Cleaning Day or How Would Their Mother's Feel?

We’re nearing the end of the term here at Minato Jr. High School and, in honor of this special week, today we had a school-wide cleaning extravaganza. Initially, students’ cleaning the classrooms was a surprise to me – I still remember Rick the Janitor at Redmond Elementary School and his huge, powerful vacuum cleaner (I also remember him being hugely fat and driving a tiny, red sports car; how did he fit in it?). I was never expected to wield a broom or mop the floor with cold water and a dirty rag. But, here, every day after lunch is designated ‘cleaning time’ and the kids half-heartedly sweep, mop, dust, and scrub for twenty minutes.

Today went above and beyond. Today was the cleaning day to end all cleaning days (until next year, anyway). Today was . . . wait for it . . . Window Cleaning Day! Okay, maybe I was a sheltered child, but I when I was growing up, public schools took down swing-sets because they were considered too dangerous. The Big Slide was disassembled in my fifth grade year because kids acquired WAY too much velocity on it, turning them into tiny, hurtling bullets. There is no such concern for safety here. I saw students straddling the third-floor window sills to better clean a spot off the glass on the outside. They leaned precariously far outside and scrubbed while the teachers yelled, ‘Gambatte!’ and I internalized my fear for their lives. They stacked three shaky desks on top of each other and stood at the top, in order to reach the windows nearest the ceiling. I thought I was going to have a heart-attack.

In light of my newly discovered over-protectiveness, I think I’ll plan to be absent on Roof Cleaning Day and Trimming the Tops of the Trees without a Harness Day, much less Standing in a Pool of Water while Fixing the Electrical Wiring that’s Still Plugged In Day. However, one benefit to working at Jr. High School? There are no swings to be worried about.

Let's going to Kobe (captions provided in Engrish)!

Let's loving creativity of faces with Liz!

Let's experiencing exciting sights of Chinatown!

Let's enjoying delicious taste of expensive fruit!

Let's encountering funky pets!

Let's tasting spicy flavors of Indian food!

Let's having fun and memory times with friends!