Coming of Age ceremony makes me feel old.

Jan. 6 Wednesday

*sigh* Work. Work on school break time. All my kids are all off somewhere playing and I`m stuck coming to school and my BOE to work. Booo....So anyways, I was stuck sitting at the BOE at first, but around 10am Sakurai-san came to the BOE looking like he needed to get something. When really, he just came cuz he wanted to see me and take me back to the middle school. He says that Iwata-sensei also told him to get me. lol Apparently, they were feeling lonely without me. Personally, I totally didn`t mind. Actually seeing Sakurai-san made me feel all happy because he was the bright light in the dark BOE. lol The atmosphere in the BOE is a lil stiff you know.

So I packed up my stuff and went with Sakurai-san in his car to the middle school. I was so relieved and even told him that he was my saviour. haha. When I got into the staff lounge everyone looked at me and then Sakurai-san and then started laughing. Because everyone was like "so you went to the BOE just to bring her back, huh?" And Iwata-sensei just had a knowing smirk on her face. lol Already, the atmosphere was great. Sakurai-san was like "why, is it not good?" And they said if it`s Teari, it`s okay. Yosh! Haha, but it was such a bright atmosphere here compared to the dark BOE. Heh. So I spent my time here doing nothing except getting on the comp. I`d rather do nothing here than the BOE really.

Jan. 8th Friday

So I`ve just been spending my days at the middle school lately. Doing almost nothing, except for the occasional preparing for my Parent-child English Conversation classes. But today, there was a special event going on. It`s the town`s traditional beginning of the year Fire Prevention Ceremony. So my teachers told me to go watch it. They said I had to first go to the BOE, so I did, whereupon I met all my school`s principals there and some other really high up ther peoples. Everyone were old men in black suits and I was the one lil girl in her golden jacket and white scarf... I felt really out of place and just said that I can just walk to the venue that the ceremony`s being held at. But the middle school principal said that it`s fine because a bus is coming so I should just take the bus. So I did. And sat there awkwardly with all the old elite men waiting for the bus. lol

When we walked outside to get on the bus it was like a ray of sun fell on the awkward day because I saw my elementary children standing outside in happis(mini kimono jacket things) waiting to do the march through town. And of course they saw me since I was the gold in a sea of black suits. =P I couldn`t help smiling when I saw them as that`s usually my first reaction whenever I see my kids. They were all like "Hey! It`s Theresa!! Hello Theresa!" and would wave enthusiastically. I would respond with the same enthusiasm. Oh, my children. The light of my day. Anyways, I still had to get on the bus. That was terribly awkward. The bus was small and just full of elite old men. They all knew who I was and I guess didn`t really question why I was there since I`m the foreigner who wants to see the town`s ceremonies and stuff like that. lol

When we got to the destination (which was the bank that is only 5 minutes away from the town hall/BOE and I could`ve jsut walked) all the old men filed out behind the town mayor and I followed behind and squeezed myself in between 2 cars so that I wouldn`t feel awkward standing there with all of them. I basically tried to hide myself away to deter attention cuz I was obviously not an elite old man. The firefighters that I knew were also kind of giggling when they saw me because they thought it was funny that I went with the group and that I came to watch. But, alas, the high school vice principal called me out to stand more near the center and not hide between 2 cars. lol So I went over and watched the firemen march down the street and then, "LLAAA~", my children marched up behind them. Again, my face went from serious-paying respect to smily laughy face. I stood over on the side so that I wasn`t really near the men, so all the children could see me. When they saw me they all waved at me and acted like lil kids do. I wasn`t sure if that was okay in front of all the elite people and worst off was they were doing it jsut to me, so I was like err...I hope they don`t mind the children and I waving to each other in this time of seriuosness... I can`t help it, I love my kids and become like on when I`m with them.

After it was over and everyone tried to file back on the bus, there were no seats left cuz somehow more people got on the bus then last time and so I and some other elite old men decided to walk the loooong 5 minute walk back to the town hall. I was talking with one of the genkier old men about the ceremony when I saw my children walking back as well. And so I sped up my pace and went towards them. They were happy to see me and talk to me, but the old man was still talking to me. So I had to use my respectful Japanese and feign interest with the old man while at the same time the children were trying to talk to me. One of the girls even held one of those warm packet things (that when you rub them they become warm) up to my face, so I bent over sideways a lil to let her do it and at the same time continued talking to the man. So I walked awkwardly the rest of the way back. lol When we got back I walked with the kids to the changing room and then over to the big hall for a reception ceremony of some kind.

The people at townhall thought it was funny to see me walking with the kids...I think because they`ve only all seen the polite straight side of me, cuz when I`m with the kids I let loose you know. Even the girls that I usually hang out with here thought it was funny. I got in late to the ceremony because I was talking with BOE people, so I wasn`t sure where to sit, but I just saw my kids sitting in the center, so I just went to sit with them. And then I heard "kiritsu!" which means stand and saw my children and everyone in front of me stand up and bow and sit down according to the commands and did the same. I did that about 5 times before I looked around to see that people sitting in the left and right side of the room were all the elite old men and spectators and didn`t bow and stuff whereas the middle of the room were the children and all the volunteer firefighters in their suits........And I felt superbly embarrased and dumb. I got up and did the bow thing when I didn`t need to and no one told me that I didn`t need to....Man. But ah well, I just kept thinking to myself that I`m a foreigner and I`m expected to not know what to do here and like having new experiences. And I hope that that`s what everyone else thinks too. =P

During the whole ceremony though I could see my children totally falling asleep and getting restless because it was 1 hour of just awards giving and speeches. My kids even told me "Theresa, I`m sleepy". lol Tell you the truth, I was too. I was terribly bored because I really didn`t understand any of it and I felt like one of my kids being restless and everything. But because I was their teacher and am technically responsible for the kids here since their parents weren`t here and I was the only person that the kids knew, I had to set a good example and tried to look attentive. When my kids would start falling asleep or talk too much or fidget in their chairs I would get up and give them a light nudge and a look (nothing scary) and they would be quiet. THough I totally understood how they felt. When it was over all the kids were like YES! lol

We then all went back to the changing room and they got bags of snacks. And since there was an extra one the firemen gave it to me, even though I did absolutely nothing. Apparently after this, all the kids were supposed to go eat out together with the volunteer firemen and the kids told me to go with them. But it`s because I`m not part of the thing I told them I couldn`t go even though I badly wanted to. During this time all the kids would crowd around me in a semi-circle and talk to me and play with me. I felt loved. =) But soon after they left and I left to go back to the middle school and back home.

Jan. 9 Saturday

Today I went to AEON`s Sports Authority to buy my snowboarding outfit because on monday Satomi is gonna teach me to board! whoo! So I bought a set outfit for $185. Not bad for a set. It was a dark grey Ellesse jacket with a furry hood and beige pants. I looked pretty cool. Now if only I can snowboard, I would complete this look. haha. I then decided to call Alan to see if I can borrow his extra goggles and discovered that he was also in AEON and in Sports Authority of all places! Coinky Dink! He was also with Meghan, a wonderful ALT gal from Scotland! So we bought our stuffs and then decided to head on out. And on impulse, when I saw CoCo Curry house, I stopped and said let`s eat. Here. Now. lol I looooovee CoCo Curry! They`re soooo good. Oh, and did you know that Hokkaido is famous for our Soup curry? Well, Hokkaido is famous for a lot of food though. Anyways, I ended up getting back home at 9pm instead of the 7pm I was aiming for. haha.

Jan. 10 Sunday

Coming of Age ceremony for my town was today. I was invited to go watch it. I walked in there and was just impressed and amazed. Everyone looked soooo beautiful and cool in their kimonos and suits. The girls all wore the most beautiful Kimonos ever and had wonderful hair styles and accessories! I so wanted another kimono after that. Actually, I should go and get one because my dad has mine hanging in his restaurant and I don`t have one here in Japan. Want a blue or green one. ^^ The guys looked so cool and hot in their suits and formal kimonos. Actually I was like "dude, where have all these hot guys been!??!" I`ve never seen any of them before and they seriuosly were good looking, but I had to remind myself that they were only 20 (because that`s the coming of age in Japan). I felt kinda old after that even though I`m only 22. But everyone was so much taller than me that I felt that they could`ve been older. lol We don`t look that different in age do we? >) Just seeing all of them there was impressive to me and I kinda wished I had a coming of age ceremony too.

Jan. 11 The official Coming of Age Day, Monday

So today at around 1:30pm Satomi came to pick me up to go boarding. I`m temporarily borrowing my boss`s daughter`s board and shoes. But the shoes were a tiny bit tight. At least I didn`t have to buy one yet since I`m trying it out to see if I like it or not. Tama-chan and Mago-chan also decided to come along and go skiing. It was also snowing like crazy today. We went to Wassamu`s ski hill. So I first went over to the family slope/bunny slope and started practicing strapping in the board and standing up. After 10 minutes I was able to stand up properly on the hill without falling backwards on my butt. haha. And I saw alot of my lil elementary students there too. So they would gravitate over towards me and talk to me and ask me why I`m so inept. lol But I was like "kids, maybe you shouldn`t get too close to me while I`m boarding. You might get hurt" as I don`t know how to stop yet and how to control the board when I`m sliding.

I was also able to slide straight down without falling! Although, when it came to trying to stop I would tumble down. lol Not exactly the most graceful I`d say. The kids would then, again, come crowd around me after I fall and be silly with me. =P After 3 hours of falling on my butt and tumbling around in the snow with my kids laughing at me we decided to all head on back home. Oh, man I know I`m going to be sore the next day. Although luckily, falling here means falling on soft powder snow. So it didn`t hurt as much. So now I am dfeinitely going to go buy my own board. woo.

Otsukare for reading!