Children and teachers had been counting the days on the calendar, waiting for September 28 to arrive. This was not just any other day at J’s International School; it was a day when students could eat lunch and play games outside with their classmates and teachers all afternoon, but best of all, their mummies and daddies were going to be there.
For some of the children this was the first time their parents joined them in their school setting, which made a few of them a little curious! “Me mama coming?” Erik (2) said almost every day, pointing at the picnic sign in the classroom calendar, as if he were trying to figure out why his “mama” was coming to his school.
When the day came, the weather was questionable and the school staff weren’t sure they’d be able to go ahead with the outdoor activities. However, the light rain from the morning did not dampen the spirits of the students who were geared up and ready to go. With hopes of clear skies, the classes made their way to Arisugawa Park, with lunch in their backpacks. At the park they were met by mums and dads and, after a quick set-up and a big “itadakimasu,” the fun began.
The actual time spent on eating lunch was short because there were a lot of activities on the agenda. One highlight was the “Find Your Animal Family” game, where the objective is to find others who are the same secret animal as yourself, with the only modes of communication being body movements and sounds. Before the game even started you could hear random howling, hooting, and cock-a-doodle-doo-ing from the crowd. It must have looked quite bizarre for anyone watching this group of men, women, and children bobbing, slithering, and crawling around as they made strange animal sounds, but the J’s community was having too much fun to notice the curious looks on the faces of bystanders and passersby.
A “best animal family” contest was held, along with relay races, balloon games, green-light–red-light, “Simon says,” and some group singing.
The afternoon flew by quickly and soon it was time to go home. Everyone agreed that it was a great day! A small portion of the fun had been captured in the photos taken, which the J’s parents can view by logging into the school blog. — MANA ORTIZ
