotex... We had a fun midnight bath (gender segregated), enjoying the outdoor area with a great view of the whole valley that the hotel looked out over, and it was perfect weather, just beautiful. It was a very late night/early morning—I love exchange students—but somehow we got up to give our presentations and say goodbye. It's so harsh, we meet people, bond, and then it's like, "goodbye, have a nice life!" since most of them live thousands of miles away and we'll probably never meet again. At least there's Facebook!
Shortly after my Fukushima trip, I picked up my parents from the Osaka airport for a ten-day visit. It was strange having my dad tower over me, I'm not used to being towered over. My host family was very generous and took my parents in for their full stay, in the grandparents' house. They enjoyed having them though, and were especially amused by all my dad's antics, like eating a whole umeboshi (very sour pickled plum) in one bite, which just isn't done. My parents were kept busy, going places with me when I was free and being taken around by my host family when I wasn't. I think they got a good taste of Japanese life, which is difficult without a home stay. I dropped them back at the airport just a month before my departure so it wasn't a terribly hard parting, except maybe for them having to leave this lovely Japanese lifestyle ;) It was a lovely visit, I was glad they came :)
Last weekend, I gave my final speeches for Rotary. On Sunday I had my last District meeting with the other exchange students and Monday was my last club meeting. Actually, my Indonesian friend Talitha's flight back was Sunday before the meeting, so we all gathered there to see her off. It was soo saddd, we just kept coming back to our favorite group huddle and it was so hard to break apart. Tears were mostly kept in control because I think it was just hard to comprehend what was happening, that our exchanges are finishing and if we see each other again, it may not be for years. It's too strange. So with our number sadly depleted, we hung around before the meeting and I finally got to ride the giant Ferris wheel by the airport, a goal since my first night here. Everyone's presentations at the meeting were good and all very different, it was really interesting. Mine was somewhat choppy because I had lacked the motivation to practice... There were definitely tears at the meeting though. Mika should actually be on her plane back to America as I write this, so after the meeting was our last time out with her too!! I can't believe it, it doesn't seem so long ago that we were at our first meeting introducing ourselves and finding out who our companions would be for the year. Although at the same time, it really was a long time ago and we have all changed and grown so much...
The next day, I skipped school for my performance at my club. They had asked me to show something I had learned on my exchange, either the tea ceremony or traditional dance. I had practiced neither for months and I had never been able to actually do the tea ceremony on my own yet, but I didn't particularly want to dance and my current host mom and grandma teach the tea ceremony to high schoolers, so I chose that and speed-learned it. But then I visited my first host family, the Takanos, with my parents, and they made me try my dance for them. It turned out I mostly remembered it, so they called my club and told them I would be dancing too :P So on Monday I wore a yukata, danced, gave my final presentation, and performed the tea ceremony with the help of my host mom and grandma, and I was actually pleased with all three of my performances. I'm incredibly lucky to be with a family that could do this and had all the materials and experience for serving tea to 25 people, that's uncommon. The Takanos said it was the most entertaining final exchange meeting they'd been too ;) I'm glad for these final presentations because they give me a sense of closure, having to summarize my year in one talk/slide show. If I hadn't had to prepare for them, leaving my life here would feel too abrupt.
My end is rushing up on me but I'm doing my best to pack the remaining time with fun things. Tomorrow is my school sports festival, I'm really excited!! It's a huge deal, I'll try to make a separate post about it. Until then!
When I last wrote, I was about to go to a Rotary conference in Fukushima. I was initially concerned about traveling to Fukushima, the area hit with a terrible earthquake three years ago that caused radiation leakage, but the place I went was far inland and perfectly safe. My fellow exchange students and I with two Rotarians travelled there by Shinkansen and normal train, about five hours total. It was extremely unfortunate because one of the girls, Mika, missed the Shinkansen!! They had said, "don't be late, the tickets are pre-reserved so we can't wait for anyone," but these things never actually seem to happen. It turned out that she suddenly got really sick though and was glad she stayed behind, but it was still sad. On the way we met two other exchange students, from France and New Zealand, and at the conference I think we met nine new students total and a lot of great Rotex. One of the guys, Ryne from Indiana, I had met before coming to Japan so it was cool to see someone I knew! It was soo great meeting everyone, all long-term exchange students just seem to have this immediate bond and understanding with each other, and there's always a lot to talk about. It was really interesting hearing about everyone's totally different experiences, and realizing how lucky I am to live in Osaka. Here there are always places to go and I can easily meet friends and travel around independently by train, while the people in smaller towns are far from their friends, don't have much to do, and can't easily go out on their own. As for big cities, it's cheaper than Tokyo, and reportedly friendlier. There is so much luck involved in exchange, with location, families, school, Rotary club/district, and exchange student group, all of which can really impact an exchange, and I somehow managed to get on the lucky side of all of these!! It's amazing. Anyway, at the conference there were speeches with some visiting Austrian Rotarians, and we all had to work on presentations about the earthquake but it was very confusing so it was mostly left to the Rotex... We had a fun midnight bath (gender segregated), enjoying the outdoor area with a great view of the whole valley that the hotel looked out over, and it was perfect weather, just beautiful. It was a very late night/early morning—I love exchange students—but somehow we got up to give our presentations and say goodbye. It's so harsh, we meet people, bond, and then it's like, "goodbye, have a nice life!" since most of them live thousands of miles away and we'll probably never meet again. At least there's Facebook!
Shortly after my Fukushima trip, I picked up my parents from the Osaka airport for a ten-day visit. It was strange having my dad tower over me, I'm not used to being towered over. My host family was very generous and took my parents in for their full stay, in the grandparents' house. They enjoyed having them though, and were especially amused by all my dad's antics, like eating a whole umeboshi (very sour pickled plum) in one bite, which just isn't done. My parents were kept busy, going places with me when I was free and being taken around by my host family when I wasn't. I think they got a good taste of Japanese life, which is difficult without a home stay. I dropped them back at the airport just a month before my departure so it wasn't a terribly hard parting, except maybe for them having to leave this lovely Japanese lifestyle ;) It was a lovely visit, I was glad they came :)
Last weekend, I gave my final speeches for Rotary. On Sunday I had my last District meeting with the other exchange students and Monday was my last club meeting. Actually, my Indonesian friend Talitha's flight back was Sunday before the meeting, so we all gathered there to see her off. It was soo saddd, we just kept coming back to our favorite group huddle and it was so hard to break apart. Tears were mostly kept in control because I think it was just hard to comprehend what was happening, that our exchanges are finishing and if we see each other again, it may not be for years. It's too strange. So with our number sadly depleted, we hung around before the meeting and I finally got to ride the giant Ferris wheel by the airport, a goal since my first night here. Everyone's presentations at the meeting were good and all very different, it was really interesting. Mine was somewhat choppy because I had lacked the motivation to practice... There were definitely tears at the meeting though. Mika should actually be on her plane back to America as I write this, so after the meeting was our last time out with her too!! I can't believe it, it doesn't seem so long ago that we were at our first meeting introducing ourselves and finding out who our companions would be for the year. Although at the same time, it really was a long time ago and we have all changed and grown so much...
The next day, I skipped school for my performance at my club. They had asked me to show something I had learned on my exchange, either the tea ceremony or traditional dance. I had practiced neither for months and I had never been able to actually do the tea ceremony on my own yet, but I didn't particularly want to dance and my current host mom and grandma teach the tea ceremony to high schoolers, so I chose that and speed-learned it. But then I visited my first host family, the Takanos, with my parents, and they made me try my dance for them. It turned out I mostly remembered it, so they called my club and told them I would be dancing too :P So on Monday I wore a yukata, danced, gave my final presentation, and performed the tea ceremony with the help of my host mom and grandma, and I was actually pleased with all three of my performances. I'm incredibly lucky to be with a family that could do this and had all the materials and experience for serving tea to 25 people, that's uncommon. The Takanos said it was the most entertaining final exchange meeting they'd been too ;) I'm glad for these final presentations because they give me a sense of closure, having to summarize my year in one talk/slide show. If I hadn't had to prepare for them, leaving my life here would feel too abrupt.
My end is rushing up on me but I'm doing my best to pack the remaining time with fun things. Tomorrow is my school sports festival, I'm really excited!! It's a huge deal, I'll try to make a separate post about it. Until then!
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