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)

Rural Japan: House Tour, Riding the Limited Express, and Two Festivals

Just a quick update here.

I've been really busy doing things around town. Between getting all settled into my house (ie cleaning like CRAZY), visiting schools, meeting teachers, and planning lessons, I've been pretty pressed for time.

This week I've mostly been practicing riding the bus to various places around town and planning Elementary school lessons. At my biggest Elementary, I'm pretty much in charge of planning lessons for the 1st through 4th graders. However, the way things work out I'm going to only have to plan 6 lessons to get me through the end of the academic year (late March). Each lesson will be used across all four grades, just with more intense grammar/vocabulary/material as the grades get higher. Each lessons will be used 6 times (once for 1st grade, once for 2nd, twice for 3rd & 4th grade because they are split into two classes). It's actually kind of nice to be given the freedom to create my own lessons. My predecessor covered the following topics: 1) Greetings & Feelings, 2) Animals, 3) Numbers 1-20, 4) Foods, 5) Body Parts, & 6) Sports. I've made a rough outline of the topics I hope to discuss (each one is about 20 minutes explanation, 20 minutes activity/game, and 10 minutes opening/closing/review). The six that I think I have decided on are: 1) Colors, 2) Family, 3) Using/telling time, 4) Weather/Seasons, 5) Transportation, & 6) Basic Directions.

In my spare time I've been continuing practicing Taiko with some of my elementary kids. Practices are three times a week: Thursdays from 5:30-7:00pm + Saturdays & Sundays from 6:00-9:00pm. So yeah, I'm pretty busy. Eventually, I plan on getting an adult English class set up in my community. It will probably be 2 hours every other week. I also hope to join the Table Tennis club at one of my Elementarys and possibly set up an after school English club at one of my Junior Highs. Needless to say, I probably won't make it out of my town too much haha. But its okay, some of the people I have met so far are amazing.

Two of my kids in the Taiko group already stand out quite a bit. It's been really fun getting to know them, and they are both extremely gifted. One of them is the 4th grade girl I mentioned earlier, and the other is a 6th grade boy who pretty much does everything and is the student leader of the group. Also, today as I was walking down the street I walked past a woman who displayed a LOT of interest in me, and I could tell a "stop and chat" was in order (and this is saying something - I get looks everywhere I go in my town). I was looking forward to another advanced version of charades with her, but lo and behold: she whipped out her PERFECT English on me. As it turns out, she actually lived in New York for 8 years. Hello, friend!

Of course there is still my supervisor who is pretty awesome, and the office lady I mentioned before who I've been chatting with everyday on remarkably deep subjects, especially considering the struggle we go through to communicate with one another (just today we discussed 9/11 and her/my perspective on it). That was surely a run-on sentence. I don't care.... Back on subject: There is also another older man in the office who I'm starting to like quite a bit. My predecessor told me that he was pretty funny, but I just wasn't seeing it at first; I thought he hated me. But I'm slowly catching on to his humor. He frequently sleeps (and snores) at his desk (which is pretty centrally located in the rather small office), he waters all the plants outside when he gets especially bored (although it rains practically everyday here), and he has taken it upon himself to come help me with Japanese when I'm studying. Today we exchanged American/Japanese tongue-twisters with one another. Another thing that he does which pretty much makes me crack a smile or chuckle every single time: whenever he sits down or gets up from his chair, he loudly proclaims "YOSH!" in his awesome older man voice. (This basically means "All right!" or  "Let's do this!" or "Yes!")

Alright, this "quick" update has become rather lengthy. My original intention was just to post four videos and call it a day... I guess I got a little carried away there.

Anyway here they are (please make sure you have the sound on! - a shout-out to my Brookfield peeps).

A Video Tour of my House in Rural Japan

Riding the Limited Express Train in Rural Japan

Kumano Fireworks 

(the BEST firework I've ever seen in my life! This video doesn't do it justice as it's hard to get a sense of scale. The best moment to grasp the scale is the very first scene - if you look close enough you can see a man walking on the beach. The show was 2 hours and featured over 10,000 fireworks... right on the beach!)

Taiko Festival in Kumano

Okay thanks for reading and watching! See you next time! 

Jordan

PS. Please forgive my spelling/grammar - as usual I wrote this pretty fast without bothering to read what I was writing. 

The Little Things in Life

I'm not going to lie to you.

As expected, I experienced a bit of a rough patch for a few days there. During that time, my head was swirling with such thoughts as, "What the hell am I doing here?" and "I can barely speak with anyone here at all!" and "Damnit, I gave up the awesome weather and good friends I had in California!" and "I want to go home... NOW!" 

Needless to say, these thoughts are pretty much gone. My sanity has returned, I'm finally over jet lag, and I'm getting to know people here just a little bit more as each day passes.

First, there is my supervisor. He is awesome. I can tell that he genuinely cares about any concerns I bring to him, and he tries his best to accomodate me and my requests. Yesterday, I mentioned the fact that I STILL didn't have a bicycle yet. The position which I am filling has been borrowing a bicycle from a liquor store lady in town. After a few unsuccessful attempts to get in touch with her, rather than trying again, he took me to the store and bought me a brand new bicycle. :D

Second, we have one of the ladies in my office. Between her English and my Japanese we really struggle to communicate. However, we've been getting along terrifically (with the aid of google translate, charades, and our broken dialogue). Just yesterday I found out that she LOVES American football, and she actually calls in sick on Superbowl day to stay home and watch. She followed this by a "Shh! Secret! Don't tell!" :D She is awesome.

Next, is the local news reporter. He speaks pretty good English, and tonight I attended my first Taiko lesson (which he is in charge of). It is a group for elementary school students ranging from first graders to one seventh grader. Despite being so young, they are really quite good. Oh, and they are SO GOSH DARN CUTE. I asked them to call me JJ (even though I've always hated the nickname back home, it's easy for them to remember me by) and they thought that was the coolest thing ever. 

At the end of practice a fourth grade girl came over and gave me a hug. Without getting too emotional on you, let's just say that I can't remember the last time when I had such a strong wave of emotions come over me (I didn't cry... but it's definitely the closest I've come in quite a long time and took some willpower to prevent). Of course leaving the US was emotionally taxing, but at the time it didn't seem quite so real. Now that I am here however, and after those rough couple days I mentioned earlier, this is as real as it gets. I guess what I'm trying to say here is this: because of my lack of ability to communicate with the adults around me, this cute little fourth grader giving me a hug has been the single most reassuring thing to happen to me since I've been here. I think I already have a favorite student.

I hope that made sense. It's hard to put my feelings in words. 

Switching gears, I got to see the newspaper articles which I was featured in. Of course I can't read them, but the pictures aren't bad. Also, my TV interview/self-introduction is set to air next week. It will be on the local news station and will run once every hour for six days.

I know that I've been lacking on posting pictures/videos to go along with these posts, but rest assured they are coming! I'm just to lazy to dig through them all right now. I have a ton from the Taiko festival I went to in Kumano, and I've also got a bunch of random ones from around town.

Mmk, that's enough for now. I apologize for getting so candid for a bit - that's not like me at all.

Please stay tuned for next time!

Jordan

Jordan in Japan

Here it is!

The one I've been waiting to write and hopefully the one you've been waiting to read!

I arrived in Japan on Sunday July 31, 2011. After landing all the SF JETs went to pick up our luggage. One of my bags was already on the turntable when I got there, but my other bag never showed up!!! Yes, that's right, they lost my second piece of luggage on a DIRECT flight... -_- This ended up delaying me quite significantly and I ended up getting to Shinjuku around 8pm that night... whereas I probably would've been there at around 6pm if I had had all my luggage. I ended up filing a lost baggage claim, and everything ended up being all sorted out (the lost bag made it to my Board of Education before I even made it there! And I didn't have to pay for it!) Even still, it was stressful nonetheless.

On Monday and Tuesday (the 1st and 2nd of August respectively) I attended many a workshop. Both days these ran from about 9-6ish, but I had to wake up around 7 each day to get breakfast and whatnot. Combined with Jetlag, these days proved to be insanely exhausting. Still though, I was able to meet up with Takeya and Yasuchika two times and overall I had a pretty good time and met some pretty awesome people. On one of the nights, there was a 6.2 magnitude earthquake at around 1am. I was already asleep, but the initial surge was so strong that it woke me and my roommates up. Because we were on the 20th floor, it felt a lot more like we were riding some waves on the ocean, rather than a strong quick burst of force. I would say it probably lasted a good minute. It was pretty surreal and it was the first earthquake I've felt in several years. Throughout the Orientation in Tokyo, I felt a good 3 or 4 more mild earthquakes - more than I've felt in the last 10 years in California.

On Wednesday August 3rd, 2011 the Mie JETs all left Shinjuku station at around 9am. We rode a local train (the good ol' Chuo line!) to Tokyo station. There, we caught a bullet train headed for Nagoya. Despite this being my first time on a bullet train, I spent more time reveling in the good company than I did focusing on the fact that I was moving so darn fast. After the relatively quick bullet train ride, we caught the Kintetsu Limited Express down into Mie. After about an hour on this train, the Mie JETs all started getting off at different stops. Myself and two others got off at Matsusaka, where we were met by our supervisors.

From Matsusaka, I hopped in a car with my supervisor (as well as the supervisor of another JET to the north of me) and it took about 2 hours to get to my town. The car ride was not nearly as awkward as I had imagined it would be, and on the whole I enjoyed the ride. I feel like this is a good time to mention that the area where I live IS SOOOO AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFUL.

Upon arriving in my town, we headed straight for me BOE (where I have a desk in the office). I did a brief self introduction, and then I was whisked away by my supervisor who took me to my house. We set up the basics (ie water and electricity), and then we went to a store called Komeri (which I would describe as somewhat of a Japanese Walmart). I bought some odds and ends, then we went to the City Hall to do some official paperwork stuff. Eventually, I was taken back to my house where I immediately showered (by this point I was drench in sweat, haha). I then set up my bed and hopped in bed around 8pm.

The next day I went on to meet the Mayor of my town, as well as a local reporter and his crew. My interview with the mayor will supposedly be in a newspaper somewhere, and later this week I have a video interview which should be on the local news - crazy! Anyway, the head reporter is a really nice gentlemen who speaks pretty darn good English (he lived in the US for a year or two in the 70's or 80's... i think). I expressed interest to him about joining a Taiko group, and as luck would have it, he actually runs a Taiko group for elementary school students. He invited me to join, and I think I'm going to go to my first session sometime next week. That was pretty much it for my second day in my town.

On Friday, August 5, 2011 another JET from up north came down. With his help I was able to get a bank account, set up my TV and internet, and get a cell phone. He is a really nice guy and without him there is no way any of this stuff would have happened.

Today is Saturday the 6th of August and I made my first trip to the grocery store on my own. I came back with quite a lot of drinks, and not so much food, so I'll probably have to go back in a day or two, lol. BTW: the drinks here are AMAZING. I am in love with milk tea.

I plan on spending most of the weekend sprucing this place up as it needs a lot of work. Tomorrow I'm going down south to Kumano to meet with a bunch of other JETs and attend a Taiko festival.

Overall, things are going pretty smoothly thus far. There's not much else that I can think to write about for now, and I am suddenly sick of typing... So stay tuned for next time!

Jordan

PS. sorry for spelling/grammar errors... i'm too lazy to go back and read/fix this beast of a post

Dear America, Meet My Mistress Named Japan

Dear America,

Parting is such sweet sorrow. We've been going steady for 23 years now; in that time I've only been away from you for 4.5 weeks! If that is not commitment, I don't know what is! You nurtured and raised me. You gave me one too many valuable life lessons. You taught me how to read, how to write, how to speak. You've been a great lover, indeed. But the time has come for me to move on; to start from scratch once again.

This is not to say that I won't miss you (well, parts of you at least)! And so to you America, I list all the things about you that I will miss:

• All my family and friends
• The English language
• All the bad food I know I shouldn't be eating
• Your amazing weather - Yeah, I'm talkin' 'bout you California... you cutie
• The English language
• Your amazing highway system without tolls
• Deodorant and good toothpaste
• The fact that I NEVER carry cash because I can use my credit card everywhere
• The English language
• Central heat & air + insulated housing
• The American Dream

Just don't start tootin' your horn too loudly, America. There are a lot of things about you that I'm not going to miss. Things like:

• Crime
• The "fight the man/society" complex that plagues you
• Litter
• Your economy
• Angry/mean/rude/pathetic customer service
• The "macho man" complex that plagues you
• Your lack of public transportation

Despite these weaknesses, and despite my betrayal with this mistress named Japan, you know that I will be back. It will be at least a year, perhaps five at most. In the meantime, please work towards fixing your issues. Most importantly though, please remain the America that I have always known and loved. Try and stay out of fights, and remember to walk regularly and eat lots of fruit. 

I will return to your warm embrace when the time is right. And though I may not return to you exactly as I left, I know that you will welcome me back regardless of whatever changes might occur during our break from each other.

And so, America, I say one last farewell to you... Know that I will always treasure our relationship and think on you with fond memories, warm feelings, and a special place in my heart.

Your kind and loving companion in life,

Jordan

PS: Tell California I love her!

I Have Done Nothing + Updates + Pics

Uhm... there are only about 3 weeks left until I depart for Japan and I have done nothing. I still need to sell my car, I still need to cancel my cell phone service, I still need to figure out what I'm taking and what I'm not... The list goes on.

Yesterday marked my last day at work though, so that was nice. Today I've done.... well, a whole lot of nothing. I can tell you all about progress! ;)

I've learned a lot more about my placement since my last post. My predecessor has been wonderful in answering my questions about my tiny town. First and foremost, I will be teaching at 5 elementary schools and 2 junior highs. Three of them (2 elementary, 1 junior high, + BOE) are within walking distance from my house. Yes, house. Rent is only 3,500 yen a month (~$50 USD). There are a few drawbacks though - the biggest being the toilet.

Basically, I have a western-style toilet, but it does not flush. You simply do your *filing* into a hole in the ground (I wonder if it goes all the way to America?). Oh joy, the smell. Next, we have the shower. The shower is not actually attached to my house. Instead it looks to be about 2-3 feet away from the house. I dont really have a problem with this on paper, especially considering the shower room appears huge and *has a window*, but you know, this could change once I'm there. Finally, we have the bugs. Big, scary, gnarly bugs all the way from the moon. Maybe I'll get a cat. If not, a bed net for the win.

I also mentioned in my last blog that I wont be needing to drive, but I'm beginning to question this. If it gets to the point where the one-two punch of the toilet/shower combo is too much for me to handle, I might be moving (assuming my BOE is okay with it). If it comes to that, I'm thinking I'd probably go to the next town just to the south called Owase. My commute would be 25 minutes max to my farthest school.

This is not to say that I am already dead-set on moving. Criminey, I'm not even there yet. It's just something I'm keeping in the back of my mind. Going into this, I want to stay as long as possible (obviously subject to change) so something like housing is critical for my own comfort/sanity/nose-hairs.

More on my town: the population is around 10,000. Fishing is big. There is one convenience store and two grocery stores. There is a train station, though service is infrequent (read: every 1.5 hours, give or take). One of my elementary schools has a table tennis club, so you can rest easy knowing I'll have 10 year olds schooling me.

I'm pretty darn ecstatic. Bring on the adventure, good company, and great eatin!

More pictures (click to enlarge):

A beach-side park about 20 min from my house by car. There are some nice tennis courts nearby.

My largest Junior High. About a 5 minute walk from my house.

One of my elementary schools (not the one I live next door to). 

Pretty sure I'll be doing some hiking. This leaves me speechless.

Can you say %^&#@*!! Beautiful beach about 25 min from my house by car.

Thats my town way out in the distance. Just below is a pretty nice camping site.

Stay tuned - more to come!