Today, I gave presentations about America, Oklahoma, Cowboys, Native Americans, and whatnot at 八雲台小学校 (Yagumodai elementary school) as a volunteer, unlike the similar presentations I have to give at two separate elementary schools next week. I wasn't really in the mood to get up at 7:30 this morning, but I guess I managed.
There was a Spanish guy who gave a presentation as well and is apparently one of the student's father. His Japanese was amazing and made me feel like I didn't know anything, but at the same time gave me hope that maybe I will become good at Japanese someday. But other than him, there were two girls from Indonesia and a guy from Morocco from my university.
We each spoke for around 10 minutes about where we were from to three different classes of third graders. Apparently the students researched our respective countries and in each class there was a group that presented what they found. I only got to see the ones about America since I had to change classes, but apparently Americans' favorite things to eat are hamburgers, pizza, pork and beans, and watermelon. And since it was an open house day or something, there were a lot of moms there watching me. There was a bit of pressure, but it was all good fun.
Afterwards, there was some sort of sports competition and all the students gathered outside for a jump rope contest. Each class tried to see how many people could jump through the rope in five minutes. Then they had some kind of demonstration for the parents with really awkward background music. It was pretty amazing.
But seeing everyone having fun and organizing their jump rope teams and whatnot made me miss those days. I may just have selective memory and only remember the good parts, but I miss sports days and the feeling of returning to the comfort home after a seemingly endless day at school. It even made me miss junior high and the excitement of talking to everyone during lunch break. I guess it made me want to go back to the days of only worrying about the things that interested me.
The lady who organized the trip for us was there to see one of her sons and also brought her youngest son, Yuta, along. He was two years old and simply adorable. Seeing all of the moms gathered there also made me wish I had an お母さん to make me bento lunches and buy me those hard-case style backpacks.
But on the way back, I thought about what it must be like to be a parent, which kinda freaked me out. My mom was 21 when I was born, but I can't begin to imagine what it would be like if I had a kid next year. I can barely take care of myself, much less someone else who is completely dependent on me for everything. I thought about how having a child completely changes your life forever and realized that I need to be more grateful towards my parents than I am.
I guess life's a cycle and we each have our own place in it that's constantly changing, whether we'd like it to or not. It's all seems so cliché, but I guess it's true. I hope I can be one of those people that finds happiness in all the stages of life.
Captain out.
No comments:
Post a Comment