How did I come to the conclusion that I now know how to laugh at myself? Well, it has been a continual process, just by nature of being a teacher, and especially by being the only white person in an entire school. Comic relief helps make my classes more fun and interesting.
But today I was able to confirm 100% that I know how to laugh at myself.
The background:
Every year before graduation, the 1st and 2nd graders put together a goodbye party of sorts for the graduating students. In this party, the 1st/2nd graders do skits, sing, show slide shows to show their thanks to their "senpai" (senpai is a term that people here use to refer to their seniors...it is most commonly heard in schools when younger students refer to their older counterparts, but it can also be heard in the workplace and it is an important relationship.)
Last week:
A teacher asked me if I was willing to be in the short skit the teachers were doing for the graduating students. Pretty much, the teachers were going to sing a song together, but before that, they were going to do the skit to just get the energy flowing. I said I would be in the skit, of course! I was grateful for actually being included in something so there was no way I was going to say no. Also, I only had one line. No problem!!
This week:
Mon-Wed I was at a conference in Chiba Prefecture and was thus not at school. I came back to school yesterday feeling a little uneasy because my neurotic self likes to practice things and know exactly what is going on (though this is another thing that has changed about me...I am a whole lot more "go with the flow" now than I ever was before...but that is a different post for a different time). Anyway, I discovered yesterday that no one really knew what was happening. They had not rehearsed the song at all, nor had they rehearsed the skit, so everyone was clueless, not just me. whew!!
A bit more background before we get to today:
Most of the teachers were borrowing boys school uniforms for the skit because we were supposed to be dressed like members of the cheering club. I don't want to use the word cheerleader, because that will make you think of girls in short skirts who do backflips. It's different in Japan. The leaders of the cheer groups at school are usually boys who add white gloves and a white piece of fabric tied around their heads (there's a word for that in English that I can't remember right now) to their uniforms. So...I borrowed a student's jacket and had gloves and the fabric.
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| This is an example of a typical uniform for boys. All black with the buttons down the front. |
In the skit, all I had to say was "OSU!" in response to the head "cheerer" There were four of us and he was going to go down the line and ask things like "Are you ready to sing for the 3rd graders?" or "Are you going to put all your emotions into the song to say good bye to the 3rd graders?" things like that. And each one of us was supposed to say "OSU!" which is a response usually used by boys and it does not always mean yes, but in a case like this where you are trying to get energy going in a room, that is the right answer. And also, the really cool guys do this thing with their arms which I am going to try to describe because it is important. So stand with your feet shoulder width apart and bend both elbows to 90-degrees. Your arms start out crossed in front of your chest, wrists touching and then as you say "OSU!" you pull your elbows down to your sides and stick out your chest a bit...perhaps you can see where this is going?
Today:
Feeling incredibly uneasy because of lack of rehearsals, I put on my borrowed jacket and went onstage. I managed to button the jacket and thought everything was fine (there were concerns about the jacket fitting). The teachers had given me the option of just saying "Yes!" if I wanted, but I wanted to do this right...so I went with the "Osu." Well...in the process, I managed to launch a button off the jacket right into the students!!!
The old Elissa would have been embarrassed to the point of crying and wanting to run away. I would not have been able to sing the song because I would have been so upset. And I would have made popping a button off a jacket into a much worse thing than it actually was.
The new Elissa was still rather embarrassed, but managed to laugh it off...actually laughing so hard that I was crying. I sang the song with the teachers, got off stage, and returned the jacket and button with my sincerest apologies. I recognize that it was just a button and can be easily fixed and is not the end of the world, but rather made the show that much more entertaining.
The moral of the story:
I have most definitely leaned to laugh at myself a bit more than before I came to Japan. I hope you all enjoyed my story and my descriptions were good enough for you to know what I was talking about.
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