Erika, a friend, invited me for an English Camp with her and a few Japanese English Teachers. Knowing this opportunity would allow me to meet students from a different school, and that it would be at Nozawa Onsen (hot spring), I jumped at the chance. But there was a catch, Erika wanted me to bring another male to the camp, she wanted it to be fair, 2 ladies and 2 men, with all the female students. Erika of course was bringing her husband Daniel.
This task was actually harder than I thought. With all the males I know in this prefecture, all of them seemed to be busy with something, and it didn't help that this was the same weekend with all the Halloween parties going on. In the end through a friend, I found Devin, who like me wasn't so fond of the Halloween malarchy. We'd met a few times before, but I didn't really know him well enough to ask him myself.
In the end we went on the 2 hour bus journey to the hotel we were staying in for the weekend. It was in a beautiful place, in the mountains, you can ski there. It had an amazing view of the city below, and on the other side a heart-ish shaped lake.
Students began to loose their shyness as the first day went on. With the task in hand they began to fall into their teams. The day was filled with activities, all for points, and they were working very hard, and at the same time having a great time. However, throughout the whole first day, I had the worst pain ever in my stomach. By the evening, the students we able to relax and either watch Beetle Juice or enjoy the onsen in the hotel. 
Devin and I, moved into the lounge to take a breather and talk about the days events. Students were lingering around wanting to have a photo taken with us.
Sunday was a great day, after breakfast we played CLUE. An truly exciting game that I last played when I was 12, before having a recap 2 week before camp. 
We left the hotel about 1 o'clock in the afternoon after the closing ceremony and prize giving moments.
After cleaning up and packing our bags we were ready to leave. We had had so much fun. Students seemed like they didn't want to leave us. I must says it's the best English Camp I've ever had. We had our photos taken one after another, before getting on the long awaiting coaches. Photos were taken using their mobile phones, which I think has better quality than my digi-cam. Kids with the latest technology eh! It was one picture after another, Devin and I felt like celebrities foe a while. It's such a good a feeling knowing that the students really enjoyed themselves, and knowing that they will remember us for the rest of their lives, that we have made a difference and touched their hearts in some way. 
So, Debate then. What's Debate I hear you say. Pretty much explains itself. When I first did this last year, I was sad that we never did anything like this while at school. This year was the 13th annual High School English Debate Contest, with 40 teams and increasing each year. The topic was, Life in a big city has more advantages than that in a small town. 
I was amazed with all the reasons all these students came up with. Now I'm torn where to live. Each debate last for 32 minutes, Starting with their constructive speech, of the affirmative and negative. Then the cross examinations. Then their 1st rebuttals, and another cross examination, and then each team's final rebuttal. Oh boy, it was hard work being a judge! 
