School Excursion
Last Friday I went with the second year students to Kyoto. There were several things different about this school trip than any other I have been on before.
First, they didn’t call it a trip, they called it an excursion. I spent a lot of time explaining to students and teachers that this was a very fancy word. That it is more natural to call it a trip.
Second, the students and teachers didn’t stay together. Once the bus arrived in Kyoto, the students were all told to be back at 2:00pm. Students and teachers went out on there own to see whatever sights they could in four hours. I spent the four hours walking around with my supervisor and seeing what the Northwest side of Kyoto had to offer.
We went to see Tenryu-ji Temple. Like the other temples I have visited in Kyoto, this one had an amazing garden as well.
We walked through a beautiful bamboo grove. My favorite thing about the bamboo grove was the way it sounded when the wind blew. As the wind blew through the trees the bamboo bumped into one another and made the most beautiful sound. It was almost as though the entire forest was one, giant windchime.
And we were able to get a student to take our picture near the river. The city was crawling with students, over 800 from Gifukita alone. It was fun to bump into my students in different parts of the city, and they would always greet me with a chorus of giggles and hellos. So fun!
And then, when 2:00pm arrived, we all went back to the bus. Amazingly enough, all the students did as they were told and showed up on time. I think I was the only one surprised by this. But seriously, this would have never happened back home.
Everyone on the bus was tired and exhausted, including the teachers. After a few minutes, both teachers sitting by me were sound asleep and I decided to follow suit. Amazing that with a bus full of high school students, the teachers were able to get in over an hour of shut eye without worrying about the pranks that students would play on them. Quite different from schools back in the states. Different in a refreshing sort of way.