So what have I been up to all this time? That's a really good question! I honestly don't remember. In fact, this is how sad it has become: to write this blog post, I am having to consult my daily planner to see exactly what I've been doing. I don't know if my memory is deteriorating or what, but I really struggle to remember things in my head anymore. It's really kind of sad... I remember in college I had no daily planner or calendar or notepad. I didn't need it. I knew when my tests were, I knew what I had to study, I knew what pages I had to read, I knew what days and times I had work - all thanks to what I considered to be a fantastic memory.
Skip ahead two years and that system has quickly gone to hell in a head basket.
So I guess without further ado, let's go ahead and recap what I've been up to. We're going to jump back all the way to August to start.
The start of August marks the beginning of summer vacation and means mind-numbing days of boredom at the BOE (Board of Education) for me. Luckily most of my students all still go to school to study or practice whatever sport they have joined as their after school club. With my BOE positioned right next door to my big JHS (Junior High School), I opted to escape the BOE several times by going and playing various sports with the students. I also made some materials and worksheets (the most notable being a Mario Kart game - complete with items and all - that my JHS kids have absolutely become addicted to) on other days.
Regular days at the BOE in the summer though are a bit of pain. My desk is positioned directly under the air conditioning unit... which sounds nice and refreshing when you consider just how damn hot Japan is in the summer. But after about an hour or so it quickly becomes freezing cold. The AirCon can't be turned off either as everyone else in the office would die. As a result, I left a thick jacket on my chair at the BOE during the summer and wore that most days at my desk. It's a pretty funny thing to see a bunch of Japanese people wearing short sleeve dress shirts and the one foreign dude sporting a winter coat.
Shortly thereafter the new JETs arrived. The Deep South (a large area in the southern part of Mie prefecture, stretching from Kii-Nagashima to Shingu in Wakayama prefecture) had 5 new JETs this year (meaning 5 left). They are all a pretty good bunch, but I still miss a lot of our crew from last year. But that's the nature of our program... and I'm sure come next year there will once again be more changes. I suppose it doesn't help that I haven't been nearly as involved in JET related events as I was last year... but I still try my best to make an appearance every once in a while.
Next, I treated myself to 12 days of consecutive paid leave for most of the second half of August. My sister and friend Louis came to visit and we had a really good time. We were able to accomplish a ton of things in a short period of time and at a pretty good price. In Tokyo we did Tokyo Tower (by climbing the stairs halfway!), Akihabara, Ghilbi Museum, the Cup Noodle Museum, Asakusa, a Cat Cafe, a Maid Cafe, Shibuya, Yodobashi Camera, Don Quixote, and other things I'm probably forgetting. In my town we did a relaxing day at the beach, a challenging hike up Mt. Tengura to witness a beautiful view, the best fireworks show in Mie, a night of eating, drinking, and karaoke, and a day trip to Ise to visit Ise Shrine - one of the most important shrines in Japan. We also went to Kyoto and saw/explored THREE temples/shrine in ONE DAY... impressive, right? We did Kinkakuji, Kiyomizu, and Fushimi Inari - all world famous. Google search them.
The start of September means the start of school. It was nice going back and feeling completely refreshed and relaxed. That feeling carried me all the way into about mid-November when it slowly faded away and was replaced with the burned-out feeling many teachers experience. It was also especially nice going back because it marked the start of my second year in Japan. It meant that I was finally able to start recycling lessons from last year, and I now was doing lessons that I had already done. This meant more solid lessons all around, and I have since been tweaking those lessons from last year (remembering what worked well and what didn't - adding and subtracting as necessary).
September is also a particularly strange month in Japanese schools as most of them have a Sports Day near the end of the month. This usually takes place on a weekend and is day filled with relay races, 100m dashes, tug of war, and other class competitions. Throughout September, regular classes are routinely cancelled so students can all practice for this day. This is a nice treat for me, as it means a lessening of my scheduled classes (I teach 22 classes every week - far more than I would like). At my small JHS the students prepared a couple of dances for Sport Day and it was an absolute blast practicing with them during what would have normally been regular classes. I learned Michael Jackson's Thriller from a group of boys and it was especially hilarious to have the girls teach me a Korean Pop dance in which you basically have to be "cute" and shake your booty.
In that regard September was a blast. But September was also the month that I was working towards getting my Japanese Drivers License. It was no easy task - but I managed to get one after failing the driving course on the first attempt. I consider myself lucky to have passed on the second attempt... as I've heard of other foreigners who took 5, 6, or even 7 times to pass that damned test. But I can understand why it might take that long to pass. The whole process is broken down into several steps. The last step involved a driving test on a CLOSED COURSE. One or two minor mistakes on the test can result in failure, and countless other mistakes can result in INSTANT failure.
For example, let's break down how to make a left turn during the test. To start, you should check your review mirror and passengers side mirror to see if the coast is clear. By check, I mean you should physically move your head, not your eyes, to ensure that the proctor knows that you looked. Once you have done this, you should turn on your indicator (you MUST turn on your indicator well in advance of your turn, EVEN IF THERE ARE OTHER CROSS STREETS BEFORE YOUR TURN. Other drivers simply have to guess onto which street you will turn). After your indicator has been on for 3 full seconds, merge to the left side of the lane you are already in. After you are as left as you can be in the lane, once again check your rearview mirror, passengers mirror, and over your left shoulder. And of course I mean move your entire head, not your eyes. Once all this is done, in this order, in proper time and rhythm, you can make your "box turn".
Keep in mind Japan drives on the left. So this was the equivalent of making a right turn in America. Usually you would swerve to the left side of the lane before turning right to achieve the best possible angle right? Well, if it were Japan you would swerve as far to the right as possible. As you enter the intersection, you continue straight much longer than you would in America, and then at the last possible second you turn HARD, HARD right. This is what I mean by "box turn".
If a lot of this seems counter-intuitive its because... well, it is. A big part of the test is not actually how well you can drive, but simply how well you can memorize what they want to see. Some of the things actually make sense, like the box turns. I frequently employ them while driving on the narrow little roads of Japan. Others don't make much sense at all, like physically moving your entire head, or the arbitrary formula for making a turn and changing lanes. Perhaps the worst part of the test is the fact that the course is closed... there are no other cars on the course. So not only are many of the steps you do completely absurd, but you feel like a total schmuck knowing FULL WELL that there is not a single other car on the road.
"Well, let me just look this way for a car that everyone knows won't be there! ...Hey! Guess what? No car!"
Other joys from the test include having to get down on your knee and look under both the front and the back of the car before starting the test to ensure that nothing is under it (funny when you consider someone else just took their test 30 seconds before in the exact same car). We JETs call this step "checking for babies under the car". You should pump your breaks forcefully when entering a sharp curve - yourself and the proctor should both be pushed forward slightly due to inertia. This ensures the person behind you (if they existed) knows you are breaking. You should complete a very narrow and sharp S-curve and a Crank without hitting a curb (automatic failure). This ensures you can drive... where exactly? And finally, when you finish the test and have parked the car, you should check your rearview mirror, drivers mirror, and over your right shoulder for oncoming traffic. This was what failed me my first time.
My oh my! See how quickly I am distracted! What a rant! Did you pick up on my
I guess all that said, lets move into October.
October was pretty mundane in most aspects. I guess the one really nice thing about October is that the weather finally starts to cool down. Its funny actually, because Japan is fairly proud about having four seasons. But what I would call Fall/Autumn really only lasted for about 2-3 weeks this year. And its sad, because its generally my favorite season.
There is one thing about October though that was absolutely terrible for me both last year and this year... and that is Halloween. Many teachers, especially elementary school teachers, get really excited about it and want me to teach it to the kids. The problem is, what exactly is there to teach to kids who can't speak English? I turned it into a coloring activity, wherein students learned the names of colors in English by coloring a pumpkin, but a lot of teachers were disappointed by that. They wanted a more in-depth lesson. But to be honest, and I thought about it a lot, there really wasn't much else I could do. I am not allowed to give food to my elementary kids... so that already takes a huge chunk out of any possible lesson.
It also doesn't help that I was almost EXPECTED to dress up in a costume. And to be frank, I really didn't want to. So I didn't. I won't go too much further into it, but I almost had a huge argument with one teacher in particular over how to handle the holiday and the fact that I didn't dress up.
In October I was treated to a four day weekend in which my girlfriend and I had a relaxing vacation in Osaka and Kobe. It was really nice and I was glad to finally make it back to Osaka. It was also my first time in Kobe, and I really enjoyed it. Some of the places around there looked like great places to live, and I found myself wanting to move to any one of the sky-rise apartment buildings that the train passed by on the way to Kobe. During that trip we went to Osaka aquarium which was pretty impressive and we rode not one, but TWO ferris wheels.
Later in the month I also went to Shiga prefecture for the first time to scope out Kusatsu city. Right now, its pretty much my dream location for living once I move on from where I am at now. Its right in the middle of Osaka and my girlfriends house. Of course anything in northern Mie would also be fine.
That leads us into November, which started out fine and ended really badly. My girlfriends mom opened a bar halfway through November, so I was able to go there a couple of times early in the month and help with things a bit. Takeya also came to visit me for a three day weekend so that was fun as one would expect. But after that, things got kind of stressful. My girlfriend suddenly began working a second job because of the bar, meaning I couldn't see/talk to her nearly as much as before, and several of my classes were put up for viewing by either parents, BOE members, other teachers, or newspaper people. That last week of November was way too much for me to handle at once, but luckily it was followed by the first week of December, which was the easiest week I've had in who-knows how long.
On December 2nd, my girlfriend and I celebrated our 6 month anniversary. It seems to have gone by really fast, but at the same time it seems like we've been together forever. We are truly happy together, and we both enjoy each others company immensely. I'm insanely lucky to be with her and I constantly find myself counting the days to the next time I can see her. Okay, too much PDO? Sorry.
That's pretty much it for what I've been up to.
There are all sorts of other things that have been running through my mind recently though, and I should probably include them here, but I'm getting really tired of writing and I'm bored with where this blog is going.
I guess I will end on the note that I have not yet been handed my papers of whether or not my BOE is interested in keeping me on for another year. Assuming they want to keep me on for another year (and chances are pretty good that they do), I will probably go ahead and sign up for one more year, after I make a couple
And at this point, I'm almost confident I won't be staying in this placement any longer than that (3 years total). After that I want to move north into a bigger area to be with my girlfriend and we'll see what happens from there.
So yeah, there it is! The long lost blog post. Only a few months late, but better late than never! And I'm sure it's heavily sprinkled with spelling and grammar errors, but I honestly don't care. I'm just happy its up and (hopefully) readable.
I hope that was... interesting?
Jordan
