Today was quite a day. In fact, I’m having to split it into two parts, it was so full. Tonight, I shall tell you about the work part of my day. It was rather full. I got to teach two classes in the morning and give a speech in English and Japanese both at each school in the afternoon. But let’s start at the beginning.

This morning, I went to Minami as usual. Because they were having the closing ceremony for summer vacation in the afternoon, the schedule was all different. Not that such an occurrence is at all unusual. Once I figured out my schedule, I found out I had classes back-to-back in the second and third periods, just before lunch. The first class was with Ms. Shiokai, and since she is now the head English teacher, or at least the head first-year teacher, the principal had asked if he could visit one of her classes. This is the man who lived in New York for 5 years, working at the Manhattan branch of the Japanese 77 Bank. His English is very good, and I’m not really sure why he decided to become a principal. Anyway, about halfway through the lesson, he came and amazed all the students. His English is really better than most of the English teachers. Today’s lesson was about introducing one’s family, so he talked a bit about his daughters. One of them in working for MTV in New York now, which of course was very impressive. Ms. Shiokai had also planned a game where she asked the students multiple choice questions about me and Mr. Sato. Things like, “What is Dana-sensei’s favorite kanji of these three?” and, “What is kocho-sensei’s dream?” Oh, and, “How many centimeters taller than Dana is kocho-sensei?” Mr. Sato also revealed his weight to the class, but I declined. Not really because I care, but because I haven’t got a clue what I weigh in kilograms. I emphasized to the class that he is tall in both Japan and the US, since he is 6’1”.

Then I taught my last class with Mr. Takisawa, the cute part-time teacher who sits next to me. The lesson in that class was about looking sad or happy, and giving the reason why, so I wandered around the class a lot embarrassing students who thought they had finished talking to their partners for the assignment and could then speak in Japanese or sleep. Nothing like seeing that look of panic as the teacher is all of a sudden standing over your desk, asking, “And you? Are you happy or sad today? Oh, really? What happened?” That aside, I think they actually had fun. It was a pretty easy lesson. And they did all look sad when I told them I was leaving and they should be nice to the new ALT. After class, I found out that Mr. Takisawa was on his way to Nagoya for a job interview at another school. He taught at a private school before, but quit so he could go to grad school full time. Now, though, he’s almost done with that, and doesn’t want to be a part time teacher after this school year is over. I hope he did well on his English exams. He kept asking me for help and clarification while he was studying for them.

In the afternoon, both school’s were having closing ceremonies. Today was the last day of school before the month-long August vacation. (I only mean vacation loosely, of course, because most of the students will still come to school for club activities nearly all day, every day.) There had been much discussion between my two schools about how to coordinate my attendance at each ceremony, because it was also to be my farewell ceremony. At Minami, my farewell started the whole thing. Mr. Sato gave a speech thanking me and talking about what I would be doing next year, all in English. He gave me a signed copy of it, as well. Then I gave a short speech in English (“I had fun teaching you, I hope you will continue to study English, blah, blah.”) and then in Japanese, (trans. “Everyone, my year in Japan was wonderful. It was a good experience. Truly, thank you very much,”). After I was done, a student representative brought me a huge bouquet of flowers. It was very sweet. Apparently, the International Communication Club had planned to give me a party after school, too, but I had to go to Mukaiyama right after my speech, so one of them gave me a letter from her before I left.

Then, after my speech, I went and got my bag, walked to the office with all my stuff, and got picked up by Miwa-sensei to go to Mukaiyama. There, my farewell was at the end of the ceremony. I got to listen to the principal admonish the students not to have part-time jobs, to study, and to read enlightening books, like Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky in translation, over the summer. Somehow, I’m not convinced they are going to take his advice. Two other teachers gave little advice speeches, too, and then the principal introduced me. This principal does not speak English, and in truth, I have no idea what he said, other than he mentioned America a lot. I gave my little speech, no one gave me flowers, and the ceremony was over. But then I went back to the staff room, where I attempted to put my desk in some sort of order, and all of the second-year classes sent representatives to me with cards signed by the whole class. I also got a letter from the girl in Kamiyama-sensei’s homeroom who is going on an 11-month exchange program to Ohio and Wisconsin, leaving next week, who came to ask me questions about America during lunch yesterday. And yesterday, both of Ms. Chiba’s first year classes gave me crane chains with messages written on the birds’ wings. I feel loved. Yay! My favorite comments were the ones saying, “I didn’t like English, but now I do,” or, “I don’t like English, but I like your class.”

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