Life Lessons Learned from Tokubetsu Shien

I've learned some good life lessons while teaching. The most valuable lessons have been learned at Tokubetsu Shien, which is a special needs school. Every semester I get to visit Kasukabe Tokushi, and it always makes me appreciate being a teacher and being in Japan. The students are wonderful. They are all developmentally delayed. To qualify for this school, students' IQ must be lower than 50. As you can imagine, the lessons I teach and the content of the curriculum in general are quite simple. Students at this school learn the skills they need to survive in society. Many of the graduates learn skills that will allow them to get a job in various places. So it seems that these schools are extremely valuable.

So what have I learned? The most important thing is how you treat others. The students at this school don't bully each other. They aren't mean or cold-hearted towards anyone either. The students have varying abilities and awareness of their surroundings, but the students always take care of each other and support each other. That's how we should act. It's heart warming, and everyone could learn a lesson in caring from these students. 

Aside from restoring my faith in humanity and reminding me to be more caring towards others, the ability of these students to accomplish tasks like singing, dancing or interacting in English, is amazing. They and their teachers work so hard, so when I get to see the fruits of their labour, I'm genuinely amazed and touched. The students learn and practice because they genuinely want to learn and do their best. They are a great motivation for me to be a better teacher, friend and worker. They are so inspiring.

Last year, I went to watch the soccer team play in a tournament. Their team was lacking players and there were some players with physical disabilities. Despite their challenges, the better players never showed frustration and each of them gave their all, even though they were exhausted. I was so proud of them. These students have so many barriers in life, yet they just accept it and they keep going and doing their best. They try hard everyday and they treat each other and the people around them with genuine love and decency. It's just so ... I don't know... Wonderful. 

When I go back to my regular school and face normal students with normal abilities and chances in life, I'm sometimes dismayed by how they treat each other and how lazy they can be. Mostly it's the ill-treatment of others that gets to me. Don't get me wrong, my students are generally wonderful, and I don't witness much bad treatment of others, but I know it exists. Working with teenagers is great because you see them developing into young adults, but sometimes it's sad to see the ones who shut themselves off from the world or who are so self conscious they don't make eye contact. I feel for those students and I want to encourage and support them, but a lot of the time they refuse to make any connection. 

Being a teenager is pretty tough, and I think these days it is even harder with the added dimension of the internet and social networking. My special needs students mercifully don't have to deal with that element, and I think they're better for it. Their innocence and ability to take care of their peers is so special, I wish I could get my other students to go back to those innocent ways and basic rules for treating others.

Christmas has come once again

It's that time of year. The leaves have changed colour and fallen on the ground, leaving the bare bones of the trees behind. The wind has a crisp cool chill. The nights are nippy and the mornings biting. My bed has become more of a nest. And I could go on. One more: I have the urge to clean! That must mean one thing - Christmas! Of course, the obvious signs of Christmas are present as well: Christmas decorations, commercials and adverts, red cups at Starbucks AND 7/11 (7/11 sells coffee now, and they usually have white cups. However, they totally copied Starbucks and have introduced some holiday-themed red cups with snowflakes.), Christmas cake displays, KFC chicken advertisements, illuminations (AKA Christmas lights), Pizza-la delivery guys dressed as Santas, Christmas music, fresh strawberries are available in stores (Winter is the growing season. It's this way in Korea, too.), etc. Christmas truly is drawing near.

Today I took a day off, let's call it a mental health day, and I got all in the Christmas spirit. I baked Christmas cookies, I decorated, I put up Christmas lights, I watched Christmas movies, and I drank Christmas tea. It was a good spirit-lifting experience.

I should say, "I tried to bake Christmas cookies." They didn't really work. Why? I'm pretty sure I know why. Butter. Or rather, margarine. In Japan, every year around Christmas time, there happens to be a butter shortage. At this time it is difficult to find anything but margarine. I have lucked out and been able to get butter. However, the other day I thought I was buying butter, but it wasn't. I used this "butter", which came conveniently wrapped in two sticks, to bake sugar cookies. It didn't work too well. When I was trying to figure out what went wrong, I looked at the package and realized I had bought margarine instead :( There were warning signs. The "butter" was softer and easier to cut than it should have been, it was yellower than it should have been, it smelled more buttery than butter does... But I ignored all the signs and my gut, which pointed out to me that something was wrong. When you try and make sugar cookies with margarine, the shapes distort as they flatten out, making for some very unattractive cookies. In addition to using margarine, I used too much sugar... Oh well. They were still edible in the end, and people ate them up. Lessons learned.

It looks fine at this stage.

Still doing okay!

Eh? What happened? Margarine :(

After the baking mishap, I decided to decorate my apartment. I already have my advent calendar out, which is gorgeous, but I added to the decorations by putting up stickers on the walls, stringing some lights and putting out my Christmas tree (it isn't ready yet). 

I inherited the Christmas lights this year. They look so cheerful! 

My advent calendar!

Close-up for details. Every day there is a new decoration to hang on the tree. So fun!

Amidst the baking and decorating I managed to watch "the Bestest Present" and "The Santa Clause". I watched them while drinking my Christmas tea :) 

Mmmmm! Candy cane lane!

Also spotted in stores, are some special Christmas treats. Some will have to remain secret, but I'll show you a teaser ;)

Pepsi Pink!

Also, this past weekend I attended a bonenkai (忘年会), otherwise known as a "forget the year" party. They are akin to our Christmas or holiday office parties. This bonenkai was with my dance friends. It was a fun evening to just talk and drink and reflect a little on the year (some friends got married, some had babies, some got a girlfriend... Hahaha).

踊りマンの忘年会 Odoriman dance group's bonenkai

So, while it's getting cold, and Christmas is foreign here, I'm finding lots of warmth and a lot of Christmas cheer :) Can't wait to get the real thing though ;p