More Kindergarten and an Undokai

Went to another kindergarten a few days ago. In this one they mercifully separated the age groups and only made me teach the older kids, which made the whole process much easier and more productive. After I finished my short lesson on colors, the kids started dragging me all over the place. I had at least three kids attached to each hand at any moment, and the kids had absolutely no qualms about jabbering away in Japanese even when I was clearly baffled. It made me wonder if part of the reason kids learn languages so much more easily is because they have no fear.

After I'd played several games with the older kids, a teacher asked if I'd like to see the babies. She made them sound like a zoo exhibit, and when I saw them, I realized that was a pretty accurate description. There were about seven babies, all corralled together in one room, and the teachers were only too willing to let them run around each other without any interference. It was so funny to watch the babies moving; they were all enormously chubby, with adult heads of hair on their little heads. I watched as two children, tired out, simply stopped walking and crumpled to the floor with their faces mushed into the carpet and stayed that way until they felt recharged. I have to admit I took selfish pleasure in this approach to child-tending; I was free to cuddle any kid I could get my hands on, even if they cried at the sight of me.

At the elementary schools they are preparing for the undokai, or sports festivals. I haven't seen one yet but they sound like a lot of fun; every student participates in competitions like running or kendo (Japanese sword-fighting) or other sports, and they all cheer each other on. Right now, before the festivals begin, the kids are focusing on getting ready & excited. They have assemblies where they sing the school song and yell chants as loud as they can, drawing the sound up from the very pits of their stomachs, because that gets their spiriits going.

I ate lunch with this class that day, and it was even weirder than Japanese lunches USUALLY are: curry on rice, yogurt, and bacon-wrapped asparagus. That's right; something that sounds like an appetizer at a art gallery opening (or, more likely, a bad joke about eating healthy) was something we ate for school lunch--well, SOME of us ate it. I made a student eat mine for me. During that lunch one of the boys dropped a large blob of yogurt on his shirt, then sat there and stared at it morosely while I laughed. Finally he lifted his shirt to his lips and sucked the yogurt off like a human vacuum, which only made me laugh more until he leaned over to me with a finger to his lips and a very serious expression.  I love these kids--they are crazy crazy. :)