School’s Out

My second day at Okuganaya Elementary just finished, and I am beat. Playing with those kids should be an Olympic event. Anyone who says, “You just ran around with the kids for a while and you’re exhausted? What a wuss”, has obviously never dealt with children for eight hours before. I’m sore in places I didn’t know I had.

It’s kind of nice to work with the younger kids for a change. A lot of the junior high students seem to have already started with the “gaijin stare”, where they look at you like some kind of rare but unpleasant animal. Not all of them, or even most of them, but it’s certainly enough that you feel a little uncomfortable sometimes.

Not the elementary kids. They’re just glad to have someone around they can play with. I spent several hours this afternoon playing onigokko (hide and seek, basically), and giving piggyback and helicopter rides to the kids. And arm-wrestling a few times, which was kind of odd. Then there was gym class, where I helped them practice their cheering, and then we played tag and hoolahoops for an hour. We had lunch with the kids too; and they already set aside a special place for me at the second and third graders’ table. I’m getting along pretty well with all of them.

Actually, the boys seem to be pretty indifferent to me, but the girls can’t get enough. I guess it’s because of one little seven year old ringleader (who shall remain nameless on the interwebs) who keeps calling me Harry Potter and dragging everyone around. Literally, she’ll grab your hand and drag you whether you want to or not. Even the girls who were a little scared or wary of me seemed to warm up once she dragged them into a game with me. I guess I just need a similar go-between with the boys before they start to relax.

Sports Day at Asago Junior High is tomorrow, followed by another enkai in Ikuno. Expect lots of pics of the one after I sober up from the other.

We can’t even think of a word that rhymes