Dazaifu elementary school: November 17th 2007
I went to Japanese schools already before when I did my homestay in Osaka, but those schools were high schools and also universities. This time it was an elementary school. So I was very excited. I sat next to Sam on the bus and she was also very excited, she came instead of Kristina becuz Kristina went orange picking. Becuz the school really requested for a Filipino to come Sam went instead. Then we arrived at the school and it was a pretty normal school I guess. We had to take off our shoes and put on slippers. (this is the usual in Japanese schools) They took us to a room and made us introduce ourselves, becuz there were also other students. I was in the group with Michael (Germany) and Emilie (France). Then the kids came to get us. In the morning we went to the lower grades and in the afternoon the higher grades. The kids that came to get me were such cute girls and they were so shy. Then we went in the classroom and the kids were sitting on chairs and their parents behind them. First they introduced themselves. Usually children say their name and hobbies. But these children they said their name and then their favorite fruit. haha cute Then here was a round of questions, like what is famous in your country and what food do you like the most. Then we sang and dance with the children, the song was called hokey pokey. It was really fun to do that dance with the children. At first I was a little shy becuz the parents were looking at us but then I didn’t care anymore. Next we did the game animal basket. We sat in a circle and the teacher counted till 5. First she said what the 5 animals are in the correct way. Then if the teacher would say pig for example the persons who were pig had to stand up and sit at another seat. But the teacher was the first one to say an animal so she went to sit on a chair and then one person would have to stay and say the next animal. You could also say animal basket and then everybody had to run. I really had a blast. The teacher was really good, she could speak English very well and explained everything very well to us. Also the children were really amazed becuz of Michael, he is very tall so that was fun for them to see. Another thing is that it was soooo cold in the classroom. They don’t put on the heater in the school and even leave the doors open, I was freezing. This is normal in Japan I heard to not put on the heater. crazy Then we went to the next class these were children who were in a higher grade. We had to play a card game bingo with them, with halloween cards. The teacher couldn’t speak any english almost so he didn’t explain at all to us, just in Japanese and Michael didn’t understand any Japanese. We also had to do some strange dance with halloween characters. When he said skeleton we had to shake and some more things, it wasn’t really fun. Next thing was sitting in 3 groups and let the children ask questions to you. Usually that was like what is your favorite fruit, pet and stuff. I didn’t really like this class, but they did gave us cool presents. We got a box full of origami.
Then the next children came to get me for food. They had like coupons for the food I would get. I got curry, oden and more. Outside people were making mochi (rice cakes). The children were really nice and the food was actually good. Again the next set of children came to get me, this time they were 3 girls. They would guide me around their school. We went to the music room, this was really cool. It was like in the movie Swing girls. There were soooo many instruments, i didn’t have that in my school. We went to check out all the instruments and played on them. They also took me to some place were we could make fans and they waited outside for me, so sweet. Next they took me to a room to have tea ceremony. When it was finished they also were waiting for me. They took me to their classroom and we played the hiragana game. I was pretty good at it, though maybe they were just letting me win. haha We also played some other games and then they were doing some secretly things. haha so cute. They were making a letter for me. Then it was time to leave and they gave me their letter. It said please come back and visit our school again. The picture below are me and those girls who guided me around the school.
I really had a nice experience. On the bus me and Sam were saying we also wanted to join the next studytrip to another school. Normally we could only join one of the two. Becuz me and Sam really had a blast at the school we decided to ask Pollack if we could join too. He said he didn’t know yet, but in the end we could join. 
