So my program requires that all students complete a one-month long spring practicum. I decided to go to Nigata, a very rural prefecture among the mountains about 2 hours from Tokyo, along with Cory from my program.
Right before we were about to leave, Cory and I were told we could no longer go to Nigata, as our planned homestay fell through. So, we were ready to go to Shimane instead. But then we were told, no we were actually going to go to Nigata still, but we were going to stay in a group home for the elderly. Um... what?
Turns out the group home situation really wasn't that bad. It was this house that was formerly owned by some Japanese CEO dude, but he went bankrupt and had to sell it. It was a really big, pretty, traditional style Japanese house, and could hold 10 old people. At the time Cory and I stayed there, there were 8 old people. Overall the experience at the old person house was interesting, although the food was less than great, as some of our housemates didn't have teeth, and there was a lot of vegetables, which were always grey in color. Yum. The caregivers ranged from a really interesting younger woman, to the most awkward woman I've ever met in my life, who was always concerned with what Cory and I were up to.
My housemates at dinnertime.
What was really fun was the Hoikuen. Everyday, Cory and I helped out at a preschool. This preschool was pretty rockin. The teachers were really enthusiastic, and the decorating was out of control. At first it was really difficult, as I couldn't understand a lot of what the little kids were saying, but then I grew to really love playing with them and getting to know kids on an individual level. I could tell the teachers were greatful for the help, especially Kai sensei, who had to manage a class of 25 5-year-olds by herself. Yikes. One interesting thing very different from America was lunchtime. In America, kids head to the cafeteria when the lunch bell rings... not in Japan though. The teacher sets out the food, and then the class eats together in the classroom, with the teacher. This was interesting multi-tasking, as you had to try to eat, while yelling at kids not to play with their chopsticks/food, and urging those who weren't eating to eat "TABENASAI!" And I had to eat all of my vegetables or else the kids would say "Sensei! Kerry sensei's not eating her vegetables!" Booo.... Luckily the food was waaaaaaaaay better than at the group home...
Me and Cory and... Aozoragumi and Taiyogumi.
With one of our favorite teachers, Kai sensei, and with the whole staff... and those lovely orange aprons.
Hirai sensei was the woman Cory and I were originally supposed to do a homestay with. She is the head teacher at the hoikuen, and is called "grandma sensei" by all the kids there. Cory and I hung out with her on the weekends and on the occassional weekday. She really went out of her way for us in many situations. She took us to see a few temples, which were really beautiful set in the mountains like they were. We also went to an onsen, and ate out to some delicious food. We also went to a history museum about Nigata, which was interesting, and we got to see how the snow in Nigata used to be... like 10 feet of it. Dang. Sometimes we would be accompanied by Umi kun, Hirai sensei's 1 year old grandson. He was quite the troublemaker. "Ararara umi kun" was the phrase spoken by Hirai sensei most often when she was around him.
The first outing to a Temple with Hirai Sensei
This really pretty mountain temple.... it was shaped as a quad, and inside was lots of snow preserved
This house was owned by a wealthy landowner a long time ago... it was so huge and incredibly beautiful. These are the gardens you could see from inside the house.
A typical day in the life of Kerry and Cory in Nigata:
8am: wake up, eat gross breakfast at group home
9am: go to Hoikuen, a 5 min walk from the group home
9am-12am: do various activities with the kids, helping out the teacher
12pm: eat lunch with the kids, then it's ....
1:30pm: naptime for the kids! (and a lot of times naptime for the teachers too...)
1:30pm-3pm: breaktime (a very general timeperiod, sometimes it would be breaktime, sometimes it would be make paper flowers time, always forced consumption of tea time.)
3 pm: kids wake up, then snack time
4pm: playtime! for the oldest kids, that usually meant playing with legos
5 pm: return to group home
5:30: dinnertime! (with the woman with no teeth on my right making gross moaning noises, and the man on my left coughing on my food)
6ish: Cory and I go to combini or supermarket, buy junkfood, return to group home, watch movies or play on computer in Cory's room
Anywhere from 10-12: bedtime!
A couple of exciting events...
I fell down the stairs at the group home. They were very steep wooden ones. And it hurt. Then two old women proceeded to immediately spank me on my ass right where the giant bruise was. Ouch.
The first words my host sister said to me after a month were:
"It's been a long time."
The second set of words my host sister said were:
"Did you get fat?"
I also returned home to found out that my host sister got a job after 5 months of unemployment, my other host sister is getting married, they removed the snuggley winter blanket table thingy, and the cat is even more crazy then ever.
Welcome home Kerry, welcome home.
I think Cory and I had the most rockin' practicum ever. I really enjoyed it and plan on writing back and forth with a couple of the teachers and maybe become the hoikuen's pen-pal. I really hope I can return before I go back to America :) Now, off to meet my parents at the airport...
