More School Stuff

It's been a few days since I've updated, and I've got some new pics, so I think I'll let them do most of the talking. On Wednesday, I went to the second smallest school here and the big activity of the day was digging up jagaimo, or potatoes. They aren't like normal potatoes, but I guess we don't really have a word for them. They are sort of purple colored and long. The dictionary just says potato, though.



Potatoes, we are coming for you!



As with everything here, potato digging must start with a bizarrely military-like assembly of students who must be engineered somewhere for cuteness.



Let's do our best!



Not every student can be asked to concentrate on speeches at such an exciting time.



Enough of speeches, it's digging time.



I believe these baskets were designed for the sole purpose of carrying ジャガ芋.



A fine haul of potatoes.

Also of note that day was that I had to gun my car through the mountains to get to the bank while the kids were at recess and cleaning time (with the vice-principal's permission) so I could pay a bill because I am supposed to be at work 8:30-4:15 every day and of course the bank is conveniently open 9:00-3:00 on weekdays. Also, it is the only place to pay most bills. Seriously, what? How do people without housewives get things done here?

On Thursday, I went to the school farthest away and had a pretty decent day. The kids there love baseball, so I played baseball with them during one of their recess times. I played soccer with some of them later, too. The teachers always find this amusing, which is good, because playing sports in the blazing heat while they are working in the cool office excuses me from having to plan lessons or even get my own drinks. They always laugh and say, "otsukaresama," basically, "thanks for working so hard." And the kids practically drag me out of the office for the purposes of playing. But, I'd rather be amazing kids with my ability to kick balls across the field than working inside, so it is kind of nice.

I also had to go to the kindergarten across from that school at the end of the day to work out a scheduling problem (which was just me writing a 1 instead of a 2), but for some reason the kindergarteners were still there at almost 4:30, despite the elementary school kids having already gone home. I was having a conversation with one of the teachers there who likes practicing English so she can go to America at some point when the kids pulled me out of the office so I could play with them. We ended up playing "What Time is it, Mister Wolf?" Eventually, I did have to go, though.

On Friday, I went to a smallish school and only had three classes because they were combined. In each class we played a game where I put a plastic fruit or vegetable in a black box adorned with a question mark and gave hints as to what it was so that the kids could guess the names in English. It went really well, and the teachers thought it was awesome that I used a clue about Momotaro, the legendary peach boy of Japanese myth. While playing this game, I really wondered how people get by without Japanese language ability. This game is basically impossible to do unless you speak Japanese because all the kids understand is color names. People must manage somehow, I guess. I played catch with some kids after school, too, and one of the ladies at the office showed me a picture of her dog because I'd mentioned that I like dogs. Awesomeness all day.