Chizu Chugakko Undokai 2014

A gorgeous view of the mountains from the ground.

Today was the JHS's sports festival! Everyone from the school participates and for me it was treated as a work day, even though it was a Saturday. However, we all Monday off in lieu, which is great. On Friday Kyoto-sensei invited Justin and Yana, so we packed a lunch and all came along together. They had tables and chairs set up for important guests, so we got to sit right in the front row.

The festival began at 9:30am. There were a lot of people there too, sitting all around the ground (thats what its called...Chizu ground). The students had been practicing almost non-stop all this week, so I kind of knew what to expect, but there were still a few surprises! The festival began with all the students doing a military-style march onto the ground. As a teacher, I had to stand along the long side as they marched. The procession began with the school flag and the Japanese flag and then each class came in separately, with a flag bearer holding their hand-made flags. After that there were some speeches, raising of flags, and singing of the school song. Next we had to do taiso, which is like warm-up exercises. Everyone did them, even the visitors!

Some of the flags for each class.

There were 8 events before lunch and another 9 after. There were all sorts of different events and most of them are very different to western eyes. The first event was a catapult ball catch relay thing - students had to run and get a ball and bucket, one went to a catapult and stomped on it to launch the ball, and the other had to catch it in the bucket. There were lots of other relays, one including a staff team, so I participated! I was the 6th runner...unfortunately our team was last place.  Justin and Yana and I also participated in this "treasure hunt" which was basically a fishing game, where we had to catch a prize bag with a hook on a string and pole and then run with it to the finish line. The prizes? Three packs of tissues. Before lunch there was also a girl's dance, which was pretty amazing, especially since they did all the choreography themselves. The boys had their own display, which was some amazing gymnastics and strength displays.

Chizu boys' event.

This incredible feat done during the boys' event.

We had a pretty long lunch break, so after eating I wandered around with Yana. We met up with T, a cute little boy who is the son of a Japanese lady and her Dutch husband. They recently moved to Chizu and T attends the forest kindergarten. On Friday night we actually were invited to a potluck with them and a bunch of their friends, so Yana was happy to see T again. We went over and talked to his mom, S, and she brought me over to meet another S, a British guy who lives in Chizu with his Japanese wife. Two of their kids are actually my students. Anyway, Chizu is really international for such a small town! I called Justin over and we really enjoyed chatting with them. S's wife is pretty good at English, so its nice to have an easy conversation without the need for a translator. Yana enjoyed playing with a bunch of kids.

Other events included a massive group tug-o-war,"Chizuneyland" relay, Love Love pants relay, and various relays where teams and pairs were tied together at their legs. Parents of students participated in a lot of the events, which I thought was nice.

Tug-o-war.

"Chizuneyland" relay.

The weather had been pretty hot and sunny, but after lunch it started getting cooler and overcast. This was a really nice change until it started raining and getting so windy that people had to hold the tents down. After some deliberation, it seems they decided to end the sports day early (around 3pm), so we missed out on seeing the group jump rope competition. They are doing it as a tie-breaker on Tuesday, but that's an ES day for me, so I won't be there to see it.

Afterwards, Justin, Yana, and I walked home in the rain. We passed two old ladies, who offered a small umbrella for Yana. It was really very sweet, but...the umbrella was covered in some kind of nasty black grease.

At home I had time to rest a bit and change clothes, but at 6pm I was picked up for my very first enkai (work drinking party)! We went to a Chinese restaurant in Tottori city. It was a celebration of sports day and also my welcoming party! I only discovered the last part upon my arrival, when I was informed I would have to make a speech. Luckily I'm not really expected to make long speeches, so it wasn't too bad.

At the enkai teachers were seated by lottery. I had a predetermined seat, though, beside the vice principal. The enkai started with a speech by the principal. Then we all did a kampai (cheers) and then the food started arriving! We were brought out all sorts of plates of food throughout the party. My favourites were the shumai and some sort of beef, onion, and pepper stirfry. There was also an amazing mango ice cream at the end.

After eating for a bit, I had to give my speech. I just said something about how everyday in Japan is interesting and fun and I'm learning about Japanese culture so I want to study Japanese. It was all in Japanese, but I got lots of applause anyway, so that's a good sign I guess. Next was Anje question time, so some people asked me questions, like what food does Justin like to cook?

The rest of the enkai basically followed suit - lots of speeches and drinking and clapping and cheering. Mostly about sports day, but one girl actually just passed her test to become a teacher yesterday, so she talked about that. The vice principal translated some of it for me. I also had some fun talking with the 3 guys I was sitting with. The computer teacher liked having me guess what all the other teachers taught. I got them all wrong.

The enkai ended around 9:30pm, and then we drove home. Often there are second and third parties, but the teacher who drove me went straight home to Chizu and I was kind of glad because I was so exhausted!