Christmas Vacation, part 1

Christmas in Japan is not a big deal. At least, not in terms of tradition, family or culture. It mostly exists in the Japanese imagination as a lot of beautiful colors and lights, people dressed as Santa, and a generally festive way to decorate during the winter. To give you an idea of just how unimportant Christmas is:
1) If Christmas had been on a week day, I would have had to work on Christmas.
2) The middle school teachers' End-of-Year Drinking Party was scheduled on Christmas.

The big holiday around here is New Year's. It is customary to clean one's house for the New Year. Not a spot of dirt from the old year should be allowed to follow you into the next. To ensure this is the case, parents and in-laws come to visit the house, some of them with the intent to inspect the cleaning job. This can lead to some interesting relationships between in-laws, as I learned during the break.

School let out on December 24th. My vacation days are from Dec. 29th to Jan. 3rd. My original hope, several months ago, was to travel out of the country, go somewhere warm and exotic, see more of this part of the world. But the girl I had asked to travel with turned out to be a lousy travel partner, and plans fell through toward the end. Not wanting to travel abroad alone while having to spend more money for booking things later, I turned to a friend who would be traveling around Kyushu. Would it be alright for me to join her? Sure, she said. So this is what we have done so far:

So Krista and Kyle are both first-year JETs like me. They went to college together, but Kyle works further north, just below Hokkaido in Aomori. Krista is about 2ish hours south of me. They spent Christmas with Kyle's in-laws in Fukuoka, then passed through Nishihara to get me on their way to Takachiho, where we spent the next 3 days.

Takachiho is a small town in the mountains, whose main claims to fame are it's gorge, it's temple, and the Amano Iwato Shrine. While we were there, we stayed with Victoria, an English teacher who is an ex-JET from the UK, living in Takachiho with her Japanese husband and three beautiful children, aged 8, 11, and 14, none of whom could really speak English. The middle child was tall for his age and rather willing to offer up perhaps the only 3 phrases he knew in English: "Shut up!" "Don't touch me!" and "Fuck you, honestly!" He was a little punk, and we were all vastly amused.

Victoria was an amazing hostess. She quite literally opened her house up to us, so we got to spend some time with her family, and even cooked dinner for them one night. We watched Japanese dramas on her kitchen TV, and saw the video recording or her Halloween spent as Lady Gaga. We taught the family how to play ERS and Sahara, the 8 year old daughter, even started learning how to shuffle cards. We raked leaves and rang the Buddhist temple bell at 6 pm sharp. Oh, did I forget to mention? Victoria is a Buddhist priest, has been for 10 years. Her husband is as well, since he is the oldest son in a family that has run this particular temple for the past 400 years.

The layout of Victoria's place: The temple, bell platform, and main house make a sort of courtyard. Further down the driveway, there was a combination garage-shed, and after that an event hall, that housed old furniture, a ping pong table, a small kitchen and shower and bathroom, and a small guest bedroom. And LOTS of bedding. I was amazed - she had out 3 futons (as the Japanese think of them - they were floor mattresses, not sofas) for us, and 2-3 blankets a piece plus a heavy blanket cover and pillows and pillow cases. It was freezing in the building, but there was a kerosene heater, which served us quite well (until we ran out of kerosene the second night, but we got more the next day). We were free to come and go as we please, drive our car into town, check out the gorge, hike a trail in the cold cold air, take photos. We visited the onsen (Japanese spa) every day we were there to warm ourselves, and it also proved to be the most convenient way for all of us to shower. And everyday Victoria would regale us with nightmare stories about her relationship with her in-laws, two of which lived in the downstairs portion of the house, dubbed by Victoria as Enemy Territory. Turns out tons of family comes to visit for New Year's, but this is the loneliest time for Victoria, who finds that she has no place in the family at this time, and so spends it alone upstairs, while the rest of the family celebrates down below. In the meantime, she hosts Couch Surfers, or spends the New Year with the ALT who lives nearby. Everyone spends this time a little differently, I suppose.

These last two days were spent in Nishihara and Aso, so at my house. The next two days (including New Year's!) will be spent in Fukuoka, shopping, eating, and drinking. So far it's been rather an enjoyable vacation, with some unexpected adventures. It's snowed on and off since my travels began, and hopefully the snow won't prevent our traveling tomorrow. We'll see. The next update will be around the corner. There's still so much to tell!

Some Things Never Change

Like me losing things, particularly umbrellas. In Japan, most buildings have an umbrella rack near the entryway, since it rains a lot. Also, people don't often use compact umbrellas, but the long ones. Anyway, when I leave my umbrella at the entryway, I forget it on the way out. This has happened twice. I currently have no umbrellas in my house. I have found ￥100 (about $1.08) umbrellas, though. I'm strongly considering buying about 10 of them.

And in yet another unsurprising turn of events, I have developed a minor skin problem. In the summer, I had a particularly itchy spot in the bend of my left elbow. I thought it was the heat, so I waited out the summer. Now that it's cooled down, the itching has gone away, leaving a mysterious white patch of skin. Time to visit the doctor. Oh boy.

So I asked Tomoko about setting up an appointment, hoping she might find time to come with me. I mean really, visiting a doctor who doesn't speak your language? Not something I wanted to do without a translator. But Tomoko was very busy, so she printed out a map for me, told me the name of the doctor and hospital, called them to let them know a foreigner was coming, and then I went by myself.

Let me just say that the whole process was surprisingly simple. I had a spot of trouble finding the place, since my kanji-recognition reflexes are still painfully slow, but when I walked into the wrong building, the lady there was nice enough to walk with me down the street to show me where to go. In the hospital, I went to the front desk, handed them my insurance card, and sat in the waiting room. After about 25 minutes, I was called into the dermatologist. They took a sample, looked at in under a microscope, called me in again and told me I had a melanin disfunction. Basically, pigment problems. Then they said they could start treating it that day. They're basically giving me 10 seconds of UV radiation on the patch of skin once a week and I have this cream I put on at night. The total cost and hassle of all this? About 2 hours the first day, 1 hour a week after that including driving time (I'm not sure how many weeks this will go...) and the initial visit cost me about $15, the cream cost $7, and each visit after that costs about $7. The process has been INCREDIBLY easy!! I don't have to make an appointment. I just walk in, hand the receptionist my patient card and wait about 15 minutes to be called in. I see the doctor, then I  pay my bill, then I leave. It's so easy! Now I just have to wait and hope that the treatments work. The spot is still there, but I can't tell if it's going back to normal. At any rate, it's cold here and I'm always wearing long sleeves, so I can't even see it 95% of the time.

Yep, some things never change. Even on the other side of the world, I still lose my umbrellas and I have minor, mysterious reasons to visit the doctor. I hope Zuma stays healthy and well. I haven't taken him to a vet yet, so who knows, there may well be something wrong with him that I can't see. People were asking me about him the other day, and it occurred to me how strange it was that he was lost. I mean, who loses a chihuahua or doesn't claim it? I saw one just like Zuma in a pet shop along with other small purebreds, and they cost from $600-1000!! I mean, you don't just lose a $1000 dog. Well, however it happened, I'm glad I have him now. It's so nice having a pet when you live by yourself, and Zuma's just the right size and I just happen to have a house with a yard, so keeping a dog is not much of a problem. And everybody loves Zuma and Zuma seems to love everyone, especially toddlers, who are much closer to his size. The way one friend put it, Someone was watching out for me, for this barking little lump of happiness to have shown up right when I got here. Thanks, Someone!

Strange

I discovered today that students at my middle school are not allowed to wear deodorant (with a few exceptions, I'm sure).

HOW WEIRD IS THAT!! When I was in middle school, if you didn't wear deodorant, you got made fun of. Everyone noticed. And even stranger still: the students do not smell bad. Not noticeably, anyway, and not as a whole. This only further verifies my theory that Japanese people do not sweat. Heaven help me if my current deodorant supply runs out, because they surely do not have advanced odor protection here.

On a side note, here are a couple of gems I came across when I was grading papers.
1) "Feastball" instead of "Festival"
2) "I must cream my room."

I'm sure there were more, but I lost the post-it note I wrote them down on.

Stoves, heaters and ovens...notice a theme?

You know what I miss? Full-sized ovens that help heat the house when you use them. My little microwave oven is just not the same. I made cookies today, so I can spread a little Christmas joy to those around me, but my hands froze between cookie batches, and I forgot that I had toes because they lost all feeling! I didn't turn on much heat because I thought the cooking and baking might help, but nope.

So yea, the house is quite cold now that the weather has turned genuinely cold. There were snowflakes in the air today, but nothing that stuck. And unfortunately the house is so poorly insulated that once a room is nicely heated (my kerosene heater will take a room from freezing to comfortable in about 8 minutes), you have to keep the heat on to maintain the temperature. I turned it off once - and about 10 minutes later I could see my breath.

AHHH! I just realized that even when closed, this closet right next to me lets in a significant draft of cold air. The closet ceiling opens right up to the top of the house, where there must be an open window or something because cold air comes rushing out of the closets when I open them.

By the way - in Japan, "stobu" refers to the kerosene heater. I think "reinji" is one of the words for what we call a stove/range. And the air conditioner functions as a heater, but in this cold, it's a joke really. I think it blows lukewarm air at best, whereas I can see the fire inside the kerosene heater. Well, here's to hoping I survive the winter.

Magic Tape and a 12 Year Old who can beat me up!

I picked up kendo a few weeks ago. It's finally starting to feel a little more normal, the shinai (bamboo sword) doesn't feel quite so unwieldy anymore. I'm getting lots of hand-me-downs. One teacher gave me her old shinai, and another even found an extra set of kendo robes. The pants were too long, but one mom took them, measured me, and in an hour brought them back hemmed! Another teacher showed me how to fold the carefully pleated pants. And yet another mom is learning kendo herself right along with me!

This week marks the return of the star of the elementary school team, Takashi. He's an athletic 6th grade boy who was out for a few weeks due to an injury. Since he's still recovering, he doesn't participate in practice with the other students, but comes to help out, either by hitting the drum that signals time intervals, or coaching the newest students - Masami and me. And this kid is tough! He had us doing sets of 30 strokes with the shinai, until we had done well over 100. My muscles were aching the day after that! But this kid can do 400, no sweat. He also apparently does 100 sit-ups every day, too. Sheesh!

But Takashi makes a great teacher. He was really quiet the first few weeks I knew him - I barely ever saw him smile, he looked so serious. But he smiles all the time now that he's teaching us. My constant reprimand is "Nobasu!", which means "Arms straight!". He's very strict, doesn't let anything slide, and his approval is something I work hard to earn.

My new favorite Japanese word is "Magic Tape". Literally, "majiku tepu" is what they call velcro. It's rather an apt description, if you ask me. I mean, if I had to explain to someone who had never seen it what velcro was, "magic tape" is as close an approximation as I could come to the concept. But I still laughed so hard when I heard that. It's just such a beautiful translation. Makes more sense in Japanese than in English.

Also, I'm not sure if it's a joke or not, but I was told that a pigeon pooping on your head is good luck. This is because "un" means good luck, while "unko" means poop. So if you happen to get some poop, it comes with good luck. Or something. But I think someone overlooked the whole getting-pooped-on part of this scenario. Oh, Japan!

The 20 km Physical Fitness Test

Yep, that's right. Middle school students have to walk 20 km. Well, girls only have to do 17 km.  Running is optional, but encouraged and the students with the top times are awarded certificates. For a couple of weeks, I heard this even referred to as Running Day, or Hiking Day. This led me to think it would be a very leisurely walk through Nishihara.

Well, as you can imagine, I ended up working a lot harder than I expected. Each teacher had a task, like manning a checkpoint or drinking station, and mine was to be one of the teachers walking with the students.  Alright. Well, I ended up being one of the teachers running with the students, and I managed the first 5 km before taking it to a walk. I brought my camera along and took pictures of the students I saw along the way.

But this was more than just a timed walk/run physical fitness test in beautiful, brisk weather. This was an adventure! It almost felt like the Milo and Otis movie, where a puppy and a kitten get lost and have adventures in the rivers and forests they come across. Along the walk, I passed waterfalls, babbling brooks, corn fields and cow farms. I even put my hand out and got licked by one such cow.

At the checkpoints, some younger students waited with their parents to help point the way. One group of young girls followed me a ways down the road, and we played an approximation of red light/green light for about 1 km. I passed students who were designated trash picker-uppers. I had a full blown conversation (90% Japanese) with a group of boys who are usually very quiet in class. The sun was shining the whole morning (in what seemed to be a miraculous 6 hour interval amidst 3 days of nonstop cold rain) and it was a wonderful day, though my legs and especially my toes would say otherwise - ouch! But this was my first such long trek, and I had motivation to try to keep running - mostly to try to catch the next group of students to talk a bit with them.

After that, I took a nice long shower and soak. A while later, I believe I discovered the first child here whom I rather dislike. This girl, named Sunflower, is about 8 years old and behaves as though she owns the world. She doesn't ask permission before she does anything. This included entering my house, getting Zuma's leash and taking him for a walk, and various other things. She is the leader of her group of friends, but she rarely succumbs to the wishes of her followers. She even kicked one of the kids, for who knows what reason, sending the 5 year old boy into a rant of tears as he tried to run away. We spent a good 10 minutes following him. In her mother's greenhouse, she didn't hesitate to pick up a scalpel to cut a few leaves. That rather alarmed me, since there were other kids around, and this girl seems to have little conscience or sense of consequence for her actions. So I told her to put it down, as best I could. She understood me, but it took her awhile to set it down. After which she picked up a much bigger knife, and began using it to cut up a twig, in that mildly-shamed-but-still-defiant way that kids have. Then I told her in No Nonsense English to put the knife down. This time she got the message. Yep, the first kid I decided I don't like. She's just not a very nice 8 year old. At all. Not a very nice thing to say, but well, every day has its ups and its downs.

Hisashiburashi

That means "long time no see". And so it has been, but not because I haven't had things to write about. I actually have half of my trip to Korea written in a draft.

So since I last wrote, I've adjusted considerably to life in Japan. In fact, the week before I left to Korea, for the first time I felt that I was in a natural rhythm, that things were going well because I planned them that way, and not because of some freak accident or bit of luck. Students look familiar, and they seem more used to me. I know my teachers better, and so can adjust to working with them a little better. Now I'm actually in the middle of coordinating a Christmas origami display where I teach each of the elementary school grades a different model, then put them all together to make a Christmas mural, complete with trees, santas, reindeers, and wreaths with bows and bells.

And I started taking kendo lessons. That's one thing I definitely did not expect I would do when I first got here, but I've spent so much time with the kendo kids and moms, that the teachers invited me to learn. And now it's something I look forward to on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, when I'm not lesson-planning at the last minute.

So I've settled in, perhaps a little too much, since I now get lazy with things, such as this blog. It's pretty easy to just turn on the computer, watch a couple of episodes of a show while I eat dinner, then go to sleep. Between kendo and short walks with Zuma, I know I'm at least getting my minimal exercise. And I still cook, if with little creativity, fairly regularly, and it's usually healthy food. Every now and then there's a party or a weekend event. Last weekend was the grand opening of the library and community center across the street. And this is the season of the Year End Parties, so a few are coming up.

So it goes.

Sweet Potatoes

They're not quite the same here as at home. The flesh is more white, but the skin is still purplish. And they're not as sweet. But they are good and they are especially plentiful in this are. I can't remember what they're called in Japanese, though I've heard it at least a dozen times.

Last weekend, I heard a parade of people walking past my house. Tons of families with their 5-7 year old children in tow were walking toward the fields just down the street from me. Zuma was barking at them, so I went outside to shut him up and ended up waving at the kids that knew me (there are too many of them for me to know all of them yet). A few hours later, I saw them returning with blue drawstring bags full of sweet potatoes. I waved to a few of them again, then went inside. A few minutes later, Zuma started barking. A 6 year old boy was timidly trying to get past Zuma's defenses to deliver me a bag of potatoes. Too cute! I thanked him and his mom and they smiled and went on their way.

I still have about 10 servings of sweet potatoes left. I've boiled them, put them in salads and curries, mashed them and fried them. They're good, but they're a lot for one person. Fortunately, I rather love them as fried wedges with ketchup. Good snack food.

A Few Firsts

My First Japanese Pun! I came up with it completely on my own!

How does Zuma say "Hello"?                    .....Konnichihuahua!

Today marks the inaugural use of my heated table. It is wonderful! I'm sitting in a cold house with warm and toasty legs. It's basically a coffee table with a small heater below, and you can lift the top to put a blanket between the table cover and the heater, so that it keeps the warmth gathered around your legs. It's quite nice.

Someone described the seasons in Nishihara as going from Summer to Winter, and I can understand why. It got cold FAST! One day I'm jogging in my shorts and sweating from the intense humidity, and then two days later I'm pulling out the turtlenecks! I'm told our location next to the mountain makes this village particularly susceptible to cold winds and cold winters. What a bummer. I was rather looking forward to a nice, brisk fall.

And...I lied. There are only two firsts listed here. That's ok. It was mostly the pun that I wanted to brag about. You can be sure I will be listing more as I flex my pun-muscles in this new language.

Oh, Japan!

Even your parking garages blow my mind! When I went to the live music performance last week, I didn't expect the simple act of parking to be part of the entertainment! I can best describe this particular parking garage as a Car Vending Machine Building. You drive your car into this small garage, parking it square in the middle of this circular Metal Grate Thing. You get your ticket from the attendant and your car is literally lifted up into the building above, on this Metal Grate Thing. Then when you come back, you show your ticket, pay the fee, stand back behind the metal bars, and watch as your car is retrieved from one of the ten stories above, placed on on the circular platform, and rotated to face the exit.

I should have expected no less from the Land of Vending Machines. And maybe such garages exist back home, too, but this was the first I'd seen. Tomoko said these garages are common in Japan. I was gawking enough to thoroughly amuse my two Japanese companions. Oh, Japan!

A Birthday in Japan

Monday was a fairly normal day, and I didn't actively seek to do anything special. But a lot of people knew it was my birthday, so I got a few pleasant surprises from Sunday to Tuesday. These included:

• "Happy Birthday" karaoke
• A small cheesecake
• A bag of chocolate candy (advertised as my favorite food for all those Q&A sessions with students)
• Students sang happy birthday to me in class (a cheeky one guessed I was 55 years old)
• 3 gorgeous handmade birthday cards with origami decorations
• Bath salts
• A framed print of the four seasons in Japan
• A last minute invitation to go see a live performance of a band from Okinawa

It was kind of amazing to get all these little surprises. I've felt really happy and cheered by the people around me for the last few days, and I think this is the best way to spend one's birthday. Not to mention the emails, cards, packages, and facebook messages that poured in from home. I feel loved :D

Speech Contest Success!

Woo hoo! My junior high school second graders just took home first prize at the local speech contest! Among all the competitors, they were the only ones that everyone I talked to unanimously agreed should win first place. They blew away the competition! This is an extremely gratifying moment for me as a new teacher. Unfortunately, neither the 3rd or 1st graders placed at the competition, but I do not envy the judges' jobs: lots of groups were good, and after a few minutes, they all start to sound the same. At any rate, they all had fun, and now the 2nd graders will be practicing for the regional contest. Woot!

A Feel Good Moment

One of my elementary school students is hard of hearing, and actually has a translator who helps her in class. The translator speaks some English, and acts almost as a third teacher in that class. While I was reviewing next week's lesson plan with her, she told me that the deaf girl, Marina, is enjoying the class so far. I couldn't understand entirely, but it sounded like Marina was interacting with more girls in the class and generally having a good time. It was a really encouraging thing to hear :)

Rebeca's First Boyfriend

I'll bet that this title caught your attention. I kid you not, this is the title of one of the books in the fourth grade classroom (Rebeka no hajimete boifurendo). I can't read Japanese, though, so I can't tell you any more about the story, except that the few pictures in it all depict someone looking depressed or angry or crying. And the "boifurendo" has a pretty bad white boy's fro going on.

Kids can ask some strange questions. I got the strangest question today. It wasn't translated too clearly, but it amounted to something like, "What is your favorite clothing pattern?" As in stripes, plaid, leopard print or polka dots. Turns out the boy who asked the question is fond of leopard print.

And in an immature twist of Halloween vocabulary, the Haunted House became the Panty House the other night during my hectic kids' evening conversation class. Those kids will always remember the Panty House as part of Halloween tradition. Oh well.

Even more random: Zuma only seems to drink water while he's outside and only eat food when he's inside. Strange dog.

Now some good stuff! Yesterday was a fun and exciting day. In the morning I went to another kendo tournament - this one ended at early 1 pm, so I was back home by 2. I spent a lot of time entertaining a rambunctious and adorable two-year-old named Dai. I found out that his kid has an arm flab fettish. He would come up to me frequently just to pinch my arm fat. Sometimes, after being scolded by his mom  not to do that, he would try kissing the arm flab. Sometimes he grew bored of the arm flab and would shout "oppai!" with a huge smile and, while I was sitting, run at me with his hands out in front of him. "Oppai", by the way, means breasts. His mom then would say things like, "No! Dai, here, come play with Mommy's breasts. Leave Rebeca's alone!"

After the kendo tournament, I decided I had time to give Zuma a bath and maybe head to Yatsushiro city to see the much-talked-about Yatsushiro Fireworks. I thought it would only take about 1.5 hours to get there, and that I had plenty of gas. Turns out I sorely underestimated the number of people who would be at this thing. 1.5 hours turned into 2.5 hours and plenty of gas turned into just enough gas. I had a hard time finding a place to park, and eventually turned into a small lot about a 10 minute walk from the viewing area where it looked like other cars had parked. Completely unsure of myself, I asked if it would be ok for me to park there, how much it cost, and proceeded to take the last parking space.

The lot was for a small mechanics garage. There were people inside it having a small barbecue party. It took three of them to clarify what I was asking ("Where/Whom do I pay?" except I don't know the word for "pay") and after some embarrassment on both sides, the lady who helped translate invited me to come join their party after watching the fireworks. Well, after watching the fireworks, meeting a few other JETs and talking briefly with them, I took the group up on their offer.

The garage was a motorcycle garage, where several members of the group worked. Most of the men had motorcycles, or at least really liked them. They had a small mixed shiba dog named after a famous motorcyclist (I only caught "Roshi", which was her nickname). They were really nice, and offered me some coffee/tea (I got both handed to me) and sushi and mini hotdogs. Two of them spoke really good English. An unlikely pair they were: Ara is a college student who doesn't like English and Toshie is a middle-aged woman who did not study English in college but simply listens to English radio talk shows and reads some English books. Both of them spoke incredibly well considering their experience (neither had traveled to an English-speaking country) and they were much more willing to try to speak English than about 98% of Japanese people. So while I waited for the traffic out of the city to actually start moving before trying to drive, I made some new friends. We exchanged phone numbers and they may invite me to future barbecue events.

And now here are some pictures from yesterday's trip and this morning's walk with Zuma.

I took the scenic route to Yatsushiro. This was probably the most scenic part.

The route I took narrowed at some parts to become a one lane road.

A really pretty house I passed on the way.

A rather pretty sunset, which I took the time to take a picture of while I was stuck in traffic on the bridge.

Fireworks! A sea of people were seated on the grass along the river, many with blankets, shawls, sleeping bags and picnic dinners. There were plenty of food stands, as well.

Beautiful! There were several displays accompanied by music - creating an effect a little like the dancing fountains at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. This one was to the tune of "Under the Sea"

The following pictures were all taken while I took Zuma for a walk. There are some really pretty houses and scenery within a 15 minute walk from my house, so I thought I'd showcase a few.

This is just around the corner from where I live.

Here I turned off the main road and went down a street into a neighborhood that I think has some really pretty houses.

This one seems to have solar panels!

Few houses have garages as we conceive them. This is a more commonly used car covering.

This is another popular garage style.

These are the windmills that are both a great landmark and fairly well-known in these parts.

The post office. Closed because it's Sunday.

The mailbox. Orange is the color of the Japan Post.

This is the main entrance to the "yakuba", or Village Office, where I work when I'm not at school.

The yakuba parking lot.

Another view of the yakuba.

The library/community center building is nearing completion, right next door to the yakuba.

My car, parked in the yakuba parking lot.

The street where I live. On the right is the recreational building where kendo practice takes place. On the left is my house.

The recreational building. On the right are the construction cones from the library building.

My house

Left view from my backyard.

Right view from my backyard, which is my neighbor's house (remember the neighbor who petted me?).

My backyard

Where I hang my clothes to dry. That's Zuma's towel.

My ingenious and resourceful method of keeping Zuma from escaping the backyard.

Zuma looking confused because he can't get out.

My mailbox. It happens to be right next to my front door, which means the mailman would have to go through my obstacle course to get to it. This makes the Zuma solution a temporary one for the weekends mostly.

Bliss...

Is chicken soup with lime juice and avocado in it. If you've never had it, I suggest you try it. You'll never go back. At least if you like lime and avocado as much as I do :)

Zuma seems to be doing well, my cold is getting better, and the students prepping for the speech contest are doing pretty well. The second graders I am especially impressed with. Two of them I believe have the best pronunciation (one) and intonation (the other) in the entire school. But the girl with great intonation has some pronunciation difficulty, and the boy with great pronunciation is pretty monotone (maybe from the three years he spent in Russia).

Halloween is coming up! I think that means I'm supposed to do something, like emphasize it as a fun cultural aspect of American life. But it's hard to tell where/when/how exactly I should do this. Candy isn't allowed in any of the schools, so that takes away from the true experience. I'll see the 1st-4th graders once this month, so they'll get a Halloween lesson at random times. Does this mean I should dress up 4 times? The 5th and 6th graders have to learn important grammar points that they will forget one month from now.

And what about the middle school? They got Halloween lessons in elementary school, I'm told. Should I go campy or creepy? Vampire or witch? Or Martha Stewart Jellyfish? Or just a mask of a sumo wrestler or something? I don't know. So far I'm just telling the students my birthday is within a week of Halloween so I expect them to bring me presents.

Zuma

His name is Zuma, short for Moctezuma. The name came to me in a dream, almost like the dog himself. I figure, he's some sort of chihuahua, chihuahuas are from Mexico, and Moctezuma was king of the Aztecs. It makes as much sense as the rest of this story.

He tries to pee on everything. Thankfully, he's small, so they're not so much puddles as droplets. I don't have a completely enclosed backyard, so I'm not sure about letting him outside on his own yet. He can climb the stairs to get out of the yard, but he's too scared to go down them, so he can run away but he can't come back.

The weather has turned cold and so that's what I have: a cold. Not the best timing on Zuma's part. Although this does mean I'm taking a sick day (so as not to sneeze all over the kiddies), so I guess Zuma's lucky in that sense. Meanwhile, it's chicken soup for me, dog food for Zuma, and leftovers for the roaches.

A Dog

Today I was handed a dog at kendo practice.

Now I have a dog.

Wow.

I was sitting in at kendo practice, minding my own business, and in races a little dog. One of the moms chased him down and then beckoned to me. She handed me the dog and explained to me in Japanese that I should take him. It took a few moms gesturing and translating as best they could to make it clear that they didn't know what to do with him, and that I should take him if I could.

So now there's a dog running around in the house. He's some sort of chihuahua, I think. I dunno, here's a picture.

And here's a another one:

He's adorable, nameless, and un-neutered.

While I was incredibly surprised ("Am I really being handed a dog?"), I don't mind much. I mean, I was thinking of getting a pet anyway. He's small and cute, and I like dogs.

At any rate, for the time being, I'm keeping him off the tatami, to make sure he's potty trained and generally well-behaved. Tomorrow I'll have to get dog food, a collar and leash, and some dog shampoo. I also need to think of a name for him.

Oh, Japan!

In a much lighter note from my previous post, I'm starting a Post Series entitled "Oh, Japan!" for all those moments when Japan shows it's truly wacky colors.

This gem showed up on my desk at school one morning. During the morning meeting, we were shown a demonstration video. Despite my ardently whispered wishes, there was no actual demonstration.

The latest in Japanese self-defense technology. The device loos like an unwieldy flashlight.

 

 

 

 

 

First Offense

I didn't think it would happen, but I have been seriously offended/hurt by the culturally influenced actions of Japanese people. It's not a big deal, really, but it did hurt.

There's an English recitation contest coming up in late October for the middle school students. My understanding is that, as the neighborhood native English speaker, I'm supposed to help the students practice for it. No problem. As long as I know when they're going to practice.

This is where the offended part comes in. The two English teachers met with the students and discussed with each other when they should practice. They decided on after school and during recess. They then discussed whether or not to tell me about the practice. There's a Japanese word that approximately means "shy in regards to imposing on someone's time". Basically, they chose not to tell me about the practice because they thought I would be too busy to help.

AAAAAAHRRRRGH!@)(UTWHih  Let me just say, that I am definitely not too busy. Maybe they've failed to notice my habit of doing origami at school, a general result of boredom from not knowing what to do. Both teachers are always so busy, and it's my job to help them, but even when I ask them, they only give me small pieces of information about what they're doing or what I can help with. Because I don't speak Japanese yet, I'm almost entirely dependent on what they tell me.

Secondly, I was really looking forward to helping the students with the speech contest. I had been thinking of verbal warm-ups, pronunciation quirks, and general fun ways to make speaking English a little more entertaining. I even asked Yanase sensei when they would be practicing, and only managed to get unintelligible non-answers from her.

So for them to deliberately not tell me when practice would be really hurt me. It's basically the one project/activity where I have the highest authority. I even feel a little bit possessive about this. I want the kids to do well and have fun while they do it. And to find out that the teachers weren't even going to give me the chance to help out.... OMFG!!!! It hurts! It feels like they're preventing me from doing a good job, preventing me from doing something that I want to do and that I'm supposed to do. At least give me a chance! I felt so helpless and useless and offended and unnecessary and unwanted.

How did I find out about all of this? I accidentally walked in on one of the practice sessions. That felt like betrayal. Like a weird English class love affair. It was during recess, too. I could've been told about this! I don't have anything to do during recess (and I refuse to sit in the office - that's boring)!

This whole incident made me really sad. It's the first time I've felt so sharply the effects of not speaking the language. It hit home how truly helpless I am. Maybe I just need to get up in people's faces a little more, but that's not really me nor is it very Japanese. I think for now I will settle with making it abundantly clear to the teachers how I feel about this.

Japan and me

I miss sandwiches. There are some delicious looking sandwiches on the internet, and I can't make them because there are two varieties of bread (that I've seen within easy/reasonable reach): white and sugary, or choco-bread, which is sugary without being very chocolaty.

And cereal. Well, I have cornflakes, and a granola cereal that's pretty good. But I haven't found American cereal. We're talking sugary, artificially fruity, colorful, marshmallow-y American cereal.

The reality of living in an old house in a humid climate has hit home: I found mold on my backpack. The last time I used it was for a trip to the beach - so I can understand that it may have been damp when I forgot about it two weeks ago. It was in the bathroom, too. Unpleasant.

My visit to Kawahara went much better today! I was prepared this time, and even managed to have a few conversations with non-English speaking teachers (broken and charade-filled, but conversations nonetheless)! The 6th grade class went really well, but I think I may have made the 5th grade class too hard. But at least it feels like I'm starting to warm up to the school and the students and vice versa.

I'm having to re-evaluate my role at the middle school, though. I have to be very proactive about coming up with ideas and suggesting them to the teachers if I don't want to feel useless in class. Yanase sensei, in particular, doesn't use me for pronunciation practice as much as she should. She also tries to adopt the quirky things I do - things like doing silly voices - which doesn't work as well. Once again, it seems like she's insecure about her way of teaching. So she tends to worry more about how she appears in the class and not enough about the actual effectiveness of the lesson. Or so it seems to me. She reads things too quickly for the kids to understand, and often with words that are too advanced, almost as though she were showing off her own English skills. I'm clearly frustrated, and putting my own spin on this. This is just the kind of thing I pay attention to - the differences between good and bad teachers. Now I just need to take my own criticisms to heart.

Trash day tomorrow. Actually, I determine my own trash day. I throw mine out in the public office bin, and I can do this any day, as far as I can tell. This is Fantastic, considering the Crazy Sorting and Trash Schedule most JETs are submitted to.

The Nutritional (and Economical) Value of Eggplant

Before this weekend, I had never bought an eggplant. To my knowledge, there has never been an eggplant in my house. I have never cooked an eggplant (though I have been present when one was cooked).

This weekend, all of that changed. For the better, I think. I purchased Japanese eggplants, after reading an inspiring recipe/article on Japanese eggplants. Unlike the usual eggplants used in America, these eggplants are narrow, long, even windy a bit. More like long, light, spongy, purple zucchinis. Much better when cooking for 1 person, if you ask me.

AND CHEAP! 4 of the suckers for 98 yen (about 98 cents)!!!  Ok. Considering one of those eggplants satisfactorily replaces a $3 package of meat or even a $1-2 pack of tofu, I think I just found a new main ingredient.

I've never really had a reason to like eggplants before. They're sorta slimy, not particularly yummy, and I've always had my suspicions about eggplant parmesian. Generally unappealing. But I like these. Maybe that's my wallet talking. But no, really. I cooked some in a curry and the eggplants were my favorite ingredient. These have a flavor that I like. Maybe they're just fresh. Maybe soaking them in salt water to remove the bitterness is a real thing, and it worked really well. Maybe I've been brainwashed by some eggplant advocates. I dunno.

So - I am all eyes and ears for any eggplant cooking ideas. And ideas for cooking beans. I should probably stock up on some more spices, if I really want some more flavor varieties.

First Panic Day

There's definitely a reason why I don't let myself panic. It doesn't feel good, physically or mentally. Anyway, today was my first panic/get-really-nervous day. Perhaps I should explain.

Kawahara Elementary School has about 10-15 students in each grade, 1st through 6th. Last week was my self-introduction lesson. It was a lot harder to get these 5th and 6th graders to warm up to me than it was at the larger Yamanishi Elementary (each grade has two classes of 30 students). The teachers at Kawahara were also quicker to stand back and put me in charge of the class. This is a nerve-wracking thing to do! The kids don't know me! They don't respond as easily to me, because, well, I'm foreign, and it's natural for them to feel more comfortable responding to their home room teachers (who barely understand me better than the kids do). 

Anyway, I left Kawahara having been told what the next target phrase was for each grade, and realizing that I would be coming up with a lesson plan and teaching almost entirely on my own. Scary. So I spent time planning. I found flashcards and game materials for the fifth grade, came up with review activities, and even downloaded a song and lyrics for the 6th grade class. I sent the lesson plans to Tomoko, my supervisor, who then translated them and sent them to the teachers. Then I forgot about them. 

Turns out I also forgot to find flashcards for the 6th graders. And that the song I chose was too hard for them, according to the homeroom teacher. The 6th grade homeroom teacher, by the way, is fairly stern and silent, and terrible at charades, as I found out today after much arm-waving (in a room with no AC). You can't not know English and be bad at charades. That's just not fair. So that was brutal (no AC) and mildly embarrassing (what did he think I was doing?). Anyway, I basically panicked. I had no materials, I was already nervous about teaching these kids, I had a teacher who I knew was going to involve himself as little as possible, and it was really hot. Stern and Silent was nice enough to go to his computer and print me some flashcards, though. Four of them. Not enough, but definitely a nice gesture. Thankfully, I had recess to print a few more and think of some new games. I was still nervous, though, and I could feel it. 

The lesson turned out fine. I could sense a few boredom moments among the kids while I drilled the words a few extra times, but overall the lesson went well, and they enjoyed the very last part. The phrase of the day was "What are you doing?" After some charades games, I showed them a folded picture of a dog. To demonstrate another use of the phrase, I unfolded the picture to reveal that the dog was peeing on the floor. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?" Even the teacher got a kick out of that one. Stern and Silent with an Occasional Smile. 

Ugh. I can't believe I panicked. Well, I can. I mean, I was caught unprepared. In an environment I still felt very new in. On a very busy day (I had 4 classes at the middle school before my 2 afternoon classes at Kawahara). But what I hate is how visceral this feeling of nervousness can be. I got home and I was still jittery. So I sat in front of my computer, watched a funny show, and ate Nutella from the jar. Not my usual weekday afternoon, let me tell you.

I figured out today that my favorite group to teach is definitely middle school. I think that's the age at which I stopped maturing, because I totally get these kids. Younger kids are fun, but they can be a little much. Adults are a little low in energy. High school kids would probably kick my butt, but I don't really know. What I do know is I love hanging out with my middle schoolers. Whether they're loud or quiet, snots or angels, musicians or athletes, I feel like we understand each other on some level. And that is a very satisfying feeling.

Sports Day and Kendo Moms

So Saturday was Sports Day for the elementary schools here in Nishihara. My lessons at the elementary schools were put on hold these last two weeks so that the kids could train for this Day of Athletic Prowess. Allow me to describe the schools and their respective celebrations.

Let me first say, there is a National Sports and Health Day, which is a holiday with time off work. That day will be October 11. This was an event that each elementary school held that was a combination of what I would call "Field Day" and Japanese TV. The students in grades 1-6 competed in two teams, red and white, in various races. Some were obstacle courses, some were 50 m dashes, and some were relays. I was invited to both elementary schools' Sports Days, so I, along with my supervisor Tomoko, spent the morning at the smaller school and the afternoon at the bigger school.

The event opened with a marching procession of the students. Next followed a series of speeches, lots of bowing, and warm-up exercises for everyone, including the guests. Then began the races. Every 5 events or so, the guests were invited to participate in a relay or activity of some sort. I joined everything I could, since someone was always saying, Rebeca sensei Rebeca sensei, anytime they asked for volunteers. Sure, why not. There was a push-a-metal-wheel-with-a-stick relay, a mini-golf type game with bigger balls and mallets, and a running relay where a pair of rubber boots were the baton. There was a teacher's relay race where we pushed 5 foot tall inflated balls around a track. There were other silly games which the kids did - components of obstacle courses included crawling under a net, wheelbarrow racing, piggy back rides (many parents took part in this, some of them riding on their kids' backs!), and an interesting thing called "The Caterpillar" in which the kids get into a huge floppy circle of cardboard and push it along. They ran segments of the track while inside a hula hoop with an older guest from the crowd, they led their parents blindfolded to dip their faces into trays of white powder, they ran three legged races and rode small tricycles and did synchronized dancing and cheering.

But the craziest thing by far that these kids did was their final Series of Acrobatic Stunts, or SAS (this is not what they called it, btw). First, they did simpler things, like side plank. Yea, I know - it's not that simple. Then they went on to do the following (pictures courtesy of the internet, they're not actually mine to publish):

Bridge. Every single 5th and 6th grader did this.

Shoulder Sits

Four-Layered human pyramid. Remember, these are 10 and 11 year olds.

Standing human pyramid. The kids on the bottom two layers were standing, not bending over.
Hence: Japanese Kids > Iraqi Police Officers.
(No political commentary implied)

And other various combinations of these and other things. It was crazy!

Now on to the Kendo Moms. They are so sweet! I've been going to the kids' kendo practice, since it takes place across the parking lot from me and I can hear them screaming anyway. What's nice is that the moms and a couple of their smaller kids also watch the practice. They practice their English with me and  teach me some Japanese. I do some easy origami with the kids sometimes. The weekend before last I was invited to watch their tournament. I understood them when they said they would meet at 6:30, but somehow I missed the morning part. Sooo, at 6:30 Sunday morning, I heard the doorbell and lots of kids laughter, answered the door with bed-hair and pajamas on, apologized profusely in Japanglish, and changed to go. After the rough start, though, the rest of the day was quite fun :D

So now the Kendo Moms know me pretty well. This apparently means they must feed me. Yesterday, I was late to go watch practice, and two of the moms showed up to see if I was okay, bearing yogurt, fruit snacks and apple juice as gifts. Today there was no practice, but one of the moms showed up anyway with a plate of food! She just delivered the food, then drove off in a creepy white van... After I ate the food, I found out it was a Cookie Monster plate. Cute!

On one final note: the kids here do a ridiculous amount of exercise. The 5th and 6th graders at the elementary school have P.E. class after school from 4-6. Then, some of them go on to practice volleyball in the gym. Almost every kid in middle school practices tennis, baseball/softball, track, or volleyball every day after school. It seems like the trend only continues into high school. Exercise, and tons of it, is almost universal among the young. Then it basically stops once they get a job. Except for the morning exercise routine, which a lot of people do, but it's a sharp drop from the athletic training of their youth.

Make that a Great Day

I have internet in my house!!! The wireless isn't set up yet, but nonetheless, it's internet, and it's even fairly fast. Let the Skyping and the Daily Show-watching begin!

A Good Day

Funny how days that start off ordinary, or even bad, can wind up being good days. After 4th period, I thought I was going to die of repetition. I've read the same letter and the same English phrases in class about 800 times. I was still exhausted after lunch (where I accidentally squirted a small quantity of milk 3 feet in the air, which nearly landed on the student next to me).

Then I went to math class! Yay algebra! The math teacher, Tsuminaga sensei, is very nice (he greeted me in English at the start of class, then asked my permission to continue the rest of the class in Japanese. Dozo.). He's also willing to practice his English with me, which is a plus. And he's generally math-teacher-esque: soft-spoken, slight build, with a vague air of nerdiness (I've definitely seen some red pen blotches on his shirt pocket). He's very Japanese in his excessive politeness (he apologizes for walking past my desk in the office. It's on the way to the printer! There's no need!). The students got a kick out of his grading my algebra worksheet (he asked for permission to do this). Some things never change: good speed, dumb mistakes.

So Tsuminaga sensei is now one of my best friends in the office! I get along well with the English teachers, too, which is good. Nakamura sensei is always busy, so I have to carefully time anything I have to say to her. But we laugh a lot together in class, or in the 2 minute conversations we've had. She's a great teacher, and a sweet person. Yanase sensei was pulled out of retirement after the previous English teacher gave birth, which happens sometimes. So she's a little older, and while she's energetic and bouncy in her efforts to speak and teach English, she's very insecure about teaching. Besides me, she's the newest member of the teaching staff, has fewer responsibilities than the other teachers, and she's usually the one who is able and available to explain things to me, which she herself doesn't always understand. Thursdays, for example, run on a different schedule. That was not explained to me until my 3rd Thursday... She often asks my advice for teaching or doing things, and I just don't feel like it's my place to make certain decisions. Weren't you teaching English for your whole career before you got here? Ah well. There are all kinds of people in the world, and Yanase sensei compares herself to others a bit too much, I think.

The next youngest person in the office is Shibue sensei. He's the 24-year-old, baby-faced, aloof computer teacher (I'm not sure in what sense).  He doesn't speak a word of English. I don't think. Honestly, I don't know, because he's aloof. So before today, we never talked to each other since there wasn't really a reason to. But today he had a giant map on the floor in the middle of the hallway, so I made the effort to ask in Japanese what it was. I didn't undertand anything he said other than 'Nishihara map'. Then half an hour later, when I had nothing to do, I asked if I could help him with preparing student folders. I literally learned how to say 'May I help you?' in Japanese 5 minutes earlier. I carefully wielded my new-found phrase, to the delight and applause of the teachers who had helped me learn it, the confusion (at the applause) and surprise (at the Japanese) of Shibue sensei, and the enjoyment of the rest of the office. Then I put stickers in folders. It was a good day. Maybe now I'll go for a run, since the weather's nice.

Some Unfortunate Developments (and one really good one)

Moths I can handle. Ants I can handle. Even cockroaches and spiders I can handle, within reason. But when said cockroaches decide to fly in my face or try to crawl on my leg, then we have a problem. Whether its miscommunication, outright defiance, I dunno. But let us just say that had he/she/it not flown in my face, I would have released it into the wild rather than sprayed it to death.

Speaking of spiders. They're everywhere! Most of them are small. There's one annoying one that keeps building his web on my clothes line. They're finding ways into my house, too. And not just the little ones. I made the rather unfortunate discovery that a Large Spider of Some Kind is living in my house. And I mean large. Turns out I didn't have to take Jonathan's suggestion of getting a pet tarantula. This one, while not as big, is still nearly a hand's-width across. I discovered him on the wall next to my bed. Not cool, Spider, not cool. He disappeared shortly after, and I haven't seen him since. And to be perfectly honest, I wouldn't mind so much if he would, I dunno, eat the aforementioned roaches. I almost feel like I should start offering sacrifices to this thing.

But on to nicer things! I just got the sweetest letter from a very quiet, very small 3rd grade girl. It was accompanied by an origami pegasus, which is beautiful. In her letter, which was surprisingly long, she said expressed her nervousness about using English, explained the origami pegasus and asked to see my origami which she had heard was very good, and that she enjoyed the silly things I did in English class (the other day I made them stand on one leg while they read the flashcards). But the best part, I think, was that she had seen my notebook of kanji and Japanese practice. She said she wanted to work really hard to learn English because I was working so hard to learn Japanese. BEST reward for studying a language. Ever. She really made my day.

It's Like Being in Middle School...Again

Maybe that's because I actually am in a middle school. But it's more than that. I really do feel like the new kid in school, which I am, except that I'm not a kid, I'm a teacher. In the classroom, I'm safe, because I can make silly voices, or dance or sing or whatever, and it's ok because I'm the dancing English monkey - nobody knows what to expect from me, and I'm just there to entertain. But outside of class, sometimes I feel just as lost and confused (and embarrassed) as any student.

During lunch, for instance, I can choose to sit with the teachers or look for a gap at a student table. You know that feeling when you don't know anyone in the lunchroom... yea, it feels like that most of the time. So I sit down at random, and try to remember the names of the kids I'm sitting with. Half the time I lost the straw in my milk, and then I get embarrassed. Or I make a mess, and apparently Japan doens't believe in napkins... there are just washclothes all over the place, but they're mostly for cleaning the tables and floors.

During recess, I've joined in a couple of sports games. Turns out the sports I like and play (basketball and soccer) are two of the sports that women here never play. Quoth one 6 yr old boy when I said I liked soccer - But only boys play soccer!!  Explains why when I play with the boys, they have No Idea what to do with me. When I get the ball, I have about a 3 foot clearance on all sides. Then I don't know who to pass to, since I don't know them well enough to remember teams, yet. So another awkward pause while I'm yelling 'Who's on my team' and no one understands what I'm saying. It's actually rather hilarious, so I usually just laugh and shoot the ball - the safest course of action under the circumstances. But! I think they're starting to see that I can actually play - now that I've intercepted a couple of passes. We'll see what happens next time.

And I had forgotten how easy middle school math was. And beautiful. I learned the words for 'beautiful' and 'interesting' yesterday, and applied them to Math, only to get a few stares from students and even some teachers. I'm pretty set on the idea of attending the occasional math class and helping students with it before/after school. At least it's something I understand without having to know Japanese.

I've also been exchanging letters with a couple of students (a bonus point activity, if they choose, but one girl insists she doesn't want the points) and exchanged some origami with a student. He gave Nakamura sensei a bag of origami to show me, then I tinkered with and made the objects with a couple others and gave it back. Then he sent me a more complicated crane model, then I folded him an even crazier crane model. It was a fun back and forth that involved no English whatsoever. Between that and watching kendo and playing soccer and basketball, I'm starting to get to know the students, and it's really great. While the boys are generally curious, the girls are really shy, so it's going to take some more time and coaxing to get them to talk. Or I can just talk to them about the boy band groups of whom they all seem to have pictures. Looks like my homework now is to listen to music and learn the name of the Justin Timberlake of Japan. I have interesting homework assignments.