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. . .)

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!

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.

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 literally 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.

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

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. . .