September: In Easy to Digest Capsule Form

Oh my!

It's been a while since I took the time to write a blog. I apologize for that. But, I've been insanely busy... For this blog I don't really have the patience or attention span to write a coherent blog which flows from one sentence to the next and from one paragraph to another. Instead, I'm just going to go through and bullet point the things I've been up to. I'll try and keep them in order as best I can, and please forgive what will likely be numerous spelling/grammar errors.

• My main Junior High School had their sports day. I participated in some of the events. My favorite was the giant tug of war game. The rope was seriously the length of the track. I also participated in the students vs. teachers relay race. The highlight of this race was me falling while running at top speed. It helps that I felt it coming and tried to turn it into a sort of cool "bond" roll. It also helps that I fell on a slippery spot that other people fell on too. I was sore and had some pretty hard core bruises for the next couple days.
• After the sports festival I went to a small get together with one of my elementary school principals. Him and his gang consists of himself, a buddhist monk (who lives in a gorgeous temple - which I was given a private closed-door tour of later that night), a retired restaurant owner, and an architect. They are quite a fun group. One of them knows my supervisor very well and will likely become instrumental in my quest to move.
• Two days later, I got together again with the gang. We went for dinner and drinks at a little tiny restaurant right on the water. It was absolutely gorgeous. I ate sea urchin (which was actually quite good) and once again I drank significantly more than I intended to.
• We recently had another typhoon. This one was much faster than the last though, so it passed by without too much trouble. Still though, I was somewhat frightened by it, considering the winds were being recorded at around 90mph in some places. And the typhoon quite literally passed right by my town. The rain wasn't bad, but there were moments when I wondered if the roof on my house was going to fly away. But nothing happened, and I am fine.
• At my favorite elementary school, I really enjoy the time I spend walking to the bus stop when I'm going home. There is a little second grade girl who waits for me and walks with me everyday. We can barely speak to each other, but we have fun anyways. I taught her how to hold a football last time, and had her pass it to me a couple times. She is so adorable my heart just about melts. She always waits with me at the bus stop (rain or shine) and waves as my bus takes off.
• At another of my elementary schools I've learned how to do a traditional Japanese dance which involves the typical looking rice hats. I don't know the name of the hat or the dance, but it is fun, and the kids get a kick out of watching me do it.
• At another elementary school, I have a class of 5th graders with only two students. And the 6th grade class here has 10 students. The kids are great, but I get the feeling that the teacher I teach with in these two classes doesn't particularly like me. Regardless, I've taken up the task of doing everything I can to get on his good side. He's pretty much the only teacher I can think of where I get such a vibe.
• Totally random: I love the vending machines in Japan. There are vending machines everywhere. Heck, as I'm taking the bus, and as we are going through the little areas of nothingness, there are STILL vending machines. And the things you can find in them are incredible. You can get hot drinks, cold drinks, alcohol, and even cigarettes.
• I need a haircut. This is something I've been putting off because I am really dreading the experience. I'm pretty sure the odds of me getting what I want are pretty slim, so for the moment my hair is continuing to grow. On a related note, I've been wearing hats here a lot. It's not something I really felt was "me" back home, but it just seems natural here.
• I am on a mission to infiltrate the different groups of students at my school. I figure if I can sneak my way into their after school club, or talk with them in supermarket, or stop to chat with a group I run into on the street, then I figure I have better chances at teaching them English. Besides, I'm finding that the after school or outside of school time that I spend with them is much more fun because I can actually get to know them and their interests. Pretty much every time I'm out and about I run into a least 1 student or a group of students wherever I go.
• The last two weeks have been sumo time. I'm loving the Hi-Def live coverage with English commentary. Back home the best that is available is a crappy 5 minute delayed feed with horrible video quality and no commentary.
• School lunch is something I find myself looking forward to each day. I've yet to encounter a lunch that I didn't like. I find this relieving considering some of the horror stories I've heard about people having no clue as to what they were being served. Each lunch typically consists of a bowl of rice (or sometimes bread in its place), a meat dish (usually chicken or fish), a salad of some type, and a soup of some type (almost always miso soup).
• There are days when I am constantly moving, running about, and teaching classes. While these days are tiring, they are pretty rewarding at the end of the day. They make me feel content and satisfied. There are of course other days where I have nothing, and I literally mean nothing, to do. Finding stuff to do to fill these times can be quite a challenge. To fill these times I generally do one of the following: plan a future lesson, practice taiko with my pointer fingers on my desk (quietly, mind you), attend another class to observe, or if the chance arises, I talk with other teachers if they are looking just as busy at trying to be busy.
• Sweat and humidity. This is a serious problem for me. Although after this last typhoon it has cooled considerably (and it looks like fall might finally be settling in), there are days where I am drenched in my own sweat. Luckily I wear undershirts everyday now, and I carry around a sweat towel to wipe my face. Still though, the humidity has taken quite its toll on me, and it has taken a while to adjust to it. After the first typhoon, my feet stuck to the floors in my house because it was so damp. This triggered me to buy a dehumidifier. Quite simply, it is the best thing I've bought since I've been here. Just last night, I left it on for about 10 hours, and it collected about a liter of water from the air. Amazing.
• Yesterday I had another sports festival at my small Junior high school. (I'm quickly falling in love with this school, the teachers, and the students. Everyone is so nice and the students are really well behaved.) I participated in a lot of events here. I did one game which was a race where the competitors had to pick a card from a hat and then find someone fitting the description on the card. The mayor, who also participated in this event, picked the "run around the track holding hands with the youngest teacher" card. So, yes, I ran around the track while holding the mayors hand. We both got a good laugh. When my turn to draw a card came, some of the students protested when I went to grab a card from the hat. Instead, they did some digging (ie cheating) to find the best card for me (those sneaky little devils). Of course, they chose the "skip around the track with a girl you think is pretty" card. Of course, as I cannot read Japanese and had no clue what the card said in the heat of the race, everyone was looking at me anxiously to see who I would pick. Finally, seeing my confusion, one of the 9th grade girls came out and skipped with me around the track. What a relief. They also asked me to do a folk dance with the students. It was fun, if not odd (as I was the only teacher to take part in it).
• In terms of what I teach, for 5th and 6th grade I have to use a book called Eigo Noto. Many ALTs have complained about this book, and I can see where they are coming from, but I think its not too bad. The book is basically a nice framework to work within, but if I followed it word for word, than I'm sure I would complain too. At the 7th, 8th, and 9th grade level I do two types of classes. There are the classes where the English teachers want me present in lessons of their design (generally repeat after me, etc), and their are lessons where I get to design the topic and lead the class. These classes are pretty fun to teach.

I guess thats all for now. I'm thinking that for my next blog, Im simply going to do a blog with pictures and short captions... I've been pretty bad about adding pictures. But rest assured, I've got a ton of them.

Okay, laters.

The Life I Lead

Now that my first week is wrapping up, my schedule is starting to take shape... and I am very busy.

But it's a good busy. I feel very content. I teach at 7 schools and I go to every school once each week. Here is my weekly schedule:

Monday: All day at my biggest elementary which has 223 students. I teach 5 classes here every Monday. I always teach the 5th grade class and the two 6th grade classes. The last two classes rotate the 1-4 graders to once a month. (8am-5pm)

Tuesday: In the morning I go to an Elementary school with about 60 students. I only teach the 5th and 6th graders here. After eating lunch, I hop on a bus and head to another Elementary school. This school is my favorite and I only teach 5th and 6th grade. Both classes only have 11 students. (9am-4:30pm)

Wednesday: I go to my small Junior High school which has 67 students. I teach 7-9 graders. The English teacher at this school is a really fun guy and his English is excellent. (8am-4pm) After school I hang out and play with the Soft Tennis club from 4-6ish.

Thursday: I go to my main Junior High school which has about 200 students. I teach with a bunch of different English teachers at this school, but the main one is very nice and her English is also excellent. She is also a very interesting person. (8am-4:30pm) After school on Thursdays, I practice Taiko with some of my students (who either come from my main elementary or main junior high) from 5:30-7; then every other week I teach a community/adult English class from 7:30-9.

Friday: In the morning I go to a small Elementary with 44 students. I teach only one class here (the combined 5th/6th grade class which has nine 5th graders and four 6th graders). After lunch I hop on a bus and head to my smallest Elementary with only 39 kids. I teach 2 classes here: 5th grade (which only has 2 students) and 6th grade (which has 10 students).

Saturday: Taiko practice with the kids from 6pm-9pm
Sunday: Taiko practice with the kids from 6pm-9pm

As much as I am enjoying teaching so far, I also really enjoy the out of class time with the kids. Taiko is something I especially look forward to. I also really enjoy some of the smaller classes I have as it allows me to get to know the students much better.

Finally, I'm really thankful that I didn't get put in a high school. I was really unhappy at first about being placed in Elementary schools, but they have turned out to be what I look forward to the most. The kids are so cute and fun that it almost makes me sick haha.

okay, gotta run!

see you! bye bye! (the typical closing of a class at elementary school)

My First Day of School as a Teacher (or "How to Amaze the Crap out of Japanese Elementary School Children!)

Today was my first day of school as a teacher.

I went to my main elementary school. Throughout the day, I ended up teaching 5 classes (the two 4th grade classes, the one 5th grade class, and the two 6th grade classes. Perhaps teaching is not the right word... Basically, I gave my self-introduction five times. Each class was 45 minutes long and I talked about myself for about 25-30 minutes using my picture-heavy powerpoint and then played "JJ Bingo!" for the remainder of the classes. For "JJ Bingo!" I gave away American coins as prizes (and everyone got one), so they were super excited for that.  My first two classes I really struggled to juggle the time, but by the third one I had it down perfect! :D

Now I want to do a nice little segment I'm going to call...

How to Amaze the Crap out of Japanese Elementary School Children!
For starters, a cultural point is in order for all my friends and family back home.

Today's Cultural Point is: when Japanese people (generally any age) are amazed/stupefied/shocked/speechless/etc by something they yell "Ehhhhhhhh?????" Some people have this down to an art. The tone starts low and slowly rises; it can last anywhere from half a second to a long sustained one lasting 3-5 seconds. Japanese kids are great at it.

So now, let's get back to our new segment!

How to Amaze the Crap out of Japanese Elementary School Children! (or how to get a cacophony of "Ehhhh?????'s)

1. Tell your students that you like Totoro*
2. Tell your students that you like Sumo**
3. Tell your students you like Super Smash Brothers Brawl********
4. Tell your students your house has 5 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms**
5. Tell your students that your house has a movie theater above the garage******
6. Tell your students that you like Harry Potter***
7. Tell your students that you don't like/eat Tomatoes, Mushrooms, and EGGS**************
8. Tell your students that your Dad's dog weighs 40kg (~80lbs)****
9. Tell your students that California and Japan are about the same size******

*The more asterisks, the greater the chance that some children just can't handle such information and may start throwing chairs out the second story window (basically, intensified EHHHHH???????'s).

Hopefully you enjoyed that! haha.

School lunch was great. It was probably the first well balanced meal I've had since I've been here. We had curry, rice, jelly, and a pasta salad. The curry wasn't regular curry though, it was a kind of thick, paste-like curry, but it was insanely delicious. Between classes, I chatted a bit with my Taiko kids, checked out the schools library, and tried to get to know the teachers. 

Overall the kids were great. Every class was pretty well behaved and the 1 or 2 that quickly got distracted weren't too difficult to bring back around. It really helped that I knew some of the kids already from Taiko. They actually played the cops and told other kids to be quiet, so it was nice having my own little minions in pretty much every class :D

As I was leaving, just as I was about to turn the corner, three 3rd grade girls bolted after me yelling "Hey, JJ! HEY!" I ended up chatting with them for about 10 minutes. They had a bag full of all kinds of Japanese goodies, and luckily I had a can of Pringles in my bag, so we exchanged food. I tried a piece of dried squid that they gave me. It was actually quite good (kinda like beef jerky but fish flavored) despite its rather gnarly appearance. This little encounter was proof of two things: 1) my basic Japanese is getting better, and 2) I'm getting to be a pro at charades as I learn what does and doesn't come across to Japanese people through gestures.

So yeah, things went a LOT better than I had imagined they would. Hopefully it keeps up!

To bring the discussion back to Typhoon Talas real quick, I've learned that some parts of my town were flooded with water up to the knees... 0_0 I am insanely fortunate that nothing happened to my house. I guess most of the teachers prepared with sandbags and things, because everyone I spoke to said water did not get into their house. But my bank and a couple of the city offices were flooded. Seeing as how all this happened between 6am and 10am when I was fast asleep, I can only repeat that I am very fortunate. It would have been quite the shock to be woken up by water flooding my house.

Okay, that's all for now. I'm really tired after my first day, I just did two loads of laundry (as keeping up with it got lost in the Typhoon madness), and just a short while ago I had to go to the grocery store so I can eat things other than pancakes. Yay! Meat!

Okay! Thanks again!

Stay tuned!

The Close Call That Was Typhoon Talas

Here's a fun story:

Around Wednesday afternoon, word came 'round to me that there was a typhoon headed our way. Knowing that Japan is frequently bombarded by them, I shrugged it off and went about life as normal. It was suggested that I stock-up on food and prepare, but I only bought a couple two liters of water and thought nothing more of it.

Late thursday afternoon (which coincidentally was also my first day of school - but more on that later), I was instructed by my supervisor that classes were cancelled Friday and that I should just stay home and stay inside. Sweet!

Friday day was fantastic. It consisted of me sleeping in until noon, relaxing and watching some TV and playing video games, and just generally kicking back. There was regular rain, but nothing too absurd.

Cue Friday night and the story changes drastically. Before I knew it, there were winds as strong as nobody's business, and rain like you cannot even imagine. I ended up taking the advice that was recommended to me, and I filled my bathtub full of water just in case the water went out. I ended up falling asleep around 3am that night. The winds were so bad that doors inside my house slammed open and closed. I had to move furniture to prevent it. The fence outside my house lost a section and parts of it were flying around in the yard and banging against the fence and my house.

Saturday was pretty much more of the same. It was also the first time in two days that I finally went outside (the last time I was outside was Thursday afternoon after work). On Saturday, Taiko practice with the kids went on as usual, with practice starting at 6pm. The way to the performance hall where we practice was not too bad. I got lucky and caught a (relative) lull in the storm. I showed up only mildly wet.

Getting back home was a completely different matter altogether. Luckily, I was prepared. I brought an unused garbage bag with me and a pair of flip flops. And so, sporting sandals and a makeshift poncho made out of a trash bag with cut-outs for my arms and head, I charged through the storm in the dark of night. I attempted the use of an umbrella, but after about a minute I gave up. It was an adventure to say the least, and definitely not something I want to attempt again. For the record, I was offered a ride home, but at the time we were all leaving, the storm was in one of its lulls (basically, the storm would go crazy for several hours and then die down a little bit for ~20 minutes). I decided to play the brave soldier and paid for it.

By the time I got home, it looked like I had gone swimming.

The rain was at its heaviest on Saturday night, but the wind had calmed down considerably. Because of this, and having slept through the winds of the night before, I found the heavy pounding of the rain relaxing and fell asleep without too much of a problem.

But here's where it gets a tad bit scary. As I was sleeping, around 6am on Sunday morning, a flood evacuation warning was issued. Basically, it was thought that one or both of the rivers in town (I'm still not sure which) was/were going to overflow and flood the town. Of course, I was sound asleep, so how would I know? Well, at around 10:30am I was woken up by loud knocking at my door. I quickly pulled on some clothes and made my way to the front door. Before even opening the door, I was slightly shocked to see about an inch of water in my genkan (the sunken area in every Japanese home where you remove your shoes). The shoes I keep there were floating...

When I opened the door, the water did not rush out as one would expect because the water level was about the same outside. And there stood the very nice woman who runs the adult English class that I will start co-teaching with this week (and whom I've only met before for about 30 minutes). She came with a bunch of food she made herself wanting to make sure I was okay. It was insanely nice of her. She looked fairly shocked that I had just woke up, as apparently it was big news to get the hell out of dodge early in the morning. But by this time, things were starting to die down. The rain went on until about 5pm on Sunday. Now, as I am writing this (7pm), there is no rain and it is unbelievably eerie, quiet, and still outside.

And there you have it! My very first typhoon! I've definitely learned a lesson or two, such as: go buy rain gear/clothes, heed the warnings seriously by stocking up on food/water (I've been eating a whole helluva lot of pancakes), and prepare and emergency evac bag just in case I have to run up the mountain side in a jiffy.

Unfortunately, I don't really have any pictures or videos of this bad mother of a storm. But it WAS bad. In the very southernmost areas of Mie prefecture (where I live), some towns have been flooded with 7 or 8 feet of water. Many people I know down there currently do not have electricity or internet or running water or all three. Not good... :(

Turning to regular news, tomorrow starts my full first week of teaching. While I did go to one of my Junior Highs on Thursday all I did was give a short 7 sentence speech (first in English and then in Japanese) in front of the whole school. After that I went around and chatted with the students. This week I will finally go to all my schools and introduce myself. I've made up a really fun powerpoint that I will be using to introduce my self to each of my classes (it WOW'ed the English teachers at my main Junior High on Thursday).

It's looking like the weather tomorrow and the rest of the week will pretty much be back to normal, so that's nice. Well, I guess that's pretty much all for now...

This has been a special presentation! We hope you enjoyed it and hopefully you stayed dry while reading it! See you next time.

JJ (as my kids call me)