how do you spell spirit

So classes have finally kind of started to settle in a bit. I’ve almost finished doing my self introductions for each class I will be teaching, I think I’m going to end up doing it 19 times. At about 15 minutes each, let me tell you, that’s a lot of time to be talking about yourself to people who probably only have the vaguest clue of what you are saying, mostly due to pictures and gestures that could only mean ‘white-water rafting’. In each class the dynamic is quite different. There’s usually a pretty clear distinction between the 7th graders and the 9th graders in terms of boisterous-ness, the 7th graders taking the cake. Today it was quite refreshing though, to see one particular class of 9th graders stepping up to the plate. They were ‘lively’ (I’m not using the Japanese word for this, though it is fitting), but this class had a strange obsession with chickens for some reason. They asked if I saw chickens on Guam and if we eat chicken on Guam. They also squealed with delight when I mentioned that my favorite Guamanian dish, kelaguen, could be made with chicken. Am I missing something here? I feel like compared to the US, chicken is served up less frequently here. More commonly you’d get (you guessed it) fish or, for my budget at least, low-grade beef. But the squealing? I thought that was reserved primarily for the boyfriend question. Hmm.

There have been some interesting questions though. Amongst the ‘do you like [insert any topic relating to food or Japanese popular culture]?’ a kid asked me ‘Who is your favorite man?’. It took me aback for a second. It just reminded me of one of those Time magazine covers that feature ‘The Greatest Man Alive’ or something. It was a big, loaded question, but maybe I’m reading too much into a question from a 9th grader. In that same class, though, I got my favorite question by far. (Clearly, this is my most advanced class) This student asked me a question that I think we all should ponder regularly in our lives because one day it may be important to know. He asked me ‘What would you do if the Earth turned cold?’. I haven’t the faintest clue what this kid was watching or reading when he thought that up, but I was pleasantly surprised by the inquiry. I guess I hadn’t thought about it before, but it’s good to know.

My days haven’t been entirely filled with talking about myself for excruciating amounts of time and answering off-the-wall (and very standard) questions though. This Saturday I went to work (yeah, ain’t that something?). I remember at W&M the one time we had to make up classes we missed during hurrication the weekend before finals, I swear the student body was about ready to riot. Going to school on Saturday was, oddly enough, actually fun because it was Sports Day (read=no actual classes). The students challenged other teams of students in a variety of athletic events, there were relay races and tugs of war, games that are common in the US and others games which would have a high likelihood of being illegal in the US. Being at this event, I now understand where the inspiration comes from on those Japanese game shows. All in all it was good fun and no kids were sent to the hospital (at my schools anyway).

I was a bit disappointed at the cheering though. Mostly this consisted of yells of ‘Gambarre’, perhaps the second most over-used word in Japanese. It means anything from ‘good luck!’, ‘do your best!’, or ‘though your leg is broken, persevere and finish the race!’. (I like the versatility of the Japanese language) Essentially during the races, the cheers would be some variation of ‘Gambarre’, like ‘Gambarre so-and-so’, or ‘Gambarre blue-team’, or just plain, trusty old ‘Gambarre’. At the end of the races, there was a severe shortage of plain old yelling and general rowdiness. They’ve left out the best part of sports! So next time my plan is to rally up a big crowd of people who know how to cheer properly. Sure, they’ve got color-coordination, but we’ll be spelling G-A-M-B-A-R-R-E on our stomachs. Now That’s spirit.