Graduation Ceremony 卒業式

Post XXIII

Today was the 3rd Grade`s graduation ceremony. I was caught off guard and actually did cry. All the students were giving messages to the staff and students in Japanese. As such, I wasn`t expecting to be able to understand what was said to me. But, to my great surprise, my message was delivered in flawless English. Not only that, but the content was absolutely lovely. I am in two minds as to whether or not I want to try to write down what was said here, as I fear that I will report it wrong, and then forever remember the wrong way. Perhaps, I will just keep it in my mind, and even if I forget the words over time, I will never forget the sentiment.

 今日は三年生の卒業式だった。私は泣いた。三年生のみなさんから先生にメッセージをもらいました。学生が私に英語で話した。そしてとてもじょうず英語で話しておどろいた。

In many ways I was blessed to join this school at the time that I did, being able to interact with these students when they were at full maturity. At the same time though, I wish that I could have met them in 1st grade and watched them mature in to the wonderful individuals that they are today. That`s all ifs buts and maybes though, and I am glad I had any time at all with them.

The current second graders, who have seemed to spend a lot of their school life in the shadow of a very energetic, and large class, have also stepped up their energy levels since usurping the title of top of the school. This, of course, is only good news and I look forward to a year of getting to know them in greater depth - they were the class I saw the least out of all of my classes, and being somewhat more quiet than the other classes, it has been more difficult to get to know them.

Spring holiday is now just around the corner, but it is barely a holiday. There is a lot to do in preperation for next year - though I will bail on a lot of it because my family are coming to Japan and I want to spend time with them. Also, as you will have seen, I tried typing some of this post in Japanese too. Reading this through, there is a lot of stuff I feel like I could maybe say in Japanese, but I only tried out the first little chunk. Maybe as a little experiment I will try to write post in both languages from now on, though of course the Japanese will be much simpler condensed versions. Plus, it is likely to be wrong. So if there is any Japanese people reading, or even ALT sempais who have been here for a while, please tell me if I am inadvertently swearing my tits off!