First Day of School!

Today was the first day of school. This morning started with the school opening ceremony, which consisted of the singing of the school song, a speech from the principal, and a speech from me as the newcomer. During the assembly the kids were already friendly, constantly smiling and waving at me. After the ceremony was finished several of the girls came up to talk to me, and even throughout the day some girls would walk up to me in the hall to chat with me. 

Some of the girls commented on my "petite face," and later the English teacher that I work with explained to me a Japanese idiom, "hatoushi bijin." This expression has several parts that make up the entire meaning. The kanji is 八頭身美人、which in English would be translated as eight-face-body-beautiful woman. One of the conditions of beauty is thought to be that the length of your head 8 times is equal to the length of your body. So if you have a small face (like many westerners) it is likely you fulfill this condition of beauty. This is why many Japanese people like to praise westerners for having small faces!

Today there were no classes, because the students were practicing for the undokai (sports festival) this Saturday. They practiced ラーディオたいそ which is the exercise routine that used to be played over the radio every single morning that businessman, schoolkids, and everyone would do together to warm up their bodies for the day. I joined in on the practice for this!

Also, the kids practiced traditional dances which they will perform this weekend at the festival. First they practiced the "Oklahoma mixer," which I did not know before. And that surprised many of the teachers since they consider it to come from America. Well I had certainly never heard of it, so I did a bit of research online (evidentally other foreign English teachers in Japan have also come across this) and found that after WWII the founder (who was Japanese) of the Japan Association of Teachers of Dancing created this dance. I read that he attempted to introduce the "Oklahoma Schottische," to elementary and junior high students but the steps were too intricate to teach to a bunch of school kids. Alternatively, he borrowed the music "Turkey in the Straw" and made a dance for it, which was derived from the mixer style. Now in many schools this dance is taught to kids to perform in school functions. So although people think it is from America, it actually was invented in Japan!

The students also practiced a traditional Japanese folk dance called namchusola, which is a dance to a song that the fishermen might have sung while working. The dance was invented by a teacher at Minami Jr. High, which is where it gets the name. During this dance the kids imitate the work of a fisherman through their dance moves, pulling in the net, throwing it over their shoulder, and so on. After watching the kids practice, I am really looking forward to watching them at the sports festival!

My first school lunch in my life!