Japanese Cheerleading "Ouen" (おうえん / 応援)

Well, it's baseball season in Japan and that means that all high schoolers here are bussed far and wide to cheer their teams. Baseball is the biggest sport in high schools and the summer cheering trips are probably the biggest thrill for the students all year. Today, Steph and I travelled on charter buses with teachers and students from Sumita High School to cheer our baseball team.

It rained the whole time but it was a real blessing to be able to cheer Sumita High for third and possibly last time. One really neat thing is that the schools cheer their opposing team before and after the game. It's really honorable and pretty cool to see. Baseball, and all sports are cheered in quite a different way here...
Below is a clip from cheering our kids while at bat. Check it out!


Japanese Cheerleading "Ouen" (おうえん / 応援):

Hometown Surprises

Hello everyone, It's Gabe here...
Yesterday afternoon we visted with our good friend Toba Sensei. She is a Japanese teacher and recently retired from Sumita High School. She had us over to her house for lunch. She prepared a very fancy meal of fresh uni (sea urchin roe) and unagi don (eel over rice). It was an amazing lunch and we had a wonderful time visiting with her. Click here to read more about unagi in summer.

Afterwards, Toba Sensei showed us two beautiful local sites that, despite living here for three years, we had never heard about or seen. Actually the places are not in out town but they are only 30 minutes from our home. The surprises never end!

Here you can see what uni (sea urchin roe) looks like:


View from Hakoneyama (Mountaintop Overlook near our home):


Buddhist Temple Garden:

Morning Meeting & Shiritori

Did you know that in Japan, all teachers share the same room?

Yup, when I'm not it class, I'm in the teacher's room. At 8:25 AM the bell rings and then the vice-principal bows while saying a very powerful "Good morning!". We teachers respond with the same bow and greeting and sit down as the vice-principal announces the general events of the day so that everyone is "on the same page". I'm sure that the morning meeting is one of the reasons for Japanese efficiency in the workplace. The below video shows how most teachers and workers start their day together... Enjoy!

Take a peek at the morning meeting at Sumita High School:



Later today in my sophomore elective English class our students played a very common Japanese game called "Shiritori" that has been successfully adapted for English classes and become a real "tried-and-true" activity for English teachers in Japan. Check it out...

Watch sophomores play "English Shiritori":

Pot-Luck Party

Tonight we are having a pot-luck dinner with our Sumita English Conversation Circle. Steph is making "Enchiladas Potosinas"...

Preparing for Pot Luck:


Pot-Luck Spread:

ありがとう大農! Thank you Daino High!

Hello everyone,
It's Gabe here...
Yesterday I taught my last lessons at Ofunto Agricultural High School ("Daino") and then I had to say goodbye to all there who have been such a blessing to my life.
The teachers and students made beautiful goodbye presents for me giving me encouragement and wishing me good luck for the future. The teachers all signed a large card which one of the students had drawn an amazing caricature of me in the center and each of the homeroom classes that I teach made a message book which contained a personal message from each student! I feel so thankful to have been able to be a part of Daino High School and was truly sad to say goodbye. But, I will forever treasure the memories of the friendships with students and teachers there.