New School Year, "Hanami" and Soccer Game

The past month has been nice as the season is changing. I’ve been constantly active but not too busy. First off April has been the start of a brand new school year. My JHS saw 10 teachers leave and obviously, 10 new teachers arrive. In Japan, the education system forces teachers to change schools ever few years, as opposed to Canada where a teacher can stay at a school for 20 years. In Japan the max in 5 to 6 years and then a teacher will get sent to a new school by the board of education.

The biggest adjustment was seeing two of my English teachers leave the school. Ms. Asatani went two towns over and Ms.Murayama went on pregnancy leave. The new English teachers have been an adjustment seeing that they haven’t really let me teach a whole lot. The biggest change has been lesson planning, as the new teachers haven’t allowed me to run a lesson yet. The new part-time teacher Yanoshita sensei has been particularly difficult, as her English level isn’t as advanced as Murayama sensei, who is pretty much fluent. So a long story short, I was having some communication problems with her that I seem to have worked out. I think I have conveyed to her that I want more control and hopefully after May break, I will be able to plan more of my lessons.

So school has been an adjustment, as it’s always tough when new teachers come and the relationships and comfort levels you had need to be re-started again. I’m sure that in time when we get to know each other better and our teaching styles, then school life will be much smoother.

As for the past few weeks I’ve kept busy by heading to Hiroshima and seeing the Sakura- or Cheery blossoms in full bloom. It was a shame Joel and I weren’t able to see them in Kyoto, but Asuka and I went to Hiroshima Castle and the Peace Park and saw all the Cherry Blossoms in full bloom. The Cheery blossoms usually last a little over a week, but during the week it was really gorgeous to see. I was lucky enough to take pictures right after I picked up the new digital camera I had mentioned I wanted. Asuka picked it up as a present and it’s definitely my new favorite toy. I haven’t dunked it in water yet, but I am tempted to try.

Last weekend, Asuka, Kazuya, Aki and I went to Hirohsima and saw the local soccer team, the Hiroshima San Frecce Vs. the pro team from Osaka. It was my first “professional” soccer game and I had a lot of fun. Mike and I wanted to see a game when we were in Italy, but never got the chance to. The Hiroshima team isn’t quite Italian caliber, and they are also winless this year with 5 losses and 4 ties. However, just when the game started, right after the kickoff- the Hiroshima team rushed and scored a goal. It was seriously like 10 seconds into the game. We thought they were going to pull out a victory, but they let the Osaka team score a goal late in the game and they ended up tying again. Overall, it was a fun day even though it was pissing rain, we had to buy rain ponchos to stay dry. But I enjoyed the atmosphere and had fun drinking hot sake at the game.

As for this upcoming weekend, I’m pretty pumpedbecause there is a hockey tournament in Hyogo-Ken (close to Osaka) and I’ll be spending the weekend there with my hockey team. It’s been awhile that I have played competitive hockey, so I’m looking forward to it. This upcoming week is called Golden Week in Japan- sort of like Easter Break back home. I’ll have pretty much all of next week off and also Rich is coming to visit for a week. Asuka is in Taiwan for Golden Week so I’m sure Rich and I will be able to get in even more trouble. It should be a fun week and I’m looking forward to the break and just relaxing with Rich.

Japanese Factoid #21- As mentioned I went flower viewing or “Hanami” a few weekends ago with Asuka. Hanami is a big event in Japan, especially Cherry Blossoming viewing as Japanese people in some places even camp out at prime locations at certain parks to have a flower viewing party. Families and friends usually get together at a park and bring tons of food and alcohol and just socialize and watch the flowers. Typically, large amounts of alcohol get consumed and it’s a pretty rambunctious time. Asuka and I brought some snacks and I had a beer while we sat beside Hiroshima castle and spent about an hour enjoying the view. So if you ever get a chance to come to Japan during the blooming of Cheery Blossoms, you will see lots of people enjoying “Hanami.”