Let's Volleyball!

This weekend began with a Friday night office enkai. Office parties are one of my favorite parts of being in Japan. The people I work with are really cool and know how to have a good time. My Japanese listening comprehension and their loosening up enough to try more English has really helped all of us. Somehow or other during the night I got drafted to participate in a town, school-wide volleyball tournament on Saturday. Each school in town had a team formed of parents and teachers. My BOE formed a team, as well. I told them I was terrible at volleyball but would come and be a fan/photographer. I should have known they would never go for the "fan" idea. And after their first game I was forced to play. Luckily I was put in the back right corner so I only hit the all a few times. But I did have several nice serves (after a couple terrible practice ones). It was great socializing with fellow teachers from schools outside of the classroom. My favorite moment was when about 15 elementary school students came over to our BOE game and started cheering,"Ganbatte, Angie sensei!" Their support definintely helped because after their cheering I had my best serve. Here is a team shot. At least my blue shirt made me look like part of the group. Despite our efforts we came in 6th out of 6 teams. After the game we had a group enkai with members from all the teams at the town hotel/onsen. I ended up getting randomly seated next to one of my favorite teachers (who speaks very good English), one of my elementary school principals, and three students' parents (one of those parents was Mr. Y's brother! See "Please Wear a Ring" post to refresh your memory). All of these parents had somewhat functional English, so we had a fun time speaking half Japanese and half English. I was told by parents and teachers alike that their kids like me and are comfortable around me. Mr. Y's brother even thanked me because his son got a 90% on his first English exam. Apparently I had something to do with the boy's high marks, although that is highly unlikely. Sometimes I am really unsure what my co-workers and students think of me and my performance and existance in the town. So it is good to know that people think I am doing a good job. Two awards were given to each team, one "Best player" award and another "Hustler" award. You can see which one I received. I was quite embarrassed but it was a really nice gesture. I have never been invited to school enkais, so this was really fun socializing with teachers and parents alike. Maybe by next year's tournament my volleyball skills will have improved.