Visit to Togane Elementary School

A couple of weeks ago one of our teachers encouraged us to sign up for a small visit to a couple of the elementary schools in the area. Then we'd get the chance to meet some of the kids and tell them a little about Norway.

I often see them on my way home from school, with their yellow boshi (hat), square-shaped backpack and thermos in a neat thermosbag hanging from their neck. Often giggling frantically and yelling "Herrooo!" from across the street before running away in kids' flat-feeted, noisy manner.

Unfortunately only five people from my class signed up. Either they just don't like kids, which is pretty legitimate, but I knew some of them were scared off by the thought of having to communicate with the kids in Japanese. Hello, that's why we are here. And they are kids in their most "appreciative" age - you can tell them anything, and they'll be impressed.

Cat & her new purple bangs this morning

So after last period today we went to Togane Elementary school, which isn't that far from my apartment. I didn't take any pictures of the kids inside the school. There's no point in taking pictures if I can't show them to anyone, right?

We were greeted by the teachers and a few pupils who shyly mumbled "welcome" in Norwegian and handed us our own nametags. Ahh, being a big softy when it comes to kids making an effort, I was already starting to melt.

"Kine Merete Rangooru"

We were devided into couples, and two young girls took me and Magnus by the hand and proudly led us to their class room, filled with big-eyed 9-year-olds that started to clap excitedly as we entered. I completely forgot about being nervous and was smitten by their energy. We stood in front of the class, introduced ourselves and told them a little bit about Norway.

We'd been asked to bring photos of Norway, but few of us had any. I only coincidentally had a picture of my grumpy old cat, so I told them about Snøball, that despite hardly being white still is called "Snowball", and that he might be looking a bit grumpy because he's 12 years old.

I thought they'd might not be interested, but they were so excited and they all broke out in a cry of joy when I showed them the picture. Ahh, such an easy crowd to please.

Then they presented a small bag of presents for us. All carefully made by them. I wanted to cry. I asked "wow, who made these" and they all raised their hands, small faces glowing with pride.

Carefully folded origami spinning toy - it's so precious!

Book mark

Some kind of card to hang on the wall and "recieve joy"

Then we got to go outside and have the kids show us a few games that they play on the playground. They were all so eager to explain the game to me, with their big eyes and their little chatterboxes going full speed. It was so much fun and I was all sweaty when we were done.

I had a great time and I remember how much I like (nice) kids. I also realised that I really miss teaching TaeKwon-Do to young kids and being able contribute to "shaping them" and giving them a safe environment.