Today I went to the girls' soccer practice after school. Their practice "field" is a small sandyish area by the beach. It's kinda cool because when the sun goes down and it starts to get dark and cold, you can hear the waves.
But the best part of practice today was finally figuring out what the girls shout when they're doing laps (I've been to about 3 practices and haven't managed to figure it out). Basically, they line up in 2 lines and do laps around the field, taking turns shouting "High toe! High toe! High toe!"
High toe? It reminded me of my soccer days when the coach used to shout "On your toes! On your toes!" I thought maybe they were saying the same thing but it didn't translate correctly. Last practice, when it was my turn in line, I even shouted "High Toe! High Toe! High toe!"
I was completely wrong.
Today I finally asked a girl to explain what they mean when they shout "High toe." I could tell she was confused. She looked at me and said "Fighto." They say "Fight."
The end of practice is always interesting too. The girls all line up on the sideline, but instead of doing sprints (which is what lining up on the sideline at the end of soccer practice usually meant at my high school) they shout "arigato gozaimashita" (thank you very much) and then bow to the field.