"Slow Times at Ueno Junior High"

Ueno Junior High School--welcome to my world.

Name: Ueno Junior High School (Japanese: Uenomura Chu Gakko)

Location: Uenomura (上野村), Gunma Prefecture (群馬県), JAPAN (日本)

上 (pron. "ue") means up(per); note the kanji does a good job symbolizing that. However, I think a good old fashioned arrow would've worked just fine. 野 (pron. "no") means field or plain. 村 (pron. "mura") is village. So basically I live in a high field area, or a village amongst some upper plains. With that said, I think there must have been some major seismic activity since the naming of the village because there is nothing flat looking about this village. There is not a single spot for water to collect, for earth and erosion to take a breather from their King of the Hill match, and cars to be parked without the emergency brake engaged.

Statistics

Grades: 3; first, second, and third. Note: in America, they would qualify as 7th, 8th, and 9th.

Students: 39; 1st - 13, 2nd - 14, 3rd - 12. Thirty nine students! That is all I have to deal with! Only 39 crazy names I need to memorize. Only 39 kids to get to understand. And best of all, 39 students to get to know very well. I feel like I know them better than I know some of my friends.

By the way, 39 students is actually a step up. Last year there were only 34 students, and two never came. There are only two club activities--baseball for the boys, volleyball for the girls--and they are played year round. The new school year came and went, along with that came a new position for me: assistant baseball coach. Yeah. I used to join in the practice periodically last year, and I guess it wasn't until they let me hit during batting practice that they realized my potential. My new nickname is "Maja Reaga" (or Major Leaguer in English) because I hit about a half dozen balls over the green-netting (which is about 15 meters high) in deep left field and into the river. Because I can't speak much Japanese, my coaching responsibilities are basically complimenting the players by saying "nice catch" and "nice throw," which is actually what they say themselves...I think they learned it from the infusion of Matsui and Ichiro highlights every night on the news. Also, they think those phrases are Japanese.

About a third of the students live in a dormitory called the Kajika no Sato Gakkuen. Yes, parents send their children to Uenomura Junior High School....because they want a more nature-filled living environment and more intimate location for their children. Plus, the Kajika teaches many things: how to cook, all about nature, how to make your own clothes, pottery, and overall how to be independent and responsible. It has a Montessori feel about it. It is pretty cool. I went there last weekend and made pottery--a beer mug. OH! Next time I go to the Kajika, they want me to bathe with them. Yep, they asked me over dinner. I then approached one of the smarter English-speaking students and said, "Do we wear swimsuits?" He just chuckled and then asked the headmaster of the dormitory who speaks almost perfect English. He said, "No." To which I replied, "Hmm...." while thinking of how wrong that would be in America. The kids just thought I was weird--"Wear a swimsuit?!?!? Why?" The only way I could make them understand was by doing a gesture of me seeing them the next day in class and then going "Aww!" and covering my eyes. They understood, laughed. However, I will most likely do it next time, because it isn't weird for them, so why should it be weird for me? Hopefully I don't get deported.

To be continued....

In the next episode of "Slow Times at Ueno Junior High" find out how Isaac's bath escapade went and about the dilemmas of Ueno Junior High School students. Who will ask Kawasaki to the river festival? Will Kobayashi and Haruka continue their relationship and get over the origami dispute? Will Yuki ever reach his dream of one day being a sumo wrestler, even though he is the runt of the class? And find out which student has been sipping the sake behind the scenes. Be sure to stay tuned.