Summer School

So, I'm finished teaching at my first ever summer school.  It was fun because they were elementary students and they can get pretty excited about small things.  Each day I was with the students from noon until three in the afternoon.  The first forty minutes we ate lunch and played outside. 

Here we are in the cafeteria eating lunch.  It was bring your own lunch.  

The thirty or so students were divided into three groups, mostly arranged by their ages.  We did a rotation between Art, Computers and Activities.  After about forty-five minutes, the groups rotated, so the students who were in Art moved to the Computers, those in Computers moved to Activities, and those in Activities moved to Art.  I was in charge of the activities.  Here are my supplies I used.  

Hula Hoops, first aid kit, skipping ropes (or jump ropes), rubber ball, hakki sacks, sidewalk chalk, and emergency contacts info. 

Puzzles of all kinds.  

I had puzzles for indoor activities and the other supplies were for outdoor games.  It turned out that Monday and Tuesday were quite warm out, reaching up to 30C with about 80% humidity.  Wednesday it turned out to be cooler, but it was quite windy out.  We still played games outside.  Thursday was a rainy day and did puzzles and some indoor games like ricki-tikki bear and duck, duck, goose.  

Here one group is doing the puzzles.  I had an excellent helper, Zach, who is in Japan visiting his parents for the summer.  He attends Redeemer University/College in Ancaster, Ontario.

This group was working on the raccoon puzzle.  They are sure concentrating.  

Friday ended up raining, but we spent about fifteen minutes outside playing hopscotch and the rest of the time was spent playing games in the mini-gym.
There is another week for these students, but I will be flying back to British Columbia next week.  Zach will be taking over the class.  It was a fun week and I think the students enjoyed it as well.  By the way, some of these students attend English as an Additional Language classes in the morning until lunchtime.  
After having collected jigsaw puzzles for me to use, Rita, a friend from CAJ, gave me this cute little puzzle.  It's  300 pieces, 10 cm x 21.5 cm.  I did the whole thing on my cutting board.  

 Do you see the little blue tweezers beside the box?  That was included with the puzzle.  I used it the whole time.  It was easier than using my fingers.  

I separated the pieces into edges and non-edges and used one of my plates to store the non-edges while I worked on putting the edges together, but otherwise it was all on my cutting board. 

There's my finger to give you some perspective.  

Here is the puzzle completed.  Sorry for the glare.  

One other new experience was driving.  I had been a bit apprehensive driving, but I realized just recently that I was so used to the left side now (only on bicycle), that being on the right seemed a bit awkward.  So, I was offered the opportunity to drive and did so on the expressway as well as some country type roads.  The biggest adjustment was hitting the wipers instead of the signal lights.  Yup, the windows were wiped a couple of extra times.  :)  

The next post will be from British Columbia!  

Reflecting

Twelve years ago today, my dad was able to leave behind his cancerous body and not experience any more pain.
Washington Christian Academy gave me the rest of the 2000 - 2001 school year off, so that I could fly from Maryland to British Columbia and spend the last six weeks of my dad's earthly life with him.  I still remember when I walked into his hospital room after flying across the continent and saw him looking swollen from the steroids he was taking at the time.  Dad was in the hospital because he had congestive heart failure, probably having something to do with his lung cancer and his heart disease.  Within a week of being in BC, I signed on to be dad's primary care giver.  When I think back, that was a HUGE change for me.  I had never in my life ever thought about being a nurse or doing nurse type duties.  Those first couple of weeks were very stressful, learning how to change a bed with a person still in it, organizing dad's medication, figuring out what food he could eat, and organizing the home care nurses.  I remember being emotionally spent by the second week.  Fortunately, I have good brothers and they stepped in to relieve some of that stress.
What a precious time those six weeks were.  It wasn't always easy to see dad's health deteriorating, but I remember two weeks before dad died, he kept telling me, "I want to go home."  I hadn't clued in right away, thinking, well, dad you are home.  (He left the hospital and we set up his apartment with hospital bed etc.)  What I believe he really was saying was that he wanted to go to his heavenly home.  Dad was not always able to communicate clearly, sometimes speaking in Dutch and sometimes only speaking some of the words in a sentence, but to clearly hear him say he wanted to be with his Heavenly Father, was a comfort for those of us still left on this earth, although we knew we would miss him terribly.
I still think about how he loved to tease us kids.  When we played games, we would all gang up just so we could beat dad.  :)
Dad and mom immigrated from The Netherlands to Canada with three small children.  My youngest brother and I were not born yet, but have heard the stories over the years that life was not easy.  Making a living meant working hard.  There were difficult times, but there was always their faith in God that he would provide.
So, today I went with Brian and Bette VanderHaak up to Mashiko looking to purchase some pottery.  It was a couple hour drive which gave me time to reflect about dad.  The TODAY devotional was interesting.  Go ahead and read it, a link is up there on the right.  I would agree with Thea Leunk, "Everything will be all right."  "Shalom."

School's Out for the Summer, well sort of....

Today was the last half day of school for the students.  It was a fun day!  We first had an assembly in the auditorium, where we sang some songs and had Mrs. Hall the present MS principal talk about our theme this year and introduced our them for next year, In Domino Fortus, Strong in the Lord, with the verse Ephesians 6: 10.  
Next we spent some time with our own Homeroom/Bible classes, wrapping up the year together.  It was a good time talking about what students learned in grade six.  Wouldn't you know it, the new buzz word is "sheesh-kebabs!"  Yup, that's what I say quite regularly.  Funny thing is, when I asked the students what it means, they have no idea!  :)  
The next hour and half was spent playing kickball and eating ice cream.  The highlight of that 90 minute session was the grade eight students playing the teachers.  Since there were so few teachers and so many students, each of the students had to hold on to a partner at all times, that includes when they play in the field and when they kick the ball.  It was pretty fun.  Good part was that the teachers won!  

Grade 8 boys playing the Grade 6 boys

Grade 8 girls playing the Grade 6 girls

 After the kickball games, we all went to our grade level classes.  Each of the homeroom teachers had prepared a certificate for each of the students.  We passed those out.  

Getting ready to receive their certificates

Sorry for the blurry picture...

We ended the day with three students being given a shikishi and a friend prayed for them.  The three students were leaving for either home service or their parent's job transferred them to another country.  The students also shared good memories of those students.  We ended our time with a prayer.  
My students gave me a box of cookies and this...

Isn't this neat?

It was a fun day.  Now, I'm brain dead, but still need to work on report cards and we have meetings tomorrow, Thursday and Friday.  Next week is Summer School!  So school really isn't out for the summer....

So, What's it like to...

What's it like to attend a grade 8 graduation at CAJ?  It's actually not that different than attending a grade 8 graduation anywhere else.  It was well planned out with music performed by the Middle School band and choir.  There were awards given to the students and small gifts given to the teachers who taught them at some point during the Middle School years. Sorry no pictures.  

What's it like to have a birthday overseas?  It was fine.  I have developed some good friends that remembered my birthday and made it a special day. Before my birthday I had already received a beautiful birthday gift!  Check it out!

On the actual day, Mieke Sasaki walked into the room singing, "Lang Zal Zij Leven" and gave me a gift that had windmills and shoes on it.  I also received a bag with balloons in it that said, "Happy Birthday Winnie!"

 It was sort of special already because it was Senior Comps day!  Senior Comps day is the day when the staff are divided into groups of three and they sit in a presentation given by a Senior, all the other students do not have regular classes, but are required to attend at least one comp presentation.  The senior has studied and researched their social issue and on this day give an oral presentation that the panel of three staff evaluate.  I was fortunate to only have two presentations to evaluate that day.  The first presentation was on sleep deprivation and energy drinks.  The second was on teen depression.  Both were interesting although one would think I would walk away depressed after that.  :)  Lunch was interesting.  We could have pizza and/or sushi.  I've started to eat raw tuna and it sure does taste good.  That is something I have not experienced before on my birthday.  The rest of the day was fairly low key, meeting with department heads so I can get a good grasp of the various programs at CAJ in preparation for principalship next year, and the what seems like, never-ending grading of papers, writing tests, grading projects etc.  
So what's it like to attend a grade 12 graduation at CAJ?  It actually isn't a whole lot different than attending a graduation at any other Christian High School.  The staff, which includes everyone, walks in to the gym (grad was in the gym since it can hold many more people) in the order of length of time working at CAJ.  Yup, I was #68!  Only three other folks behind me!  The graduates walk in after us.  The one difference is having to pronounce all the names from various languages!  Kudos to Mr. VanderHaak for doing a good job.  The one other difference is that the program was streamed live on the internet.  Sorry forgot to take pictures during the graduation.  If you are interested, you're welcome to view the video of the  CAJ Grade 12 Graduation Program.  
Here are some pictures of the program.

Cover of the program

Program order

List of graduates

What's it like to have one year of teaching at CAJ under my belt?  It is good!  I really have come to love living here in Japan.  I really enjoy working with my colleagues at CAJ.  I am looking forward to the challenges of being a MS principal, knowing that many are praying for a good transition.  

Exercise

Every morning I get to bicycle to school about 4 kilometers.  I ride on different types of roads and paths.  Now that I have done this for over a month, I'm beginning to bump into the same people.  I can tell whether I am later or earlier based on where I meet these people.  
I begin bicycling down the street I live on.  This is "the hood."  There are a few families with young children.  I can hear and see children playing in the evenings and on the weekends.  

It is a good neighborhood.  

I bicycle past a park.  I haven't been able to figure out what the name of it is, but here is a sign at the entrance, which I assume is the name.  

Anybody able to read this Kanji?

It's wooded and also has some open space.  This was taken on Saturday, not on a weekday morning.

Each morning by the time I get to this park, there is an exercise group for what looks like older folks.  They are all wearing white hats and doing what looks like stretching exercises, but it may be the "cool down" part of the routine.  I am impressed that so many show up on any given morning.  I haven't seen them there when it's raining, though.  There are also some children with adults, who are practicing their baseball, usually pitching, sometimes they are swinging a bat, or some are kicking a soccer ball around.  
I also ride down the Suido-doro.  This is a road that goes along a canal that was built to bring water to the farmers, a long time ago.  

Street sign.

This is the actual canal.  I have seen fish in it.  

I also ride along the river for much of the ride.  It has bicycle/walking paths on both sides.  Some parts are quite smooth but there is a rough patch.  I find it quite interesting that here in Japan they tend to manicure the rivers, meaning the erosion is controlled.  

There are fish in here also, but you can see how they control the erosion.

When I first get on the river path, there is a High School that I pass.  It has great fields and there is a lot of activity there, although not when I ride by in the morning, but after school there is almost always some sort of sport activity happening in the field.  I have heard that this school has had some very successful teams and as a result a fair amount of money has been given to this school and the facilities look pretty good.  

Today there was soccer.

I turn off the river path and head into Higashi Kurume, where CAJ is.  I ride right past the City Hall and every morning they also have a group of older folks that stand in a circle and do their morning exercises.  

Here they are bending down reaching for their toes.   

Some close-ups of some of the participants in Higashi Kurume.

So, all to say, what do I do for exercise?  Well, I do have to bicycle 4 km each way to and from CAJ each day.  I really do like that opportunity, except on those cold, cold days or those rainy, rainy days.  I also have tried to go to the VanderHaak's and walk Hana once a week.  It's so nice that she gets excited when I come, although I wonder if she just gets excited when anyone comes.  :)  Either way, it makes my day!  :)

Hana and I walking along the river path.  Don't you see that smile on her face?

  

A Parade of Bands

May 10, 2013 was a long day.  I was ready to leave to go down to the Kanto Plain Middle School Principals meeting by 6:30 a.m.  I was back in time to eat lunch and teach period 6 and there was a pep rally during period 7.  I also had playground duty after school, after which I graded Math tests that the students took in the morning.  The evening had the Parade of Bands concert at CAJ.  I did have some fun by going out to dinner with a friend between grading papers and the concert.
I am always amazed at the variety of skills students that attend CAJ have.  They are not perfect, but it is great to see their dedication to academics, as well as music, art, and sports.  Here are two videos of two selections from the Parade of Bands.

CAJ High School Band performing Firedance by Bill Whelan, arr. Carl Strommen

CAJ Middle School Band performing The Hundred Pipers by Lady Nairne, arr. James D. Ployhar

The Grade Five Band played as well as the Jazz Band.  They all did a terrific job.  The bands were not perfect, but I believe God has blessed CAJ with good Music teachers that give CAJ students good musical experiences.  Next week Friday evening will be the Spring Concert.  

Seniors, May Day, Leadership Team Retreat weekend

Since I teach the grade six class, I do not get to interact very much with the class of 2013.  There is one Psychology class that meets in the room that I teach Bible and Math and I have my desk there, so I've been able to recognize a few of them.  They seem to be nice students.  Apparently there is a tradition where the graduating class does some sort of prank at school.  This year the class put cups of water all throughout the Atrium, with a blue 13 in the middle.  They were kind enough to leave small paths where students and teachers could navigate through the Atrium to go to their classes.  

This was taken from the outside door into the Atrium.

This is taken from the second floor looking down on the Atrium.

One interesting thing about teaching at an International School is the different events that happen.  Last week Wednesday was May 1st.  Some of the students in the elementary school were doing a folk dance around the May Pole.  

Elementary Class getting ready for the folk dance.

Friday, May 3rd was a holiday from school.  It was actually Golden Week here in Japan.  I believe the Japanese schools have more days off during the week, but CAJ had no school on Friday for Golden Week.  I took advantage of the extra day off by traveling with Brian and Bette VanderHaak up to a Pottery Festival.  We had to wait in a long line before we could enter the parking lot.  While we were waiting, I was able to watch, up close, the planting of rice in the rice paddy's.  

This is one of the machines used to plant the rice plants.  

You can see the rows of rice plants already planted.  They flood the fields at the beginning stage.  

This person is so bent over.  

These were rice plants that were slid onto the planters.

Here one of the workers is walking the rice planter down to the other end to enter the rice paddy.

One rice planter has already begun putting down plants and a second one is getting ready to line up next to the first one. 

Here they are on their way back.  This field was totally completed by the time we left.

Isn't this interesting pottery?  A conversation starter.  I wonder if the sunglasses came with the piece...

I was impressed with the terraced flower beds.

After driving up to the cabin, I was able to relax quite a bit on Saturday and Sunday.  Sunday evening I move down to another cabin for the Leadership Retreat.  We did take a couple of excursions.  One was to a Look Out.  

CAJ Leadership Team, (taken from the back to protect their identities, ok, not true) 

Besides working at the sessions, we also took a trip up to Ishinomaki-shi, one of the areas devastated by the March 11, 2011 tsunami.  It is right on the sea and flat, so many of the houses were wiped away and many people died because they could not get to higher ground when the tsunami came.  We were able to visit the Nozomi Project which was started in Ishinomaki.  It is a project where a number of women have learned to make jewelry from broken pottery they found after the tsunami.  We were able to visit their place of work and purchase some of the jewelry.  You can check the website for more details (just click on the link above) or if you wish to purchase some jewelry, you can buy online as well.  

Here the women were grinding the pottery.  They would take the pieces like you see on the left and break them into smaller pieces and grind them into sizes appropriate for earrings, necklaces, rings, cuff links, etc.  

These women were busy putting different pieces together to make the jewelry.

Some of the finished products.

Purchasing some jewelry.  

After visiting the Nozomi Project house, we also looked at some other places where mission groups, such as Samaritan's Purse have come to help clean out houses or rebuild houses, or build new houses.  We also visited a brand new church building.  There was still quite a bit of evidence of the devastation. There were piles of debris that they were still cleaning up.  

We just went over a bridge and to the left in the picture you can see piles of metal, much of it seemed to be from vehicles  or the like. 

A little closer view.   

Some more piles. 

Each morning I was at Tak, I went for a jog.  I really enjoy running down the beach and seeing the little villages.  I had some amazing views of the ocean.  What a great way to begin the day, seeing God's beauty in creation.  

 Surfers are there all year round.  

This was a cold stormy day.  

Looks dark.

This morning, I ran up into a neighborhood and took this picture from up on a ridge.

Last day at Tak.  This was a cargo ship from Fuji Transport.

It has been a good week or so, busy but good.  I'm learning a lot about how to be a good principal.  Prayer will remain as my constant activity as I begin to think about taking on the Middle School Principal position at CAJ.  There are good people to work with and that will help a lot.  I am looking forward to the challenge and the way in which my skills will be used.  
Thank you for your prayers and I continue to covet them.