So the year is wrapping up before summer and this is my last week of classes. Tuesdays are a good day, I get to see two really good elementary schools set up on the Miyahara Hill. At the first one today one of my fifth graders passed out from the heat while singing in the morning assembly. We raced to him and then I carried him down to the nurses office while some of the teachers cleared the way and prepped the room (fetched ice!). We then cooled him down and he was up and running by third period again. I had an empty second period so I chilled (pardon the pun) with him and played word games Not too scary, but was interesting to watch.
Once I moved onto my next school the day got a bit more interesting. An Olympic Silver Medalist from the Sydney games came to swim with us. She was great and we had a lot of fun teaching together. We had a bunch of news cameras there too. I was really embarrassed when I showed up because all the kids in the pool converged on me at once to say hi, despite them already being in the middle of a lesson on TV. And Mia, the Olympian, was totally confused at this "random" white guy the kids were worshiping. It was pretty damn funny, but I still hope they edit it out in post. The lesson was super fun and we had a great time, the principal of the school challenged Mia to a race for laughs... I nearly died laughing. The principal is a real joker at this school and he was doing everything he could to cheat her. It was like watching a clever comedy show.
After that we had lunch, Mia with the sixth graders and I joined the fifth graders. The 5th graders and I just chilled as always and played games, made jokes, and so on like we always do at lunch. Apparently we made such a ruckus that everyone from the 6th grade classroom next to us (including those damn cameras) came over to watch us. It was pretty amusing judging by their faces. Also during that time I met Mia's coach. Real nice guy. He is from Miyagi Prefecture where the big tsunamis hit and he told us some frightening stories about how a school saved its students, but couldn't save an additional three hundred people that were swept off at the same time; it was the children or them, they had to choose.. rough. Don't worry, he cheered the mood up again before he left.
I got a few photos too that I will post shortly. All in all a very entertaining day.
Other things that have happened. I summited Mt. Fuji. Not that bad of a hike except I ascended too fast and got hit with terrible altitude sickness 300m or so from the top. It takes between 5-7 hours to climb, but my climbing buddy and I were on a three hour pace, mistake for me (he was fine because he has a much better tolerance at altitude than myself). I puked real hard and slept it off for three hours, but was still in bad shape. I crawled to the top anyways (and puked more on the way) and then took an hour nap in the sun on the top. When I woke up I was fine. Crazy stuff. Two things pissed me off about this trip. I spent more time traveling there and back by bus than actually being at Fuji. Also the experience was very un-Japanese; rude guides, unhelpful staff at rest stops (wouldn't let me rest a bit when I was sick), amidst other things. I am not whining about it, but it did catch me off guard.
More to come...
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