i made mashed potatoes in my rice cooker tonight!! how strange is that. but it was pretty easy and they tasted pretty good (but of course not as good as my moms). this came about after i had attempted to make pumpkin in my rice cooker, which i have done before and had worked out splendidly. you just chunk the pumpkin, put some water, soy sauce and sugar in the rice cooker and turn it on. however, this time i over cooked the pumpkin, it was way too mushy (eewww mushy pumpkin, it was like some sort of rejected baby food). which made me think, i could use the same technique to make mashed potatoes. so then i had to try it out, since the pumpkin was already in the garbage.
anyone who knows me knows that one little bowl of mashed potatoes made my day! they make me so happy, ahhh comfort food.
*funny note about mashed potatoes i had put that they were my favorite food in my self introduction with my classes, and all of the students were very confused, mashed potatoes are not a common sight around on this side of the world, in the land of rice, rice and more rice.
*incase anyone is so inclined to make rice cooker mashed potatoes:
peel the potatoes, cube them, put them in the rice cooker with a little water, salt and butter. turn it on, should be done in about 15-20minutes, depending on how many potatoes you have in there. then just add warm milk and maybe a little more butter, and mash away. took very little time.
**i know a request was made as to what i eat, and what the grocery stores are like. and i promise that a post on that will be coming soon. i just haven't worked up the courage to whip out my camera in the local grocery store, i already stand out enough, without being the weirdo taking pictures of the vegetables, rice, and fish...
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
yikes
as i stood going about my daily routine of making my coffee the night before i realized that i have a routine like what i always associate with what adults have, and more specifically one like my dad!
*5:40am-wake up, quick run if its not raining and i got enough sleep
-shower, check emails and read the news online over coffee
*7:40 head to work
**i have established quite a regimented morning routine and when my internet is out and i can't check out what is going on in the world it throws my whole day off!
afternoon activities vary...
7:30ish
-make and eat dinner
-study japanese, make up lesson plans, sort out bills...
-dishes
-make coffee for the morning
-enjoy a cup of herbal tea
-read and then
in bed by 10:30-11pm (hopefully, sometimes i don't know what i do for hours in my apt by myself, but i'll look at the clock and is 1am!)
my life sounds so boring written out this way, but it is also plagued with the idiosyncrasies of life in japan, where just sorting out your garbage can be quite an ordeal!
its about 10:30 time to start heading off to bed...
*5:40am-wake up, quick run if its not raining and i got enough sleep
-shower, check emails and read the news online over coffee
*7:40 head to work
**i have established quite a regimented morning routine and when my internet is out and i can't check out what is going on in the world it throws my whole day off!
afternoon activities vary...
7:30ish
-make and eat dinner
-study japanese, make up lesson plans, sort out bills...
-dishes
-make coffee for the morning
-enjoy a cup of herbal tea
-read and then
in bed by 10:30-11pm (hopefully, sometimes i don't know what i do for hours in my apt by myself, but i'll look at the clock and is 1am!)
my life sounds so boring written out this way, but it is also plagued with the idiosyncrasies of life in japan, where just sorting out your garbage can be quite an ordeal!
its about 10:30 time to start heading off to bed...
overdue nagoya trip
this post is about a week overdue, but better late than never. the weekend before last was a long weekend, and relatively last minute i decided to head down to nagoya with tamae. she had a friend there that she was going to visit, and it was a city i had never been to before so decided to tag along. nagoya is the 4th largest city in japan, and not really known for any truly spectacular sights. but it was nice to get out of the country and into a city for a change even though the weather wasn't too wonderful.
tamae and i headed out about 6am saturday morning. took the highway bus into tokyo (about an hour) then managed to find the shinkansen (bullet train, that only leaves from major cities in japan) that we wanted.
tamae and myself
*side note, thursday before we headed out we decided we should pre-buy our shinkansen tickets as it was a long weekend and many people may heading out of town. we weren't exactly sure we could do it at the local train station but decided we would check. tou our surprise we were able to! we got to the station, asked the ticket man and after he asked us a few questions about when and where were going, he proceeded to fill out a form (that i actually could have figured out on my own i think). then he stuck it under a scanner on a machine next to the other ticket machines and walked away because the station was getting busy. to our surprise the machine started talking to us. the machine scans the document and then some operator somewhere receives the information and speaks to you over an intercom. it was very unexpected, and we had a hard time gaining composure after bursting out laughing and causing a scene. but we made it through all of the questions in japanese, paid the machine/man and walked out with our tickets in about 10 minutes. this may not seem all that funny but you have to visualize a really small country train station, manned by one attendant and 1 ticket machine, and 1 shinkansen ticket machine.
back to the trip...
once arriving in Nagoya we stashed our bags in a locker at the train station and headed to an art museum that had a display of Rembrandt etchings. not very japanese-ish but pretty amazing none the less. then we grabbed some starbucks! (coffee in japan really isn't too good, so starbucks is a welcomed treat when i venture into a city) then we hopped on another train and headed out to Nam, tamae's friends apt. changed quick then headed for dinner with about 10 JETs in Nagoya. it was great to meet other JETs, but also strange. while we all come over here under the same program, everyone really has a different setup and experience. and i think after talking to them, i appreciate the Ibaraki crew and my setup (even in the middle of rice paddies) more.
sunday we planned to go to inuyama castle, a little outside of Nagoya city (inuyama-literally means dog mountain, we couldn't really figure out why?) and michinomiya (an ancient town). but the weather was uncooperative, the castle and surrounding shrines were larger than expected, and we got a little lost. so we ended up only making it to inuyama castle, which was really neat. it was a 5 story castle from about 1400. you could actually go inside and climb the very narrow, scary stares all the way to the top. and then there were gorgeous views of the whole area.
castle, views, shrines surrounding the castle...
first signs of fall, hard to believe in this heat!
monday, we ventured into nagoya with nam, walked around the city a bit. saw some of the sights, more industrial, not as aesthetically pleasing. went to a book store to buy japanese study materials (i wish i was naturally better at languages!). then had to get on our train to head home.
oh and i saw this hostess bar while out and about in nagoya, haha...
...young guam campus?
tamae and i headed out about 6am saturday morning. took the highway bus into tokyo (about an hour) then managed to find the shinkansen (bullet train, that only leaves from major cities in japan) that we wanted.
tamae and myself
*side note, thursday before we headed out we decided we should pre-buy our shinkansen tickets as it was a long weekend and many people may heading out of town. we weren't exactly sure we could do it at the local train station but decided we would check. tou our surprise we were able to! we got to the station, asked the ticket man and after he asked us a few questions about when and where were going, he proceeded to fill out a form (that i actually could have figured out on my own i think). then he stuck it under a scanner on a machine next to the other ticket machines and walked away because the station was getting busy. to our surprise the machine started talking to us. the machine scans the document and then some operator somewhere receives the information and speaks to you over an intercom. it was very unexpected, and we had a hard time gaining composure after bursting out laughing and causing a scene. but we made it through all of the questions in japanese, paid the machine/man and walked out with our tickets in about 10 minutes. this may not seem all that funny but you have to visualize a really small country train station, manned by one attendant and 1 ticket machine, and 1 shinkansen ticket machine.
back to the trip...
once arriving in Nagoya we stashed our bags in a locker at the train station and headed to an art museum that had a display of Rembrandt etchings. not very japanese-ish but pretty amazing none the less. then we grabbed some starbucks! (coffee in japan really isn't too good, so starbucks is a welcomed treat when i venture into a city) then we hopped on another train and headed out to Nam, tamae's friends apt. changed quick then headed for dinner with about 10 JETs in Nagoya. it was great to meet other JETs, but also strange. while we all come over here under the same program, everyone really has a different setup and experience. and i think after talking to them, i appreciate the Ibaraki crew and my setup (even in the middle of rice paddies) more.
sunday we planned to go to inuyama castle, a little outside of Nagoya city (inuyama-literally means dog mountain, we couldn't really figure out why?) and michinomiya (an ancient town). but the weather was uncooperative, the castle and surrounding shrines were larger than expected, and we got a little lost. so we ended up only making it to inuyama castle, which was really neat. it was a 5 story castle from about 1400. you could actually go inside and climb the very narrow, scary stares all the way to the top. and then there were gorgeous views of the whole area.
castle, views, shrines surrounding the castle...
first signs of fall, hard to believe in this heat!
monday, we ventured into nagoya with nam, walked around the city a bit. saw some of the sights, more industrial, not as aesthetically pleasing. went to a book store to buy japanese study materials (i wish i was naturally better at languages!). then had to get on our train to head home.
oh and i saw this hostess bar while out and about in nagoya, haha...
...young guam campus?
Friday, September 21, 2007
i guess today is one of those days when i feel completely useless. the second year students are on a class trip to fukushima to go hiking and fishing, so i only had two classes today. and now i have two hours to kill sitting at my desk attempting not to fall asleep, which is pretty hard because today is really hot and all i would like to do right now is lay my head down and take a nice little nap. but it does give me an opportunity to observe interesting things that happen here at the school
1. currently from my desk i can see my principle outside the window with his work clothes on (slacks, short sleeve button down, and tie), a big straw hat and rubber boots wielding a hoe trying to dig something up. this morning he gallivanted around school with a screw driver and a bottle of some WD-40 like product fixing all of the doors. in my few months here, it appears that our principal is our handyman at school. he is always back in our maintenance shed doing "something" with lots of tools. i don't particularly think that this is something that all principals do but rather something that he enjoys doing. because other than that i'm convinced he doesn't really do anything except wear suits to meet with random people that wonder into school for only a few minutes at a time (but who are always served tea)...
2.tea, it is such a ceremonial part of life here. when i first arrived anywhere i would go to meet with someone new i was served either a nice refreshing glass of iced oolong tea or a hot cup of green tea. often i wasn't particularly thirsty but it is ceremonial and you must drink up. here in the teachers office, i am greeted every morning by a nice mug of green tea served by one of the "office ladies" (they are the nurse/receptionists/i don't know what else but always busy ladies). and this is not a special thing because i am the foreigner, every teacher has there own mug and recieves tea in the morning. then if someone comes into the office (that does not work here) they are ushered to a table, and then one of the female teachers (always female, never a male teacher) drops whatever they may be doing to go and prepare tea for the guest and whoever they are supposed to be meeting with. if it is a formal meeting with the principle, after this brief tea offering they are taken into the principles office (with leather couches and all, quite impressive) then they have a more formal tea setting and typically has cookies or crackers as well. following these tea offerings it is then the female teachers/office ladies that will rush to clear all of the dishes away. there is a lot of traditional roles here between males and females.
3.care of the baseball/soccer fields, the teachers office windows look out at the baseball and soccer fields and today i saw all of the first year boys out there with the chalk machines drawing all of the lines on the fields. the field itself is pretty much only dirt and is typically maintained by some men that come in. but i was told that its good for the students to learn how to work the chalk line marking machines, so every once in awhile they have lessons on how to do it. it was pretty hilarious, and the kids were covered in chalk by the end. i really wish i would have had my camera on me today. i think one of the other teachers got some pictures, i'll have to ask him for them!
4.special ed, or the lack thereof...so i have noticed in my classes that there are a few students that seem to have problems, so i finally asked one of my jte's about how it works. i still don't have a clear answer, because it seems like something no one likes to talk about. but it appears that they are just in with regular students, no differences to their school life. the japanese attitude on problems is just to pretend it isn't there, and i kind of feel like this is the attitude with the kids. but she did say that the kids that have extreme problems are kept in a different classroom and are "taught" by the P.E. teachers. i don't really understand this whole system. my curiosity really started when i saw a girl in the hallway crying, and i asked what was wrong and no one would answer me. she is evidently a kid with special needs, but everyone just pretends like nothing is happening, one of the teachers merely escorted her into an empty room to let her calm down. i'm going to try and figure it out more, i hope there is a more established system then what there appears to be of ignoring the kids...
well schools about out, and there are some chorus practices going on for a competition in november so i think i'll go check that out.
1. currently from my desk i can see my principle outside the window with his work clothes on (slacks, short sleeve button down, and tie), a big straw hat and rubber boots wielding a hoe trying to dig something up. this morning he gallivanted around school with a screw driver and a bottle of some WD-40 like product fixing all of the doors. in my few months here, it appears that our principal is our handyman at school. he is always back in our maintenance shed doing "something" with lots of tools. i don't particularly think that this is something that all principals do but rather something that he enjoys doing. because other than that i'm convinced he doesn't really do anything except wear suits to meet with random people that wonder into school for only a few minutes at a time (but who are always served tea)...
2.tea, it is such a ceremonial part of life here. when i first arrived anywhere i would go to meet with someone new i was served either a nice refreshing glass of iced oolong tea or a hot cup of green tea. often i wasn't particularly thirsty but it is ceremonial and you must drink up. here in the teachers office, i am greeted every morning by a nice mug of green tea served by one of the "office ladies" (they are the nurse/receptionists/i don't know what else but always busy ladies). and this is not a special thing because i am the foreigner, every teacher has there own mug and recieves tea in the morning. then if someone comes into the office (that does not work here) they are ushered to a table, and then one of the female teachers (always female, never a male teacher) drops whatever they may be doing to go and prepare tea for the guest and whoever they are supposed to be meeting with. if it is a formal meeting with the principle, after this brief tea offering they are taken into the principles office (with leather couches and all, quite impressive) then they have a more formal tea setting and typically has cookies or crackers as well. following these tea offerings it is then the female teachers/office ladies that will rush to clear all of the dishes away. there is a lot of traditional roles here between males and females.
3.care of the baseball/soccer fields, the teachers office windows look out at the baseball and soccer fields and today i saw all of the first year boys out there with the chalk machines drawing all of the lines on the fields. the field itself is pretty much only dirt and is typically maintained by some men that come in. but i was told that its good for the students to learn how to work the chalk line marking machines, so every once in awhile they have lessons on how to do it. it was pretty hilarious, and the kids were covered in chalk by the end. i really wish i would have had my camera on me today. i think one of the other teachers got some pictures, i'll have to ask him for them!
4.special ed, or the lack thereof...so i have noticed in my classes that there are a few students that seem to have problems, so i finally asked one of my jte's about how it works. i still don't have a clear answer, because it seems like something no one likes to talk about. but it appears that they are just in with regular students, no differences to their school life. the japanese attitude on problems is just to pretend it isn't there, and i kind of feel like this is the attitude with the kids. but she did say that the kids that have extreme problems are kept in a different classroom and are "taught" by the P.E. teachers. i don't really understand this whole system. my curiosity really started when i saw a girl in the hallway crying, and i asked what was wrong and no one would answer me. she is evidently a kid with special needs, but everyone just pretends like nothing is happening, one of the teachers merely escorted her into an empty room to let her calm down. i'm going to try and figure it out more, i hope there is a more established system then what there appears to be of ignoring the kids...
well schools about out, and there are some chorus practices going on for a competition in november so i think i'll go check that out.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
oh the dramatic life of middle school
yesterday i saw a 2nd year student who looked fairly upset/sad sitting in the hallway. i asked her what was wrong and she proceeded to tell (well attempt to) me about how she likes this boy in her class. someone found out and then told him in front of her. so she was really embarassed. then another studnet heard and took her pencil case and put it on his desk so that she would have to go and pick it up off of his desk and talk to him. she was really upset, and proceeded to hit the guy who had put the pencil case on the other boys desk as he walked by us when we were talking.
i relay this story for two reasons.
first, to remind us how lucky we are all to be out of middle school. because the smallest little things seem like the end of the world. it is a world of endless drama, over things that we can see clearly now as relativly insignifcant. time gives you great perspective of these things. but how do you explain this to a 13 year old girl, especially when there is a huge language barrier? ha. and second, because i was excited that a student even attempted to talk to me about such things outside of the classroom. yes it was difficult, and some of it was clarified later by one of the english teachers. but still with little knowledge of the others language we were able to communicate about something outside of "did you play volleyball today?", "do you have a boyfriend?" (all of the students favorite question to ask, and one they all know!). it is when student do things like this, that i kind of feel like a real teacher here and not just an observerer.
i relay this story for two reasons.
first, to remind us how lucky we are all to be out of middle school. because the smallest little things seem like the end of the world. it is a world of endless drama, over things that we can see clearly now as relativly insignifcant. time gives you great perspective of these things. but how do you explain this to a 13 year old girl, especially when there is a huge language barrier? ha. and second, because i was excited that a student even attempted to talk to me about such things outside of the classroom. yes it was difficult, and some of it was clarified later by one of the english teachers. but still with little knowledge of the others language we were able to communicate about something outside of "did you play volleyball today?", "do you have a boyfriend?" (all of the students favorite question to ask, and one they all know!). it is when student do things like this, that i kind of feel like a real teacher here and not just an observerer.
Friday, September 14, 2007
a little about school life...
i think that it is time that i write about what it is that i do on a daily basis (more or less) now that classes appear to settled into a more normal routine.
i am currently teaching at hinode junior high school. there are 3 grades (equivalent to US 7,8,9 grade) and they are refered to as first, second and third grade. the school day has 6, 50 minute periods, plus homeroom class in the morning and afternoon. in the homeroom class students are responsible for cleaning their classroom and other places on campus (there are no janitors, students are responsible for all cleaning).
as for my schedule i have been averaging about 5 classes a day. but sometimes i have 4 or 6. the schedule changes frequently as there are various all school activities going on. i have to say that having that many classes a day has been a little exhausting, and is taking some getting used to.
in the classroom, i work with a japanese teacher of english (JTE). I have two JTEs, one teaches 2nd grade, the other teaches 1st and 3rd (they are both fairly young 26/28). we work out lesson plans ahead of time and then split up the different activities. i typically make worksheets or games, and the jte does the explination of grammer. i am also used a little bit as a 'human tape recorder' to read the dialogues and vocabulary for the kids to listen to and then repeat. but i have to say that luckily my jtes are pretty flexible and try to make the classes interesting (i have heard some horror stories from other jets, who get no imput into class planning and are literally only there to read the book aloud).
as for the language level of the students, it varies quite a bit. some students have a pretty good vocabulary and understanding of grammer, but many don't (and some just don't care). but overall the students are alot of fun, and have been pretty receptive to me in the school environment. they all like to come up and tell me new statements they have come up with. at the end of the day today a group of girls came up to me and told me "you have a good body, i really like your body"! haha, i'm not exactly sure what their point was. but i appreciate all the english that they are attempting to speak to me.
i also have opted to eat lunch with the kids, which is great. i eat with a different class everyday and sit with the kids. sometimes it is very quiet, but other times the kids have so many questions for me. this is also when i suprise them with my minimal japanese. i figure if i struggle with japanese in front of them, then they won't be so embarassed to struggle with english in front of me. and yes i get laughed at often, but oh well at least they are communicating with me, i just laugh along.
on a side note, wednesday night i went to english song practice session for a group of JHS kids from all the school in Itako that are going to San Antonio on a homestay program in october (while they are there, they are going to present a song). the practice was so cute. just picture about 20, 13 year old japanese kids singing stevie wonder's "i just called to say i love you", but pronouncing 'love' as 'rub'. it was great, the kids were so into it, they choose the song and really love it! but as my mom likes to remind me at any opportunity, i can't sing. so that made the whole lesson very interesting. haha
anyway i need to get to packing. i'm headed down to nagoya in the morning with tamae. it was a last minute decision, but she has a friend down that way, which means we have a place to stay, and its a long weekend, so why not...
i am currently teaching at hinode junior high school. there are 3 grades (equivalent to US 7,8,9 grade) and they are refered to as first, second and third grade. the school day has 6, 50 minute periods, plus homeroom class in the morning and afternoon. in the homeroom class students are responsible for cleaning their classroom and other places on campus (there are no janitors, students are responsible for all cleaning).
as for my schedule i have been averaging about 5 classes a day. but sometimes i have 4 or 6. the schedule changes frequently as there are various all school activities going on. i have to say that having that many classes a day has been a little exhausting, and is taking some getting used to.
in the classroom, i work with a japanese teacher of english (JTE). I have two JTEs, one teaches 2nd grade, the other teaches 1st and 3rd (they are both fairly young 26/28). we work out lesson plans ahead of time and then split up the different activities. i typically make worksheets or games, and the jte does the explination of grammer. i am also used a little bit as a 'human tape recorder' to read the dialogues and vocabulary for the kids to listen to and then repeat. but i have to say that luckily my jtes are pretty flexible and try to make the classes interesting (i have heard some horror stories from other jets, who get no imput into class planning and are literally only there to read the book aloud).
as for the language level of the students, it varies quite a bit. some students have a pretty good vocabulary and understanding of grammer, but many don't (and some just don't care). but overall the students are alot of fun, and have been pretty receptive to me in the school environment. they all like to come up and tell me new statements they have come up with. at the end of the day today a group of girls came up to me and told me "you have a good body, i really like your body"! haha, i'm not exactly sure what their point was. but i appreciate all the english that they are attempting to speak to me.
i also have opted to eat lunch with the kids, which is great. i eat with a different class everyday and sit with the kids. sometimes it is very quiet, but other times the kids have so many questions for me. this is also when i suprise them with my minimal japanese. i figure if i struggle with japanese in front of them, then they won't be so embarassed to struggle with english in front of me. and yes i get laughed at often, but oh well at least they are communicating with me, i just laugh along.
on a side note, wednesday night i went to english song practice session for a group of JHS kids from all the school in Itako that are going to San Antonio on a homestay program in october (while they are there, they are going to present a song). the practice was so cute. just picture about 20, 13 year old japanese kids singing stevie wonder's "i just called to say i love you", but pronouncing 'love' as 'rub'. it was great, the kids were so into it, they choose the song and really love it! but as my mom likes to remind me at any opportunity, i can't sing. so that made the whole lesson very interesting. haha
anyway i need to get to packing. i'm headed down to nagoya in the morning with tamae. it was a last minute decision, but she has a friend down that way, which means we have a place to stay, and its a long weekend, so why not...
my summer...
so i am grading students summer vacation write ups at the moment. many of the students went to disneyland (or one person went and the rest just copied off of that one person!). but i thought that i would share a few that stood out.
Funny...
*I went to a BBQ party.
I ride a dump truck.
It was very interesting.
I want ta rideit again very much.
(maybe this explains why this kid doesn't pay any attention in class!)
*I went to hospital on Saturday.
I'm very unpleasent. sad.
Hospital is very smell.
I'm teacher is interesting.
(This kid spraind his ankle.)
*I went to the haunted house.
I met bogey.
I felt very fun.
And I felt hot heat of Chinese noodles.
Go to again.
(I have no idea how he found out about 'bogey' and can only assume he talking about the 'boogey man'?)
Awesome...
*I went to Fukui in Mihama town to row a boat.
It was a big boat meet.
Hibari members won, we lost the game.
I was very dissapointed.
I wanted to win the game.
*I went to my sisters house in August.
She lives in a town near Yokohama.
We ate many foods.
It was really good.
We could see the sea.
We had a good time.
more to come i'm sure
Funny...
*I went to a BBQ party.
I ride a dump truck.
It was very interesting.
I want ta rideit again very much.
(maybe this explains why this kid doesn't pay any attention in class!)
*I went to hospital on Saturday.
I'm very unpleasent. sad.
Hospital is very smell.
I'm teacher is interesting.
(This kid spraind his ankle.)
*I went to the haunted house.
I met bogey.
I felt very fun.
And I felt hot heat of Chinese noodles.
Go to again.
(I have no idea how he found out about 'bogey' and can only assume he talking about the 'boogey man'?)
Awesome...
*I went to Fukui in Mihama town to row a boat.
It was a big boat meet.
Hibari members won, we lost the game.
I was very dissapointed.
I wanted to win the game.
*I went to my sisters house in August.
She lives in a town near Yokohama.
We ate many foods.
It was really good.
We could see the sea.
We had a good time.
more to come i'm sure
Sunday, September 9, 2007
boat day recap
so boat day is over! it has been a long but fun day. so at about 9:30 this morning the second year students, were escorted about 20 minutes away from school to the river by myself and three other teachers. once we arrived, students lined up in perfect lines and organized by class. everyone was then assigned to their teams for rowing, 4 people per boat. to my suprise i was calculated into this, so i was placed in a team with 3 other students. the students all cheered and were excited that i was actually was rowing with them. after being assigned to our teams we had to practice. so it was onto the rowing machines we went.
after about 5 minutes of practice, we watched the third year students finish up their final "boat game" (race). then we were loaded into the boats. (i had no idea what i was getting myself into!) we practiced for a few minutes. but my form was ALL wrong, and they were trying to give me instructions in japanese, but the 3 kids in my boat confrenced and figured out a way to explain in english to me what to do. then we rowed around the river for about 30 minutes. (i was horrible, the boat isn't quite made for someone over 5' 7" or so, my knees just kept getting in the way. but the kids in my boat were great, and kept telling me i was doing a good job. yea right! then there was a race between all of the boats. we came in 3rd! not too bad i was just happy that we didn't come in last because then i would have felt incredibly guilty.
thats me in the front!
then it was back to shore! then all of the kids broke out there "bento" boxes (sack lunches), which all looked absolutly amazing, huge meals with lots of differnt food. lucky for me there were bento boxes provided for the teachers so i didn't have to worry about looking pathetic with my lonely sandwich amongst all of the kids.
then we walked back to the school. which provided optimal time to talk to students. and to my suprise most were very receptive and some even came over to ask me questions, with out me promting the convo. so between them having to try and explain how to do things to me in english and the long walk home i saw quite a bit of potential for the students english. and i think that these are going to be the most successful ways of getting them to speak english, because really the text books are boring, and i don't blame them for not wanting to study them!
so boat day overall was a lot of fun, but i did manage to get a nice sunburn (as did a lot of students and teachers).
then after this long day outside we had "nomihodai" work party. which was great, i actually got an opportunity to talk to a few more teachers (or at least attempt in some cases). the party was to celebrate boat day and also welcome me. i had asked if i was going to have to give a speech or anything, and was told no but of course was then called on to give one. i attempted to do it in japanese, but eventually gave up and had my english teacher translate, because i didn't really feel like making a food of myself in front of all of my coworkers and principal by using the wrong word or wrong level of politness.
the party was great, teachers really relaxed, which is a nice change from their typical demenor in the teachers room. we had about 10 different courses of different japanese foods, all delicious. i don't know how the japanese eat so much, i was dying and all of them including the tiny teachers were eating everything! but eventually one of the younger math teachers came over and started talking to me. he wanted to tell me that he had been in guam 2 weeks ago! and had lots of guam things he wanted to talk about. he was also the teacher incharge of boat day today, because he rows with a group here in itako, so he loves all marine related activities. but i found out that he actually speaks a decent amount of english. so between his english and my japanese we can actually have a decent conversation. i never would have known though, because i don't think he has said a thing to me all week. all japanese people that speak any english are afraid to make mistakes and therefore never use it.
but now i am exhauseted and must go to bed, but wanted to document this day before it was lost among the fog of my japan memories.
after about 5 minutes of practice, we watched the third year students finish up their final "boat game" (race). then we were loaded into the boats. (i had no idea what i was getting myself into!) we practiced for a few minutes. but my form was ALL wrong, and they were trying to give me instructions in japanese, but the 3 kids in my boat confrenced and figured out a way to explain in english to me what to do. then we rowed around the river for about 30 minutes. (i was horrible, the boat isn't quite made for someone over 5' 7" or so, my knees just kept getting in the way. but the kids in my boat were great, and kept telling me i was doing a good job. yea right! then there was a race between all of the boats. we came in 3rd! not too bad i was just happy that we didn't come in last because then i would have felt incredibly guilty.
thats me in the front!
then it was back to shore! then all of the kids broke out there "bento" boxes (sack lunches), which all looked absolutly amazing, huge meals with lots of differnt food. lucky for me there were bento boxes provided for the teachers so i didn't have to worry about looking pathetic with my lonely sandwich amongst all of the kids.
then we walked back to the school. which provided optimal time to talk to students. and to my suprise most were very receptive and some even came over to ask me questions, with out me promting the convo. so between them having to try and explain how to do things to me in english and the long walk home i saw quite a bit of potential for the students english. and i think that these are going to be the most successful ways of getting them to speak english, because really the text books are boring, and i don't blame them for not wanting to study them!
so boat day overall was a lot of fun, but i did manage to get a nice sunburn (as did a lot of students and teachers).
then after this long day outside we had "nomihodai" work party. which was great, i actually got an opportunity to talk to a few more teachers (or at least attempt in some cases). the party was to celebrate boat day and also welcome me. i had asked if i was going to have to give a speech or anything, and was told no but of course was then called on to give one. i attempted to do it in japanese, but eventually gave up and had my english teacher translate, because i didn't really feel like making a food of myself in front of all of my coworkers and principal by using the wrong word or wrong level of politness.
the party was great, teachers really relaxed, which is a nice change from their typical demenor in the teachers room. we had about 10 different courses of different japanese foods, all delicious. i don't know how the japanese eat so much, i was dying and all of them including the tiny teachers were eating everything! but eventually one of the younger math teachers came over and started talking to me. he wanted to tell me that he had been in guam 2 weeks ago! and had lots of guam things he wanted to talk about. he was also the teacher incharge of boat day today, because he rows with a group here in itako, so he loves all marine related activities. but i found out that he actually speaks a decent amount of english. so between his english and my japanese we can actually have a decent conversation. i never would have known though, because i don't think he has said a thing to me all week. all japanese people that speak any english are afraid to make mistakes and therefore never use it.
but now i am exhauseted and must go to bed, but wanted to document this day before it was lost among the fog of my japan memories.
at school on sunday?
it is sunday morning and i am currently sitting in school, yay! it is boat day, which means that soon we will be shuffled down to the river to partake in some rowing acivities, i believe. i'm not exactly sure what this day will consist of.
so typhoon fitow has come and gone. really pretty uneventful. thursday night it was really windy and rainy, but nothing compared to most of the storms that i have seen in guam. the worst part was not being able to sleep because the typhoon shutters were slamming into the window by my bed all night. friday all of the teachers were at school, no students. it was still pretty rainy out. the day was pretty boring, i did a little lesson planning and there were some teachers meetings. while i can't understand much of those meetings as they speak much too fast, i did understand that one of them was about social conduct of teachers outside of school. they were talking about things not to do at parties, ie. don't drink and drive, male teachers should not touch female teachers... the funny part of this was that they split all of the teachers into groups and then they had to list different things out and read them in front of everyone. it was like they were the students in a classroom, and some of the male teachers (esp. the 2nd yr math teacher, who is also a firefighter, that sits across from me) came up with some pretty amuzing responses as you can imagine.
friday night i met up with tamae, another jet that lives about 15 minutes from me. the more that i talk to her the more i find out i have in common with her, very strange. she is from kentucky about 15 minutes away from the small town where my grandparents lived. went to school at washU in st.louis, planning to go to law school, graduated from a high school with 25 people! anyway, she took me to an indian restaraunt nearby! it was pretty good too. yay!
saturday was a friends birthday, so we had plans to meet in mito with some other friends for starbucks, a museum, and a play. the museum had an amazing modern textiles display on. it was very interesting, and very high fashion with an interesting japanese influence.
i knew that the play was romeo and juliet at the art museum, but that was it. it turned out that it was a high school musical performance of romeo and juliet, adapted to modern times. it took place in a japanese highschool and there were crazy things that happened. including:romeo kiling everyone with a machine gun, a random colonol sanders dancing among the high school students, romeo and juliet consumating thier love with a very dramatic ear piercing/tatooing scene. it was really quite amazing.
time to get ready for boating...
so typhoon fitow has come and gone. really pretty uneventful. thursday night it was really windy and rainy, but nothing compared to most of the storms that i have seen in guam. the worst part was not being able to sleep because the typhoon shutters were slamming into the window by my bed all night. friday all of the teachers were at school, no students. it was still pretty rainy out. the day was pretty boring, i did a little lesson planning and there were some teachers meetings. while i can't understand much of those meetings as they speak much too fast, i did understand that one of them was about social conduct of teachers outside of school. they were talking about things not to do at parties, ie. don't drink and drive, male teachers should not touch female teachers... the funny part of this was that they split all of the teachers into groups and then they had to list different things out and read them in front of everyone. it was like they were the students in a classroom, and some of the male teachers (esp. the 2nd yr math teacher, who is also a firefighter, that sits across from me) came up with some pretty amuzing responses as you can imagine.
friday night i met up with tamae, another jet that lives about 15 minutes from me. the more that i talk to her the more i find out i have in common with her, very strange. she is from kentucky about 15 minutes away from the small town where my grandparents lived. went to school at washU in st.louis, planning to go to law school, graduated from a high school with 25 people! anyway, she took me to an indian restaraunt nearby! it was pretty good too. yay!
saturday was a friends birthday, so we had plans to meet in mito with some other friends for starbucks, a museum, and a play. the museum had an amazing modern textiles display on. it was very interesting, and very high fashion with an interesting japanese influence.
i knew that the play was romeo and juliet at the art museum, but that was it. it turned out that it was a high school musical performance of romeo and juliet, adapted to modern times. it took place in a japanese highschool and there were crazy things that happened. including:romeo kiling everyone with a machine gun, a random colonol sanders dancing among the high school students, romeo and juliet consumating thier love with a very dramatic ear piercing/tatooing scene. it was really quite amazing.
time to get ready for boating...
Thursday, September 6, 2007
typhoon fitow!
so i just finished teaching 4 classes in a row and lunch with the kids! classes went well, so far i think that the 2nd years are the most fun. maybe not the best english skills but very genki (enthusiastic) about everything.
but anyway got back to the teachers room after lunch for a meeting, and evidently students are being sent home because of the typhoon that is supposed to hit us this evening/night. and i believe that there is no school tomorrow. but i need to get this confirmed, my japanese may be failing me. all the teachers rushed out to get the students sent home.
evidently they are expecting a bad typhoon season, and this is the first of many that we are supposed to get this season! yay! but from talking to others i dont think that the conditions here are as bad is in guam. the power and such don't go out very often.
anyway i'm off to help prep the school for the typhoon. more details to come after the storm...
but anyway got back to the teachers room after lunch for a meeting, and evidently students are being sent home because of the typhoon that is supposed to hit us this evening/night. and i believe that there is no school tomorrow. but i need to get this confirmed, my japanese may be failing me. all the teachers rushed out to get the students sent home.
evidently they are expecting a bad typhoon season, and this is the first of many that we are supposed to get this season! yay! but from talking to others i dont think that the conditions here are as bad is in guam. the power and such don't go out very often.
anyway i'm off to help prep the school for the typhoon. more details to come after the storm...
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
school...
so i have to say that the first day of school was pretty uneventful. we had a faculty meeting in the morning where i was introduced to all the teachers by the principal. after that it was on to the whole school forum. here i got to see all of the students. the school really isn't too large i think bout 240 students or so. (but class sizes are pretty large. the policy here is that the largest a class can be is 40 people, no breaking into smaller classes until you hit 41 people. so most classes are about 38 students.)
after the forum, the day was pretty uneventful, as students were only there for half the day, and i was left sitting in the teachers office for most of the day to work on my self intro, and look at future lessons. we did a fire drill, which was interesting. the alarm went off and i asked if i should be doing something? and was told no its ok, you can just stay here. well i decided to just venture out with the students, and i'm glad that i did. all of the students were litterally running out of the school but in a VERY organized fashion, and completly silently. then outside they formed perfectly straight lines, teachers counted to make sure that everyone was there, and then the stop watch was stopped! yes, they were litteraly timing the whole thing, one teacher stood with a stop watch over her head the entire time. it was so unbelievably organized.
eventually in the afternoon, i had a meeting with the principal and vice-principal, to review my contract basically. everyone seems pretty nice and helpful.
today i have done more sitting around and entertaining myself. actually had some work to do, preparing some games and worksheets. but all the students are taking some type of standardized test, so there are no classes. then i ate lunch with the third year students. there language level is pretty low, but it was nice to get to interact with the students a bit. and the whole way that school lunches are served here is quite interesting. there is no cafeteria, a few students go and pick up the food to bring it back to their classroom. the food is still in pots and the plates are empty. but within minutes the food is served to all 40 students in the classroom with amazing organization again. and the students change into 'steril' clothes and wear masks when serving the food. and the clean up process was just about as organized.
anyway i have a few things to get finished before the end of the day, so i should get back to work. tomorrow i'll actually be in the classroom, which will be nice. i think im going to head to the basketball club practice after school is out as well today.
after the forum, the day was pretty uneventful, as students were only there for half the day, and i was left sitting in the teachers office for most of the day to work on my self intro, and look at future lessons. we did a fire drill, which was interesting. the alarm went off and i asked if i should be doing something? and was told no its ok, you can just stay here. well i decided to just venture out with the students, and i'm glad that i did. all of the students were litterally running out of the school but in a VERY organized fashion, and completly silently. then outside they formed perfectly straight lines, teachers counted to make sure that everyone was there, and then the stop watch was stopped! yes, they were litteraly timing the whole thing, one teacher stood with a stop watch over her head the entire time. it was so unbelievably organized.
eventually in the afternoon, i had a meeting with the principal and vice-principal, to review my contract basically. everyone seems pretty nice and helpful.
today i have done more sitting around and entertaining myself. actually had some work to do, preparing some games and worksheets. but all the students are taking some type of standardized test, so there are no classes. then i ate lunch with the third year students. there language level is pretty low, but it was nice to get to interact with the students a bit. and the whole way that school lunches are served here is quite interesting. there is no cafeteria, a few students go and pick up the food to bring it back to their classroom. the food is still in pots and the plates are empty. but within minutes the food is served to all 40 students in the classroom with amazing organization again. and the students change into 'steril' clothes and wear masks when serving the food. and the clean up process was just about as organized.
anyway i have a few things to get finished before the end of the day, so i should get back to work. tomorrow i'll actually be in the classroom, which will be nice. i think im going to head to the basketball club practice after school is out as well today.
Sunday, September 2, 2007
school starts tomorrow!!
just a quick post to say that school starts tomorrow!!! ahhh. no classes, only have to give a welcome speech at the whole school assembly in front of all the students and teachers, in japanese!!
spent the weekend in tokyo had a fantastic time. a post to come about that. right now i am way to tired to write a post that would justify all the experiences. but included alot of intereacting with locals, meeting up with old friends, and randomly running into other jets in tokyo!
spent the weekend in tokyo had a fantastic time. a post to come about that. right now i am way to tired to write a post that would justify all the experiences. but included alot of intereacting with locals, meeting up with old friends, and randomly running into other jets in tokyo!
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