Today's plan was to visit Philip's school Yachikusa, take part in giving a class to 2nd grade (about 7-8 years old) and then dress as Santa for a Christmas party for 1st-4th grades (6 - 10 year olds, mostly 6-7).We got up at 7am and walked to the elementary school. I had to take off my shoes and wear the school slippers which were really small and anytime I went outside, I'd take the slippers off and put my shoes back on. I was offered green tea, I tried it but I didn't like it at all. Our class was at 10am. It was quite a simple class but Philip told me to introduce myself and take part in some of the games. To be honest, I thought they were very well behaved compared to Irish pupils but Philip said they were excited I was there and were crazy as a result. This class lasted 45 minutes.
At about 12pm, we were invited to the 5th grade class who just finished home economics and were about to have lunch so we ate with them. The lunch contained some sukiyaki (vegetables & meat), miso soup, beans, renkon + tempora and a small carton of milk. Philip told me the students made the miso soup in their home ec. class so if I could finish that at least, that would be good. Sadly the miso soup was the only thing I didn't like but I tried to finish it anyway. The milk was pretty awful, smelled like cheese. The lunchtime wasn't about the food though, I sat at a different table to Philip and the students were delighted to talk to me. They used Philip a lot to translate what they wanted to ask and I used a pupil from Tennessee when she could. At one time I realised that most of the students were surrounding me and Philip was sitting on his own. I was the new celebrity. It was impressive to see them all clean up. They knew what they had to do and there was no messing.
We then went outside and played football. About 15 minutes after we went out, the rest of the school came out, including the 2nd graders. They took great enjoyment from hanging out of me and me lifting them up. At one stage a child got the football smashed into his face. I was so relieved that I had no part in hurting the kid. I was cautious of that all day.
After the lunch break, the pupils spend 15 minutes either cleaning the floors, tending to the flowers or washing shelves etc. Again, no moaning or messing. It's not intense work but still was impressive to see.
3pm - the moment I was nervous about, dressing up as Santa. I was curious as to whether they would realise that Philip's friend was Santa Claus. Philip's neighbour and fellow ALT Valerie joined us from another school to help. It was in a small hall area of the school and Philip announced there was a special guest and I came down the stairs to the group of excited children. Philip told me when I was walking down, one of the older children said to him in Japanese "That's your friend." They first asked me some questions including "Santa, how many reindeer do you have?" and I looked at Philip confused and he whispered "make it up" so I guessed 10. We then sang "We wish you a Merry Christmas". It was great that Valerie was there for that. The students then made Christmas cards for whoever they wanted. Valerie received a few and I got about 5. Philip didn't get any. While they were making the cards, they came up in groups to visit Santa. Most didn't sit on my lap but the first person in one of the groups just hopped on so then the rest of the pupils in that group hopped on. I asked them their name, age, have they been a good boy/girl and what they wanted for Christmas and then gave them a chocolate lolly that Philip's mother Marie sent over with me.
That took a while and after it they had a relay race where they had to run up with a sweet on a spoon and put it in the Christmas stocking and run back. And finally we played Bingo. They like their Bingo here and whenever they had a bingo, they would go over and get a party bag. I felt bad for one girl who I noticed almost had a line very early on but as time went on she was looking more and more worried and I thought she was going to cry so I tried to see what number she was missing so I could pick it out. She looked so relieved when she finally had a line.
Their parents started coming to pick them up and they said goodbye and left. While there were still some kids around, I had to go take the beard off, the elastic was hurting my ears and the beard was irritating my face. I came back down in my normal clothes again and the remaining children started getting suspicious. One asked Philip was I Santa and I acted like I didn't know he was here and I was sleeping and was sorry I had missed him. While walking away, one of the girls told Philip "They have the same voice !" It seemed to go down as a success anyway.
We went back to the staff room and thanked everyone for having me and went home. I don't think I would be able for that job everyday, I was exhausted.
We then went to Himeji again and had dinner with Philip's friends Kay & Chip. Chip was going back to the States for Christmas so I was glad I met him. I'd heard a lot about him from Philip so was good to put a face to a name. Also, he is a very good artist and I had seen some of his pieces before on the internet. We got back home about midnight. We were both wrecked. I was so happy I was having a lazy day the next day. I realised I needed it and that maybe I was still suffering from jet lag.
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