Graduation ‘n’ all that

Last Wednesday was Ruby’s graduation, and what a ceremony it was. The gymnasium was packed with the entire student body (drilled to within an inch of their tiny lives after weeks of intensive practice in singing, bowing, arising in unison at the correct moment and remaining motionless for hours on end) together with the teaching staff, a phalanx of distinguished guests, and a bevy of Proud Parents.
Naturally it was a highly formal affair with many speeches. Each speaker was required to bow first to the distinguished guests, then to the teachers, then to the stage (or possibly at the large flower display on the stage, I couldn’t quite tell), and finally to the assembled audience, before mounting the podium. Then after their speech they had to repeat all the bows in reverse sequence. As you can imagine, there was an awful lot of bowing; during one 30-minute interval I counted no less than 63 bows at an average of over 2 bpm. Multiply that by 90 minutes and you get an idea of the numbers. Naturally all the grade sixes also had to bow several times when receiving their certificates, like this:

But we all decided that the formality wasn’t such a bad thing. Certainly it provided a stark contrast to the graduation ceremony in Australia, where the highlights included the video projector stubbornly refusing to work and Ruby’s certificate being mislaid altogether so that she would have missed out entirely had her pernickety father not had a stern word to some of the teachers.

And I am pleased to report that the graduation outfit so painstakingly assembled over the previous weeks was deemed acceptable on the day and did not cause any embarrassment. What’s more, as the newest member of the class and therefore the last on the roll, Ruby ended up being the last one out the door with the responsibility of uttering the final words of the ceremony (“Thangyou and goodniiiiiight!” or words to that effect) and delivering the very last bow of the day:

Note the angle, the straight head, the hands by the side. The kids may not have done too much study in the last few weeks but they sure know how to bow properly.

I should also mention that Felix for his part did an excellent job of keeping still for 90 minutes, possibly the longest time he’s ever stayed in the same place since birth.

After the ceremony we all went back to the Grade Six classroom where the students lined up to present Miss Wada with a parting gift of a flower. Thankfully it was a much more informal atmosphere (only 0.2 bpm approx. as measured on the Bow-o-Meter).

The next day saw yet another ceremony, this time to farewell all the teachers who are leaving the primary school. The Education Department has a policy of rotating teaching staff at regular intervals whether they like it or not. And judging by the farewell ceremony, many of them do not like it one little bit. Both Ruby’s grade six teacher Miss Wada and the wonderful skool principal Mrs. Haruta had been given their marching orders along with six other teachers and support staff, and the ceremony soon turned into a vast outpouring of emotion. All eight teachers gave speeches, many of them dissolving into floods of tears along the way. Several of the students who had to formally thank the teachers suffered a similar fate. A number of the younger children in the audience became inconsolable and could be heard emitting muffled howls throughout the ceremony. The kids were crying; the teachers were crying; even Eleni was moved to tears and we’ve only been here two months. Surely this can’t be right. I think I might have to have a quiet word with the Education Department.

More skool photos are here.