Totally skipping over the big important things like my brother's wedding, the English recitation contest, my last sports festival and community drinking party, the mind-blowing fireworks festival in Yatsushiro, the all you can eat amazing indian food in Kumamoto, and the tiresome annual conference for Amakusa teachers of English, I'll share a small 2 second part of my day today at Ooe elementary.
Ooe, as you may or may not remember, is the village in my town with all of the Christians. They have a famous church and Christian museum, and many of the villagers are descended from Christian families from hundreds of years ago.
Today I taught my Halloween lesson to the 1st and 2nd graders, which included dressing up as a pirate (there happened to be two pirate costumes in my random box of Halloween costumes that my predecessors left me) and teaching the monster words (ghost, pirate, skeleton, witch, etc.) and the phrase "Are you a _____?" In the other schools, I had explained Halloween by relating it to Obon, the Japanese festival where the spirits of ancestors return for a few days before being sent off again by their families in little lantern boats.
"But Erik sensei," the first grade teacher butted in, "these kids don't know what Obon is very well. They're all Christian"
On cue, all of the 1st and 2nd graders who heard and understood the word "Christian" made the sign of the cross and but on their best angel faces. I love teaching at my 'Catholic' school!
Gotta say that this did not fit my image of stereotypical Japan, for once...
ReplyDeleteI knew you would become a pirate someday.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile I am busy trying to explain to my girls why they need to stop wearing my rosary around like a necklace...
ReplyDelete