Strawberry picking & saying goodbyes.

It’s finally edging towards spring in Kumamoto (despite pleas from my delicate pale skin), which means its strawberry galore. Thanks to Clare’s host mum, both Sheridan and I were invited along for an afternoon of strawberry picking in nearby Ueki.

Despite not being what I imagined (inside little greenhouses rather than immense fields of strawberries), it was a great day out and I’m looking forward to even more fruit picking in the future. The highlight for me was befriending some of the cutest children I’ve ever seen, who had picked some strawberries bigger than they were.

Fruit in Japan is one of the things that can sometimes be ridiculously expensive; just yesterday I saw a watermelon going for almost ¥8,000 (about £55). To put that into perspective, my day ticket to Tokyo DisneyLand costs less. However, I’ve never eaten such flavourful strawberries in my life, and I’m definitely a convert. I’m even branching out in my baking; this week I made a white chocolate matcha cake in my rice cooker for Sheridan’s birthday, topped with said strawberries, which was rather yummy if I do say so myself.

As the title suggests, I had some goodbyes to make this week too. I attended my first junior high school graduation ceremony, and although I’ve only taught my 3^rd graders for just over 6 months, it was actually pretty sad. So many little personalities I’ve grown to love will no longer brighten my day. To name a few:

• The kid who always showed me his socks because it stressed me out when he insisted on wearing knee high ones in summer.
• The kid who told me he loved me every day, proposed to me one lunchtime, told me the service was at 6am the next day and now we’re married.
• The kid who insisted I called him Goripanman (Gorilla + Anpanman) and it took me months to learn his actual name.
• The kid who was equally as clumsy as me during cleaning time, and we’d bond cleaning up our messes and whispering about Hello Kitty and K-pop.
• The kid that warmed to me when he learnt I listen to ONE OK ROCK, then spent ages talking about the new album and how he was studying English harder to understand it all.
• The wonderful bright soul who would always be beaming from ear to ear, who wrote me a beautiful goodbye note and never failed to energise me with her infectious smile.
• The kid I didn’t know cared so much, but came to me after graduation tearful, gave me a hug, and helped me get all of these pictures with students that I would have never seen again otherwise.

What I realised was just how much I love my 2^nd graders, and how much of a mess I’ll be when they graduate next year. God help me if I stay here for the full 5 years; kids I started teaching in elementary school this year will be graduating junior high… I’ll probably feel like I’ve lost about 180 of my own children.

Ducks, rabbits & dolphins: No I wasn’t at a zoo, I was at kindergarten!

Just after I got back from Seoul I was greeted with a cheeky little schedule change, saying I was off to spend the day at a kindergarten. I wasn’t really complaining, since I got to sleep in, and part of my timetable for the day actually stated “12:40 – Play with the children”.

I almost died when I arrived. Kindergarteners here are aged 3 to 6, and although I knew they were small, I didn’t realise just how small they would be. Cuteness overload occurred when I realised they all wore coloured hats corresponding to their classes. The youngest were yellow ducks, then the pink rabbits and finally the blue dolphins.

I actually had the best day, teaching the rabbits and dolphins some colours, and eating lunch with the ducks. Every single one of them insisted on showing me their adorable bento boxes before starting to eat, with my Hello Kitty bento box going down a storm.

My lunchtime was spent lifting plant pots for the little ones so they could catch the insects underneath; there’s definitely worse things to be getting paid for. My heart completely melted when one little boy took a shine to me, and insisted I walk around the playground holding his hand while he showed me their pet turtles. 

It was draining, I was filthy from little grubby hands, but I was absolutely made up that the staff said they’d love to have me back next year for their English days. Some of the children are planning to go to my elementary schools too, which will be nice for the both of us to have some familiar faces when the next school year comes around.

Yet another example of how small Kumamoto is: I already teach one of my teachers’ kids at elementary school, and turn out his youngest goes to this kindergarten too. Here’s hoping they’re reporting good things back to their dad and my job isn’t in jeopardy! 

I think I’m safe though, the reviews we’ve been having lately have gone better than I could have imagined, especially in my junior high where I had some pretty big boots to fill. My elementary schools are thrilled purely at the fact I embrace being pummelled by dodgeballs every lunch time. I think the kids like me too, especially since I'm greeted with origami or artwork on the chalkboard when I join each class for kyuushoku.

I guess I’m alright at winging this whole teacher thing after all!