Tuesday, December 27, 2005
pictures. . .
i finally managed to go back and add some pictures to my blogs. . . i have about three hundred more pictures (literally) but do not have the time to post them all. . . enjoy!
mochi, usw. . .
hmm. . . i just spent most of my morning making mochi the old-fashioned way. . . which i suppose is a good thing since i have absolutely nothing to do at the board of education but sit at my desk and at least look busy. . . and making mochi is much more interesting than cutting the hair of one hundred plus dolls and tying ribbons around their necks, which i somehow ended up doing last thursday afternoon. . . lesson number one. . . if someone asks you if you are busy, always say "yes!". . . once you offer your services (for the first basket of ten dolls in this case), it is difficult to wiggle your way out. . .anyway, mochi is rice pounded down into a massive sticky blob and then rolled into smaller balls (sometimes filled with sweet beans). . . when i arrived at work at 8:25 this morning, the process was well underway. . . one of my girls handed me a pounding tool (like a ginormous hammer), and i went at it. . . one minute later an old guy took over and showed me up. . .i then moved inside with the old ladies and shaped the mochi for a good hour. . . now i have a nice stock of mochi on my desk. . . p.s. this was all preparation for new years. . . everyone in japan eats mochi on new years. . .
oh, speaking of holidays. . . merry christmas!!! i had a rather interesting christm
as weekend. . . unusual anyway. . . i went to a christmas mass at a "catholic" church. . . my friend and i were the only ones there until exactly 5p.m. (when the service was supposed to begin). . . suddenly, the doors opened and about nine couples walked in. . . no families. . . no children. . . no parents. . . only couples in their twenties. . . it was quite odd. . . i have no idea what the pastor said (well, i received a rough translation, but it really made no sense). . . after the service, we headed off to dinner, where i ate blowfish for the first time. . . i guess blowfish has some kind of poison in its blood, so only a chef with a special license can prepare it. . . the blowfish was prepared in more ways than i knew existed. . . in the salad, as sashimi, in nabe, etc. . . it was good, but i think i have had my fill of both blowfish and 
nabe for a good week or year or so. . . christmas day involved opening presents under my handmade tree (i got an amazing video camera, a ballistic chicken, and some long underwear for those oh so cold days at school). . . and later shopping and watching さゆり: memoirs of a geisha. . . the movie was okay, but the book was better (when is it not?). . . and they used chinese actors! why, when the book was so beautifully written (by an american), did the (american) producers have to go and cast chinese actors as the leads? all of my japanese friends agree that the author did an amazing job with the book. . .oh, if you have not heard of memoirs of a geisha, it is a book about a geisha in japan in the 1900s, before and after the war, revealing much about the arts and traditions of japan through the story of her life. . . hmmm, i was never much for book reviews. . . don't know how well that sums it up. . . just go read the book. . .
anyway, i guess i am meeting some guy's daughter in a minute. . . she is back from texas state university for the holidays. . . that's about all i know. . . her father is really funny. . .he always addresses me as 'miss erinn' . . . 'miss erinn, are you healthy?' 'miss erinn, are you free now?' 'how do you like kahoku, miss erinn?' . . .
i may or may not manage another entry before new years. . . i should, however, have much to report afterwards, as new years is the biggest holiday in japan . . .
oh, speaking of holidays. . . merry christmas!!! i had a rather interesting christm
as weekend. . . unusual anyway. . . i went to a christmas mass at a "catholic" church. . . my friend and i were the only ones there until exactly 5p.m. (when the service was supposed to begin). . . suddenly, the doors opened and about nine couples walked in. . . no families. . . no children. . . no parents. . . only couples in their twenties. . . it was quite odd. . . i have no idea what the pastor said (well, i received a rough translation, but it really made no sense). . . after the service, we headed off to dinner, where i ate blowfish for the first time. . . i guess blowfish has some kind of poison in its blood, so only a chef with a special license can prepare it. . . the blowfish was prepared in more ways than i knew existed. . . in the salad, as sashimi, in nabe, etc. . . it was good, but i think i have had my fill of both blowfish and 
nabe for a good week or year or so. . . christmas day involved opening presents under my handmade tree (i got an amazing video camera, a ballistic chicken, and some long underwear for those oh so cold days at school). . . and later shopping and watching さゆり: memoirs of a geisha. . . the movie was okay, but the book was better (when is it not?). . . and they used chinese actors! why, when the book was so beautifully written (by an american), did the (american) producers have to go and cast chinese actors as the leads? all of my japanese friends agree that the author did an amazing job with the book. . .oh, if you have not heard of memoirs of a geisha, it is a book about a geisha in japan in the 1900s, before and after the war, revealing much about the arts and traditions of japan through the story of her life. . . hmmm, i was never much for book reviews. . . don't know how well that sums it up. . . just go read the book. . .anyway, i guess i am meeting some guy's daughter in a minute. . . she is back from texas state university for the holidays. . . that's about all i know. . . her father is really funny. . .he always addresses me as 'miss erinn' . . . 'miss erinn, are you healthy?' 'miss erinn, are you free now?' 'how do you like kahoku, miss erinn?' . . .
i may or may not manage another entry before new years. . . i should, however, have much to report afterwards, as new years is the biggest holiday in japan . . .
Thursday, December 22, 2005
a must read ;) . . .
Why good dancers are attractive
Why being a good mover on the dance-floor means you will be a good catch for a mate.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/health/4550000.stm
Why being a good mover on the dance-floor means you will be a good catch for a mate.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/health/4550000.stm
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
everything from hospitals to christmas. . .
what an odd week i have had. . . as some of you may know, a former ailey dancer from america came to teach master classes at one of my studios here in japan. . . who would ever have guessed that i would have the dream of dancing with an ailey dancer fulfilled in rural japan??? . . .anyway, he (christopher huggins) was amazing! the only problem was that i returned home to kahoku at 11p.m. after my first class on thursday night with a fever of 38.8 degrees celsius (approx. 102 fahrenheit). . . so, i made my first trip to the doctor in japan . . .my friend called the hospital in kahoku around 23:30 to make sure it was okay we made a visit then. . . we arrived to find one nurse, one doctor, and a dog . . . as the nurse/desk worker was taking my info, this guy (who turned out to be the doctor) kept translating the questions to english. . . a very pleasant surprise since the language barrier was one of the main reasons i feared getting sick in japan. . . anyway, he understood everything i said (symptoms, allergies, etc.) until we got to the poking and prodding. . . i still had my leotard on from dance. . . he was quite confused. . . people really don't expect you to come from dance at 11:30 at night in rural japan with a 38.8 degree fever. . . got through that. . . got some meds. . . was ready to head out the door when i got the last word of advice. . . "oh, don't take a bath or shower. . . maybe for two days. it's bad for you." . . . excuse me??? don't shower? since when are baths and showers bad for you? also, i'm planning on going back to dance tomorrow. . . you think i'm not going to shower??? hmmm. . .
so, i finally get home. . . ready to take my meds to find that he didn't write the name of the meds
or give me any of those little instruction sheets that tell you what not to take it with and what to watch for in case of a reaction . . . i sat for a good fifteen minutes arguing with my friend at 12:30 at night about medicine in japan. . . refusing to take it and repeating over and over how stupid i found the no shower thing . . . let's just say a friend who takes you to the hospital in the middle of the night and has to go to work the next morning does not enjoy an argument over differences in medical practices . . . i did feel kind of bad, but really. . . why was the name of the medicine not on the individual labels or on the package or anywhere??? i have never heard of such a thing! . . . guess i will know better next time. . . p.s. i did not die and am now finished with the round of antibiotics. . . and i did shower on friday and saturday, etc.returning to the more important experience. . . dance of course. . . my fever was down by friday evening/ saturday morning. . . meaning i missed friday's lesson and returned saturday. . . it was great to find that dancers think alike. . . when i got to dance on saturday, christopher said, "you just need to sweat that's all!" . . . two hours of class on saturday and five hours on sunday!!!!! he was amazing!! guess he comes every year, so i will hopefully make all of his classes next time! i got a bit extra attention between being the only american, being sick, and having the confidence to stand in the front row with my japanese teacher . . .
when i sit down to write these blogs, i always have so much to say. . . and often the most to say about dance. . . but it never quite comes out right. . . it may be because dance is such a bodily experience that i can't quite find the right words. . . if you want more information, look up christopher huggins. . . oh, here is the link to my studio in kochi http://www.geocities.jp/dancecream2/
what else??? oh! we had our first snow on sunday! yet another
complication during ailey lessons! everyday the people at my office say, "kahoku no snow. . .maybe february . . . one centimeter". . . not true!! on sunday (still december mind you) we had a good two or three centimeters (maybe more. . . i never really keep track. . . all i know is it was enough to make the mountains white). . . my car. . . a "minica" . . . does not have snow tires. . . kochi does not believe in doing anything to fix the roads when it snows. . . no plows or salt. . . "the sun will melt it". . . huh? i'm supposed to sit at home until the sun melts the snow? are you people crazy? . . . in the end, it was true. . . by the time i left for dance at 13:00, all sections of the road touched by sun were completely clear. . . only one dangerous stretch where the oh so narrow road winds between the river and the mountains. . . went about 20 kilometers an hour through that and made it safely to dance. . . exciting, huh?i think that may be all i have to report for now. . . christmas party with my community class tonight. . . the junior high school english club on thursday after closing ceremony in the morning. . . oh! i really want m&ms. . . i have no idea where this craving came from, as i almost never ate them in the u.s., but i would love to have some peanut butter or just peanut m&ms. . . i wanted to fill little christmas bags with pretzels and m&ms for the other teachers and workers at the board of education, but apparently pretzels and m&ms are non-existent in kochi. . . and popcorn is sometimes not normal popcorn. . . i had to buy (literally) "american popcorn" for the party and movie tonight. . . crazy. . . one last one. . . can anyone translate (or tell me the ingredients for) graham crackers??? i found some at the supermarket and brought them to the staff room as a snack. . . everyone loved them, but it's a complete mystery as to what they are. . .
okay. . .time to go find something to do. . . after my four nursery school classes tomorrow, i am finished until january 10th! . . . but i have six days of work between the end of this trimester and the beginning of the next. :( anyway. . .
merry christmas!!! my plans are not set yet. . . i think i will be going to universal studios japan at some point and possibly to a christmas eve mass in japanese??? should be interesting. . . oh! fyi. . . most of my students do not exchange presents on christmas but receive money on new years. . . some decorate a christmas tree, but i think it is mini-mini-tree. . . noa said her tree was about a foot tall. . . and she (along with many other students i am sure) will attend juku (after school school) all afternoon saturday and sunday . . . when the christmas holiday is not on the weekend, it is a work day. . . japanese people eat a christmas cake (and think that that is a tradition that they inherited from america). . . i had to search hard to find christmas cards written in japanese (and not in english). . .the funniest thing to me (as i have no idea how this would ever have developed from the true christmas celebration). . . christmas in japan is a date holiday. . . my third year junior high girls are having their own party since they do not have boyfriends. . . how crazy is all that??? oh! one more interesting tidbit. . .their english textbooks teach them that christmas is christ's birthday. . . of all places to learn that, huh? a couple of my students were shocked. . . they asked their japanese teacher, "sensee, sensee, did you know that christmas was christ's birthday?" . . .okay. . . enough cultural differences for one blog, eh?
Testing US presidential powers
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/americas/4545540.stm
scary, huh?
Bush defends phone-tapping policy
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/americas/4542880.stm
think they're after me?? ;)
The Top 10 Stories You Missed in 2005
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=3315
this country never fails to make me smile . . .
Japanese Get Fat Penguins to Exercise
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/wireStory?id=1408331
Thursday, December 08, 2005
more ramblings. . .
hey all. . . sorry, i know it has been ages since i have written. . .where to start??? mornings? random assumptions? dance? announcements? winter?
i ride my bike to school every morning and get to pass my kids and their parents. . . it is probably my favorite part of the day (when i am not running late). . . anyway, our conversations normally go as follows. . . "ah, erinn-sensee!" "good morning! ohayoo!" "good morning!". . . recently, however, after i pass them, i hear things like "how are you? i'm fine!" and "let's begin!" . . . it's so funny to hear a four year old japanese boy mumbling to himself "how are you? i'm fine". . . it's nice to know they are learning something. :)
let's see, next? . . . the random assumptions are really rather old stories that i have not had time to write about. . . have i ever mentioned that my little minica has no cd player, no tape player, and no fm radio??? only am. . . it's a blast driving an hour to dance and an hour home every week listening to the nhk, old school japanese music, and insanely corny english lessons. . . anyway, i was telling yuria about this and how when i first came to japan, i thought that all cars had only am radio. . . that didn't last long. . . as in maybe one day. . . guess it was a rather odd assumption, but i still have no idea why my car only as am radio. . . if you can put in a radio, why can you not make it with am and fm? is it that difficult??? hmmm. . .
possibly one of my favorite moments was the day that sayaka and i were at dinner, and i asked her why japan didn't have their own birthday song. . . she insisted, "oh, we do!" . . . i asked her how it went and heard the following. . . "ハッピーバースデーツユ、ハッピーバースデーツユ. . ." (a.k.a. "happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you. . .") . . . i started cracking up. . . "sayaka, that's english!" . . . "huh? oh, it is. . . yeah, i guess we don't have a song." (end story. . .funny, huh?)
dance. . . not much to report except that i am dancing four days a week (five lessons). . . jazz (which is really quite modern) with mostly adults, ballet with 7-12 year olds (but is more difficult than many adult classes), modern ballet/ martha graham classes with myself and two teachers, and body control with adults. . . my martha graham teacher started choreographing my solo last week. . . my posture and general muscle usage have improved a great deal thanks to ballet and body control. . . one of my students said "recently erinn, more beautiful". . . i'm guessing she was talking about my posture??? . . . anyway, i love dance and have the best teachers around. . .
ha, my supervisor was attempting to inform me of the "year-end office party". . . but kept saying "lost year party" . . . japanized english once again. . .
announcements. . . this morning the other workers in the board of education thought it would be hilarious if i made the 8:25 morning announcement for all of the kahoku town office workers (maybe one hundred or so??) . . . i am not particularly fond of pa systems in general. . . and even less so when i have to speak in japanese!. . . but my office gave me a nice round of applause when i finished. . .
what do i have to say about winter in japan?. . . simply that while we may have highs in the 50s and 60s everyday, every moment before and after the high is quite harsh. . . especially thanks to the nonexistence of heaters in the schools and pretty much every building controlled by the town! it's so flipping cold!!! worst of all, there is no snow. . . actually, i should not say that because i will probably not be able to drive my little minica once we have snow (i.e. no dance!!!) . . . but snow makes the cold beautiful. . . can cold be beautiful? kind of like the linguistic phrase about 'colorless green ideas'??? anyway. . .
i have more to say, as usual. . . i also have pictures that i keep meaning to post. . . i know!! i know!! i'm sorry!!!!
maybe once classes stop (but i still have to come to the board of education to 'work'), i will have some time. . .
happy winter! hope you all have snow . . . and heaters!
scary. . .
Japan to probe foreigners' crimes
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4492324.stm
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?fl20051122zg.htm
funny. . .
Pakistan deletes 'pro-Bush' poem
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/4501132.stm
Six police cars in 12mph chase
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,171-1895365,00.html
Here's a Christmas video to "lighten" your day
http://www.StupidVideos.com/?VideoID=1344
i ride my bike to school every morning and get to pass my kids and their parents. . . it is probably my favorite part of the day (when i am not running late). . . anyway, our conversations normally go as follows. . . "ah, erinn-sensee!" "good morning! ohayoo!" "good morning!". . . recently, however, after i pass them, i hear things like "how are you? i'm fine!" and "let's begin!" . . . it's so funny to hear a four year old japanese boy mumbling to himself "how are you? i'm fine". . . it's nice to know they are learning something. :)let's see, next? . . . the random assumptions are really rather old stories that i have not had time to write about. . . have i ever mentioned that my little minica has no cd player, no tape player, and no fm radio??? only am. . . it's a blast driving an hour to dance and an hour home every week listening to the nhk, old school japanese music, and insanely corny english lessons. . . anyway, i was telling yuria about this and how when i first came to japan, i thought that all cars had only am radio. . . that didn't last long. . . as in maybe one day. . . guess it was a rather odd assumption, but i still have no idea why my car only as am radio. . . if you can put in a radio, why can you not make it with am and fm? is it that difficult??? hmmm. . .
possibly one of my favorite moments was the day that sayaka and i were at dinner, and i asked her why japan didn't have their own birthday song. . . she insisted, "oh, we do!" . . . i asked her how it went and heard the following. . . "ハッピーバースデーツユ、ハッピーバースデーツユ. . ." (a.k.a. "happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you. . .") . . . i started cracking up. . . "sayaka, that's english!" . . . "huh? oh, it is. . . yeah, i guess we don't have a song." (end story. . .funny, huh?)
dance. . . not much to report except that i am dancing four days a week (five lessons). . . jazz (which is really quite modern) with mostly adults, ballet with 7-12 year olds (but is more difficult than many adult classes), modern ballet/ martha graham classes with myself and two teachers, and body control with adults. . . my martha graham teacher started choreographing my solo last week. . . my posture and general muscle usage have improved a great deal thanks to ballet and body control. . . one of my students said "recently erinn, more beautiful". . . i'm guessing she was talking about my posture??? . . . anyway, i love dance and have the best teachers around. . .
ha, my supervisor was attempting to inform me of the "year-end office party". . . but kept saying "lost year party" . . . japanized english once again. . .
announcements. . . this morning the other workers in the board of education thought it would be hilarious if i made the 8:25 morning announcement for all of the kahoku town office workers (maybe one hundred or so??) . . . i am not particularly fond of pa systems in general. . . and even less so when i have to speak in japanese!. . . but my office gave me a nice round of applause when i finished. . .
what do i have to say about winter in japan?. . . simply that while we may have highs in the 50s and 60s everyday, every moment before and after the high is quite harsh. . . especially thanks to the nonexistence of heaters in the schools and pretty much every building controlled by the town! it's so flipping cold!!! worst of all, there is no snow. . . actually, i should not say that because i will probably not be able to drive my little minica once we have snow (i.e. no dance!!!) . . . but snow makes the cold beautiful. . . can cold be beautiful? kind of like the linguistic phrase about 'colorless green ideas'??? anyway. . .
i have more to say, as usual. . . i also have pictures that i keep meaning to post. . . i know!! i know!! i'm sorry!!!!
maybe once classes stop (but i still have to come to the board of education to 'work'), i will have some time. . .
happy winter! hope you all have snow . . . and heaters!
scary. . .
Japan to probe foreigners' crimes
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4492324.stm
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?fl20051122zg.htm
funny. . .
Pakistan deletes 'pro-Bush' poem
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/4501132.stm
Six police cars in 12mph chase
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,171-1895365,00.html
Here's a Christmas video to "lighten" your day
http://www.StupidVideos.com/?VideoID=1344
Monday, November 21, 2005
watashi no nihon no otanjyobi. . .
ugh. . . more later since i never have time to write what i like, but. . .both of my offices had mini-parties for me today! i thought they forgot (or maybe most of them didn't know) about my birthday, but that was not at all the case. . .
this afternoon, i saw some tasty looking snacks in the common おみやげ/日本茶 (souvenir / japanese green tea) area of the teachers' office at the junior high school . . . i wandered over, picked one up and started munching on it at my desk. . . one minute later (with frosting on my face and hands) the english teacher (河村先生) walks out of the kitchen area with forks and plates and leads the office in "happy birthday". . . oops. . . my stomach was a bit greedy on that one. :)
earlier today, the board of education called and said i had to be at the office by 5:30 this evening. . . since that is right in the middle of english club - and i have only two or three more days to work with the girls before our big contest on saturday - i spent most of the afternoon complaining about the time. . . do i have to go then? can't i go now? do you know why i have to go? . . . oops again. . . i am so horrible with surprises. . .
anyway, i had a wonderful weekend. . . friday, my friends took me to a beautiful onsen way up in the mountains. . . i had some amazing food. . . saturday, もみじがりに行きました。(i walked in the mountains and looked at the colors of the fall leaves. . . at least i think that's what it translates to). . . sunday consisted of dance and lunch at yet another french restaurant with my martha graham dance instructor and a famous japanese artist (originally from kahoku of all places). . . fun stuff. . .now that i have consumed three full cakes in about four days i must go to dance. . . wish me luck on getting more than an inch off the ground!
thanks to everyone who sent me birthday wishes!!! i will do my best to reply individually asap!!one last thing. . .
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4454738.stm
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
packages from america. . .
grrr. . . i tried to post this last week, but my site seems to be randomly blocked by the system. . . anyway, here it is now. . .
yay!!! i got a birthday package from my mum with all kinds party supplies (plates, napkins, noise makers, decorations. . .) i searched in kochi for party supplies several times and have never been particularly successful in finding the bright and crazy english decorations necessary for a real party. . .now, how do i give these to people who are throwing me a surprise party??? :)
also, i hurriedly picked up a package yesterday after work. . . as i was driving to dinner (stopped at one of the million stop lights in tosayamada), i looked at the label to see what my grandparents had sent and read the following. . . postage: $36.00. . . value of contents: $10.00 . . . contents: cookies!!! i was so excited. . . i ripped open the package and ate one before dinner in the restaurant parking lot! my coworkers and students at the dorm loved them as well! the best part is that i still have enough left at home for a good week or so. . .
oh, never fear about my heating situation. . . just check out the following links! ;)
Heated Bra Aims to Save the World
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4420820.stm
Warm, Fuzzy Winter Bra Unveiled in Japan
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1298948
yay!!! i got a birthday package from my mum with all kinds party supplies (plates, napkins, noise makers, decorations. . .) i searched in kochi for party supplies several times and have never been particularly successful in finding the bright and crazy english decorations necessary for a real party. . .now, how do i give these to people who are throwing me a surprise party??? :)
also, i hurriedly picked up a package yesterday after work. . . as i was driving to dinner (stopped at one of the million stop lights in tosayamada), i looked at the label to see what my grandparents had sent and read the following. . . postage: $36.00. . . value of contents: $10.00 . . . contents: cookies!!! i was so excited. . . i ripped open the package and ate one before dinner in the restaurant parking lot! my coworkers and students at the dorm loved them as well! the best part is that i still have enough left at home for a good week or so. . .
oh, never fear about my heating situation. . . just check out the following links! ;)
Heated Bra Aims to Save the World
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4420820.stm
Warm, Fuzzy Winter Bra Unveiled in Japan
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1298948
Thursday, November 10, 2005
snippets of the past month. . .
there are many things here i still do not understand. . .i mentioned earlier something called ふとうこう,which i still do not know the exact translation for. . . but it has something to do with the free pass system and students who cannot (or maybe just do not) come to school everyday. . .
two students in the junior high school miss class regularly. . . especially mondays. . . they both stay in the dormitory during the week, so once they get away from home, they are forced to get up every morning and get to school. . . not only get up and to school but also to clean the dormitory for about fifteen minutes. . . first thing, every morning. . . again, i don't understand why they don't come. . . even more so, i don't understand why they are in the class they are in. . . this is where the free pass system comes in. . . several students in the junior high school cannot read and write japanese well. . . partially because they never went to class in elementary school. . . but they are somehow in the same class as everyone else. . . in japan, everyone moves up, every year with his/her class. . . no one is ever held back. . . this continues until the end of junior high school when students take their exams and have interviews to get into the high school of their choice. . . those that do not pass or do not want to go on end their education here. . .
in the elementary school fifth grade class, i have a girl who falls into this same ふとうこう category. . . from the little information i was finally able to squeeze out of the school counselor, she is depressed because her mother left. . . she almost never comes to school. . . but her brother, who is in junior high school, attends school almost every day. . . anyway, えり(her name is eri) came to school today for my class. . .that is all. . . to take my english class. . . i teach her class once a month. . . somehow english and sports are the only motivating factors in her life (i hate to see people depressed. . . especially kids. . .it doesn’t seem fair). . . she is very cute and quite confident (especially one on one). . . relates well with her classmates (or at least appears to have some good friends). . . a bit of a tomboy. . . probably knows more english than anyone else in her class. . .but it’s so sad! why will she not come to school? and why is she allowed to miss school??? does this happen in america?
i am realizing how little i know about the workings of the american school system . . . granted i know it well as a student. . . but as a teacher?? those are two very different perspectives! are there students who come to school only once or twice a week (if that)? and students who get by with this free pass system?
oh! the other large problem i have is that students almost never do their own work! they constantly 'cheat' off each other. . . cheating by my american standards that is. . . what I call cheating is often considered healthy group work here. . . granted there is something to be said for group work (which they do A LOT of) and learning through teaching your peers. . . and some of the students are amazing teachers. . . but flat out copying really gets to me. . . the students get really mad at me when i stop them or take away their papers before they finish copying the answers. . . i don't really know if i am supposed to do anything about it, since it is the main classroom teacher’s job to discipline, but it bugs me beyond belief. . . ms. kawamura hasn't told me to stop. . . in fact, i think she has become a bit more strict about it. . . anyway. . .
now that i have ranted about how annoyed i get with the school system, it is time for a few positives. . .
two quick reasons why i love my job. . .
'i am gold toilet.'
'i'm a chicken'
the first was a summary of a day long trip i took with two members of my community class to eat うどん(udon) in 香川 prefecture (maybe an hour from kahoku. . .still on shikoku) and then visit the gold tower, which included gold shoes and a gold toilet. . . the second was from a fourth grade student in response to me holding up a picture of a chicken and asking 'what is this?' i am quite certain that he had no idea that 'i'm a chicken' has other meanings in english. . . yet he must have heard the expression somewhere because all of his previous answers used 'it's a . . .'
what else? oh! my birthday is in a week and a half (november 19th). . . hint, hint ;) . . . haha, really though. . . one of my friends is planning something for friday (nov 18th). . . i think it’s a trip to an おんせん . . . but it’s a surprise, so i am not certain. . . on saturday (my actual birthday), i think some members of my community class are planning a surprise pizza party for me. . . this one guy makes amazing pizzas! . . . i could be completely off on both of these, BUT i saw several things i wasn’t supposed to see. . . on tuesday, the pizza guy was talking quietly to some of the other students with a sheet that said something about ‘home away from home’ and ‘november 19’ . . . cute! people here are so good to me. :) to top it all off, the fourth harry potter movie comes out on november 26th with a sneak preview that i may be going to on the 19th. . .
also, if i have not told you. . . i have two dance concerts this month. . . one on sunday the 13th (ballroom dance with the old folks. . .
well, middle aged to old). . . and one on sunday the 20th with my martha graham instructor. . . i will be ‘rain’ with a bunch of little kids. haha. . . yesterday she asked me if i would do a solo in her april dance theatre performance. . .not with little kids as rain, but a solo that she wants to choreograph for me. . . exciting, huh?
hehe. . . the entire office just stopped everything to help me find this restaurant in なんごくwhere i am supposed to meet someone for dinner tonight. . . every time i ask a question everyone in the room stops to help. . . quite amusing really.
okay, that is enough for now. . . really sorry that i am not able to update my blog more frequently. . . i always have so much to say!!! so much more has happened in the past month. . . i moved to the second floor of the dormitory (i guess the superintendent and jr. high principal had a bit of a disagreement on this one when i came. . . my friend – one of the few people that tells me the whole story – said it is because the first floor is not as safe for a single woman. . . it’s all the same to me, since i am living in the highland, kansas of japan, where people leave their keys in the car when they go to the store and have open markets with no clerks – just a box to drop some money in – trusting that everyone will pay) although the move was a bit of a pain, i like many things about my new room (e.g. i now have an automatic washing machine) . . . oh! the superintendent finally took me to dinner!! we went to this AMAZING french restaurant in kochi –guess he knew the chef. . .what else? . . .winter has made it’s way to kahoku (not winter as i knew it in minnesota, but winter as i know it in kahoku without heaters in the classrooms! how crazy is that? i suppose it is similar to minnesotans not have air conditioners in the summer??? maybe not. . . anyway, i am learning to wear many, many, many layers, as mornings are freezing and afternoons are average). . .last bit of info for now. . . kahoku had its largest festival last thursday – ‘the festival of the kawakami shrine – to pray for a rich harvest. (too much to say about this . . . i will try to post pictures soon). . .
really, i need to stop now so that i can go get lost trying to find this restaurant. . .
other fun stuff. . .
some people are like slinkies...
not really good for anything, but they still bring a smile to your face when you push them down a flight of stairs. (thank you mother . . . this was a fun one to translate for one of my coworkers)
saying goodbye california sun, hello midwest
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/07/business/07move.html?emc=eta1
(kind of like saying goodbye chicago, hello highland, kansas)
ahhhhh!!!! i almost forgot to share the most exciting information of the past month!!! two of my girls competed in a jr. high english speech contest last saturday. . . i thought, oh, they will do okay. . . maybe one of them will be lucky and get third or fourth place. . . nope. . . we got first and second place!!! i love my students. :) now, i have to keep them motivated for contest number two on november 26th. . .
okay, now おわります．
two students in the junior high school miss class regularly. . . especially mondays. . . they both stay in the dormitory during the week, so once they get away from home, they are forced to get up every morning and get to school. . . not only get up and to school but also to clean the dormitory for about fifteen minutes. . . first thing, every morning. . . again, i don't understand why they don't come. . . even more so, i don't understand why they are in the class they are in. . . this is where the free pass system comes in. . . several students in the junior high school cannot read and write japanese well. . . partially because they never went to class in elementary school. . . but they are somehow in the same class as everyone else. . . in japan, everyone moves up, every year with his/her class. . . no one is ever held back. . . this continues until the end of junior high school when students take their exams and have interviews to get into the high school of their choice. . . those that do not pass or do not want to go on end their education here. . .
in the elementary school fifth grade class, i have a girl who falls into this same ふとうこう category. . . from the little information i was finally able to squeeze out of the school counselor, she is depressed because her mother left. . . she almost never comes to school. . . but her brother, who is in junior high school, attends school almost every day. . . anyway, えり(her name is eri) came to school today for my class. . .that is all. . . to take my english class. . . i teach her class once a month. . . somehow english and sports are the only motivating factors in her life (i hate to see people depressed. . . especially kids. . .it doesn’t seem fair). . . she is very cute and quite confident (especially one on one). . . relates well with her classmates (or at least appears to have some good friends). . . a bit of a tomboy. . . probably knows more english than anyone else in her class. . .but it’s so sad! why will she not come to school? and why is she allowed to miss school??? does this happen in america?
i am realizing how little i know about the workings of the american school system . . . granted i know it well as a student. . . but as a teacher?? those are two very different perspectives! are there students who come to school only once or twice a week (if that)? and students who get by with this free pass system?
oh! the other large problem i have is that students almost never do their own work! they constantly 'cheat' off each other. . . cheating by my american standards that is. . . what I call cheating is often considered healthy group work here. . . granted there is something to be said for group work (which they do A LOT of) and learning through teaching your peers. . . and some of the students are amazing teachers. . . but flat out copying really gets to me. . . the students get really mad at me when i stop them or take away their papers before they finish copying the answers. . . i don't really know if i am supposed to do anything about it, since it is the main classroom teacher’s job to discipline, but it bugs me beyond belief. . . ms. kawamura hasn't told me to stop. . . in fact, i think she has become a bit more strict about it. . . anyway. . .
now that i have ranted about how annoyed i get with the school system, it is time for a few positives. . .
two quick reasons why i love my job. . .
'i am gold toilet.'
'i'm a chicken'
the first was a summary of a day long trip i took with two members of my community class to eat うどん(udon) in 香川 prefecture (maybe an hour from kahoku. . .still on shikoku) and then visit the gold tower, which included gold shoes and a gold toilet. . . the second was from a fourth grade student in response to me holding up a picture of a chicken and asking 'what is this?' i am quite certain that he had no idea that 'i'm a chicken' has other meanings in english. . . yet he must have heard the expression somewhere because all of his previous answers used 'it's a . . .'
what else? oh! my birthday is in a week and a half (november 19th). . . hint, hint ;) . . . haha, really though. . . one of my friends is planning something for friday (nov 18th). . . i think it’s a trip to an おんせん . . . but it’s a surprise, so i am not certain. . . on saturday (my actual birthday), i think some members of my community class are planning a surprise pizza party for me. . . this one guy makes amazing pizzas! . . . i could be completely off on both of these, BUT i saw several things i wasn’t supposed to see. . . on tuesday, the pizza guy was talking quietly to some of the other students with a sheet that said something about ‘home away from home’ and ‘november 19’ . . . cute! people here are so good to me. :) to top it all off, the fourth harry potter movie comes out on november 26th with a sneak preview that i may be going to on the 19th. . .
also, if i have not told you. . . i have two dance concerts this month. . . one on sunday the 13th (ballroom dance with the old folks. . .
well, middle aged to old). . . and one on sunday the 20th with my martha graham instructor. . . i will be ‘rain’ with a bunch of little kids. haha. . . yesterday she asked me if i would do a solo in her april dance theatre performance. . .not with little kids as rain, but a solo that she wants to choreograph for me. . . exciting, huh?hehe. . . the entire office just stopped everything to help me find this restaurant in なんごくwhere i am supposed to meet someone for dinner tonight. . . every time i ask a question everyone in the room stops to help. . . quite amusing really.
okay, that is enough for now. . . really sorry that i am not able to update my blog more frequently. . . i always have so much to say!!! so much more has happened in the past month. . . i moved to the second floor of the dormitory (i guess the superintendent and jr. high principal had a bit of a disagreement on this one when i came. . . my friend – one of the few people that tells me the whole story – said it is because the first floor is not as safe for a single woman. . . it’s all the same to me, since i am living in the highland, kansas of japan, where people leave their keys in the car when they go to the store and have open markets with no clerks – just a box to drop some money in – trusting that everyone will pay) although the move was a bit of a pain, i like many things about my new room (e.g. i now have an automatic washing machine) . . . oh! the superintendent finally took me to dinner!! we went to this AMAZING french restaurant in kochi –guess he knew the chef. . .what else? . . .winter has made it’s way to kahoku (not winter as i knew it in minnesota, but winter as i know it in kahoku without heaters in the classrooms! how crazy is that? i suppose it is similar to minnesotans not have air conditioners in the summer??? maybe not. . . anyway, i am learning to wear many, many, many layers, as mornings are freezing and afternoons are average). . .last bit of info for now. . . kahoku had its largest festival last thursday – ‘the festival of the kawakami shrine – to pray for a rich harvest. (too much to say about this . . . i will try to post pictures soon). . .
really, i need to stop now so that i can go get lost trying to find this restaurant. . .
other fun stuff. . .
some people are like slinkies...
not really good for anything, but they still bring a smile to your face when you push them down a flight of stairs. (thank you mother . . . this was a fun one to translate for one of my coworkers)
saying goodbye california sun, hello midwest
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/07/business/07move.html?emc=eta1
(kind of like saying goodbye chicago, hello highland, kansas)
ahhhhh!!!! i almost forgot to share the most exciting information of the past month!!! two of my girls competed in a jr. high english speech contest last saturday. . . i thought, oh, they will do okay. . . maybe one of them will be lucky and get third or fourth place. . . nope. . . we got first and second place!!! i love my students. :) now, i have to keep them motivated for contest number two on november 26th. . .
okay, now おわります．
Thursday, October 13, 2005
ramblings . . .
ugh. . . i am a morning person and a night person but not at all an afternoon person. . .especially after teaching and running around with elementary students all morning!!! ah well. . .
recent events. . .
last saturday, sayaka and i attended two dance concerts. . . the first was for the modern ballet studio that offered me free lessons. . . since i love kids, it was cute, but. . . ballet really is not my thing. i suppose i will try the lessons for a bit, but i am not extremely enthusiastic about it. . .
the second dance concert was amazing!!! it was an all female company based in tokyo. . . http://h-art-chaos.com/ . . . yes, there is an english option. . .hmmm. . .i was going to write more about this but wasn’t satisfied with my report. . . if you are really interested in the performance, check out the second half of this review on ‘the rite of spring’ http://inkpot.com/theatre/01reviews/01revgrizritespri.html . . . i miss modern dance so much!!!
moving on. . . sunday was another busy day, as i went whitewater rafting with nineteen other JETs. . . .we had a beautiful day and often ended up in the water . . . i even climbed and jumped off an eight meter rock (what a way to overcome a fear, huh?). . .while the pics on the happy raft website are not of our group, you can at least see where we were and generally what we went through. . . http://happyraft.com/en/ . . . after a full day of rafting, i had my first experience at an おんせん (japanese bathhouse). . . much needed . . . followed by camping. . . when i finally got home on monday, i took a nice long nap, which my body loved me for (don’t worry. . . i didn’t skip out on work. . . it was yet another national holiday. . . ‘health and sports day’). . . anyway, this was my first adventure with a large group of foreigners. . . definitely not the first of many. . . i really just do not enjoy hanging out with the other JETs. . . karaoke was fun because there were only four of us and we were in a little hick town café with a bunch of locals. . . large groups of foreigners are loud and obnoxious . . .
ugh, today is a crappy writing day. . . i tried to explain this as well but for whatever reason do not have the proper words. . . point is, while i learn a lot from my time with the other JETs, i prefer my japanese friends . . .
okay, i need to stop here. . . last week i promised to report on a few other subjects, but . . . i really need a more fluid writing day. . . sorry to disappoint . . .i really do want to tell you about more of my experiences before i forget. . . especially since so many things are starting to seem natural to me (i.e. slurping noodles, narrow roads, bugs, bows, sports festivals, picking grass by hand as opposed to using a lawn mower. . . the general lack of grass in japan pretty much rids the need for a lawn mower. . . oh, waxing the school floors by hand. . . again, why use a machine when you have students? logical enough, huh?) . . . okay, おわります．おつかれさまでした．
kahoku from the river. . .
recent events. . .
last saturday, sayaka and i attended two dance concerts. . . the first was for the modern ballet studio that offered me free lessons. . . since i love kids, it was cute, but. . . ballet really is not my thing. i suppose i will try the lessons for a bit, but i am not extremely enthusiastic about it. . .
the second dance concert was amazing!!! it was an all female company based in tokyo. . . http://h-art-chaos.com/ . . . yes, there is an english option. . .hmmm. . .i was going to write more about this but wasn’t satisfied with my report. . . if you are really interested in the performance, check out the second half of this review on ‘the rite of spring’ http://inkpot.com/theatre/01reviews/01revgrizritespri.html . . . i miss modern dance so much!!!
moving on. . . sunday was another busy day, as i went whitewater rafting with nineteen other JETs. . . .we had a beautiful day and often ended up in the water . . . i even climbed and jumped off an eight meter rock (what a way to overcome a fear, huh?). . .while the pics on the happy raft website are not of our group, you can at least see where we were and generally what we went through. . . http://happyraft.com/en/ . . . after a full day of rafting, i had my first experience at an おんせん (japanese bathhouse). . . much needed . . . followed by camping. . . when i finally got home on monday, i took a nice long nap, which my body loved me for (don’t worry. . . i didn’t skip out on work. . . it was yet another national holiday. . . ‘health and sports day’). . . anyway, this was my first adventure with a large group of foreigners. . . definitely not the first of many. . . i really just do not enjoy hanging out with the other JETs. . . karaoke was fun because there were only four of us and we were in a little hick town café with a bunch of locals. . . large groups of foreigners are loud and obnoxious . . .
ugh, today is a crappy writing day. . . i tried to explain this as well but for whatever reason do not have the proper words. . . point is, while i learn a lot from my time with the other JETs, i prefer my japanese friends . . .
okay, i need to stop here. . . last week i promised to report on a few other subjects, but . . . i really need a more fluid writing day. . . sorry to disappoint . . .i really do want to tell you about more of my experiences before i forget. . . especially since so many things are starting to seem natural to me (i.e. slurping noodles, narrow roads, bugs, bows, sports festivals, picking grass by hand as opposed to using a lawn mower. . . the general lack of grass in japan pretty much rids the need for a lawn mower. . . oh, waxing the school floors by hand. . . again, why use a machine when you have students? logical enough, huh?) . . . okay, おわります．おつかれさまでした．
kahoku from the river. . .
Friday, October 07, 2005
tribute to paul chambers. . .
i just found out that paul chambers, the man i consider to be my first dance instructor and one of the most influential people on my life, passed away on september 29th. . . paul made me a dancer. . . while i had taken lessons at numerous studios as a child, i never developed a love for dance. . . in fact i quit for about five years. . . when i began dancing again in high school with paul, i discovered my passion for dance. . . paul would beat his drum and give us lectures on how lazy our generation had become . . .followed by stories of how hard he worked under the instruction of hanya holm . . the last time i saw paul he was still teaching . . . seventy-nine years old and still living for dance. . . i have known this day would come for quite some time, but i always thought i would have one last lesson with him . . .
Thursday, October 06, 2005
ten pages on the past month of my life in japan. . .
ahhh. . . i have been dying to write an entry but have absolutely no time!!!!!!!! so. . . here it goes . . . one month of experiences. . . or what i can remember of them. . . or what i have the time and energy to write. . .
ooops. . . evidentally, i am an image of death, blood, and cruelty today. three or four people commented on my outfit (black skirt with a red tank top and light-weight black wrap) . . . "erinn-san, red and black. . . sugoi" . . . i finally asked ms. kawamura exactly why they thought it was so cool. . . black is the color of death, punishment, and cruelty; red is blood. . ..
anyway, things have been great here. i accidentally ended up with (semi-)private dance lessons with this lady in kochi. she asked me if i knew martha graham. . . of course! what modern dancer doesn't?!?! . . . and then said "martha graham. . . my teacher". . . i thought, okay, sure, you studied the graham technique at some point. . . no, martha graham was her teacher in nyc many, many years ago. it will be like taking lessons with paul again. :) the best part is that they are not even that expensive. . . or at least not any more so than group lessons at a school in the usa. she even rearranged her schedule for me on the spot. . .i had my first lesson last night. . .i don’t think she has had an opportunity to teach modern dance to a more advanced student for a long time. while i am still not clear on her background, i can tell you that she is amazing . . . there are pictures of her all over the studio from what appears to be performances in the usa years ago. . . anyway, the lessons consist of me and one girl, who is quite useful for translation/demonstration . . . she is only about fourteen years old (like my students). . . after lessons, we have soji (cleaning time). . . i honestly love soji. . . it’s nice way to do your part and not always count on others to clean up for you. . . plus it’s a good cool down after an hour and a half of dance. . .
anyway, i commented before on how kind the people are here. . . i basically just assumed it was like minnesota nice and that they do these things for everyone. . . and i think that they do, but . . .i think that i get extra-special treatment. . .
after i mentioned to one or two people that i really missed modern dance, i ended up with fifty offers. . . the private lessons being one. . . one of the teachers found a school for me which doesn’t technically teach modern but has a jazz class with a modern influence. . . the teacher studied in california . . . and therefore speaks quite a bit of english. . . he taught the entire class in english just for me!!! . . .
the same thing happened at ballroom dance in kahoku. . . while i expected some local farmers to teach the class, i found instructors who compete often . . . sometimes internationally. . . unfortunately most of the people who take the class are beginners. . .
another ballroom group (in tosayamada) has asked me to perform in their concert in november. . . why not? . . . this is the best part. . . one woman informed me that she would be making a pink dress for my performance!! haha. . . me, in pink??. . . she would be very disappointed if i told her that i am not a pink person. . .
still going on the niceness thing here. . .this saturday, sayaka and i are going to a professional modern dance concert at 8:00, but. . . i have been invited to attend a children’s modern ballet concert at 3:30 for free! not only is the studio giving me tickets to the concert, they also offered me free lessons . . . granted the lessons are with children. . .they really want me to come to encourage the students to learn english. . . or at least develop a positive attitude towards language learning. . . when have i been one to turn down free dance lessons??
that’s my busy dance life. . . i think i may end up dancing more here than i would be if i were working a random job in the usa!!
what else is going on??? too much. . . i attended another undokai on sunday for the elementary school (and have two to attend for the nursery schools this saturday). . . they requested that i dance with the fifth and sixth graders and that i be one of the obstacles in a relay. . . playing janken!!! (janken is the insanely popular japanese rock, paper, scissors). . . the kids were wonderful. . . as usual. . .
ohhh! saturday night was my first evening with other foreigners!! i finally met the alts from monobe, tosayamada, and nankoku (all small towns surrounding kahoku). . . we decided to go to the smallest of the four towns (monobe) to get dinner at a local café followed by my first karaoke experience with the locals!!! i really got into karaoke. . . the locals started requesting english songs for us to sing. . . including material girl by madonna. . . these people love all the old songs (abba, queen, the beatles). . .
ugh, i waited way too long to make another entry. . . did i tell you that i went to see one of the waterfalls?. . . this time with a friend, as i refuse to drive in the mountains. . .the one we went to is ranked among the top one hundred in japan (whatever that means). . . it was gorgeous. . . i have pictures to post. . . why are there only twenty-four hours in one day???
oh, my pet cockroach has been smashed. . . along with an enormous (4 inch) グジグジ, which translates as ‘house centipede’ or ‘bushy eyebrows’. . .the boys in the dorm thought it was cool. . .i thought it was a crummy wakeup call as i was taking my garbage out at 6:30a.m. . . i held an earthworm today, while playing with the first graders at the elementary school. . . the first time in about fifteen years . . . i forgot how entertaining children can find bugs. . .
cute. . . this guy, who speaks minimal english but always says a genki “hello! how are you?” just came through the office. . . i am still amazed at the enthusiasm these people have. . . always wanting to say hello and teach me about life. . .
ah! i got a perm on sunday! my first experience at a japanese salon. . . not only did i get a trim and a perm, i also got a head and shoulder massage and my hair washed with some kind of aromatherapy shampoo. . . that makes up for the extra expense. . . the people were once again adorable! since i cannot read japanese fashion magazines, one of the girls, who ended up being called ‘crazy girl’ through random naming of english adjectives, gave me picture books to look at!! one with ‘beautiful flowers’ and one of ‘brown’. . . a bear that goes on mini-adventures. . . crazy girl’s favorite book. . . by the end of the hour or so i was there, she managed to jabber away about her visit to australia fifteen years ago (how she ate ice cream everyday after dinner and therefore got chubby). . . she also managed to nickname every worker in the shop . . . all of which were working on me at one time. . . have i mentioned that i am basically a celebrity. . . everyone yells my name when i walk down the street, people like to touch my hair and my skin, they all want to talk to or at least flock around me and stare or listen. . . ‘shy boy’ (back at the salon now) wanted to talk to me but was afraid to use bad english and had ‘crazy girl’ ask me if i liked basketball and what teams i liked. . . i really need to follow sports. . .
and i really need to end this entry. . . ugh, ugh, ugh. . . so, so, so much more to say. . . i hardly even mentioned the students in this blog!!! sad!!!
(note to self: write about 1.ふとうこう. . . this relates to the japanese school system and something described to me as the ‘free pass’ system. . . something i do not agree with. . .2. my community classes. . .more of a pain than adhd elementary students. . . 3. reflection time. . . something scheduled into every school day. . . yet another activity i think we could all benefit from. . . like soji!)
okay, i am starving . . . ‘let’s finish!’
quick postscript. . . my apologies for the randomness of this entry. . . it doesn’t flow quite right. . . i think my engrish skills are going downhill. . . no, that is not a typo. :)
fun links. . .
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/business/4282936.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/europe/4295968.stm
also. . . i recently discovered that mr. george w. bush will be visiting japan around the time of my birthday. . . would it be to much to request a visit to kahoku? not that i am all that anxious to meet the guy. . . okay, really. . . おわりましょう！
ooops. . . evidentally, i am an image of death, blood, and cruelty today. three or four people commented on my outfit (black skirt with a red tank top and light-weight black wrap) . . . "erinn-san, red and black. . . sugoi" . . . i finally asked ms. kawamura exactly why they thought it was so cool. . . black is the color of death, punishment, and cruelty; red is blood. . ..
anyway, things have been great here. i accidentally ended up with (semi-)private dance lessons with this lady in kochi. she asked me if i knew martha graham. . . of course! what modern dancer doesn't?!?! . . . and then said "martha graham. . . my teacher". . . i thought, okay, sure, you studied the graham technique at some point. . . no, martha graham was her teacher in nyc many, many years ago. it will be like taking lessons with paul again. :) the best part is that they are not even that expensive. . . or at least not any more so than group lessons at a school in the usa. she even rearranged her schedule for me on the spot. . .i had my first lesson last night. . .i don’t think she has had an opportunity to teach modern dance to a more advanced student for a long time. while i am still not clear on her background, i can tell you that she is amazing . . . there are pictures of her all over the studio from what appears to be performances in the usa years ago. . . anyway, the lessons consist of me and one girl, who is quite useful for translation/demonstration . . . she is only about fourteen years old (like my students). . . after lessons, we have soji (cleaning time). . . i honestly love soji. . . it’s nice way to do your part and not always count on others to clean up for you. . . plus it’s a good cool down after an hour and a half of dance. . .
anyway, i commented before on how kind the people are here. . . i basically just assumed it was like minnesota nice and that they do these things for everyone. . . and i think that they do, but . . .i think that i get extra-special treatment. . .
after i mentioned to one or two people that i really missed modern dance, i ended up with fifty offers. . . the private lessons being one. . . one of the teachers found a school for me which doesn’t technically teach modern but has a jazz class with a modern influence. . . the teacher studied in california . . . and therefore speaks quite a bit of english. . . he taught the entire class in english just for me!!! . . .
the same thing happened at ballroom dance in kahoku. . . while i expected some local farmers to teach the class, i found instructors who compete often . . . sometimes internationally. . . unfortunately most of the people who take the class are beginners. . .
another ballroom group (in tosayamada) has asked me to perform in their concert in november. . . why not? . . . this is the best part. . . one woman informed me that she would be making a pink dress for my performance!! haha. . . me, in pink??. . . she would be very disappointed if i told her that i am not a pink person. . .
still going on the niceness thing here. . .this saturday, sayaka and i are going to a professional modern dance concert at 8:00, but. . . i have been invited to attend a children’s modern ballet concert at 3:30 for free! not only is the studio giving me tickets to the concert, they also offered me free lessons . . . granted the lessons are with children. . .they really want me to come to encourage the students to learn english. . . or at least develop a positive attitude towards language learning. . . when have i been one to turn down free dance lessons??
that’s my busy dance life. . . i think i may end up dancing more here than i would be if i were working a random job in the usa!!
what else is going on??? too much. . . i attended another undokai on sunday for the elementary school (and have two to attend for the nursery schools this saturday). . . they requested that i dance with the fifth and sixth graders and that i be one of the obstacles in a relay. . . playing janken!!! (janken is the insanely popular japanese rock, paper, scissors). . . the kids were wonderful. . . as usual. . .
ohhh! saturday night was my first evening with other foreigners!! i finally met the alts from monobe, tosayamada, and nankoku (all small towns surrounding kahoku). . . we decided to go to the smallest of the four towns (monobe) to get dinner at a local café followed by my first karaoke experience with the locals!!! i really got into karaoke. . . the locals started requesting english songs for us to sing. . . including material girl by madonna. . . these people love all the old songs (abba, queen, the beatles). . .
ugh, i waited way too long to make another entry. . . did i tell you that i went to see one of the waterfalls?. . . this time with a friend, as i refuse to drive in the mountains. . .the one we went to is ranked among the top one hundred in japan (whatever that means). . . it was gorgeous. . . i have pictures to post. . . why are there only twenty-four hours in one day???oh, my pet cockroach has been smashed. . . along with an enormous (4 inch) グジグジ, which translates as ‘house centipede’ or ‘bushy eyebrows’. . .the boys in the dorm thought it was cool. . .i thought it was a crummy wakeup call as i was taking my garbage out at 6:30a.m. . . i held an earthworm today, while playing with the first graders at the elementary school. . . the first time in about fifteen years . . . i forgot how entertaining children can find bugs. . .
cute. . . this guy, who speaks minimal english but always says a genki “hello! how are you?” just came through the office. . . i am still amazed at the enthusiasm these people have. . . always wanting to say hello and teach me about life. . .
ah! i got a perm on sunday! my first experience at a japanese salon. . . not only did i get a trim and a perm, i also got a head and shoulder massage and my hair washed with some kind of aromatherapy shampoo. . . that makes up for the extra expense. . . the people were once again adorable! since i cannot read japanese fashion magazines, one of the girls, who ended up being called ‘crazy girl’ through random naming of english adjectives, gave me picture books to look at!! one with ‘beautiful flowers’ and one of ‘brown’. . . a bear that goes on mini-adventures. . . crazy girl’s favorite book. . . by the end of the hour or so i was there, she managed to jabber away about her visit to australia fifteen years ago (how she ate ice cream everyday after dinner and therefore got chubby). . . she also managed to nickname every worker in the shop . . . all of which were working on me at one time. . . have i mentioned that i am basically a celebrity. . . everyone yells my name when i walk down the street, people like to touch my hair and my skin, they all want to talk to or at least flock around me and stare or listen. . . ‘shy boy’ (back at the salon now) wanted to talk to me but was afraid to use bad english and had ‘crazy girl’ ask me if i liked basketball and what teams i liked. . . i really need to follow sports. . .
and i really need to end this entry. . . ugh, ugh, ugh. . . so, so, so much more to say. . . i hardly even mentioned the students in this blog!!! sad!!!
(note to self: write about 1.ふとうこう. . . this relates to the japanese school system and something described to me as the ‘free pass’ system. . . something i do not agree with. . .2. my community classes. . .more of a pain than adhd elementary students. . . 3. reflection time. . . something scheduled into every school day. . . yet another activity i think we could all benefit from. . . like soji!)
okay, i am starving . . . ‘let’s finish!’
quick postscript. . . my apologies for the randomness of this entry. . . it doesn’t flow quite right. . . i think my engrish skills are going downhill. . . no, that is not a typo. :)
fun links. . .
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/business/4282936.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/europe/4295968.stm
also. . . i recently discovered that mr. george w. bush will be visiting japan around the time of my birthday. . . would it be to much to request a visit to kahoku? not that i am all that anxious to meet the guy. . . okay, really. . . おわりましょう！
Sunday, September 18, 2005
undokai, dance, and my pet cockroach. . .
yesterday was undokai (the junior high school's sports festival), which was awesome! we have been practicing for this thing for two weeks straight (and even had a full dress rehearsal instead of classes on tuesday)! the students march and sing and go through all of these rituals, but for the most part, undokai is just a day of random events from running to obstacle courses, to climbing bamboo poles. i ran the 150m with the second year students, danced a folk dance with the first years, and was part of the teachers' spoon relay team (which was done with a tennis racket and two balls instead of a spoon and egg. . . but still called a spoon relay? hmmm. . .) oh, my favorite was running on the english club relay team. we had to run against the pta (a bunch of really fit guys in their forties). . . they were winning when i got the baton, so i did my best to catch up with the guy. . . somehow i managed to forget that i was only running about 75m and plowed over one of the students as i was handing off the baton. ooops. . . in the end, my team came in second. . .anyway. . . they have some of the most random events in this thing. one of my favorites involves half of a team holding up a bamboo stick while members of the opposing team sprint and launch themselves to the top half of the stick in order to pull it to the ground before the other team. (this would make more sense with pictures. i promise to get some up soon!) the main goal of undokai is to encourage team work, group unity, etc. they do an amazing job with this. . . it's funny how much improvement the students make over three years. . . for example, the centipede race, where teams of about ten students line up and tie their legs together and then have to run a lap. i love it when they mess up because of the lovely domino effect, resulting in a large pile of students still stuck together struggling to stand again. the third years always win, while the first years are still back at the starting line. ahhh. . . i have so much to say but really cannot explain it all in one entry. . . my main point is that undokai is tons of fun with a very strong moral. i often appreciate the sense of responsibility the people here feel towards each other . . . this can be seen everywhere (literally). it's not a chore to help their neighbors but just part of life. . . and so much more seems to be accomplished when everyone is doing their part! (for example, they have soji, cleaning time, everyday at school. during this ten minute period of time, the students scour the school. there are no janitors, only soji. it makes so much more sense!)
enough of that. . . what else have i been wanting to write about? oh, my amazing thursdays!!! in my two weeks of teaching, i have realized that the teachers make all the difference in the world! luckily, i work with some freaking amazing people! as i was giving my self-introduction to yet another class two thursdays ago, the teacher suddenly asked me to give a dance demonstration in the class! i thought she was joking until the tables were pushed out of the way to create a mini stage. (when i went back last thursday, i was asked to dance in two more classes!)
oh, that reminds me. . . i have really missed dance a great deal lately. (i always say that i don't get homesick, but i do get dancesick.) i tried hard to allow the town to let me use the budokan (martial arts building) for dance. . . but no luck. after hearing about my love of dance, one of the fathers at the undokai enkai. . . sports festival after party for teachers and members of the pta. . . suddenly got up and made a phone call. it turns out that he has connections with the best dance group in kochi, which supposedly has everything from modern to ballet to traditional dance. everyone wants me to dance with the group in the awa odori festival next august. . . kochi happens to be a very famous for this festival . . . i don't really know how good of a dancer i am. . . nor do i really know the type of dance they will be doing, as i am slightly afraid that my definition of modern dance is different from theirs. . . oh well, it is certainly worth a try!!! oh, i love the motto of the festival. . . "it's a fool who dances and a fool who watches, so if both are fools, you may as well dance!". . . sounds great to me.
okay, i'm going out to dinner tonight, so i should finish now. . . though i have so much more to say!!!! (oh, including that i have a cockroach somewhere in my house . . . ugh. . . and did i tell you about the spider with a three inch radius??? i am not exaggerating at all. i had no idea they came that large. my fear of spiders has tripled since i got here. ahhh. . .)
enough of that. . . what else have i been wanting to write about? oh, my amazing thursdays!!! in my two weeks of teaching, i have realized that the teachers make all the difference in the world! luckily, i work with some freaking amazing people! as i was giving my self-introduction to yet another class two thursdays ago, the teacher suddenly asked me to give a dance demonstration in the class! i thought she was joking until the tables were pushed out of the way to create a mini stage. (when i went back last thursday, i was asked to dance in two more classes!)
oh, that reminds me. . . i have really missed dance a great deal lately. (i always say that i don't get homesick, but i do get dancesick.) i tried hard to allow the town to let me use the budokan (martial arts building) for dance. . . but no luck. after hearing about my love of dance, one of the fathers at the undokai enkai. . . sports festival after party for teachers and members of the pta. . . suddenly got up and made a phone call. it turns out that he has connections with the best dance group in kochi, which supposedly has everything from modern to ballet to traditional dance. everyone wants me to dance with the group in the awa odori festival next august. . . kochi happens to be a very famous for this festival . . . i don't really know how good of a dancer i am. . . nor do i really know the type of dance they will be doing, as i am slightly afraid that my definition of modern dance is different from theirs. . . oh well, it is certainly worth a try!!! oh, i love the motto of the festival. . . "it's a fool who dances and a fool who watches, so if both are fools, you may as well dance!". . . sounds great to me.
okay, i'm going out to dinner tonight, so i should finish now. . . though i have so much more to say!!!! (oh, including that i have a cockroach somewhere in my house . . . ugh. . . and did i tell you about the spider with a three inch radius??? i am not exaggerating at all. i had no idea they came that large. my fear of spiders has tripled since i got here. ahhh. . .)
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
life in the inaka. . .
haha. . . these people are great. . . kaori, who just turned 41 yesterday, is doing the dance from her junior high sports festival. . . i have three sports festivals to go to in the next four weeks or so (one for the junior high school, one for the elementary school, and one for the nursery schools). . . don’t ask me what a sports festival is because i still really do not understand. . . all i know is that my junior high school students look like they belong in the military. (we practice for this thing a few hours everyday.) some girl blows a whistle and shouts a command, and all the students move in unison. . . i think i have to run in a relay and do something else. . . i’m on the red team if you care to know. . . (which reminds me, we have no school colors and no school mascot. . . no one in japan does!!!). . .
anyway. . . the typhoon has passed with no major damage (not in kahoku anyway. . . guess it was pretty tough in kyushuu). . . i did not have to walk home in the typhoon. . . instead, i had personal taxis everywhere i went. . . during the worst part of the storm, yamashita-san and i watched spiderman 2. . . today, everything is back to normal. . . sunny and really, insanely hot!!!
i had my first lessons at the nursery schools this morning. . . my favorite by far!!!! three classes (about twenty minutes each) at the birafu nursery (ages three, four, and five) followed by one mixed class at the futaba nursery (ages three through five). . . before my class at futaba, i got to play with the one and two year olds for a bit. . . in fact, they wondered into my lesson with the older kids later. . . so, so cute!!! i really need to learn japanese though. . . they have so much to say! . . . the little ones pulled out books for me to read (but they were all in japanese!!!). . . ahhh!! so. . . this afternoon, kaori has been teaching me tosaben, which is the local dialect of japanese . . . similar to hick-english i think. . .haha. . . as long as i stay in kochi-ken, i should be fine. . . hmmm. . .
essentially the same report as always. . . kind people, tons of fun. . . life is good. . . oh, i am going to “light exercise” (aerobics maybe?) tonight with all the middle-aged women in my office. . . ha, am i really at this stage of my life? i hope not, but it’s fun every now and then!
mata ne!
anyway. . . the typhoon has passed with no major damage (not in kahoku anyway. . . guess it was pretty tough in kyushuu). . . i did not have to walk home in the typhoon. . . instead, i had personal taxis everywhere i went. . . during the worst part of the storm, yamashita-san and i watched spiderman 2. . . today, everything is back to normal. . . sunny and really, insanely hot!!!
i had my first lessons at the nursery schools this morning. . . my favorite by far!!!! three classes (about twenty minutes each) at the birafu nursery (ages three, four, and five) followed by one mixed class at the futaba nursery (ages three through five). . . before my class at futaba, i got to play with the one and two year olds for a bit. . . in fact, they wondered into my lesson with the older kids later. . . so, so cute!!! i really need to learn japanese though. . . they have so much to say! . . . the little ones pulled out books for me to read (but they were all in japanese!!!). . . ahhh!! so. . . this afternoon, kaori has been teaching me tosaben, which is the local dialect of japanese . . . similar to hick-english i think. . .haha. . . as long as i stay in kochi-ken, i should be fine. . . hmmm. . .
essentially the same report as always. . . kind people, tons of fun. . . life is good. . . oh, i am going to “light exercise” (aerobics maybe?) tonight with all the middle-aged women in my office. . . ha, am i really at this stage of my life? i hope not, but it’s fun every now and then!
mata ne!
how's the weather?
i wrote this yesterday but decided to wait until today to post it. . . in other words, i survived my first typhoon :) . . .
school was cancelled today thanks to the typhoon. . . yet teachers were required to attend this morning and despite the fact that they were permitted to leave at lunch, i for some odd reason am required to be at the board of education. . . ugh, ugh, ugh. . . i received the following email from a fellow jet this morning. . .
“I am confused about working in Japan. I am here at work today at Ochi Jr. High School. School has been cancelled, yet I am sitting here, in the middle of a typhoon! Why am I here? I was told I had to be here! Is anyone else out there in this predicament? We are at work during a natural disaster, which was described by the news as a typhoon the size of Katrina.”
some things in japan just don’t make much sense. . . although i have to say this is probably the safest building in town, as it is this depressing, gray block with only a few windows on one side. . . still, how nice would it be to go home and not have to worry about walking home at the end of the day. . . stupid, stupid, stupid. . . hehe. . . i should probably wait to post this until after i have survived the natural disaster in order to avoid freaking my mother out. . .
sad. . . this poor bird trying to fly around outside the window is getting tossed in every direction. . . anyway, wish me luck with my first typhoon. . . larger than katrina but not as strong. . . so i’m told.
school was cancelled today thanks to the typhoon. . . yet teachers were required to attend this morning and despite the fact that they were permitted to leave at lunch, i for some odd reason am required to be at the board of education. . . ugh, ugh, ugh. . . i received the following email from a fellow jet this morning. . .
“I am confused about working in Japan. I am here at work today at Ochi Jr. High School. School has been cancelled, yet I am sitting here, in the middle of a typhoon! Why am I here? I was told I had to be here! Is anyone else out there in this predicament? We are at work during a natural disaster, which was described by the news as a typhoon the size of Katrina.”
some things in japan just don’t make much sense. . . although i have to say this is probably the safest building in town, as it is this depressing, gray block with only a few windows on one side. . . still, how nice would it be to go home and not have to worry about walking home at the end of the day. . . stupid, stupid, stupid. . . hehe. . . i should probably wait to post this until after i have survived the natural disaster in order to avoid freaking my mother out. . .
sad. . . this poor bird trying to fly around outside the window is getting tossed in every direction. . . anyway, wish me luck with my first typhoon. . . larger than katrina but not as strong. . . so i’m told.
Tuesday, September 06, 2005
minnesota nice in japan. . .
the superintendent just offered to take me out to eat sometime at a restaurant of my choice (french, italian, usw) because he thinks i have lost weight since i got here. . . i am pretty sure i have gained weight because of all the carbs, but i'm not about to argue with a free meal! (if you are worried about me, i honestly have learned to cook! i discovered this grill like thing under my sink that makes really great meat. i also have lunch at school during the week now, and i usually make bacon, eggs, and toast for breakfast. . . i honestly do not think i have lost weight!) tatekun was really surprised and said i was quite lucky! guess the super doesn't do this often! he has really been very kind to me. . . for those of you who do not know, he paid for my car instead of me taking out a loan (i.e. no interest!). . .
in other news. . . i had a "salt making experience" this weekend with some kids and their families. we went to the ocean (a three hour drive resulting in one child getting bus sick lit
erally one minute before we arrived) to learn how they extract salt from the ocean water. . . i got some neat pics but still have not had a chance to post them. . . anyway, the kids were cute, and i now have some great salt for cooking. . .
on sunday, i went to the kochi junior high school volleyball tournament (like a state tournament) with kawamura-san. . . kahoku got second place!!! it feels funny to be part of the parent/teacher cheering section now, as opposed to the student pep club. i felt like i was back in highland, kansas (only the cheers were in japanese). . .
after the game, we went shopping at this amazing second hand store!!! i ended up with four or five new shirts and a new skirt for approx $35!!! i think kawamura-sensee will be a bad influence on me because we both really like to shop! this is the second time we have gone in the three weekends i have been here!!! oops. . .
oh, so the typhoon is on its way. . . for some reason, there is a man outside the board of education in a rain suit, cleaning the building with a high pressure sprayer??? why now? it's already raining . . . i really wouldn't care to be out in this wind. . .
the people here are so cute. . . last night, one of the junior high boys (oh, there are now students in the dorm from mon to fri) gave me pudding "a present for you". . . then yamashita-sensee (the teacher whose name i could not remember) brought a flashlight for me. . . later, i had a bit
of a headache and asked if he had tylenol. . . no, but of course he went out in the rain and got some for me, despite my insistence that i would be fine without it. . . everyone here is so helpful. . . maybe a bit like minnesota nice. :) they are always helping each other and really take good care of me. . .
okay, guess it is time to finish this blog. . . i should have another one up soon enough.
in other news. . . i had a "salt making experience" this weekend with some kids and their families. we went to the ocean (a three hour drive resulting in one child getting bus sick lit
erally one minute before we arrived) to learn how they extract salt from the ocean water. . . i got some neat pics but still have not had a chance to post them. . . anyway, the kids were cute, and i now have some great salt for cooking. . .on sunday, i went to the kochi junior high school volleyball tournament (like a state tournament) with kawamura-san. . . kahoku got second place!!! it feels funny to be part of the parent/teacher cheering section now, as opposed to the student pep club. i felt like i was back in highland, kansas (only the cheers were in japanese). . .
after the game, we went shopping at this amazing second hand store!!! i ended up with four or five new shirts and a new skirt for approx $35!!! i think kawamura-sensee will be a bad influence on me because we both really like to shop! this is the second time we have gone in the three weekends i have been here!!! oops. . .
oh, so the typhoon is on its way. . . for some reason, there is a man outside the board of education in a rain suit, cleaning the building with a high pressure sprayer??? why now? it's already raining . . . i really wouldn't care to be out in this wind. . .
the people here are so cute. . . last night, one of the junior high boys (oh, there are now students in the dorm from mon to fri) gave me pudding "a present for you". . . then yamashita-sensee (the teacher whose name i could not remember) brought a flashlight for me. . . later, i had a bit
of a headache and asked if he had tylenol. . . no, but of course he went out in the rain and got some for me, despite my insistence that i would be fine without it. . . everyone here is so helpful. . . maybe a bit like minnesota nice. :) they are always helping each other and really take good care of me. . .
okay, guess it is time to finish this blog. . . i should have another one up soon enough.
Thursday, September 01, 2005
my first day of school. . .
8:15 arrive at the board of education
8:35 leave for the elementary school opening ceremony (tatekun “relax, relax, relax”)
(i should mention the night before. . . 19:00 finally leave work, 20:00 eat dinner while memorizing self-introduction in japanese, 21:00 head down the hall to deliver a practice speech to the teacher whose name i still cannot remember. . .21:20 receive a gift of orange juice with a note from the same teacher “do your best”. . .the most popular phrase in japan, especially among educators. . . okay back to my first day of school)
8:45 blindly follow the elementary school principal down the hallway and into a gymnasium filled with children ages six to twelve, stand up front with four little boys (who i finally figured out were new students), give speech when prompted, stare blankly at the principal as she turns two of the new students towards me and speaks rapidly in japanese, finally realize that she wants me to speak to them in german, mumble a few words. . . enough to satisfy the two poor boys and the principal. . . haha, my amazing german skills. . . i tell one person that i speak a little and suddenly i’m the new counselor for german exchange students??? hmmm. . .apparently there are a decent number of them that come through kahoku. . .anyway. . .
8:55 ushered out of the gymnasium and into a car to attend the junior high school opening ceremony. . .
9:00 stand through ten bows (no exaggeration), listen to the school song and principal’s speech, glance at tatekun every two seconds in confusion (hoping for a clue as to what is happening), stand through six more bows, eventually make my way to the front of the gymnasium to give my speech in english (with many blank stares in return) and then japanese resulting in a huge applause, stand through at least seventy more bows (maybe an exaggeration this time) and a presentation of awards, finally make my way back to the office after forty-five minutes of confusion, receive many congratulations. . . “perfect” being the most common. . . many feelings of relief. . .
10:00 leave for the elementary school (no escort this time), chat with the principal and secretary in a bit of English but mostly Japanese. . . i think my Japanese is finally beginning to improve! . . . finally go to my first class at 10:30. . .
whew. . . that was enough to do in a day. . . i still have not recovered from the random prompt to speak german in front of the entire school. . . prompting done in japanese (which I barely understand). . . my mind does not switch between languages that quickly. . . i don’t even know who told her i had studied german! haha. . . it was fun. . . it would be nice to improve my german and japanese a the same time. . .
oh, so my first class was insanely cute! they were tiny little first graders. . . their teacher had tons of energy and prepped them a bit for my arrival. . . to begin class, their leaders said “let’s learn english! attention! bow!” . . .so cute! . . .they loved all of my visuals and managed to introduce themselves and tell me foods that they liked . . . we then sang two songs (“head, shoulders, knees, and toes” and “seven steps”). . . i taught them how to say english goodbyes. . . off to my next class. . .
the fifth graders were okay in class, but it was difficult to jump levels like that without knowing anything about how their past instruction. . . before class started, i tried asking one student a question. . . he was quickly surrounded my six other students who were keen to help. . . everything in japan seems to be done in groups. . . fun at times, annoying at others. . . today, i realized just how long it has been since i have entered an elementary school!! i’m used to junior high and high school students because of camp. . . i have somewhat of an idea when it comes to preschoolers . . .but elementary?!?!? that was a difficult one to judge. . . so. . . the fifth grade class went well. . .just not as well as the first grade class. . . the good news was that we had a chance to bond over lunch, where i had to make little rolls with seaweed sheets, rice, and random foods (some with tofu, others with tuna. . . i tried with this fried tofu stuff, but i guess i was wrong because the students all laughed at me and then teased this other boy because i was following his bad example). . . after lunch, two of the girls took me to the library to read me a book in japanese . . .
finally, i had the third grade class. . . i thought this would be easy after having the older ones and the younger ones. . . just something in between, right? . . .hmmm. . .their class was huge (almost 40) and their teacher was not nearly as helpful. . . i think she was just afraid to use english. . . anyway, we all made it through. . . i taught them a song. . . they all rushed up front to help me with my materials and ask me questions afterwards, so i guess it went better than i thought. . . oh, does anyone know where ミラン is in america? it sounds like milan to me, but that doesn’t help. . .it was in some book this girl had read. . . i felt really bad that i couldn’t answer her question because she was trying so hard!
how do teachers do this? i am exhausted! this heat doesn’t help. . .and no air conditioning in the schools? ugh. . .oh!. . . any tips as to how to keep myself interesting? i cannot handle giving this self-introduction ten more times (probably more). . . i am tired of me already. . . didn’t know that was possible. ;)
okay, that is more detail than you need. the following is my intro speech. . . enjoy!
はじめまして。
エリンジーンアレクサンドラグローツです。
エリンとよんでください。
私はアメリカのカンサスしゅうのハイランドからきました。
私のまちは千人くらいのまちです。
ことしのごがつにミネソタしゅうの大学をそつぎよしました。
大学でげんごがくとダンスをべんきょうしました。
日本にきたのははじめてです。
みなさんよろしくおねがいします。
Random articles. . .
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/business/4201154.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/wales/south_east/4197306.stm
8:35 leave for the elementary school opening ceremony (tatekun “relax, relax, relax”)
(i should mention the night before. . . 19:00 finally leave work, 20:00 eat dinner while memorizing self-introduction in japanese, 21:00 head down the hall to deliver a practice speech to the teacher whose name i still cannot remember. . .21:20 receive a gift of orange juice with a note from the same teacher “do your best”. . .the most popular phrase in japan, especially among educators. . . okay back to my first day of school)
8:45 blindly follow the elementary school principal down the hallway and into a gymnasium filled with children ages six to twelve, stand up front with four little boys (who i finally figured out were new students), give speech when prompted, stare blankly at the principal as she turns two of the new students towards me and speaks rapidly in japanese, finally realize that she wants me to speak to them in german, mumble a few words. . . enough to satisfy the two poor boys and the principal. . . haha, my amazing german skills. . . i tell one person that i speak a little and suddenly i’m the new counselor for german exchange students??? hmmm. . .apparently there are a decent number of them that come through kahoku. . .anyway. . .
8:55 ushered out of the gymnasium and into a car to attend the junior high school opening ceremony. . .
9:00 stand through ten bows (no exaggeration), listen to the school song and principal’s speech, glance at tatekun every two seconds in confusion (hoping for a clue as to what is happening), stand through six more bows, eventually make my way to the front of the gymnasium to give my speech in english (with many blank stares in return) and then japanese resulting in a huge applause, stand through at least seventy more bows (maybe an exaggeration this time) and a presentation of awards, finally make my way back to the office after forty-five minutes of confusion, receive many congratulations. . . “perfect” being the most common. . . many feelings of relief. . .
10:00 leave for the elementary school (no escort this time), chat with the principal and secretary in a bit of English but mostly Japanese. . . i think my Japanese is finally beginning to improve! . . . finally go to my first class at 10:30. . .
whew. . . that was enough to do in a day. . . i still have not recovered from the random prompt to speak german in front of the entire school. . . prompting done in japanese (which I barely understand). . . my mind does not switch between languages that quickly. . . i don’t even know who told her i had studied german! haha. . . it was fun. . . it would be nice to improve my german and japanese a the same time. . .
oh, so my first class was insanely cute! they were tiny little first graders. . . their teacher had tons of energy and prepped them a bit for my arrival. . . to begin class, their leaders said “let’s learn english! attention! bow!” . . .so cute! . . .they loved all of my visuals and managed to introduce themselves and tell me foods that they liked . . . we then sang two songs (“head, shoulders, knees, and toes” and “seven steps”). . . i taught them how to say english goodbyes. . . off to my next class. . .
the fifth graders were okay in class, but it was difficult to jump levels like that without knowing anything about how their past instruction. . . before class started, i tried asking one student a question. . . he was quickly surrounded my six other students who were keen to help. . . everything in japan seems to be done in groups. . . fun at times, annoying at others. . . today, i realized just how long it has been since i have entered an elementary school!! i’m used to junior high and high school students because of camp. . . i have somewhat of an idea when it comes to preschoolers . . .but elementary?!?!? that was a difficult one to judge. . . so. . . the fifth grade class went well. . .just not as well as the first grade class. . . the good news was that we had a chance to bond over lunch, where i had to make little rolls with seaweed sheets, rice, and random foods (some with tofu, others with tuna. . . i tried with this fried tofu stuff, but i guess i was wrong because the students all laughed at me and then teased this other boy because i was following his bad example). . . after lunch, two of the girls took me to the library to read me a book in japanese . . .
finally, i had the third grade class. . . i thought this would be easy after having the older ones and the younger ones. . . just something in between, right? . . .hmmm. . .their class was huge (almost 40) and their teacher was not nearly as helpful. . . i think she was just afraid to use english. . . anyway, we all made it through. . . i taught them a song. . . they all rushed up front to help me with my materials and ask me questions afterwards, so i guess it went better than i thought. . . oh, does anyone know where ミラン is in america? it sounds like milan to me, but that doesn’t help. . .it was in some book this girl had read. . . i felt really bad that i couldn’t answer her question because she was trying so hard!
how do teachers do this? i am exhausted! this heat doesn’t help. . .and no air conditioning in the schools? ugh. . .oh!. . . any tips as to how to keep myself interesting? i cannot handle giving this self-introduction ten more times (probably more). . . i am tired of me already. . . didn’t know that was possible. ;)
okay, that is more detail than you need. the following is my intro speech. . . enjoy!
はじめまして。
エリンジーンアレクサンドラグローツです。
エリンとよんでください。
私はアメリカのカンサスしゅうのハイランドからきました。
私のまちは千人くらいのまちです。
ことしのごがつにミネソタしゅうの大学をそつぎよしました。
大学でげんごがくとダンスをべんきょうしました。
日本にきたのははじめてです。
みなさんよろしくおねがいします。
Random articles. . .
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/business/4201154.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/wales/south_east/4197306.stm
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
keitai hell. . .
this is supposed to be keitai heaven, but i somehow managed to end up in keitai hell. . .ahhh. . . how many times have i said that i do not want a keitai (cellphone)!?!?! i knew this was going to be a disaster. . . yesterday, i went to the store with tatekun, picked out a phone (by cuteness as instructed), filled out almost all of the papers, and then realized that i forgot my damn hanko. . . a hanko is a stamp that acts as a signature would in the united states. . . so, after wasting a good hour or so of our time, i couldn’t get the phone. . . tatekun had to go back with my hanko and get it for me during his lunch break today. i felt absolutely horrible!!!! anyway, i now have a phone that i do not know how to use because all the controls are in japanese. . . how did i manage to forget that tiny little question “can i set it in english?” . . . stupid, stupid, stupid. ahhhhhhhhhh. . . right, so. . . give me a call, eh?
rainy days. . .
that was interesting. . . for whatever reason, almost no one is in the office at the moment. the only people left are the three ladies who speak the least english of anyone i have met thus far. naturally, i decided to ask them one of the most difficult questions i have asked of anyone during my time here. . . since i work at the board of education (which is in the same building as all of the other city offices. . . city hall if you will), much prep is going on for the upcoming elections (september 11th). i innocently pointed to a banner spanning half of the building and said, “what is that?” . . . ha. oops. i got something to do with “how many” “election” “house of representatives”. . . after much searching in dictionaries. . . the thing is that once a question has been asked, they do not stop until they feel as though i fully understand the point they are trying to get across. . . no matter how long it takes! . . . if only my students will be this motivated to speak with me!
anyway. . . last night, i made two friends! (sounds like i’m in kindergarten, eh?). . . as i was exploring on saturday, i stumbled into the anpanman library and had a chat with the summer librarian. . . mostly in japanese, which should let you know the level of the conversation. . . she somehow managed to tell me that she has a daughter who studied in america. . . this is friend number one. . . sayaka (the librarian’s daughter) was my first official visitor! we had cookies and tea and a true conversation in english!!! sayaka, age 24, is an artist and wants to learn how to dance. . .we talked about starting ballet or modern classes on saturdays. . . guess it depends on how busy my schedule really ends up being. . . dance classes or not, sayaka should be a fun friend to try out japanese things with. . . friend number two. . . hmmm. . . i forgot his name. . . he is the industrial arts teacher at the junior high school and the only other teacher that lives in my dorm. . . while i thought he was in his mid-twenties, he is actually thirty-one. . . but a typical guy. . . coaches soccer, loves fishing (“my boat. . . dorm. . . my boat”). . . we played cards for an hour and a half and then chatted for a bit longer. . . his english actually isn’t that bad. . . like a lot of people, he just needs a chance to practice. . . along the way, i learned some new japanese words. . . yay! i have friends. . . sayaka suggested that “we” have a party to get to know the people in my dorm, which i had considered. . . but my room is a bit small. . . and i can’t bake cookies without an oven (and without flour. . . i looked the other day and never found it. . . but it must be somewhere. . . ugh) . . .
haha, i was just asked my blood type. . . why does everyone here know their blood type?? evidently, type A is the most popular in the board of education. . . because you all care to know that. . .
oh, my weekend was entertaining. . . i obviously had to test out my new car, so. . . i decided to check out some spots on the tourist brochures i was given upon my arrival in kochi. . . tourist spots should be safe enough to drive to alone, right? the most popular sites in kahoku (after the anpanman museum of course) are its waterfalls. . . i checked out my brochures, planned my route to the closer of the two, and was on my way. . . being in a brochure does classify it as a tourist site, does it not? tourist sites are typically located on large, paved roads, are they not? i drove across the bridge, through the next little village, and started up the mountain. . . the roads grew narrower (inconceivable one would think). . . the mirrors showing cars rounding the corners disappeared and signs signaling cars to honk appeared instead. . .about one third of the way up (as the side rails disappeared and the distance of the fall continued to increase), my fear of heights kicked in. . . i found a place to do about a twenty point turn and headed right back down the mountain. . . everyone in my office found this hilarious on monday. . . “you went up alone?”. . . of course i did, no one told me not to. . . they just gave me the brochures. . . i now have about ten offers from people in both offices for a weekend in the future. . . of course they find my driving in general amusing. . .
other news of the weekend, i visited the local café. . . “biraifu” (pun on birafu – where i live in kahoku – “be life”). . . and ordered my first meal in japanese by myself. . . this old lady kept standing up, looking at me around the corner, and sitting back down. . . finally, as she and her husband were leaving, she asked me where i live. . . not thinking, i told her near the elementary school. . . i eventually figured out that she meant where in the world (i.e. america) not where in kahoku. . . because why would a foreigner be living in kahoku? ha. . . sunday i managed to make
my way to the big city of kochi (really it is rather large. . .tall buildings, lots of shopping, six lane highways) to visit the famous sunday market and the kochi castle. . . i ran into four or five other obnoxious americans. . . they were so loud and kept sticking their cameras right up in people’s faces. . . this was actually my first run-in with americans in japan outside of orientation in tokyo. . . i know i shouldn’t be arrogant because i don’t even 
want to know how many people i have annoyed or offended in my two weeks here, but. . . i hate how people speak louder to try and make others understand english. . . they are not deaf, they just don’t know the language. . . i also hate that tourists never seem to be concerned with just stepping back and observing their surroundings. . . the point of traveling is not to see some spectacle but to learn, to gain a new understanding, a new perspective. . . i don’t really know how to describe this. . . and i realize that not everyone travels with this same idea in mind. . . haha. . . silent observer . . . guess i should remember that from movement analysis. . . anyway. . . i learned how to drive in the city, in the inaka (rural area), and how not to drive in the mountains all in one weekend. . .
school begins on september 1st. . . i have to speak at two opening ceremonies (in english and japanese at both) and then teach my first three elementary school lessons! i will try to give an update soon after. . .
anyway. . . last night, i made two friends! (sounds like i’m in kindergarten, eh?). . . as i was exploring on saturday, i stumbled into the anpanman library and had a chat with the summer librarian. . . mostly in japanese, which should let you know the level of the conversation. . . she somehow managed to tell me that she has a daughter who studied in america. . . this is friend number one. . . sayaka (the librarian’s daughter) was my first official visitor! we had cookies and tea and a true conversation in english!!! sayaka, age 24, is an artist and wants to learn how to dance. . .we talked about starting ballet or modern classes on saturdays. . . guess it depends on how busy my schedule really ends up being. . . dance classes or not, sayaka should be a fun friend to try out japanese things with. . . friend number two. . . hmmm. . . i forgot his name. . . he is the industrial arts teacher at the junior high school and the only other teacher that lives in my dorm. . . while i thought he was in his mid-twenties, he is actually thirty-one. . . but a typical guy. . . coaches soccer, loves fishing (“my boat. . . dorm. . . my boat”). . . we played cards for an hour and a half and then chatted for a bit longer. . . his english actually isn’t that bad. . . like a lot of people, he just needs a chance to practice. . . along the way, i learned some new japanese words. . . yay! i have friends. . . sayaka suggested that “we” have a party to get to know the people in my dorm, which i had considered. . . but my room is a bit small. . . and i can’t bake cookies without an oven (and without flour. . . i looked the other day and never found it. . . but it must be somewhere. . . ugh) . . .haha, i was just asked my blood type. . . why does everyone here know their blood type?? evidently, type A is the most popular in the board of education. . . because you all care to know that. . .
oh, my weekend was entertaining. . . i obviously had to test out my new car, so. . . i decided to check out some spots on the tourist brochures i was given upon my arrival in kochi. . . tourist spots should be safe enough to drive to alone, right? the most popular sites in kahoku (after the anpanman museum of course) are its waterfalls. . . i checked out my brochures, planned my route to the closer of the two, and was on my way. . . being in a brochure does classify it as a tourist site, does it not? tourist sites are typically located on large, paved roads, are they not? i drove across the bridge, through the next little village, and started up the mountain. . . the roads grew narrower (inconceivable one would think). . . the mirrors showing cars rounding the corners disappeared and signs signaling cars to honk appeared instead. . .about one third of the way up (as the side rails disappeared and the distance of the fall continued to increase), my fear of heights kicked in. . . i found a place to do about a twenty point turn and headed right back down the mountain. . . everyone in my office found this hilarious on monday. . . “you went up alone?”. . . of course i did, no one told me not to. . . they just gave me the brochures. . . i now have about ten offers from people in both offices for a weekend in the future. . . of course they find my driving in general amusing. . .
other news of the weekend, i visited the local café. . . “biraifu” (pun on birafu – where i live in kahoku – “be life”). . . and ordered my first meal in japanese by myself. . . this old lady kept standing up, looking at me around the corner, and sitting back down. . . finally, as she and her husband were leaving, she asked me where i live. . . not thinking, i told her near the elementary school. . . i eventually figured out that she meant where in the world (i.e. america) not where in kahoku. . . because why would a foreigner be living in kahoku? ha. . . sunday i managed to make
my way to the big city of kochi (really it is rather large. . .tall buildings, lots of shopping, six lane highways) to visit the famous sunday market and the kochi castle. . . i ran into four or five other obnoxious americans. . . they were so loud and kept sticking their cameras right up in people’s faces. . . this was actually my first run-in with americans in japan outside of orientation in tokyo. . . i know i shouldn’t be arrogant because i don’t even 
want to know how many people i have annoyed or offended in my two weeks here, but. . . i hate how people speak louder to try and make others understand english. . . they are not deaf, they just don’t know the language. . . i also hate that tourists never seem to be concerned with just stepping back and observing their surroundings. . . the point of traveling is not to see some spectacle but to learn, to gain a new understanding, a new perspective. . . i don’t really know how to describe this. . . and i realize that not everyone travels with this same idea in mind. . . haha. . . silent observer . . . guess i should remember that from movement analysis. . . anyway. . . i learned how to drive in the city, in the inaka (rural area), and how not to drive in the mountains all in one weekend. . .school begins on september 1st. . . i have to speak at two opening ceremonies (in english and japanese at both) and then teach my first three elementary school lessons! i will try to give an update soon after. . .
Friday, August 26, 2005
it's about time. . .
on monday, i spent an hour writing an entry about life in japan. . . because all the instructions on this computer are in japanese, i somehow managed to lose the entire entry!!! ugh!!!
i suppose it is now quite obvious that i arrived safely in japan last wednesday, august 17th. . . although i began my journey in tokyo, my main impressions came from its airports and the keio plaza hotel. . . toshi took me out on the town the first evening i was there, but all i really remember is falling asleep standing up on the train! sorry to disappoint those of you who were hoping to hear about the excitement of shopping and drunken karaoke. . . my first two days in japan went something like this. . . sleep, eat, sit through never-ending seminars on life as an alt in japan only to hear ESID (every situation is different), eat, want to sleep, more seminars, eat, sleep, get up at 5:30a.m. thanks to jetlag. . . by the time i left for kahoku on friday, i was finally beginning to adjust. . .
upon my arrival in kochi-ken, i discovered that essentially no one in my town speaks english! the good news is that more and more people in my office are trying to speak english . . . even when they speak to each other, which tends to keep everyone entertained. . . kazu and yoshi are especially funny. . .at my second enkai – after bowling – kazu answered his phone in english and thoroughly confused the person on the other end. . . oh, returning to my arrival in kochi. . . kaori and tatekun (my supervisor) took me out to lunch at a japanese restaurant. they insisted on requesting a fork, which was presented to me in a special little basket. . . everywhere i go, i am asked “can you eat japanese food? can you use chopsticks?” . . . “really?!?! sugoi desu ne!”. . . oh! the first item they showed me in kahoku was a vending machine! “do you know what this is? you have them in america?!?!” . . .
ugh, i have so much to say but doubt that you all have time to read three hundred pages on my first week in japan!
to sum up my first two days at the office. . . “let’s meet kahoku mayor.” “let’s meet elementary school principal.” “let’s meet town office workers.” “let’s meet junior high school teachers” . . . do you get the picture?? on friday, i visited five or more offices (which took at least three hours) before i even got to see my home!! after one hour of unpacking, tatekun returned to take me to my first enkai (office welcome party), where i shocked everyone by eating all kinds of raw fish with my chopsticks and meeting my first challenge. . . japanese style toilets. . . on monday i had to meet another five hundred people. . . and see the sports complex and soccer field, where i was told “green . . . friday brown. . .(hand gestures) ame (that means rain)”. . . i think that the stop at the sports field was more for the two guys to check out the team and condition of the field than it was to really show me anything. . . ah well. . . i am learning. . . learning names, learning japanese, learning to cook (without an oven or microwave even!), learning to drive on the opposite side of the road. . .oh! lots to tell about the roads. . .
at orientation, my roommate was telling me about japanese roads and how narrow they were. . .i really didn’t think much about what she was saying until we turned off of the highway to get to my office in kahoku. . . a road here would classify as an alley in the united states. . . no sidewalks, one car at a time. . . if two cars meet, one has to back up so the other may pass. . . what makes it worse is that there are drainage ditches on the sides (about a three foot drop usually leading to a rice field). . . as i walk or ride my bike to work each morning (you cannot drive anywhere within a one kilometer radius. . . a great idea i think!). . . oh, but as i go to work and have to pull to the side for cars to pass, i need to move as close to the edge as possible! i may end up in a rice field someday soon!
what else can i tell you??? haha. . . how about the bugs??? on saturday (my first full day in kahoku. . . alone. . . with no car), i set out to explore the town. . . of course the first thing i found was a ginormous spider . . . do you all know about my heart-wrenching fear of spiders??? i though i was going to die . . . the farther i walked, the more spiders i found. . . thankfully, i think the rain washed the spiders out because i have not seen the large ones for a while. . . anyway, when i returned home to organize my house, i discovered a dead cockroach under my bed (yes, thankfully dead or i would have died again). . . i was told later that the large spiders are good because they eat cockroaches. . . what a lovely thought. . . this is my favorite though. . .as i was about to leave for my first day at the office on monday, a “small” spider was waiting for me on my door handle. . . as i went to smash it with my restroom slipper, it started blinking its eyes at me!!! my heart was pounding so hard! i thought i was going to be late to work. . . i know, i know. . . it’s quite stupid, but it’s true!
ha. . . a lot of what i have written could be considered negative, but it honestly is not meant that way at all. . . things are mostly just different. . . i think the most difficult adjustment for me thus far is simply learning to live on my own (and therefore cook and clean and meet people and schedule my time). . . the main thing I miss is having people to visit at all hours of the day! it is especially hard because i am very young. . . only one other person in my office is in his twenties (27 and married) . . . most of the others are in their thirties or forties and have kids. . . i hope to get involved in some community activities soon, which should help . . .
oh! the kids i have met thus far are really cute. . . especially the elementary school boys are very curious to see an american. . . they come up and ask “amerika-jin desu?” and then begin to jump around saying “amerika-jin, amerika-jin”. . .september 1st will be the first day of classes. . . i was surprised to find that i will be teaching two preschool classes every wednesday, three elementary school classes on thursdays, and a community class on tuesday evenings (all of these are on my own. . . not team taught!). . . on mondays, tuesdays, and fridays, i team teach with the one and only person in this town that can carry on a fairly fluid conversation in english. . . my schedule is a bit intimidating at the moment, as i have never taught small children and i do not know what the level of the adult community class will be!! guess i wanted a challenge!!!
okay, i’m sure i have a million more stories to share but think i should end here as i am now approaching three pages! if you read all of this, you are most likely my mother. . . if you are not my mother, you have more patience than me. . . i will try to write more soon. . . oh, if you skipped to the end, know this. . . the people are very kind and energetic. the food is amazing! the roads are small. the bugs are large. life is good. . .think that summarizes it.
oh! for those of you waiting to see if i am alive. . . the typhoon changed its course late in the week and missed kochi-ken.
i suppose it is now quite obvious that i arrived safely in japan last wednesday, august 17th. . . although i began my journey in tokyo, my main impressions came from its airports and the keio plaza hotel. . . toshi took me out on the town the first evening i was there, but all i really remember is falling asleep standing up on the train! sorry to disappoint those of you who were hoping to hear about the excitement of shopping and drunken karaoke. . . my first two days in japan went something like this. . . sleep, eat, sit through never-ending seminars on life as an alt in japan only to hear ESID (every situation is different), eat, want to sleep, more seminars, eat, sleep, get up at 5:30a.m. thanks to jetlag. . . by the time i left for kahoku on friday, i was finally beginning to adjust. . .
upon my arrival in kochi-ken, i discovered that essentially no one in my town speaks english! the good news is that more and more people in my office are trying to speak english . . . even when they speak to each other, which tends to keep everyone entertained. . . kazu and yoshi are especially funny. . .at my second enkai – after bowling – kazu answered his phone in english and thoroughly confused the person on the other end. . . oh, returning to my arrival in kochi. . . kaori and tatekun (my supervisor) took me out to lunch at a japanese restaurant. they insisted on requesting a fork, which was presented to me in a special little basket. . . everywhere i go, i am asked “can you eat japanese food? can you use chopsticks?” . . . “really?!?! sugoi desu ne!”. . . oh! the first item they showed me in kahoku was a vending machine! “do you know what this is? you have them in america?!?!” . . .
ugh, i have so much to say but doubt that you all have time to read three hundred pages on my first week in japan!
to sum up my first two days at the office. . . “let’s meet kahoku mayor.” “let’s meet elementary school principal.” “let’s meet town office workers.” “let’s meet junior high school teachers” . . . do you get the picture?? on friday, i visited five or more offices (which took at least three hours) before i even got to see my home!! after one hour of unpacking, tatekun returned to take me to my first enkai (office welcome party), where i shocked everyone by eating all kinds of raw fish with my chopsticks and meeting my first challenge. . . japanese style toilets. . . on monday i had to meet another five hundred people. . . and see the sports complex and soccer field, where i was told “green . . . friday brown. . .(hand gestures) ame (that means rain)”. . . i think that the stop at the sports field was more for the two guys to check out the team and condition of the field than it was to really show me anything. . . ah well. . . i am learning. . . learning names, learning japanese, learning to cook (without an oven or microwave even!), learning to drive on the opposite side of the road. . .oh! lots to tell about the roads. . .
at orientation, my roommate was telling me about japanese roads and how narrow they were. . .i really didn’t think much about what she was saying until we turned off of the highway to get to my office in kahoku. . . a road here would classify as an alley in the united states. . . no sidewalks, one car at a time. . . if two cars meet, one has to back up so the other may pass. . . what makes it worse is that there are drainage ditches on the sides (about a three foot drop usually leading to a rice field). . . as i walk or ride my bike to work each morning (you cannot drive anywhere within a one kilometer radius. . . a great idea i think!). . . oh, but as i go to work and have to pull to the side for cars to pass, i need to move as close to the edge as possible! i may end up in a rice field someday soon!
what else can i tell you??? haha. . . how about the bugs??? on saturday (my first full day in kahoku. . . alone. . . with no car), i set out to explore the town. . . of course the first thing i found was a ginormous spider . . . do you all know about my heart-wrenching fear of spiders??? i though i was going to die . . . the farther i walked, the more spiders i found. . . thankfully, i think the rain washed the spiders out because i have not seen the large ones for a while. . . anyway, when i returned home to organize my house, i discovered a dead cockroach under my bed (yes, thankfully dead or i would have died again). . . i was told later that the large spiders are good because they eat cockroaches. . . what a lovely thought. . . this is my favorite though. . .as i was about to leave for my first day at the office on monday, a “small” spider was waiting for me on my door handle. . . as i went to smash it with my restroom slipper, it started blinking its eyes at me!!! my heart was pounding so hard! i thought i was going to be late to work. . . i know, i know. . . it’s quite stupid, but it’s true!
ha. . . a lot of what i have written could be considered negative, but it honestly is not meant that way at all. . . things are mostly just different. . . i think the most difficult adjustment for me thus far is simply learning to live on my own (and therefore cook and clean and meet people and schedule my time). . . the main thing I miss is having people to visit at all hours of the day! it is especially hard because i am very young. . . only one other person in my office is in his twenties (27 and married) . . . most of the others are in their thirties or forties and have kids. . . i hope to get involved in some community activities soon, which should help . . .
oh! the kids i have met thus far are really cute. . . especially the elementary school boys are very curious to see an american. . . they come up and ask “amerika-jin desu?” and then begin to jump around saying “amerika-jin, amerika-jin”. . .september 1st will be the first day of classes. . . i was surprised to find that i will be teaching two preschool classes every wednesday, three elementary school classes on thursdays, and a community class on tuesday evenings (all of these are on my own. . . not team taught!). . . on mondays, tuesdays, and fridays, i team teach with the one and only person in this town that can carry on a fairly fluid conversation in english. . . my schedule is a bit intimidating at the moment, as i have never taught small children and i do not know what the level of the adult community class will be!! guess i wanted a challenge!!!
okay, i’m sure i have a million more stories to share but think i should end here as i am now approaching three pages! if you read all of this, you are most likely my mother. . . if you are not my mother, you have more patience than me. . . i will try to write more soon. . . oh, if you skipped to the end, know this. . . the people are very kind and energetic. the food is amazing! the roads are small. the bugs are large. life is good. . .think that summarizes it.
oh! for those of you waiting to see if i am alive. . . the typhoon changed its course late in the week and missed kochi-ken.
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
fourteen hours and i'm . . .leavin' on a jet plane!!!
for my last american meal, i ate sushi. . . all the chefs were korean. . . hmmmm. . .
anyway, my flight leaves at 11:10 a.m. central standard time from o'hare. . . my next blog will be from tokyo. . . or kahoku . . . who knows when i'll have internet access again. . .
okay. . . i will miss you all. . . but not enough to skip out on japan :) . . . jaa, mata.
anyway, my flight leaves at 11:10 a.m. central standard time from o'hare. . . my next blog will be from tokyo. . . or kahoku . . . who knows when i'll have internet access again. . .
okay. . . i will miss you all. . . but not enough to skip out on japan :) . . . jaa, mata.
Friday, August 12, 2005
stocking up. . .
i finally got my year's supply of deodorant (among other things), as instructed by all of you who have lived in japan. the checkout woman seemed to think i was a bit nuts. i figure i'll be thankful soon enough. in other news, my boss sent me an email in response to the intro email i wrote. . .
Konnichiwa! Erinn.
Thank you for your Mail.
Recently it’s been fine and very hot.
The temperature is around 32 degrees centigrade in the daytime.
You’ve been studying languages hard, haven’t you? I respect you. I can hardly read and write besides Japanese. I regret that I should have studied more at the age of student. Ms. Setsuko Kawamura, an English teacher of Kahoku J.H.S. help me with English. I think that she becomes your good partner.
Don’t hesitate to tell me, if you meet difficulties while you stay in Kahoku. We’ll support you as possible as we can. If you have some more questions, send me a mail, please.
The day you come to Japan is coming soon.
Let's enjoy new life together.
i think i am going to enjoy my time in japan very much! the people are so kind and accommodating (at least via email!). . . okay, i should go accomplish something. . .like pack! (two suitcases at 70 pounds each. . .ugh.)
Konnichiwa! Erinn.
Thank you for your Mail.
Recently it’s been fine and very hot.
The temperature is around 32 degrees centigrade in the daytime.
You’ve been studying languages hard, haven’t you? I respect you. I can hardly read and write besides Japanese. I regret that I should have studied more at the age of student. Ms. Setsuko Kawamura, an English teacher of Kahoku J.H.S. help me with English. I think that she becomes your good partner.
Don’t hesitate to tell me, if you meet difficulties while you stay in Kahoku. We’ll support you as possible as we can. If you have some more questions, send me a mail, please.
The day you come to Japan is coming soon.
Let's enjoy new life together.
i think i am going to enjoy my time in japan very much! the people are so kind and accommodating (at least via email!). . . okay, i should go accomplish something. . .like pack! (two suitcases at 70 pounds each. . .ugh.)
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
goodbye minnesota. . .goodbye kansas. . .
saturday was my final day in minnesota. . . considering my excitement in leaving the united states, it seems a bit odd that i would be so sad to leave minnesota. . . thankfully, jake picked me up at the airport and took me to explore the uptown art fair. we danced across the streets and in the stores (literally - tombé, pas de bourrée, glissade, pas de chat, pas de chat, pas de chat - each time we crossed the street!). what will i do without my friends to keep me sane and entertained!?
last night, i headed out to explore highland and doniphan county with andrew. . . got to see the stairway to hell (this insane hill we had to run for cross country), the mouth of the wolf river, and the four state lookout . . . went for some country cruisin' . . . a good reminder of life in rural kansas.
i suppose it's time to start my day. . . why am i so lazy when i come back to kansas? ugh. . . now is not the time with all the packing and prep i should be doing! ah well. . . bis spaeter.
last night, i headed out to explore highland and doniphan county with andrew. . . got to see the stairway to hell (this insane hill we had to run for cross country), the mouth of the wolf river, and the four state lookout . . . went for some country cruisin' . . . a good reminder of life in rural kansas.
i suppose it's time to start my day. . . why am i so lazy when i come back to kansas? ugh. . . now is not the time with all the packing and prep i should be doing! ah well. . . bis spaeter.
Friday, August 05, 2005
the two week marker has come and gone. . .
wednesday was my two week marker . . . as in i will now be on a plane to japan in less than two weeks!!! does this seem completely unreal to anyone else?!?! i have had some wonderful conversations with counselors and villagers here at elv about japan and ways to prepare for my adventure. . . these make it more real and more exciting. . . at times i am still a bit unsure about the idea of living in rural japan. . . and yet at other moments i could not be more satisfied (mountains, a river, the ocean, and who could forget anapanman) . . . i still have not had time to review much japanese; however, i have cheated a bit in my job as an esl teacher by allowing the japanese students to speak in their native language so that i can eavesdrop! :) oops. . .
what else? my kids are great. . . even when they are a pain and refuse to listen to anything we tell them. . . last night was restaurant night, which consisted of the counselors acting as waiters for an evening. . . one of my tables left me a three dollar tip (300% of the bill!) and another left a piece of gum (not yet chewed). . . two weeks is such a short period of time! i cannot believe i will already be saying goodbye to these kids. . . only to receive more once i get to kahoku-cho! . . . it is so rewarding to hear their english improve! even a "hello teacher. how are you?" is a huge step for some who have not said a word in a week and a half. . . others keep me amused as they stare straight at me and speak in their native language as if i should understand what they are asking. . . edward, from yemen, is perhaps my favorite with his nonchalant singing (this kid is a natural comedian!) and his using everything from paper mache balloons to toilet paper as a soccer ball. . .and dustin who is always so polite and proper (even about his mischievous acts). . . and lindsay who is always upset by some oh so tragic event in her life and shares each tragedy in her adorable french accent. . . and clara. . . and maria. . . and mike . . . and so many more with all their broken english and enthusiasm for life! i really think that i will love teaching! i do not know what profession could possibly be more rewarding!
anyway, i believe i should end now in order to have enough energy for one more day of herding them around. . . if washington (my state) can just make it out of bed and to morning circle once this session!!! :) okay, to bed i go!
what else? my kids are great. . . even when they are a pain and refuse to listen to anything we tell them. . . last night was restaurant night, which consisted of the counselors acting as waiters for an evening. . . one of my tables left me a three dollar tip (300% of the bill!) and another left a piece of gum (not yet chewed). . . two weeks is such a short period of time! i cannot believe i will already be saying goodbye to these kids. . . only to receive more once i get to kahoku-cho! . . . it is so rewarding to hear their english improve! even a "hello teacher. how are you?" is a huge step for some who have not said a word in a week and a half. . . others keep me amused as they stare straight at me and speak in their native language as if i should understand what they are asking. . . edward, from yemen, is perhaps my favorite with his nonchalant singing (this kid is a natural comedian!) and his using everything from paper mache balloons to toilet paper as a soccer ball. . .and dustin who is always so polite and proper (even about his mischievous acts). . . and lindsay who is always upset by some oh so tragic event in her life and shares each tragedy in her adorable french accent. . . and clara. . . and maria. . . and mike . . . and so many more with all their broken english and enthusiasm for life! i really think that i will love teaching! i do not know what profession could possibly be more rewarding!
anyway, i believe i should end now in order to have enough energy for one more day of herding them around. . . if washington (my state) can just make it out of bed and to morning circle once this session!!! :) okay, to bed i go!
Saturday, July 30, 2005
nihon update
during my one minute break yesterday afternoon, i checked my email to find that my JET placement had finally arrived. the basics. . .
We are pleased to inform you of your long-awaited placement on the JET Program:
Prefecture: Kochi-ken
Contracting Organization: Kahoku-cho
i talked to some of my kids from japan. . . they seemed to know very little about kochi-ken in general ('it is a good place' 'they are famous for their noodles' etc.). . . a former JET ALT and i were searching for info on the internet and discovered that the town has approx 5,520 people and is famous for the anpanman museum. . . however, i have yet to find kahoku-cho on a map. so. . . rural japan, here i come!
until my departure for tokyo on august 16th and settling into kahoku-cho on august 19th, i am at the english language village in moorhead, minnesota teaching kids (age 9-18) from around the world! four or five previous JET ALTs are working at elv with me now and are giving me all kinds of tips and warnings and helping with research. . .
guess that is all i ihave time for now! i will try to post little tidbits of info as they come!
We are pleased to inform you of your long-awaited placement on the JET Program:
Prefecture: Kochi-ken
Contracting Organization: Kahoku-cho
i talked to some of my kids from japan. . . they seemed to know very little about kochi-ken in general ('it is a good place' 'they are famous for their noodles' etc.). . . a former JET ALT and i were searching for info on the internet and discovered that the town has approx 5,520 people and is famous for the anpanman museum. . . however, i have yet to find kahoku-cho on a map. so. . . rural japan, here i come!
until my departure for tokyo on august 16th and settling into kahoku-cho on august 19th, i am at the english language village in moorhead, minnesota teaching kids (age 9-18) from around the world! four or five previous JET ALTs are working at elv with me now and are giving me all kinds of tips and warnings and helping with research. . .
guess that is all i ihave time for now! i will try to post little tidbits of info as they come!
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
the beginnings. . .
most of you know that i am not a huge fan of journaling, BUT. . . that was before i received an offer to teach english in japan with JET. since that time several of you have requested that i start a blog in order to keep everyone posted on my whereabouts. . . an excellent idea since most of you also know that i am horrible at keeping anyone updated about anything in my life.
anyway, i have returned home to the exciting town of highland, kansas for now. . . if all goes well, i will be leaving for japan on august 16th.
anyway, i have returned home to the exciting town of highland, kansas for now. . . if all goes well, i will be leaving for japan on august 16th.
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