Last Saturday, our school had a camp from a place called Kesanuma (I know I spelled it wrong). Its about an hour drive away from where we live in Sendai. The students from this place were not as fortunate as our school was during the earthquake and the tsunami that shocked the world. As they were leaving school, many got to a bridge when the tsunami warning went off. They all were rushed back to the school and went to the 3rd floor. From there, they saw first two floors fill up with waters and teachers cars floating away like driftwood. They had no food or anyway to get food to them until water started to recede. Parents had no way to get to their kids either. Our school has wanted to do something to help this kids who all lost a lot in the tsunami so a camp has been in the works for awhile.
Saturday afternoon, about 60 kids came by bus to MeySen to join our 4th grade students to sleep here and play games with the kids. It was amazing how quickly they all assimilated. In no time, it seemed like our students and those kids had been friends for years. Everyone just seemed so genuinely excited to be there.
I was able to help after our usually Saturday work meetings. By the time I got there, we were setting up for water play. This was basically one big crazy water fight with about 80 kids and 20 adults. I was whining about it being cold before getting there but it was a blast. All the kids seemed to love to chase me and the other teachers down to get them as soaked as possible. The crazy thing was that most of the kids spoke very little to no English and none of that was even close to a barrier. The smiles and laughter became the universal language for the time.
After waterplay, we went to our professional baseball team Rakutan Eagles game. This was my first experience with baseball. It felt pretty normal except for the fact that it was in Japan. Normally, you're looking for peanuts and cracker jacks. However, as soon as we get to the gate, we are given a bag of ramen noodles. They seem to love to perpetuate stereotypes here haha.
One of our students, talks me into sitting with him and becomes my personal translator for the game. He lets me know everything thats going on. At one point, a waitress comes with CocaCola flair and a bunch of dark colored liquids one would assume is cola. However, I ask for coke and she starts talking to me in Japanese I can't understand. He interprets and lets me know is Oolong tea. Talk about a save.
The game was pretty great. People love to cheer the entire game in the outfield. A few things were a little odd though. Before the game, an eagle was let go fly to the infield, and a player was given several different stuffed animals as some sort of reward. At the end of the 5th inning, I decide to go to the bathroom and they start shooting off a bunch of fireworks. During the 7th, both team's fans shoot off balloons before they go on offense. Our pitcher was awesome. He struck out 18 on the way to a 5-0 victory. Apparently, there was a scout from the Yankees checking him out.
After the game, we all went back to the school for some rice balls (its become my go-to snack) and they head to bed. The next day they all head to the other campus for tons of activities and some gifts from the school.
I finished my good ole American style weekend with a cook out of sorts. A few of us decided to grill steaks at a friends apartment. If you know me at all, you know I love steak. Of course we had to look pretty ridiculous cooking on this little Japanese grill on the second floor of an apartment complex...especially when we tried to start the fire with some kerosene and melted the screen with the flame. All in all, a great weekend back to work.
Random side note: I took it upon myself to create a fantasy league for the teachers here. Its been all the rage and only a handful actually even care at all about football but its a nice way to still feel a part of everything in the states...even if we dont have TVs and all the games would play really early in the morning anyway.
In the spirit of next weekends football games I would like to say from the other side of the world: GO BLUE! and of course FIRE UP CHIPS!
Saturday afternoon, about 60 kids came by bus to MeySen to join our 4th grade students to sleep here and play games with the kids. It was amazing how quickly they all assimilated. In no time, it seemed like our students and those kids had been friends for years. Everyone just seemed so genuinely excited to be there.
I was able to help after our usually Saturday work meetings. By the time I got there, we were setting up for water play. This was basically one big crazy water fight with about 80 kids and 20 adults. I was whining about it being cold before getting there but it was a blast. All the kids seemed to love to chase me and the other teachers down to get them as soaked as possible. The crazy thing was that most of the kids spoke very little to no English and none of that was even close to a barrier. The smiles and laughter became the universal language for the time.
 |
| Buy me some Ramen and Cracker Jacks |
One of our students, talks me into sitting with him and becomes my personal translator for the game. He lets me know everything thats going on. At one point, a waitress comes with CocaCola flair and a bunch of dark colored liquids one would assume is cola. However, I ask for coke and she starts talking to me in Japanese I can't understand. He interprets and lets me know is Oolong tea. Talk about a save.
The game was pretty great. People love to cheer the entire game in the outfield. A few things were a little odd though. Before the game, an eagle was let go fly to the infield, and a player was given several different stuffed animals as some sort of reward. At the end of the 5th inning, I decide to go to the bathroom and they start shooting off a bunch of fireworks. During the 7th, both team's fans shoot off balloons before they go on offense. Our pitcher was awesome. He struck out 18 on the way to a 5-0 victory. Apparently, there was a scout from the Yankees checking him out.
I finished my good ole American style weekend with a cook out of sorts. A few of us decided to grill steaks at a friends apartment. If you know me at all, you know I love steak. Of course we had to look pretty ridiculous cooking on this little Japanese grill on the second floor of an apartment complex...especially when we tried to start the fire with some kerosene and melted the screen with the flame. All in all, a great weekend back to work.
Random side note: I took it upon myself to create a fantasy league for the teachers here. Its been all the rage and only a handful actually even care at all about football but its a nice way to still feel a part of everything in the states...even if we dont have TVs and all the games would play really early in the morning anyway.
In the spirit of next weekends football games I would like to say from the other side of the world: GO BLUE! and of course FIRE UP CHIPS!
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