Gut-wrenching Graduation Ceremony

Today was the 6th grader's graduation from elementary school. I love them! Soon they will be at the junior high school and I will get to see them everyday instead of once every couple of weeks. I attended the ceremony dressed to the nines (whatever that means) and excited to sit through the 90-minute graduation, or what I like to call "Bow Fest 2006," where 2006 is referring to the number of times you bow, not the year. Bowing is becoming easier than standing straight. Soon I will become a gigantic lumbering obtuse angle due to the incessant ducking through doorways and chronic bowing.

The ceremony was going as scheduled. All the students remembered when to bow, the speakers did their ritual 5 bow routine, and of course I was bowing more than I had to because it is better to be safe than sorry. Anyway, the ceremony was actually really gut-wrenching. I have learned that kids in Japan are very emotional during graduation ceremonies. The last time I saw so many kids crying at the same time was when Mr. Rogers no longer wanted to be our neighbor. Cultural difference #2: Japanese ceremonies aren't really joyful or fun in the sense that American ones are. Instead, Japanese graduations are filled with straight faces, intent looks, and speeches that try to make more points than jokes. It doesn't matter to me though...I don't understand any of it. Although, it would be nice to see a smile every once and a while.

After the diplomas were handed out and some songs were sung, the 6th graders stood up, turned toward the audience (which mainly consisted of the younger elementary students, teachers, and a few parents), and performed an interactive thank you message where different parts of the message were said by different students. For instance, Jim says "We the 6th grade class," Judy says "of Ueno Elementary School," Bobby says "would like to thank you for...." You get the idea. It went on for about 5 minutes. I think it is requisite for Japanese ceremonies...complete sentences can be hard when you are nervous.

It was getting emotional, the students' eyes were welling up with tears, the message was really sincere, and the atmosphere very formal. But then I heard a noise that sounded like water hitting the floor. I was curious, so I looked toward where it was coming from and to my surprise there was a younger student vomitting over every thing. It couldn't have happened at a worse time. I have to say (now don't think of me as the devil) that it was the funniest thing I have ever seen! Of course, I treated it as seriously as I could. About a half dozen teachers rushed over to him, escorted him out, cleaned it up, cleaned him up, and brought him back in. They did all of this while the 6th graders were still thanking everyone. I just stood there thinking "what the heck just happened?" That graduation will forever be remembered as the one where the kid puked all over. I will never forget it, and I will never forget the reaction the other people had: nothing! It was as if nothing happened, OR that it happens all the time so it is just routine now!

I am taking a poll, so please comment. Do you think that I am a horrible person for thinking that a kid puking during a very formal event is funny? How do you think you would feel?