Going to School

On Friday (yesterday) we went to school with Ike. The school is a junior high school and the most amazing thing to me was how respectful the kids were and how clean the school was. We started the day out by being introduced to the staff and I was so impressed listening to Ike talk all about us in Japanese! We then went to his first class with the lower level kids who were extremely shy. We made a Bingo game that had facts such as (I like anime, I live in Iijima, etc), and the kids had to ask other people the questions in English to fill in the spaces. We had some that only Peter or I could answer so that forced the kids into talking to us.

The next two classes were upper level ones and we taught them how to play an adapted version of the game "I like everyone here, especially those who..." We had a group of 36 so those of you who know the game, just imagine the chaos that ensued. :-) It was funny because there were some kids who wouldn't get up at all so then we would say one like, "I have a nose. Do you have a nose?" in order to force them to get up. Anyway, for those who don't know the game, if the statement applies to you then you have to get up and run to another chair. There is one less chair than person, so the person left standing has to say a statement. It's really fun and the kids enjoyed it. I wish we could have taken pictures but the principal told us that a new law was passed and pictures couldn't be taken in the school.

Lunch was interesting in that the food was trucked in and kids served it in their classrooms. We ate in complete silence! The amount of food was very abundant, since most kids have been at school since 7:00 am and lunch was at 1:00 pm. After lunch we had a break and these random kids would come up to us and start giggling. It was so cute. Ike would run them through some questions that he had had them practice in getting ready for our visit.

We passed out the gifts we brought during class time and the kids seemed to like them. They were just these little patriotic pins and flag pencils. Then came cleaning time! Every day at 2:15 the can-can music comes over the intercom and the entire school - students, teachers, principal, everyone, dons these funky head scarves and cleans. There are kids bent over the floor with rags running down the hall wiping down the floors, kids sweeping, mopping, cleaning bathrooms and even out pulling weeds! What a smart idea. The school is absolutely spotless.

Ike's principal let him leave early since we were heading to Kyoto on the afternoon bus, which was nice. We went home and packed, drove to the bus station in town, and then hauled our stuff over the bridge and back down that crazy flight of stairs. The bus ride was about 2.5 hours and it was gorgeous! We drove through the mountains and I just sat there with my nose stuck to the window. When we got to Nagoya we had to get our rail passes activated (which took some time) and then we caught the bullet train to Kyoto. It only took about 35 minutes to get there. The buses and trains are so clean and comfortable in Japan! We arrived at the Kyoto train station (largest train station in the world!) and walked about 6 blocks to our hostel. Again, this hostel is very clean. Granted, the room we are in is very tiny, especially for the three of us, but all we're going to do is sleep here. The boys went back out to get some dinner to bring in while I made the beds. We then ate, showered (in the communal coed bathroom (they were private at least) then crashed for the night.

I got up around 6:30 this morning and wrote this entry. Today we are exploring Kyoto, going to many of the temples, tourist sites, etc. Should be a long but amazing day!