On the 16th day in Tokyo, I woke up, ate breakfast at the dorm, and took a train to Ichikawa. I got there a bit early to make sure I got there in time to meet with Ishikawa-san. We then walked to the other school that I visited, an elementary school. The Vice Principal met up with me and gave me a tour of the school. Then dropped me off at a grade 1 class. I stayed with the first class for about an hour starting 11:00. In this class, the kids tried to teach me how to use a little wooden toy similar to a ball and cup game called a kendama. I then read them a story in English. I went to lunch with another class. Lunch was rather interesting. Carts of food are brought to each classroom and the children serve each other while wearing adorable little white aprons and chef hats. After lunch was recess which only lasted a pretty short time. I went out and played with the kids. After recess, it was time for the students to clean the school (the students do the cleaning at schools, not janitors) I really like this because it fosters both independence and makes the kids responsible for their classroom and the school. This, I think, is a great way of doing it and wish American schools did something like this too. I joined the kids in a music lesson where they were practicing rhythm, then listened as they sang two songs twinkle twinkle little star and Edelweiss. At the end of the day, we took a picture together and a bunch of the kids wanted me to sign a little book that they had of people they met from other countries.
At the end f the day, someone from the office gave me a ride to the train station. I took a train to Shinagawa where I met up with everyone else. There we also met up with a few students from Chuo University. We went to an area under the station where there is apparently a large number of amazing ramen shops (apparently the best in Japan). I joined a group of people including 3 of the Chuo students for dinner at a shop, After dinner, Two friends from Olaf, the three Chuo students, and I went to the arcade with them, just to hang out longer. We did purikura (a picture booth where you can highly edit the pictures). It was a lot of fun!
Sadly, we all had to leave because we had to get up early the next day for a trip to a museum.
At the end f the day, someone from the office gave me a ride to the train station. I took a train to Shinagawa where I met up with everyone else. There we also met up with a few students from Chuo University. We went to an area under the station where there is apparently a large number of amazing ramen shops (apparently the best in Japan). I joined a group of people including 3 of the Chuo students for dinner at a shop, After dinner, Two friends from Olaf, the three Chuo students, and I went to the arcade with them, just to hang out longer. We did purikura (a picture booth where you can highly edit the pictures). It was a lot of fun!
Sadly, we all had to leave because we had to get up early the next day for a trip to a museum.