School Lunch and Club Activities

Next, it was time for lunch. A neat thing about Japanese schools is that the students eat in the classrooms with a teacher everyday. They just arrange the desks into little groups of six and then the students help to serve the food. They had a school lunch ready for me, and even instructions in English of how to eat it. I attached a picture below. The green sheets are seaweed. The way you eat it is to place a piece of seaweed in your hand, then put some rice on it, and then a piece of meat or vegetable. Although it doesn't seem like it should be, the lunch was really good. It is one of the favorite schools lunches for these Japanese students. After lunch the kids clear away the dishes and trash and have a short recess time where they could talk with their friends in the classrooms or hallways. I ended up arm-wrestling two students (I was 2-0!) before I told them my arm was tired! I did not want to take-on the entire school! I had a good time talking with the students and enjoying their company. They were all excited to try some English, and did a great job. They were not fluent, but knew quite a bit, which was impressive for junior high school students. After recess the students actually clean the school for about ten minutes. Supposedly they do most of the cleaning that the school requires. After this we had a discussion with some of the teachers and then we got to observe the club sports after school. They have some interesting ones like Japanese archery, martial arts, and cricket. They also have the classic activities like band, baseball, basketball, tennis, volleyball, track, etc. I went out and played some tennis with some of the boys and girls for a little while. They play on clay or sand courts with rubber balls. I did not get to stay long, but the students looked pretty good. After all of this, we departed the school and went on a short excursion to the Pacific Ocean. Then, it was back to out hotel. Myself and some others went to the laundry to clean some clothes and then ate dinner. Tomorrow we are visiting an elementary school.