Today was the 'sayonara' party for the 3rd years at Honjo JHS! In celebration of their three years at middle school, we played dodge ball and had ourselves a picnic lunch (in the meeting room).The first years put on a quiz for everyone! They switched clothes and unbuttoned buttons and moved around hairstyles and the rest of us had to guess what was different! The second years presented 'teacher trivia' and asked questions such as;
What is Kyoto-sensei's favourite colour? (Vice Principal)
How old is Rachel-sensei?
What is Mr. Nishimura's hobby?
Finally there was a drawing contest involving all the grades! The student council announced something that the contestants had to draw. Such as, "the world", "Amanohashidate", "Doraemon", "Yoshi", and a few more that I can't remember. The students would display their works and the teachers (and Rachel) decided whose was the best!
The downer of the day was that my JTE's grandfather passed away and she had to leave school to go home. Not only is it a bummer to have someone in your family die, but she also had to miss a day that she'd really worked hard for and looked forward to all week! It seemed really unfair to me.
The last event of the day was in the music room. The whole school (easily 65 people) sat down and watched a slide show of pictures throughout the school years of the current 3rd year students. It began with pictures of them as first years and showed all the activities they'd taken part of. It was a really cute presentation! Afterwards, it was time for the teachers to deliver their personal messages to each individual student. There are only nine third year students (even I can name them all off with ease), so it was very personal.
Each teacher chose a student they were close to and wrote them something to the effect of, "You've become a leader/You've shown such prowess through the years./I remember when you first came to school..." and so on. I was again bummed that Tsuji-sensei wasn't around to read her passage to Kenta. She teaches the two slow-learner students for homeroom (which is mainly kanji, as I understand it). She and Kenta are really close and it was a shame she wasn't there. Anyway, all it took was a single crack in the music teacher's voice and all stoicness in the room was gone. The rest of the female teachers began to crack and tear up when they read out their passages. This led to the female students beginning to tear up and sniffle. In five
minutes there wasn't a man, woman or child in that room who wasn't crying. It was one of the most emotional times I've ever had, I don't even know how to explain why. How can something feel like too much when it doesn't seem like enough? I don't even speak Japanese well enough to understand what's being said, but I understand enough, I suppose. For me, my breaking point was looking across the room and seeing Hayato, the captain of the baseball team in tears. Not just tears in his eyes, but steaming down his cheeks. He wasn't holding back, he was done. All the boys were crying -- and I couldn't stop after that. These kids bike in the ice cold winter for MILES around! They are up from dawn until dusk working their asses off at school, sports, and on their studies -- not to mention household chores! I couldn't believe the amount of emotion in that room, it was almost unbearable. After the teachers sang a song to the students, it was time for the 3rd years to deliver their messages to the first and second year students. The kids got it together (bleary eyed as they were) and said encouraging words of advise to the other students. Then the second to last girl, Sayaka, the QUIETEST girl in the school began to read hers and just BURST into tears. Hysterical sobs. She couldn't finish for a good two minutes. It was awkward, and everyone else started to tear up again. Anyway, we got through it.Fifteen minutes later I was walking to my car and couldn't hold back any longer. I started crying and I didn't stop for a good two hours. I couldn't even tell you what I was crying about.
To take my mind off whatever it was that was making me feel more and more helpless and uncomfortable, I took a drive around the high cliffs which border the coast of the Sea of Japan. Thank God for the sea, that's all I have to say about that.
Kenta! He is the disabled learner of his grade -- but he got into HS! Wahoo!
1 comment:
Bleary eyed cliff driving! Sounds safe to me.
And by that I mean, I had a shaky last day teaching last year. I made it through without crying though. Every time it was close, I just thought of how much those kids can be pricks, too.
Doesn't sound like that was as much of a problem for you, though.
Post a Comment