The current building they are in is only 30 years old, and they have plans to renovate it next year, but the original main building stands out front. It made me think of the Little Red School that stood at the edge of my high school's property, except it wasn't near as old. Anyway, they have already completed the addition of a beautiful new science and art building on the back of the property.
I felt that this school was the one we had the least access to, but that was after we found out that most of the students were taking their entrance exams the following week. We also didn't get quite the reception at the high school; none of the teachers came in to greet us and only one of us was allowed to go give the greeting to the teachers in their work room. The rest of us waited in the Principal's office and sipped on hot tea. That was a relief since the actual building was freezing.
Because of the seriousness of the exams and the fact that it was a high school, we didn't feel comfortable barging into too many classrooms. Plus, the waiting room we had been given was in the new building which wasn't yet open to students. However, it was warm there and we were all amazed at how nice the new rooms were. They had a tatami room set up to use for tea ceremonies, an awesome home economics lab complete with china tea sets, an oven and sink for each as well as a classroom side. The art rooms were also impressive with ample room for huge clay sculptures, sinks, and seats for more than thirty. Instead we observed the art and English classes where we felt like less of an interuption. This is art work where the students were practicing the calligraphy of symbols for the wind.
Today's favorite activity was waiting for the students to meet us in their cafeteria at lunch time. We had encountered only a few screaming, jumping students up until this point, so lunch was key! The students were very excited to sit down with us, and typical of high school students they didn't want to seem too excited. It was also cute to see and hear from the girls that most of them choose to sit away from the boys because boys are still soo immature. Some things don't change no matter what country you are in.
After lunch we took a tour of the campus grounds so we could see the memorial, artifacts and such. The entrance gate only gets opened three times a year for special occasions like graduation, but today they opened it for us. We had a group picture taken to capture the sentiment.
After the tour we had some free time to observe more classes. My new friend Rachel, from Texas, and I wandered into the library to catch some the artifacts that they were said to have, plus, I thought the Japanese books would be a treat! As we were enjoying the peace and solitude we interacted briefly with the librarian. Then as we continued walking around he invited us into his office where another man was waiting and the female librarian had just made tea for us. We sat down and communicated as best we could over tea and Japanese cookies. He played some instruments for us until we were interrupted by squealing teenage girls who were more than excited to talk with us.
Rachel and I had a good time in there, we asked some questions about school and they skipped cleaning time until the teachers shooed them back to class. We stayed so long we were a little late to our end of the day meeting, but what a great opportunity to interact so closely with teachers and students from another country. I can't get over how warm, welcoming and interested they've been in us. Despite the language barrier, I think we've all been communicating extremely well.
Speaking of communication, the final kick-off to today was our official reception by the city of Yukuhashi. Tonight we were showered with gifts and introduced to our home stay families. I had met the mother of mine at the Jr. High but we didn't talk too much. I met the Ryuo family who welcomed me with open arms! The father, Hiroaki, did most of the talking, his English was amazing while the mother, Tomoko, and daughters, Emina and Mihoe, listened in. Apparently they hosted a student from their sister school in New York last year, who didn't eat very much Japanese food, so I was more than willing to try whatever they wanted me too when they asked about food. Hiroaki also explained to me the difference between cho-shu and saki, something I was quite interested in. Emina, the eldest daughter, will be attending cram school tomorrow, so I'm sad I won't get to spend much time with her, but Mihoe is supposed to visit New York next spring, so I'm happy she be with us tomorrow. Both of the girls insisted on walking me home from the reception back to my hotel, which I gladly accepted so I could talk with them longer. My nervousness about the home stay is not so bad after tonight.
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