Sports Festival #2 and #3

Here in Amakusa town and all around the Amakusa town, the majority of elementary schools are having their sports festivals.  Having attended one sports festival already (and having had a great time at said sports festival), I couldn't wait to see what was in store for the ones this weekend.

Unfortunately for me, three of my elementary schools had sports festivals this weekend, meaning I had to choose which ones to go to and which ones not to go to.  The decision made was to go to the one in my village of residence, Takahama, and the one in the neighboring village of Ooe (the third one, in Fukuregi, was a little too far away since my car is currently running low on gas, thanks to a disastrous detour on the 280 from Kawaura to Takahama, a path that leads straight through the mountains).

Takahama Elementary, as I might have mentioned before, is the one school that I still haven't quite figured out yet.  The children there don't really seem to take an interest in me, are sort of rowdy, and end up coming off as sort of rude (by Japanese standards).  This may be because they are just a little more afraid of me than some of the other elementary school kids and thus are less willing to ask me questions and such;  I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt here.  Anyway, I try my best to hang out with them and make small talk when I can.

Notable events from the Takahama sports festival include 1.) the firefighter race and 2.) the soccer bounce relay.  In the firefighter race, kids had to race to a bucket filled with water guns, stand and squirt a little red paper flame until it fell off of its tissue paper support, read a description of a person written on a card attached to the paper flame, and then throw a hula hoop over the corresponding person in the audience and drag them to the finish.  Descriptions of those to be rescued included someone wearing glasses, someone wearing (color) shirt, a (number) year student, etc.  I was eventually roped in as a person wearing white and dragged to the finish line. Yeah!

The soccer bounce relay was fun because I got to participate!  Yes, my selfish side is showing again, but watching all of these kids play these fun games makes you want to get out there and have fun too.  In this race, adults (in this case, my team of teachers) had to strap a milk crate to their backs, bounce a soccer ball against the ground, and then catch the ball in the crate on your back before it hits the ground a second time.  It's not a skill that is used in many American sports, but luckily I only had a little bit of trouble getting my soccer balls into my crate and then running the half lap around the track.  The teachers' team came in last, but it was totally NOT my fault.  Really.

Before I left for Ooe, I watched one more game in which the kids had to potato sack race to the center of the field, grab a soccer ball, and then throw it at a cardboard cut out of some anime character before racing on foot to the finish line.  Why can't they have these games in America, with little card board cut outs of Mickey Mouse or something?

At Ooe, I arrived just in time to see the taiko performance and enjoy lunch with the principal and a whole bunch of other old guys.   Though I'm trying my best to have my teachers stop treating me like a guest and more like a coworker, I'm still often thrust into the company of the more respected (read 'old') guests where I have to endure at least an hour of Japanese that I can't understand while smiling and trying to keep good posture/look like I'm paying attention.

Back to fun time.  After lunch, the Ooe kids performed their cheering dances to a team of judges (including me o_0) as part of the day's red-vs-white-team competition.  Though the red team had a funny skit involving a 6th grade boy dressing up as Sailor Moon and rescuing a poor 1st grader, the most points were awarded to the white team for a.) dancing to one of my favorite J-pop songs b.) actually having a more impressive dance routine and c.) actually being more energetic than the other team.  Sorry Sailor Moon.

I was impressed with the difference in atmosphere between the two schools' sports festivals. At Ooe, many more parents and siblings showed up to watch, including some of my middle schoolers (even dressed in their school gym uniforms, so I could recognize them).  Among the many parents and grandparents that I ran into, I met one mother who actually speaks perfect English (she's from the Philippines, not a native Japanese) and happens to be the mother of one of my favorite Ooe elementary school students.  And, her name is Cecelia! Woo-hoo English names that I can remember/ existence of people who can speak English!