Monday, after the trip to the lavender fields and dinner at Reiko-san (school secretary) and her daughters house, I was very tired. So, they sent me home early that afternoon to start packing and rest. But before I went, Kyoko-san (assistant principal/headmaster) tried to teach me "Go", a board game they play that resembles our Pente. He then gave me the magnetic game board so I could practice and return to beat him. On Tuesday, after teaching English in 4 different classes, Mrs. Yamada and I went to the Hokkaido Historical Village and Museum then to the Symphony to hear them play Tchiakovsky's Piano Concerto and Winter Dreams. A beautiful facility and evening.
The
Hokkaido Historical Village allows local and guest visitors the opportunity to
see how the island was first inhabited and early Japanese life. The picture at upper on bottom is the first depot
in Hokkaido, while the building on top is the first City Hall.
The village reminds you of a cross between the old west and Hawaiian huts. The history of these people is much the same as our Native Americans...they were forced to give up their land for civilization. It is amazing to me that artifacts from the early centuries, before ocean transportation was readily available, are so much alike! You can tell from the pictures that they are similar to some of those buildings in our South.
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| bathtub |
The top pictures are how a typical early Japanese home were heated and how cooking was done. The bottom bottom is a early 1800’s example showing a more modern kitchen…
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| Example of 1800's style home. Rocks are on tiles on roof to keep ice from removing tiles. |
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| Example of more modern home in 1900's |
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| Mrs. Yamada in front of Yamada House in the Historical Village. It is the home of an early Japanese soldier sent to scout out the area...much like Kevin Costner's character in "Dances With Wolves". |
The evening performance was beautiful! No pictures were allowed...sorry! I did notice Mrs. Yamada nodding off at one point, so I know they are as tired as I am. Sapporo often has outstanding music performances from all over the world, and it is difficult to obtain tickets so this certainly was a wonderful experience.
Afterwards, we met Mrs. Yamada's husband an an assistant language teacher named Mark (from New Zealand) that had been at MJHS last year. Mrs. Yamada's husband does not speak English, but Mark covered both languages well and helped a great deal. I wondered what I was in for when the first dish served was a squid salad, but they served grilled chicken and pork, pizza on tortilla's, and a wonderful fresh tomato salad. Great fun and great company!
On Wednesday, another couple of English classes then the male faculty had a baseball game against another school for this region's championship (they lost but tried very hard), so Yoshi, Yamada, and the other teachers and I went down to cheer them on. Then Yoshi and I went to dinner at an Italian restaurant that we had enjoyed several times (best pizza I've ever had!) then met her husband for my Pachinko lesson.
It is a cross between pinball and slots...you aim your tiny metal marbles at a certain area, they trickle down and hopefully go into the correct hole, which then causes the numbers to spin like slots. If they match, you win. The only luck I had was being Yoshi's husband's good luck charm...he never wins and won a great deal that night! You don't turn the winnings in for cash, however. Instead, there are places outside of the buildings where you trade your winnings for goods. So, he traded his in for a CD for both Yoshi and I of Eric Clapton so that when we each played it we would remember this time together.
Thursday, Yoshi and her husband came to help me get my luggage shipped to Toyko and the kids at school began to find out that I would be leaving soon. Reiko-san's husband, who wasn't home when we had dinner, sent me a step-by-step visual notebook of origami designs, and her daughters sent me a musical birthday card. Reiko-san is leaving for vacation and won't be there when I leave, so this was her families goodbye gift to me along with a hug. One of the PTA mom's sent a beautiful bamboo and silk fan and a cafeteria worker (they bring in the food and the workers make sure each classroom has what it needs and packs up the utensils to return to the common distribution center) gave me what we would call a dish towel with precision quit designs in red and white...a very traditional Japanese item. On Tuesday, another 7th grade student's mom sent a couple of traditional Japanese games and a hand-made bag.
Many of the kids asked me not to leave, but I've told them we would see each other via Internet video soon. During the last couple of days, I've been asking the classes I've been in if anyone had a birthday in July, then giving them Oklahoma or BA lapel pins or magnets. The kids are proud to get them and those that don't are very envious. The young lady that had the questions about the Japanese-US relations has not had an opportunity to visit with me again, so she gave me her email address and wants to send questions via email.
Yoshi and I had some errands to run and then make arrangements to ship my luggage, then we headed to the Ashai Beer Factory for a Genghis Khan birthday/farewell dinner since my birthday is the 20th. We enjoyed relaxing and visiting and sharing the many memories we had made together. One of the quietest men at school (one of the oldest as well) has decided that he needs to find me a husband so I will stay...told him he had better hurry and get on that! There was supposed to be fireworks (this starts a week of celebration in Japan) but it has rained most of the day so they were cancelled for the night. Even though I had been told it was quite an event to witness, it was still a memorable way to spend my almost birthday and a fun way to end the stay.
Mrs. Yamada has something cooked up for tomorrow afternoon, then I will go to school on Saturday to say goodbye to staff and a TV goodbye to the students. Then, I will travel with Mrs. Yamada by rail to the Chitose airport for my 1;30 pm flight to Tokyo. It will be good to see the other US teachers but I will miss my new friends in Sapporo.
I'll try to answer last minute questions tomorrow, then begin packing for Toyko. Can't believe the time is almost up, and I have to report back to work on the 30th. By the way, Toyko has been running 95-98 degrees with humidity in the 70's...I should adjust to Oklahoma weather pretty easily!
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