Brief Post- Shogakko and Fighting Festival

I have leave the school where I am typing this within about five minutes, so this will be another relative quicky.

Today was my first day (had a lot of those lately...) at Kanaya Shogakko(elementary school). Unlike my first day at Hounai, which consisted of a speech and then eating good food, today was a total baptism by fire. First, the customary welcome ceremony and speech, then a short break before it was off to the first graders. They were very receptive to my lesson plan (smashing pictures I had laminated with piko-piko hammers when I called out the appropriate English word), and were literally hanging off of my shirt and belt loop on the way out of the room. Very fun, and very exhausting.
Next was the third grade- a little more subdued than the first grade (a very little), and the vocabulary was only a little bit more challenging. During lunch I ate in a second grade classroom- they were fun, but I'm not allowed to speak Japanese to them (what little I know), so communication was limited to face-making.

During lunch recess I discovered a new game- the Japanese variation on tag (Oni- the person who is "it" is the Oni- a demon/ogre). It's pretty much like regular tag, except that as the honored guest I am always the Oni, or if I'm not, I'm the sole target of the Oni. I started out trying to wear the kids out by doing acrobatics off of the playground equipment, but eventually they just wore me out and I got chased down easily each time a new Oni took the field. By the time I reached the school at the bell, exhausted and dripping with sweat (in a black button-up shirt and tie), one of my coworkers admonished "shinii nai yo!" (don't die!) as she prepared me a cup of ice water.

After recess were the 5th graders- they still like the hammer game, but not for 50 minutes, so I had to do some impromptu aisatsu (greetings) lessons. Next time I will come better prepared for the older ones...

On a finishing note, tonight I'm going to the Shiibata fighting festival- like a normal matsuri only with bare-knuckle combat when the music stops. No idea about the origins or anything, but you can bet I'm going (in the capacity of an observer) and taking lots of pictures.