Entrance Ceremony and Elementary School

Last Friday was the entrance ceremony for the elementary school first grade students. This was the big day, one we have all been anticipating for at least the past month and a half.

Ridge was very excited to start school. He even managed to convince Anah (what the boys call Aaron’s mother) to come back to Japan so she could see him during his entrance ceremony. We had a lovely and relaxing visit with Aaron’s mom, and she was happy to be able to join us for the big event.

Friday morning, we sent Holt off to school for his first day at pre-school without Ridge. He handled it surprisingly well. We had been a bit concerned about Holt’s reaction to being alone at school, but I think I sufficiently convinced him that the little kids, new to the pre-school, would need his help. So he stepped up to the plate, so to speak, and seemed to have no trouble going to “HIS” school now.

After Holt was dropped off, the rest of us dressed for the ceremony. I wore my suit – again. I think it was the fourth time in 10 days I’d worn it. That’s a lot for me. Ridge excitedly dressed in his suit and eagerly grabbed his school backpack. We loaded up into the car and drove the four blocks down to the school. As we arrived, some of the teachers greeted us and showed Ridge which shoe locker was to be his. All the incoming first grade students had shoe lockers on the bottom row, decorated with bright colors of tissue paper flowers. We changed shoes and then migrated towards the first grade room.

Up until this point in time, I was unaware of who would be teaching first grade. Last year’s first grade teacher, the man who taught Ridge how to ski, had been transferred as per Japanese tradition. I think I’ve mentioned it before – the fact that teachers and city workers are transferred to new positions every three to seven years. I had asked another teacher last week who would be teaching first grade, but he didn’t say. So, on Friday, we met the first grade teacher, who also happened to be a teacher new to Nishiokoppe. I think she’ll be great, though. She and her husband were both transferred to Nishiokoppe. He’ll be teaching at the middle school, and I had a nice talk with him later in the weekend. Apparently they’ve both been teachers for about twenty years, though this is her first gaijin (foreigner) student. He insisted that she is very excited, but she doesn’t really speak much English. That no longer seems to be much of an issue for us anymore, as we always manage to get done whatever needs to get done.

So, as we grouped together in the first grade room older students pinned small flowered ribbons onto the incoming first graders, as is customary. Ridge and Ryuuya were bouncing excitedly around the room, dancing and jumping, eyeing all the new school supplies neatly laid out on their desks. Each child found his or her name on the board and pinned the flower it was written on open with a magnet. Ridge found his, written this time in hiragana instead of katakana. Katakana is usually reserved for words that are not of a Japanese origin. At about 9:45, the parents were herded upstairs to wait while the teacher explained what would be happening to the students. At 10:55, precisely, the parents were led into the gym to take their seats. Fortunately, Aaron, Cyndi, and I were able to all sit together. The mothers and fathers were all dressed in suits, except for one mom who wore a beautiful kimono. We sat on the left side of the stage, next to two rows of chairs that were soon filled by the Important People. The student body sat in rows facing the stage. Once everyone was seated, and it was 10:00 on the dot, the doors to the gym opened and the first graders marched in proudly, led by their smiling teacher. She looks amazingly friendly.

The group of nine 6-year olds practically danced their way down the center aisle and took their seats in a row of chairs placed at the front of the gym, facing the stage. Ridge was last in line, and we all wondered if this was done purposefully to enable him to observe what the other students were doing before it was his turn. The onlookers clapped heartily and about half a dozen students took the opportunity to stare at Aaron’s mom. I’m sure they were dying of curiosity.

Once seated, we all went through the same series of bows and anthem singing that I describe from the junior high graduation ceremony. Many of these events are what you might call “cookie cutter” – they all follow a similar pattern. The new teacher then rose to the mike and proceeded to call the name of each student. As their name was called, they replied, “Hai!” stood, and turned to face the group. Ridge followed suit and did exactly what the others did. After this came three speeches: The principal, the head of the board of education’s board of directors, and the PTA president.

At the end of the principal’s speech, he paused and looked directly at Ridge. I’d never before heard him speak English, so I’m aware of the effort that was put into this next part of his speech. He then spoke to Ridge, wished him well, and welcomed him to the school – in English. Faltering a tiny bit, a little uncomfortable with the difficult language tying up his tongue, he then looked at Aaron and me and greeted us as well. He promised to work together with us to make this a special time for Ridge. Needless to say, I cried. It was incredibly touching that he went to such an effort to ensure we understood his heartfelt wishes. I can only imagine the courage it took for him to use English with us in front of all those people.

Those tears, however, were very soon to be replaced by tears of laugher. The first graders were becoming bored, and more and more of them squirmed in their seats. They could care less that the whole school was watching them. Sitting still for twenty minutes doesn’t come easily to a six-year old. Ryuuya was goofing off with the little girl next to him, and Ridge wiggled like he had ants in his pants. Still, the speech went on. I watched, mesmerized by what Ridge was doing, because I was certain of what would be the outcome. His feet were wrapped around the front legs of his chair, not touching the ground. With his hands grasping the back of his chair behind him, Ridge then began to lean forward. The further forward he leaned, the more I held my breath. In what seemed like slow motion, I watched as his chair tipped forward precariously. Suddenly, the room was filled with the loud, “BANG” of my son’s head smacking the floor. His chair fell forward, his rear went straight up into the air, and his forehead practically bounced off the floor. The silence of the room was immediately replaced by giggles and laughter. It was immediately apparent that Ridge was fine; he sat his chair back up and sat down, rubbing his forehead and grinning. I stole a glance at Nao, who was of course video taping the event (unfortunately he didn’t catch Ridge’s swan dive) and I saw that he, like me, was wiping away tears of laughter. The speaker paused about twenty seconds and then went on as though nothing had happened. He later laughed about it with us. It’s amazing just how quickly kids can recover from an embarrassment like that.

After the speeches were given, the kids trooped up on stage and took turns stepping forward to say their name and, “yorushiku onegaishimasu” which is the equivalent of, “pleased to make your acquaintance”. I could tell by the look on Ridge’s face that he was not happy about this part, but he did a fine job regardless. We were so very proud of him!

When everything was finished, the kids filed out of the gym, followed by the rest of us. We met in the first grade room briefly, and then everyone went home. Monday was Ridge’s first day of school. As planned, at 7:30 sharp, little Nana (now a fourth grader – she was a second grader when we came) knocked on our door to pick up Ridge. The kids – Ridge, Ryuuya, Nana, and her brother Masanori then all walked to school together.

This week, they are just easing the kids into school. The first graders only stayed until 10:30 yesterday and today. Tomorrow and Thursday they’ll stay until 11:15, and Friday they’ll finally stay for lunch. Since students aren’t supposed to walk to and from school alone, the staff help walk the little ones home. I think the vice-principal walked Ridge and Ryuuya home the past two days. It will be interesting to see how things progress for Ridge as a first grader in a Japanese school!

I’ll try and get the photos posted tomorrow.