Our Visit to Fuchu Daiichi
Today 4th graders went to the second cultural exchange to Fuch Dai Ichi Elementary School. I had a fabulous and fantastic time there. First we had an opening ceremony. At the end of the opening ceremony, the 6th graders played music for us. It was a walking band. We did traditional crafts from Japan like “biun biun goma”, which I had experienced already a long time ago. Then we went to the gym to play tops. I couldn’t do it very well, then suddenly it spun. We were talking with Youyu’s pen pal. He was really funny and good at spinning tops. My buddy was proud of me, and when my top spun I smiled. Then we went to take a tour around the school with their principal, who is really nice. I knew the a little about how the school looks, when I went to participate in the “Icebreaker”. I didn’t know there were 4 floors in the school and there were a goldfish on the 4th floor. Then we ate lunch in the lunchroom. The lunch was hot and tasty. I especially liked the strange texture of the macaroni mixture with scallops, which tasted so creamy that I thought I could never have been made in the American School. And the milk tasted delicious as well. Then we went to the gym to play tops, kendama and hanetsuki. I loved henestsuki, so we played in a triangle but it didn’t work so well, and therefore so we changed to tops. Then the closing ceremony was at the gym and the day ended with singing “It’s a small world after all” in English. It was a gorgeous day. I felt so wonderful when 2 buddies cared for me. I think the day was great because at a certain time when I forgot to tie the top, my buddies helped me and supported me tremendously. I was proud of them. I tried to play with the “biyun biyun goma”, that I made, and it didn’t go well during the first trials, but they told me the right technique to use it. When I did a contest with Stephen, we ended up were laughing and having fun all the time, because the game was really exciting if you applied the right technique. My favorite part of the day was at lunchtime because we talked easily about whatever we wanted with our buddies. My second favorite part was the last thing we did because we laughed a lot and had a fun time with each other. Finally I really liked doing crafts, because it made me remember the old Japanese traditions. My buddies were extraordinary entertaining hosts, because they were really thinking about the activities that would be interesting to me. Moreover, I was really surprised by their willingness to show me around and tell me everything about their school and the thing they liked and disliked. I is always more comfortable to be the guest than to be the host, particularly because as a guest you don’t have to worry about entertaining the other so much. When they came to the American school, my buddies were much quieter and did not know how to handle themselves, because they believed that in the American school everything would be very different and they had to be careful. In the same way, I was also quiet when visiting their school, but because I have been going to Japanese schools during the summer before, it was easier for me to adapt and soon we could have a very natural conversation. My dad thinks that the Fuchu Daiichi school students, must feel very proud, because it is unlikely that their buddies in other Japanese schools have the opportunity to go and visit international schools in Tokyo. So maybe students of the Fuchu Daiichi school are now also writing long and complicated sentences about the visit of those strange Americans. I had a really great intercultural experience with my buddies and I hope that we can soon meet up again. Though I am Japanese, what I will always remember of this experience is that lunch tasted much better and was much cheaper than at the American school. Therefore I will continue to bring my own lunch box. So every day, when I pick up my lunch box in the morning, I will remember the lunch at the Fuchu Daiichi school.
Page written, and made by Birke