March 19 – Ensoku

Monday and Tuesday I spent most of my time at the Gakuen outside playing with the kids. Remember that big dangerous sledding hill behind the Kodomoen? Well if you walk all the way up the hill you soon arrive at the “Mountain Amusement Park”. It is a huge open area full of paths, trees, and various playground equipment. The school owns the entire area! I spent time playing tag and hide and seek with the girls. With the boys we went on a few nature hikes searching for bugs and animals. I wish we had a playground like that when I was growing up. I also am jealous of how dangerous the playground equipment is. Everything is made of metal and since it has been outside for ages, there is rust and holes in spots. There is also none of that rubber padding like in our modern playgrounds. It is all grass, dirt, and rocks. The sensei’s even encourage stuff that I remember being yelled at for! We had a contest to see who could jump the furthest off the swingset for example. Also at the very top of the mountain there is a fairly large dirt race track where we practiced riding the mini-bike around. The gakuen is a lot more fun now that we can play outside! In other news, we just started cleaning up at the end of the day yesterday. Needless to say, I decided not to go to the Gakuen today.

At the Hoikuen, I went on an excursion with Taiyo san, Masako sensei, Taeko sensei, the delegated photographer, and the yellow bus driver. We left bright and early at 10am and arrived at the Niigata museum a little before 11. The museum is exactly like the ones I remember going to as a kid. There are all sorts of exhibits from dinosaurs and other extinct animals to space and robot exhibits. The kids all really enjoyed it. We first dropped off all our luggage at the rest area. The kids all brought thermos’s and backpacks filled with delicious boxed lunches. Since it was not lunch time yet, we decided to explore the floor until it was time to eat. This floor had a bunch of pre-historic stuffed animals such as dinosaurs, birds, and insects. The place was filled with buttons to press and screens to watch. The main plan was to choose a room, then let the kids run free doing whatever they felt like doing. It turned more into the three sensei’s (Taeko, Masako, and I) looking at the things we were interested in, while the kids clinged to each of us. It was difficult trying to look after all of them at once, so I decided to wander by myself and whoever decided to follow could hear my words of wisdom. At noon we sat down to watch the dinosaur show. It is an automated robotic show with two projectors showing a movie, and having models of dinosaurs move and act out the story. The Tyranosauras was pretty scary.

After the show we returned to the break area to eat lunch. Taeko sensei brought lunch for the adults. I had a conbini sandwich, chips, and onigiri. The kids had amazing looking boxed lunches. They were all homemade and consisted of every delicious food I could think of. Aoi chan had onigiri in the shape of picachu, while Maru chan had yaki-tamago in the shape of a bunny. Their mother must have spent a ton of time making these lunches! I remember my lunches being peanut butter and honey sandwich with pretzels and some sort of treat. I ate my store bought food and waited for everyone else to finish.

After lunch we explored the rest of the museum. We could not see it all because of time constraints, but I got to see a good portion of it. The robot room had some very real dogs and cats that you could touch. There was also a show that we were not able to see. In the same room we pushed buttons on various machines and played some games on the nearby computers. I really wanted to do the flight simulator, but it was being worked on the whole day. We also went outside for a little bit, but almost everything was closed. A giant castle sat in the middle with a train, car, and plane surrounding it. There was a windmill measuring the current wind velocity, a giant pipe that you could yell through, and two big half ovals that reflected sound waves to the opposing one. We took a group picture in front of the train before heading back inside. At the end of the day we went to this room where you could get your picture taken and have it printed out much like puri-kura found in all the arcades. We spent a good deal of time there (perhaps too much) but everyone got their picture taken. Masako sensei refused to have her picture taken with me… She said that she didn’t look good in her glasses. Gah!

We headed back to the break area and everyone grabbed their stuff before heading out. On the bus ride back the kids slept in their tiny seats. I being cramped and uncomfortable, spent the entire time staring out the window and at the kids. When I got back I took a break and attempted to sleep. When that failed, I noticed Tomomi Sensei and Elena sensei yet again doing menial tasks without talking. I figured what the hell, and asked them to dinner. We decided on ramen. Once the kids woke up from their nap, I was told to help with the bus duties. This meant that I had to sit on the bus again for another hour and a half while we dropped kids off one by one at their houses. I went with Yumiko sensei on the yellow bus.

That night when work was over, I went to eat dinner with the two new sensei’s. Immediately after exiting the Hoikuen, they started talking like normal people. They said that they were really nervous being around the other sensei’s because they were new, and that they felt like they were always in the way. I found out that they both went to the same high school, but really didn’t know each other until arriving at the daycare. They also both went to a 2 year college in order to become a sensei. I learned that it is mandatory for becoming a teacher. Weird because other teachers such as Masako sensei didn’t go to college at all before starting at the daycare. On the way to the ramen shop, Elena sensei mentioned that she had a dream recently involving her falling in love with a foreigner. Upon further questioning, she said she wants to marry a foreigner because she felt she could be more close to him. She said Japanese people work way too much to have a really close relationship. Interesting. We ate together and soon headed home. I wanted to go do something else, but they said they were tired from working all day. Understandable considering it is still their first week. Too bad I have to go back to school soon. They could become really good friends if I just had more time in Niigata!