The Graduation.

I hate change. I'll be the first to admit it. I seem to do a lot of it, but it does not change the fact that I despise it. So to no surpise to myself, I was not looking forward to this business of graduation and people leaving and the like. It is strange to think that I have made such strong bonds with these students who can hardly speak to me. I absolutely adore talking/interating with these students everyday. I will miss the way my one badass boy always looked surprised when he saw me and said,"ooooohhhh morrrrry!" in a crazy high pitched voice. I will miss my one boy who no matter day of the week it was said "have a nice weekend!" and then broke down into hysterics. I will miss their funny attempts at making good english sentences and having them awkwardly try to say "you are so beautiful." To which i would respond "no, no, no...you are wrong." Then they would say, "ano...you are so pretty?"haha. The truth is I haven't really gotten to teach the San nensei students for the past 2 months or so, but I have gotten to still hang out during cleaning time. My favorite memory with my san nensei students was when we did interview test. I got to give each student an indivual interview with 10 questions. I would say EVERY student took it very seriously. It was awesome. I even got some of the badass boys, who none of the teachers can get to do anything, to seriously try to do well. It was also a chance to attempt get some insight to each student's life. Some of them were such interesting people! It's so awesome when after weeks and months of trying, you finally understand something that each other says. You have that moment where you both cheer and shout "wakatta!" (I understand, I understand!!) One of them is a hip hop dancer. Several are great pianists. One wants to be in a big city. One has a horrible relationship with his mother. Some of LOVE english. Several claim they will NEVER be able to learn English. Some have mothers and fathers from different countries. One is moving hundreds of miles away from home for high school to follow his dream of being a great soccer star. One hopes to travel the world and told me she truly believes that all people are the same and she wants to help others see that and overcome their own prejudices (well, she speaks better english than most ;), Many of them hate tokyo because there are too many people and the air is not as clean, Many of them love Tokyo because they are fashion addicts. Some of them want to be gangsters and throw up westside hand gestures that would probably get them killed outside of Japan, haha.
These things are just to name a few the things I learned about my 90 san-nensei students in my short 6 months spent with them. I will truly miss them and even writing this blog is making me feel the same loss I did on graduation day.

Graduation in Japan is not entirely different from the US. However, it is a severly formal event. Students practice for weeks to make sure they can sit, stand and bow just right. Everything is in perfect order. The ceremony itself can be quite a lengthy and seemingly emotionless process. The speeches are long and students bounce in and out of conciousness. I am supposing they are saying something about going into the future and being a success, but I can't be sure. The students take their diplomas and we do a lot of bowing. They younger students then sing a farewell song to the san-nensei students, who in turn sing a parting song back. The songs were actually really beautiful and envoked a few tears all around. They then exited in formal fashion with parents, teachers and students clapping and desperatly snapping photos. I found it quite interesting that this was a Jr. High School gradution. It came with all the severity of my high school graduation. I'm sure it is because all of the students are already going their seperate directions and and being routed toward their life's path. After the ceremony the students went back to their classrooms to have one final goodbye with parents and homeroom teachers. They then started the process of exiting the school for the last time. I mulled around the bottom of the stairs with my new digital waiting for my opportunity to capture a 6 month experience in a single photo. But before any student's came down I heard a familiar "oooooohhhh morrry." I bounded up the stairs to find all of my favorite boys waiting to take a photo. I found my english teacher, who maintained they were the MOST trouble all year, in tears with all of them.haha. It was then my turn to be a teary mess. Of courese I was going to cry, who doubted that?haha. So I took my photos with tears rolling down my face, but also laughing at the ridiculous things they were trying to say in english and the westside hands they were throwing up at the camera. Then I tried to say a final "good luck, see you." But it came out mostly in tears. The same situation occured about 50 more times as I kept trying to put on my best smile and say "see you!" Many of the younger students were surprised and worried about me.haha. So my english teacher and I stood together and said our goodbyes and bowed politely to parents. I took my last photos ouside in the sunshine with some of my favorite girls. We laughed waved enthusiastically and then they were gone. I am so happy to have had such a great experience with these students that I wasn't sure I was even going to be able to say one word to. So I guess I have now officially run the gamet of emotions with japanese students. I wouldn't have it any other way.