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

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

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

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．

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. . .

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 . . .

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！