New and fascinating experiences at Hachimori Elementary School, a few hours being a child, a nervous performance in front of 300 people, and an AWESOME time with the "Dream House Host Family." This trip was just as good as the last one, if not, better!
The second visit to Happocho was absolutely awesome! Although it started off on a sleepy note, it turned into a great experience that I can never forget! The first place that I visited was Happocho's Hachimori Elementary School. I'll be honest and say that I was super nervous to go to an elementary school in Japan. I was afraid that the kids would find us boring and run a havoc.
As soon as we got there, we were taken to a cafeteria where we sang Christmas songs with everyone and made origami decorations. After doing that for a couple of hours, it was lunch time. Lunchtime was fascinating! A group of kids from each grade dressed up as cafeteria workers, pulled out the food, and served the kids in their grade. The kids were very well organized. Before the kids picked up their food, they decorated their trays with colorful handkerchiefs, and pulled out their fancy anime-themed utensils. Talk about trends in school... you could tell that it was cool to have anime styled handkerchiefs for the boys, and pretty pink colored handkerchiefs for the girls.
After lunch was done, every single kid cleaned up their area and organized the trash and dishes into their designated areas. It was so different from our schools at home. Usually we would just throw everything away into one trash bin and move on with our business. These kids were different. They were taught straight from the get-go that you that things have an order to them. The best of it all was that they were taught to clean up after themselves. We need that in Hawaii!
After they cleaned up, two second graders grabbed my hands and walked me to their class. As we were walking, I couldn't help but feel as if I were in a dream. That was the first time I've ever been walked to a class having little kids hold my hands. As much as this sounds girly, it was very very very cute. It made me think, for a split second, "Having children of my own someday would be nice."
After they cleaned up, two second graders grabbed my hands and walked me to their class. As we were walking, I couldn't help but feel as if I were in a dream. That was the first time I've ever been walked to a class having little kids hold my hands. As much as this sounds girly, it was very very very cute. It made me think, for a split second, "Having children of my own someday would be nice."
When I got to the class, I was greeted by a bunch of enthusiastic children. For the first half, I read them an English book. For the second half, I played with them in the gym during their "recess." We went crazy! I ran all over the gym, fell terribly hard on the ground, pulled children around, and became a child again. Being young for that moment was great! It was refreshing!
After playing around, we had a great English session with all the 4th and 5th graders! It was a lot of fun! We played all sorts of games. One of the games we played was... "Numbers"... I think. When the teacher yells out a number, the kids have to form a group with that amount. It was a fun game, but also a bad game. Guys were only sticking to guys, girls were only sticking to girls, and the kids eventually started calling the game, "Uragiri Game," which means betrayal game. If you have five close friends and the teacher calls out the number four, what do you do? You kick someone out. Haha!
After that session, all the students in the school started cleaning their school.. They pulled out their brooms, mops, and cloths and cleaned everywhere. It was very very very interesting following a tiny little girl while cleaning. The little girl's composure was so adult-like, I was tripping out. My favorite part during this cleaning session was the song they were playing on the school speakers, "Believe." It reminded me of my older brother for some reason. It gave me an image of his cheery child days.
Later that night, I went with the Yamamoto family to their dream house! It was beautiful. The house was on a hill at the edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean. The best part about it was that they were the only house on that hill. The inside was just as spectacular. It had BOSE speakers in the entire house, two spa-like baths, and huge windows all over the house so that you can see the beautiful view outside. Playing with the kids and talking story with the adults was great. The kids were easy to get along with as all they wanted to do was play games. The adults were just as easy to get along with as the father studied abroad in America, and the mother took hula lessons when she was younger. I drank a lot that night. The father owned a brewery so it was only natural to drink all night with him.
The next day, we went to a child day care center and a gathering for the elderly. We did a performance for both of them. We sang Christmas songs for the both of them. I even sang the "Hawaiian Wedding Song" for all the elderly. I was surprised to see a few of them singing along. After a successful time in Happocho, we called it a day and went back home. It was an awesome experience, I will most likely never forget.
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