sayonara #1

Part I: Taneichi Elementary School
If pictures can somehow illustrate what would compel someone to never leave Japan, it is shots like those taken today. Today was the last stop @ this school; however, since it is the nearest school to my home, I know I will be dropping in for after school activities in the coming weeks. I just couldn't tell them "goodbye" today. Just look @ these faces, they are so genuinely happy. And the way they get along with one another, call me sappy, but seriously it is so beautiful to watch. I want to adopt Japanese children someday, and/or marry Hideaki Ito (pictured previously on my blog).
The emotions ran high, as the students knew it was my last 'official' visit to their school. The day's activities were extra fun...ranging from an animal barking quiz show to an outdoor art contest to karaoke-inspired dance contest. And I can honestly say the students learned more English, and English in which they can USE and therefore remember, than anything that goes on inside the junior high school english class. It's so rewarding to see students as engaged and excited about English as I am willing to teach them. If this job required 5 days a week @ an elementary school,

I would be staying on for another 5 years. It's too bad the lousy Japanese educational system, and lack of effective teaching technique, scares off people like me who really DO want to teach. BUT on the positive side, if it weren't for people like me who are willing to live in a place as foreign as Japan, many of these kids would go their entire school lives having never met someone who wasn't Japanese. It's quite the responsibility on our part; to be THE first exposure to foreign culture and foreign ideas. I wrongly assumed I would be walking into an English-receptive village. oops.

As sad as I am to say goodbye, I will do so in knowing that every day I gave them my best. I shared my culture, my philosophy, my country and myself. Though I came here to teach English, due to my placement in the most rural of places in Japan, immersion forced me to learn Japanese culture and language quickly. It wasn't what I was expecting, but sometimes the best things in life are made so through the unexpected. I have 92 days left in Japan, and probably another 307 opportunities to make a difference in this community...one day at a time.