This morning I found out both my junior high classes today were canceled. This came as quite a shock to me. The apparent reason is that it is raining. I think rain is a good reason to cancel outdoor activities, but not a good reason to cancel indoor ones. Oh well. This week is training for Sports Day, and I think they are concerned that later it will be raining much harder. Right now it is only raining lightly. So the activities that were planned for later in the day were moved up, crushing classes. Sometimes I wonder about the emphasis they place on Sports Day. This whole week has been running races, practicing opening ceremonies, and doing cheers. This is okay, but I think sacrificing learning for Sports Day is a little strange. At least I have more time today to psyche myself up for elementary classes.

Tomorrow will hopefully be Sports Day, but if it is raining, they will postpone it to Sunday, then again to Monday if it rains Sunday. Sports Day is a big day of running and group games. Plus there seems to be a lot of cheering. Everyone is divided into four groups, all of which are named after a local mountain and has a color. My group is Tsukerugi, I think. We are the blue team. They want me to run a race or two, so I might end up running the mile (it's been a little while...) and the 100m relay. Apparently there will be a teacher team for the relay, so they chose me to be the lead runner. I don't know how fast the other teachers are, so I have no idea how we will do. They have many interesting games which they play. The have one strange one where three guys hold up another guy who is standing up. Then they carry this guy to go attack others. If the "fighter" steps down (or falls) or has his headband snatched by the other team, then he is out. They don't just have one group versus another though, they often have 8-10 teams on each side charge at each other and it gets really crazy. It's the type of thing that we wouldn't play because of the lawsuit when some kid falls and hurts himself.

Another fun game is like tug of war, sort of. There are about 8-10 poles lying flat in the middle of the field, and the two teams line up on each side of the line. Then they all race out to the center and try to drag as many poles as possible back to their side. It is pretty frantic, and has a time limit. So if a pole is being pulled by both teams and not going anywhere, it is likely time will expire and no one will get that pole. The team with the most poles wins.

I hope it is cloudy and does not rain tomorrow. That would be ideal, since the weather can get quite hot here, and I have already gotten burnt once.

On the day we have Sports Day, there will be a party for teachers that night for the start of school. These parties are called enkais and are often very expensive. Many teachers will probably get quite drunk by the end. At the beginning it is very formal and ceremonious however. After the big one for all teachers, I think the English teachers will go do something, either another party or maybe just a dinner since I do not drink. Yamamoto-sensei will explain the details to me later on today.