First Day at Elementary School

During the past weekend I spent my time in search of the Elementary schools that I have to go to in the next couple of weeks. I have five Elementary schools in total, so it was quite an adventure finding all of them using nothing but a map and my limited knowledge of the area.

On Monday morning I went to my first Elementary school in Iwadeyama. The school was not as large as my Junior High School, but it was quaint and had some nice playground equipment. The weather was absolutely wonderful on this day and the sun came out early and stayed out all day long. My first impression of the Elementary school was much different than my impression of the Junior High School. Everyone here seemed more relaxed and lighthearted, but they also spoke less English. However, the children were so cute it is hard to explain. I looked outside from my desk in the teacher's room to see a large playground with sand on the ground and tiny children in circles around teachers, who were standing up. The children were wearing their "athletic uniforms", which were tiny blue shorts with two stripes down each side, a white t-shirt with a blue collar colored on, and a little reversible hat with one side red and the other white, strapped on their little heads. The teachers informed me that they were having some sort of sports assembly and we all went outside in the scorching hot sun on the playground. Just when I thought they couldn't get any more adorable, the little tykes lined up by grade, 1st through 6th, and started marching in step and then sang a little song. Half of them had their hats on the red side and half of them had them on the white side, with the red on the left and the white on the right. They marched around the playground holding flags and swinging their little arms and legs up in the air. It was so gosh darn cute that I couldn't help laughing out loud at a few points. One kid lost his place in line because he kept staring at me and one of the teachers had to place him back in line.

I had four classes at the school and they were all just me introducing myself to the children and answering questions about myself and America. The classes were over at 3pm, and I went on back to the Junior High School and then on home after I found out that they were not having any club activities this evening. The Junior High kids are going to Tokyo this week while I am working at Elementary schools, and they leave tomorrow.