Autumn Moon

It is now autumn!....At least according to the calendar. Mother Nature has yet to receive that memo!  

Anyways, during September, Japanese take time to celebrate the beautiful Autumnal Equinox and its moon, as well as the elderly in our community. 

Back in April, I had written about my grandma's sudden health decline. By the Grace of God, she made a miraculous recovery and is now in a senior citizen home. And her 40 years of teaching apparently made her resistant to this crazy Covid virus! She tested positive shortly after moving into a home and never developed any symptoms! She is truly a tough woman just like her mother!

So, what has happened over the months after? Well, in Japan, we quickly started reintroducing class time to students. This was a bit easier to do because our school year starts in April. The kids' classes were split into Half A and Half B to keep the student population low. Starting in the last weeks of April, we would have the classes come for only the morning. Half A would come one day and the next day would be Half B. Only the most important core classes would be taught, such as math, language arts, and social studies, with additional assignments being given as at-home studies. 

In May, we upped the morning classes to twice a week while still maintaining Half-Class policy, meaning teachers were teaching four out of the five days. Because early May is chockful of national holidays (making up what is known as 'Golden Week'), these classes didn't start until mid-May.

After a couple of weeks, we recombined the halves and allowed students to go to school with all their classmates in the morning. 

By the second week of June, we began having normal length days again and have maintained that ever since. 

Now, of course, social distancing practices have been institutionalized since the beginning of this mess. Students are not supposed to touch each other nor speak to each other or in class without a mask on. All desks must face forward. Windows are routinely opened to air out any germs. And any students or staff with cold-like symptoms are asked to stay home. 

Any other rules are decided upon by the schools themselves.

Since students missed the last month of the previous school year and the first 1.5 mouths of this year, our summer vacation was moved from mid-July to early August and shortened from 4 weeks to 2 weeks. Also, the school year has been reduced from 3 trimesters to 2 semesters, with the first semester ending in a couple of years. 

It is a truly bizarre year. Each week brings changes and new additions to the ever-evolving Covid school format, giving all the teachers headaches. But, the students are happy to see their friends! That is what is important!


In short, this year is a toughie. With so much going on, it is easy to be angry or depressed. So, if it is possible, take a peek at this year's full Autumnal Equinox moon and think of blessing in your life. 

"I'm still alive!" 

"I got to see my kids!"

"I read a book for the first time in years!"

Whatever your blessing is, it is important to keep that in mind during this struggle. And, trust me, no matter what diarrhea-like darkness hits the fan, there is still a blessing to be found within the struggle. Find your Polaris and never let go!

Til next time, Later Peeps! 

Sakura, Sakura...

Sakura- the symbol of spring, the emblem of the beginning and the end. As they begin to bloom, students end their time at one school to begin another, young adults transition into their careers, the older adults finally retire to their home life. 

The sakura- Japanese cherry blossoms- are short-lived perennials, gentle in scent, color, and taste. A warm reminder that after a harshly cold winter, the sun will return to warm our icy toes and flowers will brightly paint the world in their exciting new colors!

Sakura, Sakura...the petals of transcience scatter like the tears from both the excited and the grieving.

In this virus-ridden time, the sakura still are opening and spreading their soft words of compassionate hope.

Each petal that is designed yearly by our Lord above are inscribed the words 'FIGHT! GANBARE'.

Today, as my new first graders were preparing to take their first steps as elementary students, my family began to say goodbye to my dear grandmother as her body begins to shut down.

The Lord above knows it is the beginning of something new for my grandmother. We know it it the beginning, but of what? An earthly miracle? A Heavenly life? We will see.

Sakura, sakura, the Heart of the Lord is with us from the beginning to the end and His Will guides every step in between. 

'Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.

In all your ways, acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.'

Proverbs 3:5-6 NASB

Sakura, Sakura, to you, my Lord, I lift my grandma and her new beginnings. Amen.

Thus is life

Heya peeps,

While working to improve this blog, I noticed that it was still getting hits within the last couple of years. Seems that I need to step up my game!

I plan on transforming this lost gem into more that a Japan blog, but I need a little time and patience to do so. After January's Hail Mary of a return...turns out that my 3 year old thumb injury hates typing. Couldn't dare move my hand for a few weeks following the post due to the pain.

So, as I try to worm my way around this awfully wacky national healthcare system here, I will be finally drawing out and finalizing my age-old banner for this site and prepping more to come.

While I am here, let's talk about the elephant in the global room: that ... virus ... Covid-19. As of today, it is here in my town. And just as we started in on the new school year, too.... March 31st marks the end of the national fiscal year, so it is only natural that the school would end on the same day.

Typically in March, we have two major ceremonies and a final school assembly. These are student body-wide events and are in the following order: Graduation Ceremony, Closing Ceremony <final assembly>, and the Staff Goodbye Ceremony.  They happen in during the last three weeks of the school year and usually take place in the school gym.

But, this year...this year...thanks to our 'favorite' new plague, all classes were canceled from March 2nd til the end of the school year. The graduation ceremony only included the graduates, their families, and our school staff, rather than letting the whole student body say their thanks and goodbyes. Not even the typical city officials were present as guests this year.

Amazingly, the 1st through 5th graders were allowed to come back for the Closing Ceremony assembly...but it wasn't an 'assembly' this year. It was conducted over the intercom instead.

...

......A side note regarding the closing ceremony. This assembly is held three times a year, one for each of the three trimesters. Likewise, there are three opening ceremonies for each of the trimesters. What makes the first Opening Ceremony of the year and the final Closing Ceremony special is that one grade is not present in each. The Opening Ceremony occurs before the yearly Entrance ceremony for the new first graders- in kindergarten, elementary, middle, and high schools- so naturally there are no first graders present at the school nor at the opening ceremony.

The opposite is true for the final closing Ceremony. It occurs after graduation, so the graduates are no longer at the school nor are students of the school. Hoorah!

......

...Returning to March's school events, the last one of the year is the Staff Goodbye Ceremony. Typically taking place on March 31st, all of the current student body, the recent graduates, and their parents come back to school learn which of the school's staff are leaving and send them off with much support and gratitude. Why do I say "to learn of who are leaving"? Great question! Japan loves ceremonial pomp and circumstance. They love spirit. Naturally, secrecy makes for great spirit and raw emotional charge. Thus... Honestly, I am not entirely sure of why, but...the staff is not legally allowed to share the fate of their position at the school to anyone, including fellow staff members, until it is made public in the local newspaper on March 31st....

This year, my school had originally canceled the event because of the novel virus, but reversed the cancellation a mere week before we held the ceremony.  It was conducted outside on the school grounds to ensure that we were not trapped within germ-infested indoor air.

...

The next foolish day- April 1st- is the first day of the new school year. After just saying goodbye to all our beloved staff, the returning staff are introduced to their new comrades first thing in the morning and together we start prepping for the new school year. The joke's on us for thinking there's a vacation in 'Spring Vacation'. Sarcasm aside, March and April become a highly emotional time for all of us in Japan.

And, yet, here we are...still wondering what day will bring thanks to this new virus. Now that Tokyo has chosen to delay the start of all high schools in its prefecture until May, my city waits with bated breath to see if classes will really start next week.

As always, thanks for reading my dinky lil' blog. I hope to be physically able to publish more this year and further expand this site into something new!

Until then, later peops!

Plum blossoms and cherry blossoms: Seasons of beginnings and ends for Japan

Heya peeps,

It has been too many years without a post. I first started this blog as study abroad students nearly 7.5 years ago. That is too many years to comprehend! Now I am closing out my fifth year of teaching and looking forward to the start of my sixth year!

With that being said, let me tell you about the importance of winter and spring in Japan. Unlike in my homeland, the Japanese people end and begin the new chapters of their lives together, as if the nation's yearly clock struck midnight. This happens when March turns to April. Students graduate in March and begin their next level of education in April; College students finally finish school and go into the career; our respected elders say goodbye to their colleagues and hello to retirement. Everyone turns in unison; everyone celebrate together. Even the fiscal year begins anew on April 1st. It is rather cool to witness as a foreigner. Yet, much like how dusk heralds the night sky, there is much to be done ahead of the nation's yearly goodbyes.

At school, we have just started the final trimester of the academic year, yet the buzz of graduation has already begun. Graduation is not just a family event, it is a school wide celebration. Depending on the student population size, Japanese schools try to include every student in the graduation ceremony. Starting in preschool, the younger students memorize cheers, messages, and endearing songs to share with their graduating peers, thanking the graduates for all their help and leadership, while encouraging them in the next endeavors. In fact, the last month of school is dedicated mainly to everyone's practice and involvement in the ceremony. We will have many campus-wide graduation ceremony practices, while classes and grade levels will hold individual practice times instead of some regular. Because there celebratory songs sung during graduation, many pop songs have become mainstays in graduation and will continue to evoke tears for many years to come.

While graduation is being organized at school, college graduates and some career people are preparing for their new jobs. I say 'some career people' because the Japanese are known for pledging their loyalties to one company and only one company for life. Of course, this is new entirely true for public school teachers. We may remain in the same city for our teaching life, yet we are moved around every few years. Even retirement will officially begin on April 1st.

Because the high volume of new jobs, the grueling hunt for apartments starts as early as January. Fortunately for us English teachers in my program, we do not have to hunt for apartments typically. We are provided them through our employers...however,...we are not exempt from moving schools nor apartments. For those living in company apartments, each time we are moved to a new school, we get moved to an apartment near that new school. So, the race to clear out our apartments and sell off our belongings begin in February- if we are leaving the program...

Let me explain that caveat: as teachers, if we are being moved to a new school, we are NOT allowed to tell anyone of the move until it is officially announced to the faculty during the last week of the fiscal year- March 23 through March 31. Then, on the last day of week, all the students-including the recently graduated students- will gather for one more ceremony: the faculty send-off. It is a truly special ceremony in which the leaving faculty share a few words each, given bouquets of flowers, then paraded around the school and handed gifts from students and parents alike as we are escorted off the campus and literally sent off on our next adventures (except for me when I switched schools. I can back in and spent the rest of the workday prepping my desk for the new English teacher).

With that being said, the English teachers who are moving both schools and apartments are not allowed to distribute a list of sales and giveaways to the other English teachers until it is officially announced at our program's last English Teachers meeting of the year- which is in early March. That is when all goes wild for us. We are selling and buying things among our friends, setting up moving dates to help each other out, receiving contact lists for the incoming English Teachers and arranging gift baskets and spearheading communications for them, it is nuts. Not to mention all the dinner parties for our schools, our friends, ect. And that is just the end of the year, then comes April.

On the first workday in April, our new co-workers come. At Japanese schools, the new faculty are immediately corralled into the principal's office and treated to teas and snacks, similar to how guests are treated. Then, with the official start of the work day, they are filed into the faculty office in order of how they will be seated in front of the current staff. They introduce themselves one by one and will soon be shown to their desks. In some schools, all the desks are rearranged after the Faculty Send-off the week before; at other schools, the rearrangement occurs after the new staff are introduced and a short meeting occurs. Regardless, the final pieces of the new year preparation will be set and away we go.

For the English teaching program, our in-coming teachers arrive during the middle of April due to visa and business paperwork processes. While the new teachers are saying their final goodbyes at home, the current teachers are prepping for their arrival. As teams, we are appointed as 'buddies' to an in-coming teacher and are busily making our schedules to help the newbies with the setting up their new life here, that includes supplying their apartments with basic necessities ahead of their arrival. And, of course, around the time our new English teachers come, our schools will have welcome dinners for all the new staff and PTA officers. It is a busy time for us...and expensive!!! >.<;

As the plum blossoms bloom in the heart of February, we start our sprint towards our final goodbyes. Then, with the opening of March's cherry blossoms, one chapter closes while their falling petals herald in the next chapter of life.

Until next time, see ya, my peeps!