Mr Ferguson’s Classroom

In this part of Japan, the sakura (cherry blossoms) have gone from pink to green this week, losing their flowers to wind and rain and growing new leaves. Most cities have cherry blossoms planted everywhere- in parks, medians, train stations- so when they are in bloom even the view during your daily commute is transformed. 

Hikari nursery school has the largest sakura in the area on their playground, so last week they held a hanami, picnic under the flowers, just for the grandparents of the children. 

Midori nursery school held a hanami at night for the teachers. Spotlights were placed under the tree; sometimes a hanami is more a party than picnic that can go into the night. We ate obento’s together, which are carefully arranged dinner boxes of traditional Japanese foods. I contributed Girl Scout cookies to the dessert, thanks to my parents who carried a supply to me last month. 

On the weekend, I ventured out to a nearby temple famous for its sakura. Hundreds of people shared the same idea, and hiked up a mountain to Senkoji temple to picnic and drink under the trees. I wandered around, bought some local oranges and honey, and took lots of pictures. 

Even without a planned event, it felt like everyone took any excuse to be outside, be it a walk around town, drinking sake under a tree, or even just taking a longer recess at school, all of which in their own way shared a reverence for the new season. 

In the classroom, I started a couple new lessons, one with some of my recent graduates from Midori. It started as four girls sent to me full of pent-up energy after sitting at school all day, but now has increased to five. The other is with two brothers who graduated a few years ago from Hikari. One of them is apparently the top Karate student in the Hiroshima prefecture for his age. I’m not sure which lesson makes me more nervous (just kidding; it’s the girls). 

At Futaba nursery school, we’re preparing for an upcoming open school. As of yesterday, we’re considering performing 5 Little Monkies for the parents. 

 

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More soon!

This entry was posted Friday, April 17th, 2009 at 7:03 pm and is filed under Blog. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.