Surprise Volleyball Game

Today I was hanging out at school after completing a totally killer day at elementary school when a teacher came up to me and said volleyball. I smiled and nodded. They then said Naga Chu, volleyball. I eventually figured out that they were telling me that I was supposed to go play volleyball at Nagasaka Chugakko (middle school). Weird, but whatever. I went to the school, and asked one of the English teachers what was going on. Turns out there was a teacher volleyball tournament on this day. Glad people tell me things...

 Now I don't wish to toot my own horn, but 9-year-old me would be very proud of me for the amount of people that were clamoring over me to be on their team. Volleyball happens to be one of the things I don't suck at. My good friend once said to me, "you know Jeff, you aren't terrible at volleyball." Kinder words were never spoken. Of the 6 schools participating in the tournament, I teach at 3 of the schools. It sure doesn't hurt being the tallest person in a mile radius.

 Here you can see the teachers milling around. This was after our first victory. Unfortunately, they weren't using real volleyballs, so when I would hit it with enthusiasm, it would fly quite far. They were using dodgeball type balls to play with.

A quick note on the way the Japanese play volleyball. They are REALLY good at it. I think it is a living testament to the community model that seeps into every facet of Japanese life. I think there was only 1 or 2 times where the ball went across to the other side on less than 3 hits. I didn't actually do much (they had 9 players on each side).

I know you are tired of spider pictures, but now I feel like they aren't even trying to keep them in check. Spiders at eye level? In case you didn't recognize it, this is in the hall of human nightmares. 

In class, I taught the 1st graders how to color Jack o' Lanterns. These kids are extraordinarily cute, and I snapped some secret video of them while they were coloring. It is funny that even at age 6 in Japan, the boys and girls color very different pictures. Although, at second 25 or so, you can see possibly the most horrifying picture I have ever seen created. It was created by possibly the cutest little girl...

...I don't know if you can see it, but that thing was crazy scary.