i was thinking...

-friday was a school-wide sports tournament at naoetsu high school where the homeroom classes competed against each other in events like volleyball, soccer, badminton, table tennis and dodgeball. it got me thinking about sports’ day during my senior year of high school. although it was fun, it did little to encourage athletics or physical activity in any real way. we raced with eggs balanced on spoons held in our mouths, crawled on all fours to a diaper full of chocolate pudding and raced to be the biggest glutton. these types of activities were possibly designed to be inclusive, so that even the most athletically inept student could have fun, but in promoting this type of athletic activity, we are giving youngsters a skewed sense of what healthy physical habits are comprised of. i always liked p.e. although i do remember so many students, often the girls, who would don their dorky shorts and t-shirt uniform only to sit on the sidelines and chat. in japan people well into their senior years are extremely active, riding bikes everyday, shoveling heavy snow, hiking mountains, walking every night after dinner down main street. it’s easy to see where these good exercise habits were formed. its also interesting to think about this comparison in light of the current youth obesity crisis that’s plaguing america, facing much of the world, but is no where evident in this country.

-i often find that i have absolutely no clue what’s going on around my schools, mainly because i can’t decipher or am not given memos, or didn’t understand an announcement made during the morning meeting. so was the case recently when i noticed a flyer about an upcoming party on another teacher’s desk. i inquired to find out it’s a retirement party. naturally i wanted to attend so i approached the organizer for details. he said he’d give me an info sheet later but never did, so the day before the party i went to ask again but couldn’t find him. i decided not to attend as i had no info about time or place and there were some other things happening that evening. here’s the good part: i wrote a note, entirely in japanese, uber-politely explaining that i couldn’t go and left it on his desk. the next morning he thanked me for the memo and we talked about it for a minute. no problems understanding my message and he hadn’t even asked any of the english teachers to translate. that’s a huge triumph.