Monday, October 31, 2005

Elementary School Concert (gakugeikai)

Sunday morning I went to the concert of one of my Elementary Schools. School concerts are a serious business here. This is one of my little schools (only 8 students from grades 1 to 6) and the concert was still about three hours long. There were performances by all of the elementary students, the children at the town kindergarten including the 1 and 2 year olds (I don't teach there, but I would like to), and the PTA members of both schools. That's right. The Parent Teacher Association performed songs and dances at the school concert. How's that for parent involvement?

The whole morning was a lot of fun. I got a ride up from the Superintendent, and watched the students and their parents perform. The kids were really surprised to see me there. Their parents were glad to see me too. I met a couple of them during the intermission. I really enjoyed seeing how close-knit the students and teachers at the school are. There are only four teachers at the school; but still, it's not often you see teachers dressed as daikon, demons and cheerleaders, all in one school concert. And getting beat up by their students.

I didn't get to go to the concerts at my two other elementary schools. They were the weekend I was in Kitami, and I didn't find out about them until the day before I was leaving. Which was too bad. I saw some rehearsals and they looked really good.

Sadly, I spent the afternoon recovering from a nasty cold I picked up. I was supposed to go fishing! This was my last chance until the spring! Oh well, I suppose my health is more important than fishing. Maybe. I don't know though, I really wanted to go fishing.

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