Teacher Training Program: Trip to Kanazawa and the Finale

[Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4, if you need a catch up or for pre-reading]

This should be my last post about the Teacher Training Program I attended while in Japan this year. It was nearly seven weeks long, and honestly, I came away from it feeling so rich. My Japanese language skill improved so much, but I also benefited so many other ways. Getting to know people from all over the world, hearing how life is in their countries and classrooms. All of the Japanese cultural experiences that we got to do. Even a day trip to visit a Japanese high school and talk to students and teachers. The fact that all of it was covered by a grant, so we didn't pay for any of it. Not only the lessons (twelve students to a teacher is a pretty great ratio!), but the resources they gave us too; text books, cultural books and other items. What an experience. 

I also just felt really privileged to be an Australian. And an English speaker. Everyone else there had learnt English as a second language, and then Japanese on top of that. A fair few people had another language or two up their sleeves as well. I was in awe of them, but how lucky are we to naturally speak the language that so many people have to learn as a necessity to communicate outside their home country? Such privilege.

Anyway, to top off the amazing experience we had, the last week included a one night stay at Kanzawa, which was a three hour shinkansen ride across the country. I'd never been to Kanazawa, so I was pretty excited to go. Most of the other teachers had never ridden the shinkansen before, so they were so keen for that too. It was great to catch their excitement. 

Kanazawa actually gave me Brisbane vibes as we got off the train and walked to our hotel. The streets were wide and so were the footpaths. The buildings around us in the city were really similar to Brisbane size. Not like the immensely tall and over crowded Tokyo skyline at all. Sure, there were Japanese style buildings, but when there is spaces for trees on the side of the road, I'm feeling much more like Australia than Japan. 

The first day we were there, we did a Japanese sweets making experience, which was fun (and delicious) and then a gold leaf workshop. Kanazawa is famous for gold leaf but doing the workshop (where we decorated a plate with some designs) was possibly the most stressful twenty minutes ever. The gold leaf was so thin that even breathing was a hazard when you picked it up and tried to place it on the plate. Thankfully the staff at the workshop were there to fix (or "cure" as they said in Japanese) our mistakes. 

The rest of the first day was wandering around and exploring. I did go to the castle before I found my way to the local Pokemon centre for this photo and had some delicious tempura for dinner (while messaging back and forth with Steve who was sitting in various waiting rooms getting x-rays on his hand). 

The next day we started in the famous gardens in Kanazawa and saw this (again iconic) lantern balanced precariously on two legs after an earthquake broke the other. It was a hot day, and our group split up to go and explore. 

I tried to go to a kimono store, but sadly found it was closed on a Wednesday. So instead, I took a bus to a very fancy library. From the outside it looked like a regular building and I was initially worried I'd gone to the wrong place, but once inside; stunning. The whole Library was designed in a circular way, with four levels going up, and mezzanine floors floating around. There were break out spaces on the corners and lots of hidden nooks to study, sit or just enjoy the library vibes. 

I couldn't get enough of it, but I also didn't want to be annoying taking photos. You'll just have to go see its beauty for yourselves! After wandering around there for a bit, I took the bus back to central Kanazawa  and visited the samurai district. Lots of old style Japanese houses all built up together next to each other behind walls with lovely tiled roofs. 

I visited this Samurai house/museum which had a beautiful garden and lots of spaces to sit and take it in. Because gold leaf is so iconic in Kanzawa, you can get it on a variety of foods, including ice cream, so I had a hojicha (roasted tea flavour) ice cream with gold leaf. Actually delicious. 

Then I wandered around the city some more, through these lovely red tori gates and then back to the station and hotel to pick up bags and get onto to the shinkansen. 

It had been a rich little trip away, even though I was worried for Steve for large parts of it. Back at the centre in Kita Urawa, we had a few wrap up classes, mostly giving lots of feedback on the program and reflecting on our learning. There were also a few karaoke sessions together and planning for our final graduation ceremony and breakup party. 

The graduation ceremony was appropriately formal and Japanese. We all went an bowed when we received our certificates and were experiencing lots of mixed feelings that it was all over. Excitement, relief, pride, sadness, it was all going on. 

After the official ceremony, we had a break up party. Mostly just some snacks and drinks and people taking loads of photos with everyone. Then we had about a half hour of performances. A number of people got together for different things. Class 3, that I was part of, wanted to sing a Japanese song. I had said I'd play guitar for them, but when they chose the song (tegami, by Angela Aki), it was a very piano song. So I figured out how to play the piano part instead. Honestly it's been soooo long since I've played piano let alone for something like this, but I practiced like mad in the week and a half that I had leading up to it, and I was really proud of our performance. 

Then Wine-san from Myanmar did a dance, and a group of people from Class 2 did a mash up dance (lots of Indian moves). I got up and taught everyone how to do the Heal and Toe, which was lots of fun. At first people had no idea what we were going to do but ended up getting into it. It was great to see people from 33 countries all dancing something so iconically Australian. Everyone in the room was dancing and I wish I had a video of it. 

The last group I accompanied on guitar this time, some people from Class 1 singing a BTS/World Cup song: "We are the Dreamers". That was really fun because I helped them translate the chorus into Japanese so we sang it in English and then Japanese. 

Then it was over. We had the rest of the afternoon to pack before people started leaving for their flights home the next day. Carlos from Mexico would be the first to leave at 4:30 in the morning, but technically, I was the first to go on the Monday afternoon. I was wondering when would be the best time, but in the end, I just said goodbye to people I saw on my way out and handed my room key in at the front desk. It was about 2pm and they were shocked and immediately went to get the coordinator (Mori-san) and some teachers to say goodbye. They were worried there wasn't people to say goodbye, but I was fine. I don't need fuss!

I'm actually so relieved I had the freedom to leave that way (rather than having to have a flight booked and airport transfer organised), because I saw the videos the next day of everyone else leaving. Even Carlos, who was up at 4 in the morning for his departure, had almost everyone else there as well, giving hugs and waving goodbye. Every person until Laura from Cuba (last to leave on Wednesday) got a huge farewell with lots of extended crying and waving. I'd consider myself in touch with my emotions and I'm fine to cry, but definitely sure I don't need all the extra drama. 

And then it was officially over. Time had gone so strange while I had been away each week at this course and we were really racing towards the end of our Tokyo time. Even when we finished, I didn't have heaps of time to process because once I was back in Tokyo, it was only four days before the girls finished school, and we had a stack of things to sort out. Glad I can type it up now and I'm honestly so thankful for the whole thing. If I ever got the chance to apply again (which I can do in five years time), I totally would, but I also don't want to take a space of someone who possibly needs the experience more than me.