Friday, November 24th Another fun day in school- junior high school this time. Although this was not one of the newer school buildings in Toyonaka, the spirit of the students and the teachers brightened the atmosphere. Upon our arrival, we placed our shoes in special shoe lockers, and donned our green school slippers. As the Vice Principal explained the agenda for the day, "America the Beautiful" was playing in the background. There were signs in English all around the school welcoming us. Betty from North Carolina and I were assigned to an 8th grade class as our base class. Not having an interpreter made for difficult communication. Each classroom had a large banner hanging in the back of the room, which the students designed. Guess who was on the banner in my room...Buzz and Woody! What a coincidence! The girls in my class taught me the popular saying "O-ha", which is short for ohayo gozaimus (good morning). I watched a recorder ensemble and another music class that was an orchestra of drums, recorders, accordions, bells, and piano. The teacher was the Japanese version of Mr. O'Neill. Students all wore uniforms; they even wore the same slippers. Students only moved from their classrooms for "specials". For major subjects, teachers would change classrooms. Teachers have a special staff room where all their desks are housed. The school had a PTA box and a place for coupons similar to our Campbell soup labels. Although students bring their own lunch to school, I was treated to a bento (box) lunch. There was so much food that I decided to share with my Japanese junior high lunch buddies. Such excitement! Check out the lunch containers and chopstick holders. We also got to witness the cleaning up time during which all students are required to clean their classrooms as well as halls and bathrooms. To help break the ice and have some sort of communication, I showed the students photos of my family and photos of you, my students. I also gave the class a copy of last year's Heckman yearbook. In exchange the students gave me tiny photos of themselves. I'll show you when I return.

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