Aaaand It Starts Again

That was a very quick spring break. Now it's time for students to come back and start a new year of learning. I keep forgetting that they will all be one grade further next time I see them. I have had random occasions where I see some students playing here or there in Yasuda and they all look way bigger than they did last year, just after a week or two! Crazy. . .

Today was the day for 新入式 (shinnyuushiki - new student entrance ceremonies) and I forgot about the formalities. I dressed myself colorfully as usual today. Usually, it comes off as semi-professional to say the least, but today it was nowhere near that. . . I had on a flannel shirt and a gray jersey dress with orange tights and my orange and blue shisa(Okinawan lion statue) earrings. I looked like I was going to meet my friend in the park or something.

The looks of shock I saw on the faces of the other teachers made me feel somewhat bad, somewhat glad. Everyone was wearing suits and pearl necklaces and things. I stood out, as always, like a giant sore thumb. I was obviously a little embarrassed for many reasons: my predecessor wore a suit, blouse, and tie every single day during his four years here, suits and ties are black and gray while my blue, green, and orange are quite a distracting way to be different, no one is used to someone mucking up their 'special events' like this. I also had to give a short self-intro each time. I should have known more to say, but I didn't. On the other hand, it felt good to show them that I was still never conforming to their ways of being. The idea of us giving them some internationalization gets swallowed up by their attempts at making us more Japanese. I've never bent and I certainly am not going to start now. It gave the 'new' students and their parents an idea of what I was actually like.

I felt the worst because I was late to the 中学校 (chuugakkou - junior high school) ceremony this morning. Oh well, school will be beginning this week and it will be interesting to see how much I can get done with my students before they are no longer my students. It will also be interesting to work with a new JTE (Japanese teacher of English) at the JHS. She seems like fun. The elementary school teachers seem to be teaching the appropriate grades finally. In one way, I am hoping this time flies by (which I know it will) but I also hope to enjoy the remainder of my time as the Yasuda ALT.