My day at Hamayama Chu

Viking lunch with 3nen sei - 11.jpg
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

It's about a month away from graduation at most Jr High Schools in Japan. So at my new Jr High, we had a "viking" lunch today for the graduating 3nen sei (9th graders).

What is a "viking" lunch you ask? I wasn't too sure either the first time I heard the term. Plus, the Japanese person telling me about it a few years ago suffered from a common pronunciation problem, where "v" sounds like "b", so I was really confused by an offer to join in on a "biking" lunch. Where were we going??? :)

"Viking" style basically means "buffet" style - you walk along with a tray and pick what you want to eat from a variety of choices. Maybe it got named "viking" since that's how the Vikings ate - they took what they wanted.

So the 4 classes of 3nen sei brought their desks and chairs into the gym, where PTA moms and lunch center personnel had set up long tables with a bunch of different foods all laid out and ready to go.

I even had to give a little speech, since the menu was inspired by Izumo's American sister city - Santa Clara, CA. And I'm also from California.
I said my speech in English, and then in Japanese, and it seemed to go fine.

The food was good and the kids enjoyed the casual, eat-what-you-want atmosphere.

It was really cold in the gym though, so I couldn't wait to get back to the heated staff room after we finished.

I took more pics, but the Vice-Principal at Hamayama recently asked me to stop posting pics of the HJH kids if you can clearly see their faces - so no more close-up shots or vids from Hamayama.
What was already on Flickr I'm in the process of changing the pics from "public" to "private", so you can still see them, but you have to join Flickr and then add me as a contact.

I had a bunch of free time today - I didn't actually teach any classes - so I made a new English board diplay for February.



And after school I wandered around to see the clubs practicing. They have a table tennis club at Hamayama - we don't have that club at Taisha Chu.




Did I mention it's cold outside!!!! :)

-Jason