June 24- more school visits and Taiko lesson!

Today we visited two schools, one junior high school and one high school.  Both schools were fantastic.  The middle school was a new building, out in the more rural area of town, and we were all very impressed by the discipline and friendliness of the students.  We were treated to some lessons on painting kanji and memorizing a series of characters, which we were tested on and I failed miserably (but it was fun)!  In Japanese schools, the students stay in the room and the teachers move.  Also, the students eat lunch together with their teachers and they clean up the school together at the end of the day (generally there are no janitors), including the bathrooms.  The school could not have been more clean!

The high school was also amazing.  We drifted in and out of many classes, watching the teachers work with the kids.  We also spent some time after the school day ended to see the kids in all the after school clubs that are offered.  Student after school clubs are a big deal in most Japanese schools, and we saw many sports, archery, construction, music and others going on.  Finally, we were given an goodbye concert by the school band, which was very moving we all felt.

After returning to the hotel for a short rest, a few of us took a taxi out to watch a drumming lesson with the same Taiko drumming group we saw last night.  They let us try out the drums and also played a number of pieces, and we had the time of our lives for two hours.  It was so loud, powerful, I just loved it.  This was definitely one of the best experiences for me of the entire trip so far.