Open School Day!

Every Tuesday, Robin and I make our trip to tsubame a city 15 minutes by train near sanjo to teach 4 children English. Momoko 5th, Kou 3rd grade and Mamiko 2nd, Rikako, kindergarden grade. This particular day there was an open school day and the mother invited me to go see the children. She would be there aso and would be visiting, so i decided that this would be a very good opportunity to build my relationship with the kids especially, Momiko and Kou. The mother speaks English pretty well but not perfect and so it made things a bit easier while i was visiting. The open day school is where you can go to any class and observe what's going on and how the classes are run. It was a very good opportunity to see a Japanese school in action. It did not really differ to much from the schools in America. As i made my way into the school i first visited Mamiko. Mamiko was very pleased and excited to see me. As was the whole class. they were looking and staring wondering who i was as soon as i entered the room. The teacher explained that i was from the United States.. and as soon as those words rolled off her tongue.. The kids went crazy... screaming "America America" he is from America.. but obviously in Japanese. i understood what they were saying... and of course as soon as they knew.. they tried to say as many English words as they knew. i am in a country area, so it is not likely.. or really extremely rare.. a foreigner would come to a school like that, and even more rare for this area I am in. So i may have been the first foreigner(western) in person they had seen, but that is what some Japanese people suggested i have spoken to. so when i went up another floor to visit Kou i saw him through the door and he was chatting and having a good time. After i entered the room he was like a stone ahah and was very shy. i stayed just a bit then made my way to see Momoko. i went in the door and she eventually turned around and did a double take ahah she was shocked to see me there. I didn't know if she was excited or not lol. I saw everyone, but i had to leave for a little bit of time with the mother. The grandmother wanted to eat out with us at their favorite restaurant which was a traditional Japanese restaurant. The meal was very good, we of course had to sit on the floor. I think I actually felt good about my size, because though there are Japanese that are quite tall, they prob have a lot of trouble with the Japanese lifestyle. As i am not having to much trouble I am just at the right size lol... I finished my meal and me and the mother made our way back to the school(Robin was with us this whole time, but did not follow us back becuase she had a class to teach i usually attend) now it was the games part of the day. Where the classes played against each other in games. It was really fun. Momoko saw me again, and actually gave me a smile and wave this time, so i think it was a slight breakthrough. Kou was still a little, reserved, but eventually aloud me to play in the last game with him. Though Kou has been difficult to connect with, Robin has told me that she thinks things might be ok, becuase he does talk to me and that is a good sign. Also the reason that Mamiko and Rikako are more open is i had seen them more, i have had limited time with Momoko and Kou, but i think this day was very good. On my way out of the school before lunch I gave a kid a high five. After that every kid that was in the area and from random places I had no idea how they knew were trying to get a high five from me. i was beginning to be mobbed.. but it was what i expected. I even had a mob of kids just follow me around during the free time of the open school after i returned from lunch. It was a fun filled experience. On my way back to their home which is not far from the school, becuase we had a class that day I met an Australian living close by and talked to her or rather she talked to me a whole bunch..lol the day concluded with fun games based on the 4th of july a culture class.. it ended well.. until next time this is The Japan Trip.