Friday, May 09, 2008

After school activities and visits


HS kids back at TJH for a visit - 5.jpg
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

My Thursday (May 8th) was pretty uneventful. Coming back to school on Wednesday after a two day holiday at the beginning of the week, the kids all have standardized tests this week, so very few classes for me to teach.

I taught one class Wednesday, one class Thursday and will teach two classes today.

So I busy myself with studying Japanese and updating my blog. :)
I also work on my English board and prepare some for future lessons.

On Thursday, I noticed the kids were having PE outside, so I grabbed my camera and went outside to snap some pics....

3nen sei PE class - 3.jpg

Simple PE class of running laps around the school building and recording their time. The PE teachers are cool with me wandering about, chatting with the kids and snapping pics.

After school, I had planned to workout with the kendo team for the first time in a LONG time. So I brought a change of clothes and a Gatorade and a sweat towel. I keep my kendo sword at Taisha Chu, so I was all set.

The new 7th graders were a bit surprised to see me, but the older kids are used to me hanging out at their practices.
But it's been a while since I last worked out with them - probably 7 or 8 months since the last time.
And boy can I feel it today!
My arms are so sore!! ude - itai!!
We did simple stretches at first, and then moved on to stroke pratice, swinging our swords in rhythm to the team captain's count of ichi-ni-san-shi-go-roku-shichi-hachi (1-8).
This extension of my arms, with a weighted sword in my hands, is what made me sore today. It's been too long since I've done these motions, but it was good to get active again after a long winter of non-activity.
I then went into the training/weight room for some lifting, but didn't last too long - my arms already starting to hurt.
It was about 5pm by this time, but I wanted to walk around a bit before heading home, visiting the other clubs as they practice outdoors, like soccer, track & field and tennis.
So I wandered about, chatting with students here and there.

While walking back to the staff room I saw three of last year's 9th graders walking up to me - it was Yuta, Shota and Kazuto - three great kids from last year back from high school for a visit.

It was nice to see them and catch up, altho it's only been a few months since they graduated.
Yuta has switched from playing tennis in Jr High to playing volleyball at Taisha HS.
Kazuto and Shota are still playing baseball and now go to Shougyou HS over in Izumo.

I was ready to go in and change to head home, when more groups of last year's kids started arriving - I guess it was "visit your old Jr High day" - so I stuck around to chat and take pics for about another hour.
Even tho it's only been a few months since I've seen them, they all look older in their high school uniforms.
It's also interesting what club they choose in HS - some stick with the same sport or activity, like brass band, that they did in Jr High. Others change or stop doing club activities all together to concentrate on studying.

So my Thursday was a boring day that ended well. I went home pretty tired and just made a quick pizza for dinner before watching some YouTube and the BBC version of Robin Hood that I'd downloaded off of iTunes.

This weekend is kinda busy for me - I'll come to Taisha Chu on Saturday morning to watch the baseball team take on Taki Chu, then head out for lunch with some Japanese friends, then I have tutoring in the evening. Sunday I'll watch a kendo tournament here at Taisha Jr High and then relax in the evening. Next week I'm at Hamayama Chu for the week.

-Jason

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