March 22nd: Mizuhami Elem Graduation

Lucky for me, this year I was able to attend 2 graduation ceremonies because more often than not, school related ceremonies in Japan are all usually on the same day. I don't know if it really means much to the kids for me to show up in a suit and attend their graduation, but to me...teaching a class with 10 kids for almost 2 years and knowing after they graduate, I would probably never going to see them again.......... To me it meant a lot.

Mizuhami is the newest school in the Tohoku and was built in 2001. There at a total of 62 kids here and 12 of them were graduating this day. What I will remember most about this school years from now is that this was the best singing school of all Tohoku. Not just by a little but by a landslide. Every school visit, they would practice singing before for recess for 15 minutes. After practice they could go and play. They took it seriously because during the town singing demonstration, they had these special choir uniforms. The boys tragically had these shorts there were mighty damn short. They didn't even pass half their thighs! Cute looking, but definitely not steezy. It didn't matter though because once they opened their mouthes, perfect harmony and pitch charismatically filled the room. They sang like little angels. It was touching.
Go Mizuhami!

March 19th: Kogawara Elem. Graduation

I've been blessed with the opportunity to teach English in Japan for almost 5 years now and over the years the number of students that have had my English class(es) is probably over 10,000. While I was in Hachinohe, I circulated to 48 elementary schools and 4 jr. high schools for 3 wonderful years. Now in Tohoku Town, my rounds consists of only 7 elementary schools for a tour of 2 years.

Over the years, it has been extremely hard to build student/teacher relationships because I would only visit a school once a month. In Tohoku Town, my school visit ratio has increased by 4 times. So now I attend the same school about 4 times a month and that has given me the opportunity to actually get to know some of the student's personality, humor, study habits etc. With that, you grow attached to them and when they graduate, sadly that attachment has to end.

One of my favorite schools is Kogawara Elem. The students there are excellent. They're not shy and reserved like some other schools, but very outgoing and friendly. One of the best classes were the 6th graders. I once had a class with them were I spent the entire period telling them about my trip to Thailand. They were all interested and had lots of questions. Then after the discussion was over, we went into the next room where I had laid my Thai photos out on tables. They walked around saying, "What is this? Whoa look at that! That looks delicious!" It was such a fun day because it wasn't just about teaching English, but about internationalism and sharing a new part of the world to them. Gotta thank Mr. Tsukekawa Sensei for that one.

Anyways, congratulation and 頑張れー！！I won't forget you!