Not All Who Wander Are Lost

Photo Shoot

2007-11-13T04:48:00.000+09:00

Meet Diesel. Yesterday Brock and I took him on a walk to a nearby park. Here he is in all of his glory. A soft spot in my heart has been created for him.

Okonomiyaki, etc...

2007-07-22T12:01:00.000+09:00

Monday Seo and I met for Okonomiyaki and a spontaneous trip to Mojiko. He wanted to do "sticker shashin," to which I obliged. The weather was a bit hot, but the sky was that lovely blue. A very beautiful day.

(heart)

Yukata Party

2007-07-21T23:00:00.000+09:00

Goodbyes

2007-07-21T12:32:00.000+09:00

Junko had me for dinner with her family.

Momoko (on the right) will be fluent in English one day. I am certain of it.

Mayuko and I met for sushi and goodbyes.

Final Day at 菊川中学校

2007-07-21T12:31:00.000+09:00

2007-07-18T11:09:00.000+09:00

A few days later, Seo came over and made me Korean salad. Then, the knife disappeared!

I am holding my shirt because I spilled something on myself.

Oh how I wish he would fit into my suitcase and could come home with me.

Becky's Housewarming Party, Sushi, and the Aquarium

2007-07-17T10:44:00.000+09:00

岡枝小学校のスピーチ

2007-07-12T19:15:00.000+09:00

It's been a rough week of farewells. I said goodbye to all of my town elementary schools. Today I said bye to the one who has meant the most to me, Okaeda. They have been my pet school, of sorts, the one where I did the Halloween Day and baked Christmas cookies. Even the bratty 4th graders were good for me. During the 5th period, they had a farewell ceremony for me. Hopefully some folks will e-mail me some photos of the day to post at a later time. At the end, I made the following speech:

みなさん、こんにちは．２年間私は菊川に住み、岡枝小学校で教えてきました．２年間はあっとゆう間でした．アメリカにもどり、家族に合えるのは、とてもうれしいです．でも、日本を離れ、菊川のすばらしい人たちとわかれるのは、とても悲しいことです．みなさんを教えるのは、とても楽しかったです．私を通して、みなさんが英語やアメリカの文化について、少しでも勉強できたことがあれば、とてもうれしいです．私に日本の文化や日本語を教えてくれて、ありがとう．

菊川に来て、私の生活は大きくかわりました．私の世界が大きく広がリました．菊川のことは、わたしの心のなかから、きえません．みなさんの笑顔は、決して、わすれません．これからも、がんばってください．そして、つぎのALTの先生にも、私のときのように、親切で元気にせっしてください．本当に、今まで、ありがとうございました．みなさん、お元気で．

Granted one of my junior high JTEs helped me translate this speech from English to Japanese a few weeks ago, but I think it's rather amazing that I was able to read all of this in Japanese considering I came only knowing one Japanese word [こんにちは]. It's really easy to get frustrated about all the Japanese we don't know. But I think we should focus on the progress that we make and the things that we do know instead of all that we don't know (which is a lot and can get very overwhelming at times!)

It went very well. I started to get choked up a bit when I said how I will never forget their smiles. And when I finished I saw the female teachers brushing their tears away, but I didn't look at them and was fine. I did lose it a bit afterwards when I was by myself. But overall, the day went very well. I was touched by all the students' messages and their kind little hearts.

Let's learning J-Pop song!

2007-07-11T19:31:00.000+09:00

I've always wanted to learn a Japanese song for karaoke. No time like the present, ne? Here is my song of choice, a classic from the 90s that all my office members will know. It's a love song, but the last line says something to the effect of "Someday I hope to meet you again in this place." Touching, indeed. I have at least one more time to practice before my office enkai next Friday. Let's studying! Oh, and I apologize to those who heard my poor rendition of it on Monday night. But hey, it's a work in progress.

日本語のクラス Party

2007-07-10T20:19:00.000+09:00

Many Many Cakes

2007-07-04T20:33:00.000+09:00

Cake #1 (from Laura, Becky, and Anita)

Cake #2 (from my BOE)

Cake #3 (from the Fujinos)

Rolling the soba flower and dough

Cutting the soba

Akemi's turn to cut

Almost finished

The finished product

Birthday present of earrings

Cake #4 (from Yayoi, Mami, and Tomoko)

Yum, and ice cream cake from Baskin Robins. Best cake I've had in Japan, probably because it's from an American company. If there is anything that the Japanese have failed to improve, it's cake.

Photo Madness

2007-06-24T15:26:00.001+09:00

In an effort to get a good photo of the four of us together at the Leaver's Party, this is the result. What is wrong with us?!

Weekend in Hagi

2007-06-20T15:32:00.000+09:00

On the weekend, I made the long journey past Hagi to see Starsky’s humble abode in Abu-cho. He and I have been talking about hanging out for many months. It was now or never, so I went. I expected the weather to be poor, but surprisingly, the weather was beautiful near Hagi. Not a drop of rain fell from the sky. This was also the first time I had been to Abu-cho. Starsky’s house was spacious and immaculate. After chatting for a bit, we headed into Hagi and had dinner and donuts with Matt D, Dan, and Rosie.

Cool tofu salad at dinner.

Dan went to watch rugby at a bar and we went to karaoke. Lovely renditions of Hanson, Bonnie Carlisle, Travis, the Fugees, Chicago, etc., were performed.

Wow, we are very red in the face.

Eventually we met up with Dan, Flick, and Jo and her boyfriend, who were also watching rugby. Congratulations to the New Zealand rugby team.

Rosie, thanks for the coffee on Sunday morning. I would not have been a happy camper without it. To Starsky and others, thanks for hanging out; it was a sincere delight.

Hydrangea Heaven

2007-06-19T15:56:00.000+09:00

Everytime I see them, I cannot help but smile and ponder their beauty.

2007-06-19T14:10:00.000+09:00

I’m starting to take random photos at various schools when I go, for no other reason besides I want to (and I guess because I’m leaving). Here are a few from last two weeks.

Dinner and Fireflies

2007-06-10T12:38:00.000+09:00

Last night, Laura and I went to Emiko's house for dinner and firefly viewing. Two others from Laura's eikaiwa group joined in the fun.

I rarely see the sun setting from this side of town. Around the rice fields were so many frogs! It was difficult not to step on them.

Kikugawa is famous for somen noodles.

Emiko bought some gorgeous desserts from a cake shop called Santa Claus. Because she was expecting two others to attend the evening's festivities, the men in the group were forced to eat extra desserts. I was so stuffed from the somen and sushi that I opted for the smallest dessert. In general, I find Japanese cakes to be extremely disappointing: beautiful in appearance, completely lacking in taste. Surprisingly, these were aesthetically pleasing and quite delicious.

We planned to go to Toyota, but the evening's weather was too cool, which is poor for firefly viewing. We decided to try the Kikugawa Firefly Festival instead.

Fish on a stick.

We caught a couple fireflies to inspect them and to show Laura what one looks like. Compared to the type of fireflies we have in Indiana, these Japanese ones are a little smaller.

Laura is inspecting the cherries on the trees. We tried a few, but our Japanese friends thought they were disgusting.

Apparently the cherries can be used as a face paint. Kowaii!!

2007-06-10T10:50:00.001+09:00

About two weeks ago, I was accepted to Seattle University for January 2008, and I have accepted this offer! If I change my mind, I will go to IU. I deferred my IU acceptance until January, but can start at anytime in the next two years if I decide to go there. But, I think I really must to to Seattle. I will be pursuing a Masters of Education in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). I want to teach the English language (reading, writing, speaking, pronunciation, grammar, etc.) to foreigners in some capacity. I think this is a perfect blend of my interests in teaching, cultures, languages, literacy, and English grammar and words. Such a degree would enable me to work overseas in a private language institute or university (come back to Japan?), or to work in the United States in community colleges, non-profit agencies, Intensive English Programs affiliated with universities, in private language schools and business, with immigrant/refugees and/or international students. With K-12 credentials, I could work in public and private school systems. I could also pursue a Ph.D/Ed.D in ESL, Applied Linguistics, foreign/second language education, or other related fields. Lots of options. Very exciting.

The Beginning of the End

2007-06-10T09:56:00.001+09:00

It is June. And this week marked the beginning of the end. I said farewell to two schools--Shimosho High School and Chosei Junior High.
I will miss this girl. She was a 3rd grade student at Kikugawa Junior High during my first year. Now she is a 2nd grade high school student. She is one of the few students who have my keitai email address. Occasionally we message each other and she tries very hard to use English. Indeed it was a sad moment. Farewell, Chihiro. :(

Of all my city junior high schools, I like Chosei the best. The kids have the perfect amount of respect, genkiness, and sass. We always had a good time playing games (and the kids actually were interested and participated). I wish some of their positive energy could transfer to the other city schools.

Goodbye Chosei.

Becky's Move and a Day in Kokura

2007-06-10T09:54:00.000+09:00

The Most Gorgeous Bento

2007-06-10T09:52:00.000+09:00

Ode to the greatest bentos...

Don't try this soba tea--it's disgusting! (note the sad face)

Pre-Rainy Season

2007-05-31T22:10:00.000+09:00

Sports Day

2007-05-29T09:35:00.000+09:00

Laura came with me to my last elementary school sports day. Two of the three elementary schools in town have their sports days on the same day. And while I like the other elementary school better, I thought I would share the love and go to this one this year.

And while this photo has nothing to do with sports, it does have to do with the Sports Day. Farewell.

2007-05-28T14:49:00.000+09:00

I can taste the Japanese bureaucracy. After I already arranged and paid for a return flight home through Minneapolis and sitting next to Becky Iverson, I just had it denied by the main Shimonoseki BOE because I am not traveling back the exact way I came to Japan. Never mind my office said to make the plan however I wish. Never mind my office said it was fine. Never mind, my supervisor went with me to the ATM and helped me with the furikomi. Never mind most other ALTs just get handed money and can get home however they wish. Never mind the fact that it costs only 300 yen more for a flight to Indianapolis from Minneapolis. Never mind I hate flying and will be happy to sit next to a friend. If they want to be so specific, I traveled to Japan from Chicago to Minneapolis to Tokyo. Never mind anything because the rule is the rule and it cannot be changed, even though this rule was not explained to me from the beginning. And this is one of the things I hate about this country. I think I will go to the restroom and scream now.

"Lately...

2007-05-15T07:31:00.000+09:00

...I've had the strangest feeling." Every time I hear the word lately, I think of that old-school Jodeci song called "Lately." I used to love R&B back in the day. Interesting how my musical interests have shifted rather dramatically since then.

It’s been a while since I blogged. And by the look of others’, everyone is taking a break. Many things have happened since my last blog. I have a new life plan, Golden Week came and went, and my head has been consumed with thoughts on religion. For these reasons, I have not had the time or interest to blog.

Where should I even start…I am playing email tag with a travel agent in Tokyo. I hope to fly back on August 1st. There is a Snow Patrol concert in Indianapolis on August 3rd that will be attending with some girlfriends. I am very excited about this.

Speaking of concerts, Anita, Laura, and I are going to Fuji Rock!!! I am especially looking forward to seeing Damien Rice, The Shins, and The Cure. I cannot think of a better way to leave this country than surrounded by music up on a mountain in the middle of bamboo forests, camping, and being a hippie. Needless to say, I am very excited about this event.

So, after Japan plans have changed a bit. I have deferred my IU acceptance for January, 2008. Last week I mailed materials to Seattle University, MEd. TESOL. If I am accepted, I anticipate starting out there in January or summer. The degree from there would enable me to do nearly anything in the field of ESL/EFL in the States and abroad. The price at SU is better than University of Washington. Between coming back and then, I will most likely live with my parents, who will have moved to suburban Indianapolis. Thinking about coming back to Indy and working some crap job for 5-10 months makes me cringe, but it will keep me humble, ne? If I give up on Seattle or am not accepted, I will go to IU. I just need some time to readjust and mentally prepare to start graduate school. Also, I need to be in Indiana at least through October for a wedding I am committed to. But after that, nothing is holding me back. I am very hopeful that this new plan comes to fruition. My family is happy I will be around for a while, but they are also happy I will be following my dreams. Please pray/cross your fingers that I am accepted to Seattle University.

Golden Week was nice. It started out with Becky and Pauline coming to mine for a lovely evening of tacos and conversation. The next day, Becky and I got haircuts in Kokura. The woman studied hair in London for 2 years, so she knows how to cut Western hair. Things turned out well, so I was happy. Nothing drastic, just a 2 inch trim. Afterwards, we rewarded ourselves for our bravery and had Indian food and shopping. It was possibly the best cheese nan I have had in my life. After UniQlo and book shopping, we went to Karato for sushi. It was one of the most perfect days.

Later in the week I went to Becky I’s for a few days. We attended a marvelous orchestra concert performed by her high school. Ginny came down and we went to see Hofu to see the movie Music & Lyrics with Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore. Ha, we laughed and laughed through it. As is typical every time I do to the movies in Japan, we were the only ones in the whole theatre laughing. It is not the greatest movie in the world, but it was better than I expected and would definitely like to see it again sometime. I had no idea Hugh Grant was musically inclined. And the theme song has been in my head ever since. After the movie we were in a singing mood, so we went to karaoke. Ginny taught us a simple Japanese folk song. Becky and I want to learn something Japanese to surprise our co-workers at our farewell parties.

I am back on South Beach and it’s going very well. I’ve taken a break off of TaeBo due to some knee problems. I am hoping to start back up this week maybe once or twice a week, walking most of the other days.

That is all for now. Elementary school awaits me.

2007-04-14T16:20:00.000+09:00

I was accepted to University of Washington in Seattle this week. Anyone want to contribute to the Send Angie to Grad School fund? Fret fret...

What Happens in the Inaka

2007-04-14T14:52:00.000+09:00

I survived the office days without beating my head in the wall from boredom. There were a lot of office member changes in staff. No one in my area is different; I am very lucky. We lost seven members and gained five. Two of the changes are nice. One man was a principal at one of my elementary schools and the father of a friend of mine. Another man happens to be a very good English speaker. But I will miss seeing the familiar faces of those who have been here since I arrived in Japan. The one I will miss the most is Mr. Inada. He is a lovely man who has helped me so much. Last summer he gave me the little table and chairs in my kitchen. We talk most often during enkai's when his English comes together. His favorite singer is Enya, so at every karaoke session he requests that I sing "Wild Child." At the office farewell/welcome enkai a week ago, he sang "Wild Child" with me. Afterwards he got teary-eyed, thanking me and saying he will miss me. Ah, such a tender moment. An office member said he will invite Mr. Inada to my farewell enkai in July. I hope that he is there.

Last Friday I was invited to an enkai with the Kikugawa Youth Association. I hadn't seen most of these people since last summer. Very fun time, as you can see. Because I can carry a tune, I feel in a way I redeemed myself with these friends. As the night progressed, I was a one-man show, taking requests that ranged from Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, and the Beetles.
Soon after this was taken, the guy who's mouth is wide open told me he loved me. Ha, I took that as an internationalization opportunity to tell him that "love" in English has a much stronger meaning than "dai suki." He felt pretty embarrassed after that, but probably not too embarrassed since he had been drinking so much.

This past Tuesday I went to a party at the nursing home. Some musicians from Mongolia were there doing entertainment for the elderly and afterwards for the staff. They were all very nice and spoke fluent Japanese, much to my chagrin. A good opportunity for Japanese practice, though.

Mr. Nishimura (the Buddhist priest), Mrs. Oka and Dr. Oka. Next weekend the Okas are taking me to a jazz concert. Woo hoo!

Thursday I had Anita, Becky, and Laura to my house for a belated/early birthday celebration. A few more photos to come.

Thanks for coming out!

Sara's Visit Days 1 & 2--Osaka and Hiroshima

2007-04-05T10:00:00.000+09:00

On March 24th my dear friend Sara came to visit. I had seven days vacation away from work. It was the most time off I have ever had while physically remaining in Japan. My my my, was that ever nice. I will attempt to capture our experience as best as possible through some photos.

Sara and I have been kindred spirits since we met on the first day of high school. Her last name is Gibson, so all the students whose last names began with F-Ha assembled to meet our guidance counselor. But before the guidance counselor began her little talk, she did an Academic Giants presentation. Any student who was on honor roll from junior high had to come up in front of everyone and receive a writing pen. I was the first student whose name was called and Sara was the second student called. We sat down next to each other and she said, “We are labeled nerds on the first day of school before we ever start classes.” Ever since then, we have been good friend.

I headed to Kansai airport in the rain. Sara’s plane was a bit late, but I had a good chat with an American exchange student waiting on her parents to arrive on the same plane. After Sara arrived we headed to our hostel in Osaka for the night. Unfortunately, we took a wrong exit from the train station and got very lost looking for the hostel. After walking around in the rain for about an hour, I finally stopped for directions and we made it to the hostel.

The next day, we headed to Hiroshima to meet up with Jeff, Laura, and Yukari. The weather was forecasted to be rainy, but luckily things cleared up and the sky was beautiful.

After checking in the hostel, we went to Peace Park and the Atomic Bomb museum. FYI—Hiroshima now has a J-Hoppers hostel. It was conveniently located near Peace Park, and all the rooms were tatami floor so it felt quite Japanese. Facilities were newly renovated and clean. I highly suggest it as a nice, cheap place to sleep if you are in need of such a place.

In the museum, these are some of the tiny paper cranes Sadako folded before she died.

After the museum, we met up with Jeff, ate Subway, and went to Hiroshima Castle.

After a very awkward and abrupt leaving, Jeff went back to Mihara and Laura, Sara, and I went to an international foods shop and had Indian food for dinner. Look at this giant piece of nan bread!

Sara's Visit Day 3--Miyajima

2007-04-05T09:50:00.000+09:00

Miyajima is one of my favorite places in Japan. I love how secluded and quiet it feels. We had a gorgeous day of weather and a clear blue sky. Ha, but the sun made us squinty in all of our photos.

Attack of the crazy deer!

How lucky were we to see them so up close!

Sake barrels

A few sakura blossoms

We met a nice man doing artwork inside the temple. If I understood his Japanese correctly, he used to be a salary man, but he somehow acquired shoulder problems about 10 years ago. As his rehabilitation, he started creating artwork in the temples rather than take medicine.

Yeah, super squinty.

Now it's Laura's turn

The final photo on the walk out.

Sara's Visit Day 4--Shimonoseki

2007-04-05T09:45:00.000+09:00

After a lazy morning, Sara and I headed to Shimonoseki for souvenirs from Daiso, a bit of sightseeing, and sushi.

Sara's Visit Day 5--Up the West Coast

2007-04-05T09:40:00.000+09:00

Spring

2007-04-04T08:33:00.000+09:00

Spring is like a perhaps hand
(which comes carefully
out of Nowhere)arranging
a window,into which people look(while
people stare
arranging and changing placing
carefully there a strange
thing and a known thing here)and

changing everything carefully

spring is like a perhaps
Hand in a window
(carefully to
and fro moving New and
Old things,while
people stare carefully
moving a perhaps
fraction of flower here placing
an inch of air there)and

without breaking anything.

--e.e. cummings

Plans are unfolding

2007-03-24T09:11:00.000+09:00

Yesterday I received an email notification that I was accepted to Indiana University Masters of Language Education program. Nothing from University of Washington yet. But even if accepted there, I would say there is a 95% chance I will be going to IU. Breathing a huge sigh of relief that I was accepted AND that I have a plan after JET. (Big smile on my face...:)

かわいい

2007-03-08T13:27:00.000+09:00

For the past couple of weeks I have been thinking about the word かわいい. This once-ok term has become one in which I am ambivalent to these days. Why? Because I am told nearly every day that I am "cute." This is not anything to get excited over because Japanese people say I am かわいい just as they say a dog is かわいい. The term "cute" will forever be ruined and meaningless for me. And if some guy, heaven forbid, ever said I was cute, I think I would laugh and tell him to try a little harder.

Yesterday I was looking through the 2005 JET Handbook for tax information for PA purposes. I honestly have never picked up the Handbook in my entire time on JET. But while searching the glossary I stumbled upon an article called "The Female JET." As I read it I kept thinking, "Wow, this is exactly right," especially after my recent thoughs about かわいい. Sometime very soon I will be pitching the JET Handbook. For that reason, I'm typing the entire article out so that I have a record of it. Maybe you female readers can relate to parts of this, too.

The Female JET

The best advice for women coming to Japan is probably, "do not over adapt." You will find that the expectations of women are different from your country, but remember that you have a choice as to how you respond to these expectations. Exercise this choice, and do not let yourself be led along by people pressuring you to conform to the norm of Japanese femininity any more than you feel is appropriate. The Japanese are as eager to learn about you as you are about them, and you owe it to yourself and to others to be yourself.

One of the ways Japanese open conversation is through compliments. Prepare for constant comments about your appearance. Compliments are perceived as an easy way to communicate and will be showered on you when you are being introduced to your office, your classes, prospective friends, and will even come from complete strangers you pass on the street. You may come to feel like you are not really in Japan for grassroots internationalisation, but in a rather superficial way to look good and smile. On the other hand, advice on your dress and hairstyle or comments on your weight may not be welcome. Handle these comments as politely and firmly as possible. The trouble is that it is easy to believe the compliments and get upset at the "insults" when in fact both are probably untrue. Maintain perspective and a solid self-image; do not let others define you; you are the same person you were at home, and it's in your best interest to subtly but firmly communicate this to those around you.

Most of the ideas of what non-Japanese women are like come from movies and not from personal acquaintance. This can lead to misunderstandings when people are faced with the real thing. You will probably receive a lot of attention from both men and women: some will be incessantly curious and others will see to be absolutely terrified of you. At first you may despair of finding anyone who is willing to get to know you on your own terms, but by being yourself most people will eventually treat you as another human being and not define you as a foreign woman.

There is a fixed hierarchy in Japanese society which determines how people interact form the language used to the depth of bows. You will be outside this hierarchy to some extent and thus can do many things that Japanese women would never do and still be treated with more respect than your age and gender normally command. However, women still tend to be second place in the Japanese workplace and you may have some disagreeable experiences. For example, you may not like the idea of women having to serve tea to everybody and you may be shocked at incidents which you perceive as sexual harassment. How you react in these circumstances is up to you, but it is important to discuss your opinions with others while maintaining cultural sensitivity.

Dating in Japan can be difficult for foreign women as they are often considered to be more opinionated than their Japanese counterparts. Japanese men often perceive them as threatening and are therefore unwilling to approach them. This may cause some women to feel unwanted and less attractive than in their home countries. However, some female JETs do find partners while in Japan and learn to share their culture with their partner as well as adapt to that of Japan. You may very well find your prince charming here in Japan, the important thing is to keep an open mind and be true to yourself.

俳句

2007-02-27T09:42:00.000+09:00

Last night at Japanese class, a woman from Hohoku-cho came and led a haiku workshop. While watching this woman teach, it was clear that she was in love with haiku. The experience brought back memories of a four-week Writer’s Workshop I lead my senior year of college for elementary school kids at the local library in Madison. Each week students wrote a different poem. At the end of the month, we had a poetry reading where parents came and listened to their children’s poetry. I disliked poetry as a kid due to the constraints of rhyming words. But through high school English classes, I realized that not all poetry has to rhyme. Thus, I began reading it on my own.

Haiku is a poetry style I have never explored. I knew it was 5-7-5 syllables, but beyond that I didn’t know much. I discovered last night that genuine haiku must be about nature and must reflect a season. I can do nature, and I was thinking of all kind of nice, flowery imagery in English. But my lack of Japanese vocabulary and making my imagery reflect a season as opposed to just nature in general was a daunting task. The haiku teacher suggested we write about spring, but I wanted it to be meaningful, not just another haiku about sakura. So I gave up on the idea of spring and opted for something more general. The one that a teacher and I came up with was something like, “The fog covering the mountains in the early morning evokes the memory…[of my Kikugawa home].” I liked it. Alas, other teachers said it was not haiku enough. So after much stress and with the help of four teachers, a proper haiku was created. It ended up being about fall, which is my favorite season, but in actuality, in my head, it reflects every season.

山霧に　(やまぎりに)
日本の暮らし　(にほんのくらし)
思いだす　おもいだす

A flowery translation of this is: The autumn mountain fog evokes the memories of Japanese life. (sounds better in Japanese, ne?) That middle line could be changed to 菊川の家　(きくがわのいえ), meaning Kikugawa home. And apparently やまぎりreflects autumn even though the word for autumn does not appear in the poem. And ぎりis actually きり, but because the word before it starts with a “y,” the “k” in “ki” is changed to a “g” making it “gi.” This is also why the 口in 山口 is pronounced “guchi” instead of “kuchi.”

The teachers put on a sumo haiku contest, which was great fun. I was on the East/Red team. Since none of our Japanese was good enough to understand all the poems everyone created, we ended up voting based on our friends (thanks, folks ;). In the end, my poem ended up winning and I was crowned the grand champion. I don’t think the haiku teacher liked it that much since it was not seasonal enough, but nonetheless I received a booklet of haiku postcards and a haiku book as my prize. I think I could get into studying haiku since they are short enough to not feel daunted by the task of translating.

One thing I really appreciate about Japanese culture is how they pay such close attention to nature and the changing of the seasons. It all has to do with Shintoism and various things. Sometimes it seems over the top and I desperately wish they’d pay more attention to nature when building homes and businesses. But the average person does take the time to smell the roses and observe nature and the beauty of each season. I hope that when I return to the States I am more aware of the changing of the earth with each coming and going season.

札幌雪祭り

2007-02-25T22:01:00.000+09:00

Sapporo Yuki Matsuri

It doesn’t snow much around this part of Japan in the winter (Yamaguchi is on about same latitude as the top of South Carolina/bottom of North Carolina). This is a stark contract from all the snow that Indianapolis received this year. But I did get to experience four days of proper winter this year. From Febuaray 9-12 Laura, Chris, Anita, and I went to Sapporo for the annual Snow Festival. Sapporo is the capital city of Hokkaido, the large northern island of Japan. Hokkaido is a ski and snow lover’s paradise. In 1972, the Winter Olympics were held there, marking Sapporo as the first place a Winter Olympics was held in Asia. And Sapporo is indeed where Sapporo beer is made. Every year thousands of tourists come for the Snow Festival. There are about 12 giant snow sculptures, and hundreds of smaller ones, as well as large and small ice sculptures. Also, about 20 or so countries enter into a competition as to which country can make the most unique snow sculpture. The United States’ sculpture was of the Frog Prince. Sapporo was a very relaxed place. The people were relaxed and didn’t hesitate to approach us (and sometimes speak English, even. Shock!) if it appeared that we were confused or in need of assistance. I doubt I will make it back up to Hokkaido while I’m here since it is far away and costly. But it was a lovely experience.

Day 1
Famished.

Snow and Ice Sculptures at Odori Park

Look at the "member" on that one! I was a little in shock.

Likewise, I was in shock when we first stumbled upon these little green men in a souvenier booth. Unbelievable. Read all about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marimokkori

Day 2

Laura, Anita, and Chris headed for the ski slopes and I headed for the Okurayama Ski Jump. Having seen one of these in person, I am more in awe of ski jumpers than I was before. How on earth do they not kill themselves?! It is much steaper than it seems when watching on television. The FIS Nordic World Ski Championship is being held there now through March 4. Unless there is a major event in process, people can take the chairlift to the top of the ski jump where they can look "straight down the barrel", the same view the ski jumpers see before take-off.

Overlook of Sapporo.
The surrounding mountains.

Day 3 and 4

Sato Land

The less centrally located Sato Land Site in Sapporo Sato Land Park is a family oriented site, featuring slides and a maze made out of snow and ice. It is truly a kids' winter dreamland.

Hokkaido AJET Enkai

After a long day of snow-man building, we headed to the Kirin Beer Garden for an enkai sponsored by the Hokkaido AJET. Poor Laura and I were stuck at a vegetarian table all to ourselves. All the other vegetarians were sitting with their friends then kept coming to our table to get food. This lead to those people getting annoyed. But we enjoyed heaps of lovely vegetarian food while all the other tables ate mounds of lamb.

We also had this entire beer tower to handle. Laura's face describes the situation perfectly.
We decided to entertain ourselves and take some silly photos. Laura makes a perfect monster/dinosaur face.
I tried the face and did not have quite the affect. Laura said I looked like a doll.
Thankfully Leanne and Ashley arrived and kept us company.
Ashley was quite excited about the tower.

Unfortunately Laura got an entire glass of beer spilled all on her pants by a very intoxicated girl from Hokkaido. Anita is demonstrating this with the beer in her hand. We all look very sad for Laura (and we all look about 12 years old).
Chris doesn't want to take off his bib, even in the subway.
On the plane, heading back after a lovely several days in snowy Sapporo.

Let's Being Happy

2007-02-23T22:47:00.000+09:00

If I don’t write about a day like today, then it will forget about it. These are the kinds of days I don’t want to forget about. Recently I feel my blog has been negative, which is strange because I am doing very well. I was really dreading this winter because last winter was so horrible. My body was physically ill nearly the entire season, I was cold and not dressed properly, it was my first real bout of culture shock. I cannot put my finger on exactly why things are so good this winter. Maybe because this winter has been milder than last. Maybe because I have learned how to dress more appropriately for the cold days (much love to my long johns), so even the cold days have not seems so bad. Maybe because I’ve been taking some new vitamins that one of my friends swears have changed her life. Maybe because the sunlight is lasting longer so I have started walking again. Maybe because I haven’t seen a cockroach or any mold in about six months. Maybe because my time here is ending soon so anything seems bearable in that light. Maybe because...

Today I woke up and felt it was going to be a good day. The weather looked crappy and the town was covered in fog due to the mountain air. But one of my favorite e.e. cummings poems (see last post) came to mind despite the weather, and I sensed the day would be good. I only had one class at a city school. When I got off the train at Shin-Shimonoseki I noticed an elementary school boy walking about 20 yards ahead of me. I thought it was strange to see him out of school at such an hour in the day. Then a teacher walked up the stairs and met him, leading him to a large group of children. I noticed that this teacher was Mr. Y (see May archives, post entitled “Please wear a ring”). I almost had a heart attack right then and there. Some of the students noticed me and remembered my name (I taught them last year). I waved to them. They tried to get his attention, but he was preoccupied. Finally he turned around as they were walking in a line with one of the stationmasters. Mr. Y was definitely as surprised to see me as I was to see him. I haven’t seen him since the summer when Laura and I did a workshop together for his school. He said the class was learning about “barrier free” things. Ah, the moment lasted no more than 15 seconds. But it sure was good to see him and I was smiling all the way to school.

On my walk to school I kept running into a bunch of elementary school kids who were out and about for who knows what reasons. They all said “hello” in a non-annoying way. Perhaps they recognized me, too, who knows. But they were not freaked out or overly giggly, which is always a good feeling.

Today’s school was definitely not my favorite school, but it’s not the worst, either. It was much worse last year, and this year I’ve had a few good classes there. On the surface today’s lesson went very well. Any observer would have considered it a success. In my mind, though, I felt it was pretty crap. Today’s teacher and I work pretty well together. She is one of the best English teachers I work with and actually challenges her students. She does not, however, explain things to me very well before hand (sometimes never before hand), and I am stuck, standing there in the moment trying to guess/read her mind as to what I should be doing. Sometimes I get it right, sometimes I don’t. I hate this feeling, because inevitably I feel badly about my performance afterwards. Granted, things would go much better if she could explain things she wants me to do before hand. But this is the way it is; it has been this way for 1.5 years. It is not going to change now. She has been at this school awhile and is very unhappy there. I hope for her case she gets transferred and starts to like teaching again. The good thing about this part of the days was, 1.) I only had one class; 2.) students didn’t misbehave in the class.

On my way back to Shin-Shimo I popped into 7-11 for some lunch and had exactly 15 minutes to eat it at the train station. I didn’t sit down for 5 seconds when an older man came running in and said in English, “Hello. Welcome to Japan.” Two minutes later he came back through and said, “That looks delicious. Bye!” I got a little laugh out of it. A minute later he came back to where I was and sat down, asking (in English) where I live, what I am doing in Japan, the usual. Turns out he lives in Kikugawa, too. Then he ran off because he said he had to work. I then realized he was a taxi driver. I was nearly finished when he came back again just to give me some rice crackers and say goodbye again. What a lovely man.

When I got off the train at Ozuki I ran into one of my favorite students from last year’s Kikugawa 3rd graders. She is in high school now and I rarely see her. We have exchanged only a few keitai messages. I thought of her last week on Valentine’s Day. On Valentine’s Day last year, she secretly gave me a little cake that she had made for me. She is so sweet. I caught her totally off guard today and her face turned bright red, but she was smiley we had a small chat. It was very good seeing her.

I actually got a seat on the bus today. Usually the 1:40 bus is jam packed with people going to Nagato-shi, and I end up standing for the ride. The old ladies crack me up, practically fighting each other to see who can get on the bus first and grab a seat. But today we all got seats. One of the old ladies turned around in her seat and started talking to me. I didn’t understand her Japanese at first, and then she said she was from Kansai area. Clearly she was speaking in a different dialect, and when I said I didn’t understand her, she kindly started speaking differently. Of course she asked me the usual questions. And she asked what my impressions about Japan and what I thought the Japanese "image" was before I came to Japan. First time I have gotten that question. Then she started rambling on, saying how she can’t speak English at all and it must be difficult for me to live in the inaka, and it’s great I am here, and she was so happy to be talking to me. I was all smiley again. Another lovely conversation with a person who was delighted by my presence (as opposed to scared, freaked out, upset, nervous, etc.) And the sun is shining and it’s Friday. How could the day get any better??

So I will post photos of Sapporo soon. And I still haven’t posted photos of Nikko from way back in January after the PA Training. Have a lovely weekend!

2007-02-23T08:38:00.000+09:00

i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky;and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday;this is the birth
day of life and love and wings:and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any--lifted from the no
of all nothing--human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

e.e. cummings

2007-02-16T16:10:00.000+09:00

This has been bothering me for days. I don't know why I cannot let it go, but it keeps popping in my head. Maybe I will feel better if I tell someone about it. You, reading this, get to be my venting outlet.

I went to elementary school on Wednesday with my JTE. She teaches the 6th graders there once a week. About every-other week I go with her. I see in the back of the classroom a giant piece of paper with "America" written on it in katakana. We had a few minutes before the class started so I asked her and the kids, "Oh, you've done some sort of project about Amercia? What does it say?" I could read bits and parts of it, such as holidays that are celebrated and sports that are played. One thing that struck me was that American football was not listed as a sport. The the JTE proceeded to tell me what else was said on it that I could't read. She said, "Ah, they listed some differences between Japan and America. Americans eat more food than Japanese. And they really like sweet foods. There are no club activities in schools." Excuse me? Where did they get this information? Where is their source? If we did a report about a country in the States, you'd better believe it would be from a credible book or article. In what source did it say, "Americans love sweet foods"? Of all the things they could pick out about America, they write about that?? In a world here that revolves around omiyage, don't tell me that Americans love sweets anymore than Japanese. And where did they get the information saying that we don't have clubs in American schools? I was angry and had many questions for them. But alas, class had to start and I didn't want to rip apart the kids' project. Hopefully I have been able to get rid of some of their steriotypes by being an American here. I hate that this bothered me so much. But alas, it did. A report should be based on facts from a credible source. Anyhow...

Super Bowl Champions!!

2007-02-12T20:43:00.000+09:00

My computer has been acting strange. I’ve more or less been without reliable internet for the past week or so. The computer is running fine but the websites are taking forever to load, timing out before they load. This is not good, and I don’t know how to fix the problem. Urgh. I apologize for not responding to emails in a timely manner on my yahoo address. I haven't been able to update on Blogger or check MySpace.

Also due the faulty internet/computer, I have not been able to make a post about the Colts winning the Super Bowl!! There were a lot of Super Bowl firsts in that game—first time an opening kickoff was run all the way for a touchdown, first time the game was played in the rain, first time an African American coach won, the first time in Indianapolis Colts history that they went to the Super Bowl, first time they won the Super Bowl, and the first major professional sports title for the city.

I was at elementary school when I found out the Colts won. This day was the last time I'll be teaching this 3rd grade class this school year. Sigh...they're a sweet bunch of kids and the teacher and I have a great teaching relationship. It's been a pleasure. Hopefully the teacher doesn't get transferred.

I cannot begin to imagine the insanity in the streets following the game. Monday afternoon there was a Colts parade downtown in freezing (literally) winter temperatures. Wished I could have joined in the excitement with other Colts fans. But in celebration, I skipped Japanese class Monday night and met Laura for sushi and a beer. What an odd (but appropriate for me) way to celebrate a Super Bowl title. Nonetheless, I celebrated. Here is Laura trying to get excited about American football. Great game face, Laura!

Here is a photo of Mya, decked out in her Colts gear, on the phone with my brother Scott. Scott and some friends and in-laws went to Miami. They couldn't afford to attend the game, but they participated in the festivities and tailgated.

Way to go Colts!

It's finally Super Bowl time

2007-02-04T21:07:00.000+09:00

Indianapolis Colts vs. Chicago Bears in Miami, Florida. Best of luck to the Blue!

雪!!

2007-02-03T11:32:00.000+09:00

Kikugawa was a beautiful sight yesterday morning. Unfortunately I got no photos of the morning snow in town because I left at 7am and things were still very dark. I was suprised and happy that the bus arrived on time. Little did I know the fiasco that would occur after this. To make a long and complaining story short, I spent 3 hours on the bus with only one kleenex to nurse my running nose and desperately needing to relieve my bladder. I was in communication with my supervisor about being late. When I was still on the bus after my one and only class for the day had begun, he said, "Please go to the school." I got to the school 2 hours late, and the teacher said, "Your class has already finished." I said, "Yes, I know. But I was told to come here anyway. Can't I join another class?" She looked at me like I was nuts and replied, "No, sorry. Would you like something hot to drink?" I said, "So I should just go back." And she gave me a crooked, affirmative smile. I emailed my supervisor and said, "I finally arrived to the school. The teachers say they don't need me." "Please come to the office," he replied. Gesh, I wanted to scream. So I was only in the school a total of 10 minutes, which was just enough time to get my coat off, put on slippers, use the restroom, talk to the teacher, get my coat back on, change shoes, and leave.

On the bright side, I was in one of the oldest, most beautiful areas of Shimonoseki, so I took a few minutes to snap some photos and walk by a shrine on my way back to the bus stop.

In front of the office.

This was a learning experience. Things I did right: I wore a long-john shirt and pants; I had a small folding umbrella; I packed an emergency peanut butter sandwich; my cell phone was fully charges; I had a lot of money on my bus card. Things I wish I would have done: brough an extra pair of socks with me (my feet got soaking wet); had a book with me; brough more than one kleenex; worn proper shoes; charged my iPod.

One of those days...

2007-01-24T15:04:00.000+09:00

I'm having one of those days. The lesson I team-taught in did not go very well. The teacher was unprepared and awkward, therefore the entire class was awkward. The principal later told me, "We should go drinking together sometime, just us." Excuse me, what? Then I went to Chofu station, which is crawling with dirty old men who go to the boat races on Wednesday. It really is a creapy station. If I don't get stopped by Jehova's Witnesses there, I am approached by and/or stared down hard by the old men. Today, not only did I get it from the men, I got it from the women. I was minding my own business, waiting on the train, doing Sudoku. Two ladies sat right in front of me. Immediately they said, "Foreign people's noses are so cute. Look at her nose. Her nose is so cute. She's so cute." I looked straight at them and gave them the excuse-me-why-are-you-talking-about-me-infront-of-my-face-I-do-understand-what-you-are-saying look, but they did not comprehend my comprehension. They kept on talking about my appearance then said, "Hello," in English. These are the times when I feel like a monkey at the zoo. Granted they didn't say I was fat or ugly, but still, it is uncomfortable for me and rude on their parts. I was happy when I finally sat down on the train. But of course, it had to start raining on me and I didn't have an umbrella. Ah, one of those days. I haven't had one of these kind of crap days in awhile. I have always thought that we have to have bad days to outweigh the good ones.

I officially turned in my re-contracting papers yesterday. Everything seems so final now. Bittersweet, indeed.

Winter Vacation

2007-01-23T20:43:00.000+09:00

Inspired by Laura, here are photos of my winter vacation in Indiana and Illinois.

Christmas Day

Traditional French Family Christmas breakfast.

Brock being silly.

My neice Mya and me. She is thinking, "Who are you? I don't know you..." :(

French Christmas

Grandpa French's farm in eastern Illinois.

Mya in her new Pumas.

Aunt Carolyn and me.

Here's the whole family.

Fun Times with Friends

Stanley

Kevin

Me, Sara, Sarah, and Stephanie. My best friends from high school.

Stephanie

Sarah, me, Sara

Melissa

Brian

Eric

Mandy, me, Carly

Steph, me, Brock, and one ear of Brock's dog, Diesel.

Family Time

Mya

Mom, Aunt Becky, and Aunt Pat

My parent's new house.

Brock by the tools.

Dad and Brock, working hard.

Grandpa Williams and Chad

Mya and Aunt Angie

My older brothers, Mya, and our grandfather.

With Grandpa Williams

With my parents at Indianapolis airport at 7am. All of us are looking absolutely exhausted. I was walking around Chicago airport in this shirt. Hehe...

And finally, my favorite photo. Me and Brock.

We WON!!!

2007-01-22T22:21:00.000+09:00

There I was in the middle of the elementary school teachers' room, wanting to shout out loud when I found out. But then I realized that 1.) I'm in the Japan, 2.) No one would have a clue what I was talking about even if I tried to explain, 3.) No one cares. Ah, but lucky for me, the very attractive and very single older teacher who likes America and sports and speaks pretty good English knew exactly what I was talking about. It was nice to share my excitement with someone. I realize that most of you readers could care less that the Indianapolis Colts will be going to the Super Bowl. But it is very exciting to me and special for my city. I am sad I'm not there to participate in the frenzy and won't get to go to any huge Super Bowl parties. But I feel really proud to call myself a Hoosier. Way to go, Colts!!

Best of Luck

2007-01-20T13:28:00.000+09:00

I just want to give a quick shout-out to my home football team, the Indianapolis Colts. The team has had their best two seasons since I have been in Japan and I have not been able to watch any of their games. I am not a huge sports buff, but I do like football. The atmosphere the team brings to Indianapolis is amazing. They will be playing New England on Sunday for the AFC title in Indianapolis, the first time we have ever hosted the AFC tournament. The Colts have played quite a few AFC tournament games and lost them all. Let's hope this one turns out a little differently and we can advance to the Super Bowl. Good luck!!

2007-01-15T21:03:00.000+09:00

I am not dead. I am very much alive. Two days after I returned to Japan I was wisked away to Tokyo for PA training. I am working on posting photos of my time at home, as well as my trip to Nikko following the training. Hope you are well and happy belated New Year!

2006-12-26T23:46:00.000+09:00

It's the day after Christmas. I'm sitting in my parent's house, typing on their computer. I'm spoiled by my wireless internet and super-fast internet connection in Japan, that's for sure.

Things are very good here. I'm managing to stay relaxed despite all that I need to be doing and the people I need to see. I'm still listening to Christmas music and hope my mom doesn't take down the tree until after the new year begins. A friend recommended the Sufjan Stevens Christmas cd. It was an excellent recommendation. Thank you, Allison. He kept me company on the plane ride here. I want to write many things about my time here and thoughts about what is going on. I do hope I have time to do so. But for now I'll write down a few things that have been on my mind.

For better or for worse, America has tons of diversity and options in everything. My main culture shock may come to me whenever I feel mentally prepared to walk into a Wal-Mart. I hate Chicago airport, but I've gone through it a few times now and know what to do and where to go without thinking too hard. As soon as I land on American soil inevitably I want a turkey sandwich. I remembered a salad stand that sold turkey roll-ups, so I went straight there after I found my correct gate number. I was standing behind a British woman who was a bit overwhelmed by the situation. You could literally chose among about 25 or 30 types of things that you wanted on your salad or sandwich. She asked the store worker, "Do you have any smaller size, like a Child Size?" The worker replied, "We only have one size." Then it was my turn and I was asked what kind of salad dressing I wanted on my roll-up. I don't like dressing so I said "none" but I did take a look at the options while paying. On the menu were literally 14 different salad dressings. 14!! I was awestruck. Is it really necessary to have 14 salad dressings to chose from? I found the 14 salad dressings just very reflective of American culture in general. You get what you want here. You have options. You have many options. Everyone's giant salad is different and individual; it looks different and tastes different.

On a similar note, I went to Cracker Barrel with my parents, Brock, and his girlfriend Amber. It took us awhile to tell the witress our order. Why? This is how things went. Me, "I'd like two eggs, two biscuits, and two pieces of turkey sausage." Waitress, "How would you liek your eggs cooked?" Me, "Medium." Waitress, "Do you want gravey with your biscuit?" Me, "No, jelly is fine." Waitress, "Would you like strawberry, grape, blackberry, honey, or apple butter?" Me, "Um....blackberry." Then Brock went. Brock, "...and a glass of milk." Waitress, "We have whole milk, 2%, and skim." Brock, "2%." Waitress, "Ice in your glass or no ice? Oh, and what kind of ham? We have sugar ham, Canadian, or country." I was amazed by the whole situation. I like having a lot of choice. But I imagined a Japanese person being very overwhelmed in a similar restaurant situation.

Indianapolis is the 11th largest city in America. Not many people know this fact. It is growing quickly. Over the last several years a great number of Mexican and latino people have immigrated to the region. It is amazing to see the number of Spanish-speaking people out and about. I have noticed it so much more even in the 1.5 years I've been away. My eyes have a hightened sensitivity for seeing diversity around here, too. Has the diversity really increased or did I just never notice it before? I don't know. With diversity and growth comes conflict. Such is the story of American history. So in the last 1.5 years crime rate has increased in the city. The Latino community is moving into the once predominately African-American community and conflict is occuring between the groups of people. My parents house is not too far from this crime-sticken area. The area has always been crime-stricken. Poor familys and many drug dealers. When I entered high school the reality of where I lived set in when I began making friends with people in better areas of my school district. Some were afraid to come to my house for fear they would be shot.

Saturday my mom and I stopped by a new International Foods store in this "rough" area of town about 10 minute drive from my house called Sagara. On our drive we noticed a couple smaller stores with 'internationl foods' signs and a number of Mexican supermarkets. I said, "I'm sure the majority of foods in Sagara are Mexican, but let's see what hey have. Even thought the store name could potentially be Japanese, I'm sure it's Spanish." Oh my heart and eyes were so happy at what I saw in that store! There were Asians and Latino people working there. One isle had a mixture of Jamaican and African food, another isle American products, another Korean food, another Chinese, another Mexican, and low and behold, Japanese! Everything I am every going to crave was in that store--umeboshi, instant miso soup, actual miso, genuine okonomiyaki and yaki soba sauce, okonomiyak mix, good tofu, sushi type yaki soba type pickled ginger, soba noodles, instant yaki soba, Pokey, sake, even those little chocolate cream filled koala bears. Ha, I had to laugh because there were bean-paste mochi sweets and even the tasteless cakes and deserts. These foods were no more expensive than what I pay in Japan, which was a sad reminder of just how expensive it really is to live in Japan and how I hardly notice high prices anymore. A friend of mine said a Korean family runs Sagara. Maybe "Sagara" is a Korean word, then? I work with a Ms. Sagara at one of my junior high schools. I will have to tell her that there is an amazing international foods store in Indianapolis with her same name. With all the Japanese food in that store, there must be a number of Japanese people in the community that never noticed before. I cannot wait to run into some of them.

I know that I will miss Japan when I leave. It will be an emotional time and I will probably question whether the decision to not re-contract was the right decision or not. And I don't know if I will be in Indiana or Washinton at this time next year. The future is exciting and a little scary. But I know I will be ok when I come back, wherever I end up. I feel extremely different than I did 1.5 years ago. I am older and wiser and more culturally aware. I appreciate the diversity around me now rather than take it for granted like I did before. Who would have thought one could find such pleasure out of simplicities such as heat in my house, soap and paper towels in public restrooms, trash cans, the ability to use my credit card anywhere I want, my family who hugs me, turkey, raspberry yogurt, whole grain breads and crackers and cereals, the ability to search down a restaurant of whatever kind of food I am craving, stores open 24hrs a day, coffee shops that are open past 9pm. Of course there are plenty of things that annoy me now that didn't before, but no country or culture is perfect. I want to focus on the positive. Overall I feel really lucky to be here right now and want to enjoy every minute of it before going back to the homogenious Japan.

Leaving on a big plane

2006-12-22T09:00:00.000+09:00

I'm headed to Kansai to fly home in a few hours. I may blog some while home in those jet-lagged hours when everyone is sleeping but me. I hate flying but I feel pretty good about this trip. Hopefully more relaxed than usual. There was a great deal that happened in the last week that I never got around to blogging about, including a terrible bit of flu I acquired, graduate school applications, meeting a really cool Japanese kid that is schooled in New Zealand, etc. And I never did post photos of the sake festival or trip to Kyoto. Blast. Well to those of you staying in Japan, enjoy your Christmas here. To the others, have a great time with your family/friends, wherever you are.

After Party and Slumber Party

2006-12-17T12:56:00.000+09:00

Looking back on things I should not have gone to the Mid-Year Seminar after party. My stomach was feeling strange, my head was hurting, and I made one too many trips to the toilet. But I figured I was feeling weird from sitting all day and listening to the presentations. And it is not uncommon for me to have digestion problems. So I ignored my feelings of strangeness and went. I enjoyed talking to some folks I haven't talked to in awhile or ever, including Yamane and the other kencho guy that was there. Both of them seemed very intersted in our thoughts about Japan and our experiences within the schools.

Laura and Chris

At the restaurant

Mr. Yamane and me

Following the party, several of us had a slumber party at Becky I's apartment. Futons were sparce and the temps weren't too bad but still a bit chilly. With some improvisation, things worked out just fine and we were warm as we slept. Thanks for always being such a great host, Becky!

Laura in Becky I's kitchen doing what she does best. I can not remember why we took this photo.

Sherona and me

All of us sleeping next to each other for warmth.

AJET Christmas Party in Hagi

2006-12-10T19:38:00.000+09:00

Daniel stayed at mine on Friday evening and we made the long journey up to Hagi together in the rain. Jo came and fetched us from the train station. On our walk there, we ran into her supervisor who was kind enough to drive us to the party. It was a sea of red. There was much meat and merriment. Following the party several of us headed to Dan and Rosie's t and others to the bucket bar. Lovely seeing all of you who came out. And many thanks to Jo for welcoming us to her apartment.

Christmas cookies

2006-12-07T19:25:00.000+09:00

Before summer vacation, the curriculum head at this school approached me. He said he wanted the students this year to learn more about American culture and holidays and asked if I was willing to teach it. "Of course!" I said. I was so happy that a school had shown such interest. (This is the same school that we had Halloween Day last month, and I dressed as a dinosaur). Christmas was a perfect opportunity to cook. The school agreed, so we made plans for 5th and 6th grade to make Christmas cookies. Each student in the whole school would get two cookies (about 300 cookies total) and were to eat them following lunch. They asked me to buy all the ingredients and cookie cutters. Luckily I found a generic cookie mix off The Flying Pig that I had tried out in October to make Halloween cookies for a party. We used the same cookie mix and only needed to add water to the mixture. The school only owned one microwave oven, so every teacher brought their own ovens from to the school.

We couldn't cook the cookies as fast as the students cut them. Every free moment in the day the teachers and I were running up to the kitchen, baking the cookies. This was on top of me teaching four other classes that made cards and crafts instead of cookies. The day was a huge success. We ended up making well over 300 cookies. Turns out we actually made nearly 600!! Most of the students had never made such cookies before. They were very proud of their creations, as they should have been.

Japanese Class Year-End Party

2006-12-05T21:46:00.000+09:00

Last night was our final Japanese class for this calendar year. Following the lesson, we received certificates of completion for those of us who attended the majority of classes. Woohoo! The teachers organized a meal for us at St. Valentine, the famous posh wedding chapel right outside of Shimonoseki Station.

Becky, me, and Mariette.

A delicious fish dish underneith mashed potatoes. Quite Western.

Small shrimp salad, potato salad, and some kind of potato thing.

Members from all four levels of class plus the many Japanese teachers.

Shinmura-sensai and classmates. She said this was her 15th year teaching Japanese to foreigners. I feel incredibly lucky to have her as a teacher. She is one of the kindest, most patient women I have met here.

I earned my pay check this week

2006-12-02T21:23:00.000+09:00

I don't know about for everyone, but the last few months have been crazily busy, especially November. This past week rendered me absolutely exhausted. Monday was a full day of elementary school followed by Japanese class. I go to Japanese class directly after work every Monday and don't get home from class until about 10pm, so it makes for very long days.

Tuesday was five classes of elementary school plus kindergarten. During the final class, twenty-four observers watched Mr. Okada and I team-teach the 6th grade together. These people included every principal, vice principal, and head of teachers from each school in Kikugawa, Yokouchi-sensai, a man from Kencho, and parent volunteers. Sadly this 6th grade class is the least genki class I have ever seen. It is like pulling teeth for Mr. Okada and I to get them to react. Considering the dynamics of the class and all the observers, my nerves were a bit rattled, but I think we did well. I should have had someone take photos of us teaching together, but I didn't think about it until after. Here are a few from that day, though.

Kindergarten doing a dance for me.

Newspaper sumo. Yeah, I didn't do so well.

Singing "The Wheels on the Bus." The kids really enjoyed it and caught on quickly. The book helped, too.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Friday I had five more classes of a visit elementary school. Laura and I did a workshop for all the teachers of this school in the summer. We had a really fun time that day teaching them many games and ideas. I even made them a CD with English songs for them to use. (Flash back to the workshop--gesh it was hot in that room, but we had an enjoyable time).

I had high hopes for this day, thinking that surely they would use one of our new/different/cool games or songs that we taught them. Needless to say, I was disheartened to see that the lesson plan showed five games of Fruit Basket. Did we do that workshop for no reason?? Anyhow, the day went well, but I was knackered after five games of Fruit Basket and shaking 160 second-graders' hands.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The job of ALT isn't just about teaching. Sometimes public appearances are involved. Mr. and Mrs. Ok invited me to attend a special dinner at the nursing home they run. The famous sumo wrestler, Kotoshogiku, was going to be in town. About 20 people were allowed to come to the dinner. Lucky me! They thought it would be a good idea for me to go and show my face to the "high class" people of town.

Kotoshogiku is from Fukuoka. A newly turned 23-year-old, he won one of three prizes at the past tournament. His overall ranking is 8th, much higher than Shimonoseki-inaka native Homosho. Kotoshogiku was a charming fellow, completely unphased by my foreignness. He took seven onigiri with him back to his hotel room as an evening snack!! Before he left, he gave us each a calendar, a keitai charm with his name on it, and the plate below. He also gave me a wink on his way out, but I don't think anyone saw it but me. ;)

I did it

2006-11-30T10:33:00.000+09:00

I dropped the news. I asked for a graduate school recommendation letter from my supervisor/head of office. Obviously this means to them that I am not going to re-contract even though I haven’t signed the papers. I feel relief that I got it over with, but in some ways I feel quite sad. I thought they would possibly freak out that it needs to be in English, but they handled the news and request very well, even seemed happy to be doing it. I wonder how the letter will turn out since it is their first hand at writing a recommendation letter. I said it was appropriate for them to write it together since they are both my supervisors. They will write it in Japanese and then have Mr. Yokouchi translate. It might not be the exact format of a typical American reference, and the English will most likely not be perfect. I have done my best here among the ambiguity and bureaucracy, and they are pleased with my performance. So regardless of how the letter turns out, I know it will be genuine and sincere. I’m not worried at all.

Today I am mailing transcript requests and will call ETS and request that my GRE scores be sent to IU and U. of Washington. The process is going well and has so far been stressless. Now if only I can find my muse for writing the statement of purpose and hear back from the Hanover professor who I asked about writing a reference then all will be extremely well.

Wow, crazy that a year from now I will be finishing up my first semester of graduate school. I will either be...

...here among the maple trees.

...here (in spring), admiring the cherry blossoms and thinking of life in Japan.

...or here, oceanside, sipping on coffee outside the library and thanking God for a glimpse of blue sky.

2006 November Grand Sumo Tournament

2006-11-30T07:50:00.000+09:00

Last Saturday several of us headed down to Fukuoka to watch the 14th day of the Kyushu Sumo Tournament. I had never been to a sumo tournament and didn't know much about it. I was pleasantly suprised to receive a small booklet on Sumo in English, as well as a listing of the matches in romaji. Because Shimonoseki and my little town are not set-up to accommodate foreigners, I was just so happy to be given a little thing like an English booklet. Thankfully someone at the Nihon Sumo Kyokai realises that many foreigners go to the sumo tournaments and wanted them to have a greater understanding of their experience. Things like this are a huge step when you think about it. This means that someone somewhere is thinking internationally and putting themselves in our foreign shoes.

As you can see, hardly anyone was at the event when this photo was taken. Luckily I was able to go on the bottom level and take photos. About an hour later, however, we started getting "dame" from the workers in the yellow jackets. Amusing to Anita and me were observing from afar Laura getting "dame" twice from shy Japanese guys who were no older than ourselves. Very funny.

Eventually many people arrived and filled up all the bottom seats. This photo is for the memories and to show family and friends back home that I was there. One of my favorite moments was when the amusing man sitting near us got everyone chearing for Homasho, a wrestler from Shimonoseki who came in second overall in the tournament.

The final bout, Asashoryu vs. Kotooshu. Not surprising, Asashoryu (from Mongolia) won the match and ended up winning the overall tournament on the final day.

After the final bout, all the fans threw their purple cusions in the center of the ring. It was a fitting ending for a truly enjoyable experience.

2006-11-29T08:01:00.000+09:00

I went to a special college called Hanover, but this is not the time or place to get into that. Anyhow, I still correspond with about five professors, which is evidence of how special a place it really was. Last week my student teaching supervisor emailed me about contibuting a photo of me with students and couple paragraphs about my experiences on JET for an article in a quarterly published Hanover magazine. I must submit these materials by next Friday, so I have been having teachers taking photos of me left and right, trying to find the perfect one to submit. I am unsure if the folks publishing the article want an action shot or a posed shot, so I will submit two and let them chose. Here are a few from Monday. It's always funny to look at photos of yourself and see how ridiculous you look sometime while teaching.

These photos are of one of my favorite classes. 1st graders. The teacher is a hoot and we all just end up laughing a lot and get along really well.

And here you can see a ridiculous looking face I made.

Such a cutie!

Too bad his "peace" is covering his face.

This class is NOT my favorite. 4th graders. In fact, this used to be my least favorite, but they are gradually getting better due to their capable and patient teacher who is getting them into behavioral shape. It was one of the kids in this class who last year I yelled very forcefully in his face after he repeatedly called me a "gaijin" under his breath at the lunch table. But some of these kids are very smart and interested in English. The class as a whole know their numbers from 1-20 the best of all the down elementary school kids. Some people think 6th grade is the most difficult age to teach in Japan, but I have most of my behavior problems or punk kids in 4th grade.

Number karuta.

I like this one...

What a face!

As simple as pumpkin pie

2006-11-29T07:35:00.000+09:00

Sometimes I am confused about my role is here in Japan. I know I am here to be American and to "internationalize." (Whatever that word means.) But I get the overwhelming feeling that we as ALTs are meant to be sportsmen and sportswomen more than English teachers. Well I don't like sports. I have "challenged" myself through participating in sports days and a PTA volleyball tournament. I even used to play badminton. But beyond that I don't do sports. There have got to be other ways to "internationalize" that don't have to do with sports, right?

So I decided to get more excited about holidays this second year as an ALT. For Halloween, I bought many decorations and put up a display in my windows at home of balloons, inflatable pumpkins, bats, and black cats. I made brownies for my office members and got really into my lessons (see dinosaur pics below). As Thanksgiving approached, I was a bit bummed when only one teacher for only one class asked me to teach about Thanksgiving. Now as an American, Thanksgiving is a much more special time than Halloween. It is the American holiday. As a previous teacher, I liked Thanksgiving the best because it is perhaps the safest holiday to discuss/celebrate since it is not affiliated with any religion and therefore cannot offend any religious groups. As much as I enjoy the Christmas spirit, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because people for once stop thinking about themselves and give thanks for their family and friends and life and food. How sad that many Japanese students are unaware of this celebration. So I decided to give Thanksgiving a boost this year and share it with my office and neighbors in some way. I brought in pumpkin pie from The Flying Pig. (And by the way, those pumpkin pies are very good and not too expensive.) This was every office members' first time to eat pumpkin pie. Most of them said is was delicious. Not everyone knew why he or she was eating it or cared either. But a few members told me that they researched Thanksgiving on the internet because of the pie and now they understand why I brought it in and understand Thanksgiving. Fear not, folks who are not sportsmen/women! Be creative in your internationalization. Go to your enkais. Show your face at festivals and school days even if you don't think people care whether you are there or not. And remember that simple things like pumpkin pies can be important internationalization tools. I am excited about cookies for Christmas...

Rural Shimonoseki Enkai

2006-11-23T22:41:00.000+09:00

The four rural town BOEs of Shimonoseki got together for a belated leavers and welcome party for a few members. The evening was hosted by Markus's Hohoku-cho BOE in Takibe at Takibe onsen. I was a little disturbed by a few things: the amount of smoking going on among the men present; us 4 ALTs were sectioned off at the end of a table rather than allowed to sit amoungst the Japanese people; the main dish was a pork nabe. I don't eat pork. And this was the most expensive enkai I have ever been to. I did not like that I paid tons of money for there to be many foods I could not eat.

Apparently Hohoku-cho is famous for squid. Here you can see an example.What you cannot see in this photo is that the creature was still very much alive as I ate its raw flesh. I have seen before where the tenticles are moving. But this time, as I was nearly finished, I noticed that something in its body was pulsating (a heart, maybe?) Very strange. Marc, Markus, Jon, and I ammused ourselves for many minutes by poking it with chopsticks repeatedly to see if it would start moving. Sick, sick people we are.

After an awkward finish to what ended up being a measly hour's worth of karaoke, we boared this snazzy bus which took us back to our towns. Here we are trying to entertain ourselves.

But we didn't need to entertain ourselves too much because this fellow from Marc's BOE made us laugh plenty.

...and it showed up again at elementary school!

2006-11-23T22:21:00.000+09:00

A dinosaur was spotted in Kikugawa!

2006-11-23T22:16:00.000+09:00

2006-11-19T21:32:00.000+09:00

O season of ripe beauty, you I greet!
Whose heart is love's calm wisdom at its throbbing core;
Your deep hues and myriad colors make the soul's wings beat
And lift a lover like me to your ambrosial shore.

Through you Nature weeps its precious golden tears,
In you a mortal eye could glimpse its native Immortality,
O endless fount of inspiration to the poet-seers
To be bound by your embrace is to be truly free!

A glad earth bathes in your benign and lustrous smile
And man's heart thrills with an unknown rapture and delight
By your whispers and footfalls and flute-call beguiled,
An ancient kinship links him to your celestial height.

A brimming of golden sweetness in your dreaming eyes
Fills the world with the beauty of a realm divine,
The sun's last rays serenely trickle from your purple skies:
I send my love and song and call your blessings mine.

--Abhinabha

Yutoku Inari Shrine

2006-11-14T22:00:00.000+09:00

On the drive back from Unzen we stopped by this unusually colorful inari shrine. What a magnificant structure! Yutoku Inari Shrine is located in Kashima-shi, Saga-ken. Luckily for us the weather broke for a bit of blue sky and sunshine.

Unzen

2006-11-14T21:24:00.000+09:00

The massive Unzen volcanic complex comprises much of the Shimabara Peninsula east of Nagasaki. Unzen is well know for Japan's greatest volcanic disaster. In 1792, about a month after lava stopped erupting from the volcano, a landslide from nearby Mount Mayuyama swept through ancient Shimabara City, entered the sea, and generated a tsunami that struck nearby areas. More than 15,000 people were killed by the landslide and tsunami. Now the area is a national park. Many hells and volcanic activity led to the creation of a number of onsens.

On June 3, 1991, this dome collapsed and the explosion produced a pyroclastic flow and ash-cloud surge that raced 4.5 kilometers from the crater, burning about 180 houses and killing 43 people who had ventured into a previously designated hazard zone. Subsequently, lava continued to extrude from the summit crater toward the volcano's east flank. Another collapse event on June 8 swept 5.5 kilometers down the same river valley, burning 210 additional houses. Notice the lack of trees on the mountain.

長崎市

2006-11-14T20:14:00.000+09:00

2006-11-14T20:10:00.000+09:00

2006-11-08T20:58:00.000+09:00

Anxiously awaiting the arrival of...

2006-11-06T15:04:00.000+09:00

n
OthI
n

g can

s
urPas
s

the m

y
SteR
y

of

s
tilLnes
s
--e.e. cummings

The Weekend

2006-11-05T10:55:00.000+09:00

The long weekend began on Thursday night. I had been craving sushi from Karato for months. Earlier that day I practically starved myself so I could eat mounds of it. And sure enough, I ate seven plates full! It was everything I imagined with would be, though. Ah, that place truly is ichiban.

Friday morning we headed to Shimosho culture day. A few of the students invited me to attend since I had been there four days in a row at the end of last month. Laura goes there, too, and Becky used to. But none of us go/went freqently, so some students were really confused as to who we were exactly. Still, I am glad we went. Here are some of the students who invited me and their teacher. Can you spot which one is the teacher??

柿、Japanese persimmon

Saturday night Becky I. and Laura came to my apartment for the evening. I have witnesses now to attest that my town is much colder than Shimonoseki and that my apartment is indeed an ice box. Look at this gorgeous pizza my microwave oven baked! And my apartment is looking uberclean. Note the red wine in the photo: this is a "spicy" wine from Hokkaido, made through an ecology experiment in vinyard agriculture. It is very different and very good. The owner of the bottle shop I frequent was very hesitant to let me buy it. He kept saying, "Oh, it's spicy. Women don't like it. Ah!" I will have to let him know that it was quite enjoyable. A white version exists, as well. I do not think it was "spicy."

And another one bites the dust...men. I understand the reality of me and a nice guy living expensive phone calls and train rides away. There is no hope for anything beyond a friendship. It would be pointless and emotionally unresponsible to think anything else. I sleep in a dream world but I like to live life in as much reality as possible. I am not a fling or bootie call kind of girl, eiher, which means that my perpetual state of singleness is going to last even longer. My reality is that I have been single for a really long time. Thankfully, time and singleness have not turned me into a complete cynic. But they are turning me into an unassuming person about guys and people in general. Being like that has saved me a lot of overanalysis, worry, and heartache over nothing. Plus, I did read that He's Just Not That Into You book awhile back, which which has kept me from continually making excuses for men. (As a side note, every single female needs to read that book.) I have met some cool men (and some real crazies) over the past couple years, but nothing can develop due to the transient circumstances of my life and their lives right now. It is all quite emotionally exhausting.

On the future front, I feel God is preparing my heart to come home this coming July. Even I think it sounds a bit hokey and cheesy to be throwing that "God told me" stuff out there, but nonetheless I believe that is what is going on. I will either end up at IU Bloomington or Seattle. I am starting to apply and have narrowed things down to there and two schools in Seattle. Most Masters programs give out little to no financial aid, so if I cannot pull any aid from Seattle, which is highly likely, IU will the winner (providing I get accepted), mostly due to financial reasons. I am not completely giving up on Seattle, though, since it has been on my mind for year, so I will apply and see what happens. All of this is a bit scary, but I trust that everything will workout the way it is supposed to; it always does. I am hesitant to turn in my recontracting papers yet and probably won't do it until the last minute just in case, and also so I can prolong the crushed faces of my office members.

Halloween Saturday

2006-11-05T10:48:00.000+09:00

Jamie sent me this photo of Mya in her Halloween costume, trick-or-treating. Absolutely adorable. Her costume resembles the dinosaur getup that Laura wore (see photos below. ;)

Halloween Satuday began early at one of my JTE's houses, Mrs. Sagara. She invited me to a party she was throwing for her private students. I made some pumpkin-shaped sugar cookies that were a huge hit. After the party Mrs. Sagara fixed lunch for her husband, son, and me. The poor son was forced to speak broken English to me all day. I felt bad for him, but he was hanging in there pretty well. We watched some weird movie about spiders and then she took me back home. Her husband was absolutely lovely, too. One of his hobbies is cleaning. Between conversations he would go off to vacuum a part of the house. Ha, definitely NOT your typical Japanese man. Lucky her!

After my day at the Sagara's, I headed to Shimonoseki to get dressed. We headed to Kokura for some fun times and to hear Emily sing at Fujyama Mama's.

These drinks were absolutely disgusting.

The two guys on the right were really lovely. They kept buying us drinks and seemed only interested in practicing their English. The one on the far right is a hairdresser in Nishi Kokura. If we make it there ever, he will give free haircuts. His dream is go move to Australia and open his own hair salon. So he wants to practice cutting foreign hair and English.

Wow, what a facial expression, Jonathan!

First Halloween class

2006-10-17T22:44:00.000+09:00

Yesterday was my first Halloween lesson of the season. I don't have many on my schedule so I thought I would milk the ones I have for what they are worth. The lesson was for 3rd and 4th grade at my smallest town school. It consisted of a Halloween explanation, learning of the words witch, ghost, black cat, spider, and trick or treat. This was followed by the inevitable Halloween version of Fruit Basket.

"Angie says 'touch your eyes.' "

This is the face of a child who has played Fruit Basket way too many times.

Thank you, sweet kids, for being kind to your teachers and not acting like the class yesterday.

Sucky day

2006-10-17T14:06:00.000+09:00

I hate feeling completely powerless and as if I have no control, which is what I felt yesterday. It`s kind of a long and complicated story, so hopefully you can follow. I went to a city school that is full of some punk kids who don`t listen or study, but the last few time I have been there have not been so bad. And even the times before, nothing terrible happened. I was with my favorite teacher who I have only worked with one other time. She is really capable and challenges the kids a lot. She knows how to us an ALT and just seems really with it and experienced. As she started the class (1st grade) one boy was talking and trying to cause a commotion. She asked him to stop talking and he didn`t and it kept going on like this for about the first 15 minutes of class. During this time he was yelping like a dog, sitting on the floor, didn`t shut up the whole time. It was like he was on drugs. I have never seen a Japanese kid behave like this. Anytime anyone said anything to him, including the teacher, he would start giggling a freak laugh. It was extremely strange. So the teacher told him to get out of the room and go to the teacher`s office. He said no, so she literally started dragging him out of the room. So there they were in the back of the room, practically fighting each other for about 10 minutes. She was trying to drag him out and he was trying to stay. During this time I was trying to continue a question game that we tried to begin, but I was distracted and obviously the other kids were distracted. Some kids were laughing and being loud and others were sitting there in disbelief at what was going on. As a whole the volume of the class was quite loud and clearly the teacher lost complete control since she was dealing with that boy. Finally she got him out of the class and they left; I have no idea where they went.

So there I was with the rest of the class by myself. I tried to continue the game and they were actually sort of playing along. Of course they started talking a bit, but I was quite glad that they were participating and not running around, know what I mean? During this time the teacher next door came over and told them to be quiet and a bunch of other Japanese that I didn`t understand. Finally, after about 15-20 minutes of me being alone, the teacher and the crazy student came back to the class. At this point in time there were only about 3 minutes of class left. Class finished and the English teacher apologized to me (even though she wasn`t the one who needed to apologize). I went down to the teachers` room, and when I entered the room I over heard the teacher who had been teaching in the class next to me (the one who came and told my class to shut up) bitching to the vice principal and teachers in the room about how my game was so loud and disrupting his class. Beyond that I didn`t understand his Japanese, but I know that is what he was talking about. Of course I was thinking, "What?! My game was too loud? Do you even know what was going on in that class? I am lucky they were no louder than they were considering. Plus, they had been much louder when the teacher was there." I was upset and went to the restroom. When I came back into the teachers` room the English teacher was there and I don`t know what was said, but I heard my name and when I walked in the door they all looked at me and gave me weird looks. I left the room and the teacher apologized to me again and then I left the school.

This all probably sounds stupid to you about why I got so upset. But there are a lot of things involved. For one, the Japanese discipline system and American discipline systems are very different. The Japanese system is virtually nonexistent, which angered me becasue teachers have to put up with the kind of crap that boy pulled. Plus, I was sad for the teacher that she had to deal with him, especially since she is such a good teacher and she attempted to do something about it instead of just ignore the kid for 50 minutes. For another, it is illegal to leave an ALT alone in a classroom with a group of students. For another, there are a few jack-ass teachers who hate ALTs and try to get them in trouble, such as that teacher next door who was complaining about me. I usually deal with these sorts of problems only one at a time, but this day all of those were happening at the same time. Plus I realized as I was alone in the classroom that had the students decided to be out of control, I wouldn`t have known what to do. Even if I would have tried to speak, I wouldn`t have known what do say since my Japanese sucks. All I know how to say in a situation like that is "stop talking" or "stop" or "quit," and to that they would probably have started laughing.

After the class I was fine and relieved that I survived the class and that the English teacher managed to get the kid back to class somehow. But I just kind of fell apart when I overheard that other teacher complaining about me in the teachers` room. That school is already pretty cold towards me, always giving me a hard time about me not eating school lunch (I bring my lunch since I am a semi-vegetarian and there is pork in the school lunch almost daily).

So anyway, that was yesterday. It is hard to pick yourself back up when something like that happens. But elementary school today went well, and I was glad to be back in my town schools where the kids are usually nice and know me. Luckily I don`t go back to that city junior high until sometime in December.

Cultural Saturday in Aio

2006-10-14T22:17:00.000+09:00

Saturday Markus, Ashley, Katie, Daniel, Jason and Kana, Heather and Kitakyushu JETs, Kristi, and I joined the Aio Sweet Potato Digging Event in Aio-cho, just south of Yamaguchi City. The weather was perfect and the sweet potatoes plenty.

Following the digging, we moved over to the beach and made traditional toys out of bamboo. We were all interested in these little pipes that you stick paper in the ends and then it makes a loud sound when it pops out. Many thanks to these older gentlemen for being patient in teaching us how to create our toys.

Sweet potato mochi

Daniel and my mochi balls.
Daniel shooting a piece of sweet potato with a homemade, bamboo bow and arrow.

The end to a lovely day.

Sayonnara, Mr. Kurata

2006-10-01T21:56:00.000+09:00

Mr. Kurata is being transferred to Shimo-sho high school. His first day is Monday. I occasionally go to Shimo-sho, so in a sense I will still be working with him. But it will not be the same walking into the office and not seeing his silly face. His English might be lacking, but he has a heart of gold. He has helped me tremendously over the last 14 months. I will truly miss him.

Good luck, Mr Kurata!

Singing our traditional "My Heart Will Go On" for the last time.

Here we all are--me, Mr. Kurata, Mr. Saeki (my supervisor), Mr. Fujinaga (head of office), Yayoi, and Mrs. Nakano (office lady).

2006-09-27T11:14:00.000+09:00

I've been quite busy recently. And when I am home and have nothing to do after a long day, I go to sleep early because...well...I can.

My two speech contest students won first place in their categories in the local contest and are both able to go to the prefectural contest! The winner of that goes to the national contest. It is quite unheard of that two students from the same school both win 1st place, so people have been thanking me for helping them win. I did help quite a bit, but the reason they won is because they have a good teacher and tried very hard. So I get to keep helping until the prefectural contest, which is Thursday.

I haven't bought my plane ticket for Christmas yet. I am still deciding whether I want to come on the 21st or 22nd. I thought maybe I would regret coming home in the summer or because of that not want to come for Christmas. But I am really looking forward to it as I feel confident that it is where I need to be and it will be money well spent.

Sometimes I think I want nothing more than to move back to Indy and spend time with my family and friends following JET. Maybe I wouldn't mind going to school closer to home if I lived on my own or with my little brother in his new house. Things would definitely fit into my budget if I did it that way. Maybe I woudn't mind living away from home forever if I were married now and could create my own family or be close to my husband's family. But now, my family and friends are all I have. Know what I mean? Or does this experience here start my life of living quite far away forever and I will eventually get used to it? Looking at graduate schools recently has put me in a panic. Things will be very expenisve if I go out of state or if I do not re-contract here for a final year. Most public universities offer little to no financial assistance/scholarships for people getting a masters degree. Ah, these are things I have been thinking about recently.

I might have a date soon. I ran into a Japanese guy on the train about 8 weeks ago. He was acting a little strange, the sort of strangeness that made me think he spoke English. It is really difficult to explain what I am talking about. It's in the way a person looks at you, slight manarisms, etc. Anyhow, I was on my way to Laura's and he eventually spoke after I slighly inquired about his English. Turns out he recently returned from a year in LA at a university outside the city. We exchanged phone emails but then I never heard from after that. On Monday I went shopping at Sea Mall after school. I was in the mall and walked by a Japanese guy then realized I might know him so I quickly turned around. Ha, he did the very same thing (how dramatic!). Then we realized who we were and chatted a bit. He hopes to have dinner or lunch sometime in the near future. I don't know how I feel about it, but anyway, I guess I could have a sort of date (or at least a new friend) in the near future.

I bought the new John Mayer cd off of iTunes and have been enjoying it. It is different from his past work in that I feel he is doing more of what he wants and not worrying about what people think. But it's not a complete 180 from his original stuff. And perhaps his change in sound is just an evolution of his personality, a reflection of this time in his life and growing older. I also bought the new Ray LaMontagne cd recently. If the man were not already married, I would definitely want him to be my lover. I like it, but it's interesting. It is less peppy (not that the first one was all that peppy) and more emotive, chill sounding. So I find myself never in the mood to listen to it. But it is not because it is bad. I actually think it is a wonderful project. It's sort of how I feel about the Damien Rice cd. I don't know what kind of mood I need to be in to listen to it.

Speaking of music, the following is a shameless endorsement of Apple products: Before coming to Japan last year I bought an iPod mini (unknowingly a month before the product was discontinued) and protection plan for it. At the end of this past August, it became clear that the battery was dying; it only held charge for about 20 minutes. Through some inquiring I discovered that my protection plan was good in Japan, not just the US. So I filled out a maintanence request online and the very next day someone came and picked up my iPod from the office and shipped it off appropriately for repair. A week later my iPod was returned from service. Only it wasn't my iPod--it was a brand new iPod mini! So all because I had a protection plan, I got a free iPod since my other one was dying. Talk about service. And it didn't cost me a single yen, not even for pickup and delivery charges. I was very impressed by the whole process. Very few companies validate a warrently or service plan outside of the country it was bought except Apple. Good stuff.

Photos of rice harvesting and pear picking will follow soon.

2006-09-04T16:10:00.000+09:00

Oh my gosh! The 'Crocodile Hunter' was killed!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5311298.stm

God and a Bee

2006-09-04T13:45:00.000+09:00

There is a geography teacher at Kikugawa Jr. High who often copies for me random Japanese poetry, short stories, and articles pertaining to Japanese culture and history. Most of the time at least some of the things he copies are in English. Upon cleaning out a folder of unorganized lesson plans today, I ran across this lovely albiet simple poem. It's a shame my kanji is so terrible because I cannot read the author's name.

God and a Bee
A bee is inside a flower,
A flower is inside a garden,
A garden is inside a clay fence,
A clay fence is inside a town,
A town is inside Japan,
Japan is inside the world,
The world is inside of God.
And so, and so, God
Is inside a little bee.

Such are the strange circumstances of my life right now

2006-08-30T12:03:00.000+09:00

Today, after over 13 months of being in Japan, I discovered not one but two Western-style toilets in my office building.

Oh, and yesterday, after I was taken to the doctor for almost fainting, my office friend informed me that my neighbor thinks I love him. Not like, LOVE!! Oh my goodness. What the heck is going on here?!

Which do you think is worse?

2006-08-30T11:03:00.001+09:00

Imagine yourself dizzy and feeling faint at the office. Which do you think is worse: To say something to your office before you faint or just go ahead and faint? I figure both will end up with you in the hospital/clinic. I opted for the first choice, although I wonder if it was the right thing. What would you have done?

America trip In chronological order

2006-08-27T19:24:00.000+09:00

Larry Acord. He had been like a grandfather to me and my brothers since we were children.

I don't look like my father. This is the side of the family that I resemble. My 2nd cousin Trish and cousin Dawn.

The French Family.

Ah, Chipotle burritos...I miss you.

Sara and Sarah

Three of my best friends, Sara, Stephanie, and Sarah doing their best attempt at a J-pose. Congratulations to Stephanie on her engagement!

Eric

Kevin

One of my best friends from college, Melissa.

Chi Omega sisters at Melissa's apartment for dinner and wine.

Brock and me at my favorite pizza parlor.

My niece, Mya.

I bought her a little J-outfit. It is a little small, but she looks so cute.

Me with my parents at the airport right before I left to return to Japan.

Dreaming Away

2006-08-25T11:42:00.000+09:00

Yesterday I spent most of the office day dreaming away about my future and clock watching. I did search the entire Internet for a new MySpace profile layout plus inquired about graduate programs at every university in the entire United States. Today my supervisor seems to be equally unbusy. He has two sports equipment magazines and a book on the corner of his desk that he keeps eyeing. I will be happy once school begins. But next weekⅠonly have 3 office days before heading to Tokyo for PA training on Thursday.

I've come up with a new yearlong and post-JET plan. It will most likely change, as all plans do. But it is fun to dream. And in a year it will be fun to look back on this plan and see how much it changed. So here I go:

I predict that this will be my last year on JET. At this point in time the pros do not outweigh the cons. I like Japan and hope to always have contact with this country in some way, but I would largely be staying for the money, and that is not a good enough reason in my opinion. So this year I need to be spending less of my money on clothes I do not need and going to clubs that I do not want to be going to. Call me boring or whatever, but I don't care. If you want to see more of me you will have to come to Kikugawa more often. Consider this an open invitation for anyone reading. This year I would rather save my money on traveling and my graduate school fund, as both are more important than alcohol and clothes.

This fall I will be applying to graduate school at University of Washington, Seattle University, and Indiana University at Bloomington (this is a back-up). I desire to get my Masters degree in Literacy, Language, and Culture so that I can teach ESL (K-12) in American public schools. I have about 4 months to make final decisions about graduate school and submit applications. Moving back to America doesn’t frighten me as much as it has in the past. I am young and very very single. And if I am going to make a move and not get stuck in Indiana forever, I need to do it soon after JET. Graduate school will be a great way for me to experience a totally new area of the country.

I need to study for and pass JLPT 3. This is a good goal and way to occupy my time and mind and keep me from spending money on crap.

I will lose 10lbs.

Within this year my Japan travles will include: Himeji, Nagasaki, Nikko, Nara, Climbing Fuji, Sapporo, Beppu, and Kyoto in the fall and again in the spring with my parents. My international travels will include: America for Christmas, Thailand in the Spring (either March or Golden Week), and China before I head to America for good. If Singapore can fit in there somewhere, great. If not, I won’t be terribly disappointed. China and Thailand are more important to me.

Following my China travels I will head to Indy, get myself together, say my hellos and then my farewells. Assuming I am accepted to one of the Seattle schools (which don't start until mid-end of September), I will road trip it to Seattle with a willing someone. Seattle seems to be the perfect combination of my interests: mountains, ocean, access to outdoor activity, mild weather, diversity, Asians/Japanese people (not to mention great Japanese food!), and coffee.

Then, sadly, I will be a poor graduate student. But after all of this traveling to and from America over the past two years, I will hopefully have accumulated enough frequent flyer miles on United that I can take my dream vacation and backpack around Europe with free air travel.

Let’s see how well this plan works out!

To Indy and Back in a Hurry

2006-08-23T12:03:00.000+09:00

So much for being a good blogger. Oh well. I offer no excuses.

I had a whirlwind of a trip to Indianapolis and back. I went to work the day after getting back, so I am quite tired. But I had a really lovely trip. I was a bit apprehensive about returning and for such a short time, but it was worth it and I now have a lot of clarity about some things I have been unsure about for sometime. Here are some revelations/things I noticed while there:

1.) I don’t hate America. This is a good thing to realize. I was rather cynical about the nation and its people while home for Christmas. But this time I was surprised that I didn’t feel the same way. I appreciate more the things I took for granted, such as the diversity, availability of ethnic foods, convenience of everything, insulated homes. Obviously there are some serious things that bother me about the country, but there are some serious things that bother me about Japan. Nowhere is perfect. And as my friend Allison recently said, “It’s nice to be able to return home to where you grew up, and feel good about it.”

2.) In America, the air conditioning in most buildings is way too cold. I was freezing the good majority everywhere I went, including my parent’s house. There is really no sense in it being so cold.

3.) I feel energy-efficient in Japan. I like that I only use the energy that I need. I like that when I want hot water, I must turn on my gas water heater and I will continually have hot water until I am finished showering/washing dishes. It bothers me that electricity and the hot water heater are continually running in American homes whether you are at home or not.

4.) Indiana summers are not as bad as I remember. In fact, they are quite pleasant. I haven’t had so many good hair days in a row in over a year. When I walked out of Kansai airport, I immediately started sweating bullets and my hair turned into a giant puffball. It really is hot here; it is not my imagination.

5.) For as much flying as I have done in the past year, I don’t like flying at all. I am fascinated with flying, yet it freaks me out. I am always surprised when I land alive. And I am continually praying for safety during the flight.

6.) I have changed a lot. This subject could be an entire book, so I will not go into this now. Perhaps a post for another time. This may sound strange, but I especially noticed that I am not as afraid to talk to strangers. Weird, I know.

7.) I miss American clothes. As much as I’d like to think otherwise, the washed out tones of Japanese clothing look terrible on me. I love how American work clothes have no strict standard. Bright oranges and pinks, multi-colored skirts, colorful jewelry, long earrings, and open-toed shoes are perfectly acceptable to wear to work.

8.) If I am going to be happy living in America eventually, most likely I need live out of Indiana. I want to find a place in America with more ethnic diversity, more politically and religiously open-minded people, and a decent population of Japanese people/Japanese Americans. There are many places in the States where I could find such an environment. In Indiana, Bloomington is perhaps the only city where I could find the type of community I am looking for. Indiana University is located there. The University is beautiful. The atmosphere in the town is amazing. There are many cheap, ethnic food restaurants. There are a good number of international professors/students. And not everyone likes the current republican administration.

9.) I need to save more money.

10.) A lot of family and friends were asking me about my life post-JET. And about when post-JET will begin. I think I do a pretty good job of handling the good and the bad in Japan, especially since I live in a remote, isolated place and cannot attend many social functions due to the lack of transportation. I manage to find ways to fill my time, but is this 2nd year going to be enough for me to handle being alone most of the time? Can I handle technically two more years of this? If I stayed a 3rd year would I be content and not go crazy due to isolation? I don’t want to become one of those bitter 2nd or 3rd year JETs who have stayed in Japan just because of the money or because they are afraid of the next step in their life and then they become terribly bitter and hate Japan. I want to leave Japan still happy with Japan. And if I stayed a 3rd year, would I be ok only attending 1 out of a probable 4 weddings of good friends/family members I care about? There is a lot to consider. I need to decide this for myself this fall. Because if I don’t stay that 3rd year, I will need to start the graduate school application process towards the end of the fall.

R.I.P.

2006-07-29T18:39:00.000+09:00

Sadie French, age 12, (the one on the left) died this week. She leaves behind a very sad brother, Nick, who is lost without her. Goodbye, my baby girl.

Happy Anniversary

2006-07-27T14:56:00.000+09:00

Happy Anniversary to me and Kikugawa, Japan today. Crazy that it has been an entire year since my life in Japan began. The head of my office today took me out and bought my lunch in celebration. The meal screwed my new diet, but I couldn't exactly say, "Sorry, don't buy me lunch." Ah, sweet sugar. I am back on track tonight. Funny story: we were the only two customers at the restaurant. The cook handed us a variety of magazines to look through while we waited for our shrimp pilaf. I found one that looked like a young woman's fashion magazine. It was, with the exception of a few page spreadout of drawings describing about 10 sex positions and directions for women on how to please themselves with various objects. Wow. Talk about surprising reading material and right there in front of my boss, too!

I have been quite emotional, crying at the drop of a hat recently. This emotional behavior is not my style and doesn't happen so often. It started last week after I finished a book and was sobbing uncontrollably afterwards. I started downloading some Sex and the City episodes the past couple nights, and you know you are down when even those episodes make you cry. Adding to the crying is my mold situation. While the majority of it has been controlled, the nasty stuff has not gone away completely. I keep cleaning and cleaning, using the air con, putting stuff in more sunlight, blah, and nothing is helping. And why should I care if everything rots since stuff is just stuff? I am battling nature and nature is winning, as it always will.

Last weekend was a summer festival here in town. Anita came along. We had dinner with Mr. and Mrs. Oka, then headed to the festival to try and see some people I know. But it was dark and I had troubles seeing anyone until I was right in front of their face. There were tons of people there, though. More than I have ever seen at any of the festivals here. I did hunt down Takami, though, as I wanted Anita to meet him. He had been drinking a little but was in a splended mood and attempted to use as much English as he knew in front of her. It was really cute because he was trying very hard and really smily. He invited us to a party with and some of those people I used to play badminton with following the cleanup at 11pm and said he would walk back home with us. So Anita and I went back to my house to rest and then walked in the pitch black to where the party was being held. The party was a nice change of pace and really enjoyable. I haven't hung out with those people in a long time. Nearly all of them are in their mid-upper 20s and single. They have always been open to me and have never made me feel like an outcast. We got to practice a bit of Japanese and they got to practice a bit of English. Takami, Anita, and I headed back about 1:30 and stopped off at Family Mart for ice cream and water. We chatted in my house for awhile before we all kind of drifted off in a sleep. It was a lovely, memorable evening.

I don't even care that it is hot and humid right now. I am just so happy to see the sun. I remember many bright, sunny (albeit hot) summer days last August when I would hop on my bike and go exploring town after work. The glorious sun is shining, my low mood has been lifted, and all is right with the world...for the moment.

Let's studying!

2006-07-20T09:36:00.000+09:00

This little puzzle book has been keeping me busy for hours at the office. Granted I am looking up every other word in my dictionary because of the kanji, but I am learning loads of new vocabulary, such as　たこ = kite; きみ = egg yolk; ふえ = whistle; さい = rhino. Who says studying isn't fun? I highly recommend it for you beginners like me (should I call myself an advanced beginner now??)

Since my birthday...

2006-07-19T15:27:00.000+09:00

I thought I would be a much better blogger than this. Alas the last two weeks have gone by without a post. And I still haven't even added comments to the Korea photos I posted. The last two weeks have been bittersweet and quite frustrating. Like most foreigners who live here, I have a love-hate relationship with Japan somewhat similar to the one I have with America. These days I am leaning towards the hate side, but I have faith I will swing back over to the love side once the rain and heat leave. Recently I have battling the hellish weather. This is my first rainy season to go through, so the constant rain and 100% humidity due to the rain and just the summer has caused mold to start growing on various pieces of furniture and pillows. Giant cockroaches have been visiting my house in the PM time. Those stupid humidity boxes don't do crap to help my large apartment. So a good portion of my free time has been devoted to combatting mold and bugs, making many trips to my local hardware store and buying various products. I think the bugs are finally under control thanks to some lovely poison I purchased. Last week I just stood in my classes(let alone move around) in school and completely sweat through my shirt AND pants (this is not an exaggeration) I honestly don’t know why Japan is considered such a technological, advanced country. The Japanese might have the latest digital cameras and GPS systems in all of their cars, but beyond that they live in semi-third world conditions.

I have felt more patronized in the last month than I have in the whole time I've lived here. I know my job is to force people to be exposed to a foreigner, but sometimes more than others it grinds my nerves at how ridiculous I am treated at times. For example: I went to an expensive sashimi restaurant in Ube with Mr. and Mrs. Oka, a kind-hearted and generous older couple who I have been meeting with for them to practice their English in preparation for their trip to England this September. I doubt many foreigners go into this restaurant because it is in a small town and the prices are high. Who knows, maybe I was the first foreigner ever to set foot in there because that is how the staff was reacting to me. Mr. Oka asked what I preferred and I told him I liked squid, octopus, tuna, and egg. He told the chefs and I understood them to ask Mr. Oka if it needed the fish to be cooked for me. To make a long story short, through their words and manarismis this staff assumed merely because I am not Japanese that I didn’t speak a word of Japanese, couldn’t eat raw fish (especially squid and octopus) and ume and umeboshi, that I couldn’t use chopsticks, that I was doing a home stay with the older couple. As you who live in Japan know, it is not a good feeling being belittled and having people treat you like a child with no intelligence merely because you are not like them. I am not unintelligent or a freak; I am just not from Japan.

The last few weekends have been bittersweet with the farewell party, saying goodbye to Pascal, and then Gillian on Monday.
In times like that it hits me like a ton of bricks how temporary my time in Japan is. I am meeting really cool people from all over the world, hardly any of them being American. In just a short year or two it will be me saying farewell to all these people who have meant so much to me while here. And seeing them again will be much more expensive and difficult than driving a few states over from Indiana.

This past weekend I was lucky to be able to attend a Coldplay concert in Osaka. Anita, Becky I., and I stood a near 25 feet from the stage. Amazing show and well worth the time and money to get from here to Osaka. While in Osaka we also went to a bookstore that had a large selection of English books, drank Starbucks, ate turkey deli meat at Subway, and went to Outback for lunch. Ah, music and coffee and books and traveling feed my soul, so our little Osaka excursion was relaxing and mentally refreshing. And I am glad we didn't drink much, as it reinforced what I know in that fun and good times can be spent without having to spend loads of money on drinking copious amounts of alcohol. Thanks ladies for a great weekend!

School ended yesterday for summer vacation. I did successfully teach the Electric Slide to a group of 5th grade elementary students last week before school let out. If you need a laugh ever, just imagine 10 and 11 year old Japanese kids doing the Electric Slide. It was really entertaining to watch and fun to teach. For those of you who I talked to about a Cambodia volunteer trip, it did not work out. I practically made myself ill over the decision and disappointment that followed. I am hoping to join some kind of volunteer trip there or elsewhere this March or May. Last week I decided to make a short trip home August 12-20. Scrambling around to find the cheapest flight, get my office paperwork in, etc. was stressing me out a bit. At first I had a lot of mixed emotions about going back, but I am starting to get really excited. Anita and I are climbing Mt. Fuji at the end of August, which might not be the most pleasant of things I have ever done, but will nonetheless be memorable; I am looking forward to it. I get to meet the three new Shimonoseki ALTs at the domestic airport nearby and go with them to their apartments to teach them how to operate all of their appliances (the buttons are all written in Japanese, of course). On all the other days beyond the ones I just mentioned from now until September 5th, I will be sitting in the office trying to keep myself busy with writing letters and studying for the JLPT.

Happy Birthday

2006-07-04T22:03:00.000+09:00

Happy Birthday America. And Happy Birthday to me. Having a birthday on Independence Day in America is really cool, as the whole country celebrates and there are fireworks and nearly everyone I know remembers it is my birthday. But in Japan, July 4th is just another day. The first birthday without fireworks. Despite this, I had a great one. I got not one, not two, but three birthday cakes! And multiple packages and good wishes from family and my friends both in Japan and elsewhere. So thanks to all for helping make my 24th birthday a happy and memorable one. I am blessed and thankful for each one of you.
This is one of two cakes from my office. The look on the two men (the right one is my supervisor) are very appropriate and makes me like this photo much better than if it was just me with the strange look on my face.

Hitomi is playing "Happy Birthday" for me.
A birthday dinner feast at the Fujinos!
A lovely and expensive music box from all of the Fujinos. It is beautiful.
Here I am with Hitomi and Akemi. Finally Hitomi has started smiling in photos with me. I'm making a little progress here.
Thanks to my family for all the goodies and new DVD.

最後のクラス

2006-07-03T22:32:00.000+09:00

Tonight was our final Japanese class. As of September I will no longer be a "beginner." This is cool and a bit frightening. If I actually memorized all we have covered in that class then I would be speaking pretty darn good Japanese. I really must study...

Korea--Day 1

2006-07-02T23:49:00.000+09:00

Korea--Day 2

2006-07-02T22:12:00.000+09:00

Korea--Day 3

2006-06-29T22:37:00.000+09:00

Teaching Teachers

2006-06-15T19:54:00.000+09:00

Today us Shimonoseki BOE ALTs participated in a workshop for elementary school teachers. After a morning of presentations all in Japanese which none of us understood, we each led a 15 minute English activity. In all honestly, I was quite impressed by us. We presented a variety of topics and the teachers seemed to enjoy and appreciate our efforts. I particularly enjoyed watching my fellow friends/colleagues in action. Well done.

Here are some action shots of each of us:
Laura teaching fruits.

Becky leading the macarena.

Teachers dancing.

Jonathan's game on animals.

Tom leading an activity on ABCs.

Stirling leading a game of Teacher Says.

I am leading a game on directions. My favorite is this final photo with my hair flying. Thanks Laura for taking the photos!

The past two weeks

2006-06-15T19:24:00.000+09:00

Nothing particularly exciting has been happening lately. I've been keeping busy with school and responsibilities. A few friends and family members have birthdays coming up, so some letter writing and getting together of packages to mail have been happening. The weather has been unpredictable of late since it is the rainy season. Sometimes I play chase with the rain clouds and attempt to ride my bike really fast to the ATM or grocery store before it starts raining. So far I am winning the game. Last weekend I bought a new skirt in Kokura. I got a blow of disappointment as Brock has backed out of our original Christmas travel plans. I am trying to stay positive. All this means I may be headed back home for Christmas again, which might be ok.

I think it's funny how ridiculous I look in many of my teaching photos, especially with my summer hair puff. Ah, linin is my best friend. These next few photos are of two town elementary schools.

A really cute brother and sister. They both take English class at Kumon.

These 4th graders enjoy teaching me Japanese during lunch break.

We are playing "What Time Is It, Mr. Wolf." It was a kid in this class that randomly said after lunch, "This is penis," as he pointed to his own. The poor teacher I was talking to was so embarrassed and made a bigger deal of it than necessary, saying, "No, no say 'penis.' " Made me chuckle.

Kikugawa had a ホタル festival last week. Where you are from, do you call them fire flies or do you call them lightning bugs? In the great state of Indiana, we call them lightning bugs. Just curious.

Fish on a stick. おいしいそ！ I saw one of my students eat the entire thing, head and all. I wasn't that brave.

Japanese Farming Experience

2006-06-11T20:50:00.000+09:00

As you can see on a few other's blogs, we went rice planting last weekend here in town. A lovely woman named Emi from Becky's adult conversation class invited Becky and friends to Kikugawa to plant rice. Emi and her husband were incredibly kind and served us a wonderful display of food. They said we could come back in October to harvest our little patch. But perhaps it will only be Laura and me who get to harvest.

Following lunch we went to an old house in Utano area of Kikugawa. The art teacher (Mr Hiyashima) from Kikugawa Jr. High had an art display of pencil drawings. We drank soba tea and wrote our names in katakana in the guest book. The man running the place spoke fluent English, which was a lovely surprise. Mr. Hiyashima thanked me on Tuesday for going to his exhibit. I thought my JTEs had told him I went there, but no; he had read my name in the guest book! Our writing was legible afterall!!

Let's Volleyball!

2006-06-04T21:03:00.000+09:00

This weekend began with a Friday night office enkai. Office parties are one of my favorite parts of being in Japan. The people I work with are really cool and know how to have a good time. My Japanese listening comprehension and their loosening up enough to try more English has really helped all of us. Somehow or other during the night I got drafted to participate in a town, school-wide volleyball tournament on Saturday. Each school in town had a team formed of parents and teachers. My BOE formed a team, as well. I told them I was terrible at volleyball but would come and be a fan/photographer. I should have known they would never go for the "fan" idea. And after their first game I was forced to play. Luckily I was put in the back right corner so I only hit the all a few times. But I did have several nice serves (after a couple terrible practice ones). It was great socializing with fellow teachers from schools outside of the classroom. My favorite moment was when about 15 elementary school students came over to our BOE game and started cheering,"Ganbatte, Angie sensei!" Their support definintely helped because after their cheering I had my best serve. Here is a team shot. At least my blue shirt made me look like part of the group. Despite our efforts we came in 6th out of 6 teams. After the game we had a group enkai with members from all the teams at the town hotel/onsen. I ended up getting randomly seated next to one of my favorite teachers (who speaks very good English), one of my elementary school principals, and three students' parents (one of those parents was Mr. Y's brother! See "Please Wear a Ring" post to refresh your memory). All of these parents had somewhat functional English, so we had a fun time speaking half Japanese and half English. I was told by parents and teachers alike that their kids like me and are comfortable around me. Mr. Y's brother even thanked me because his son got a 90% on his first English exam. Apparently I had something to do with the boy's high marks, although that is highly unlikely. Sometimes I am really unsure what my co-workers and students think of me and my performance and existance in the town. So it is good to know that people think I am doing a good job. Two awards were given to each team, one "Best player" award and another "Hustler" award. You can see which one I received. I was quite embarrassed but it was a really nice gesture. I have never been invited to school enkais, so this was really fun socializing with teachers and parents alike. Maybe by next year's tournament my volleyball skills will have improved.

A behind the scenes look

2006-06-04T19:25:00.000+09:00

Tuesday after work, Mr. Fujinaga took me to a local Buddhist temple. A long-time friend of his is a priest. The man and his wife run the temple. Unfortunately I did not catch their names, but they were very very kind in allowing me to browse around and go into some usually closed-off areas of the temple.

The ceiling is painted to resemble heaven. The crosses are "borrowed" from Christianity. I was also told that similar to the Christian concept of Sunday School for children, there is a Buddhist School held one Sunday a month for children. They showed me a slide show of a Buddhist School that several of my elementary students attended.

Kobe

2006-06-03T21:42:00.000+09:00

Kobe: Most of the workshops I chose were quite good, and I gained lots of new ideas for elementary school and kindergarten. I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with you fellow soon-to-be second year ALTs.

Slumber Party

2006-06-03T21:22:00.000+09:00

Despite my absence in blogging, quite a lot has been going on, which has contributed to the lack of blogging.

Prior to my fateful meeting with Mr. Y, I had a little slumber party at my apartment. Lots of merriment was had. But this was possibly the worst hair day I have had in Japan. Thanks to my friend Yayoi for joining and putting up with our fast English. To help balance things out, we attemped to speak nothing but Japanese for 30 minutes during a game of UNO. I need to keep studying...

Please wear a ring

2006-05-21T17:08:00.000+09:00

I unexpectedly ran into Mr. Y today at the undokai. I was very surprised to see him in Kikugawa since he does not live here, but his neice was a participant and apparently he always comes to the sports days. Mr. Y is a teacher at an elementary school I've visted just a few times. He is a good teacher. He doesn't have a ring on his finger. His class was amazingly well behaved and excited about English. He mailed me a box of Christmas origami that his class made me to my home address in America while I was home for the holidays (this is not a normal thing to do for an ALT, is it?). He speaks fairly decent English but is quite shy about it, as to be expected. His eyes are very kind. His smile is amazing. We had an immediate spark. One of the most intense sparks I've ever had. This sort of first-sight thing has only happened to me a handful of times in my life, two of them happening in Japan (Mr. Y and M). Rather strange that Mr. Y even looks like an older yet more attractive version of M. These sorts of moments are very cool and yet very unnerving because you both realize it is occuring and it is mutual. I approached him today and inquired about why he was there. He asked me various questions and was speaking amazing English today. Beyond talking about the day's lesson plan, we had never been able to talk so freely. People were passing by and looking at us inquisitively, but neither of us paid much attention to them. A few of my students even had the guts to stare at us outright and ask if he was my boyfriend. Mr. Y got red in the face, but we went right back to talking. Then alas, it happened...a young girl came and started hanging on him. "This is my daughter." And then I asked indirectly to get the info I wanted, "So is your wife here today?" praying that for some reason the answer would be something along the lines of, "Oh, I don't have a wife." Of course that was a silly notion because the answer I got was, "Oh. No. She stayed at home." Jab of pain in the heart-region of my chest. Exit cue for Angie.

The situation today reminded me of a scene in the movie How to Make an American Quilt. If you haven't seen that movie, I recommend it. It's not the greatest movie ever made, but it will make you think about love a little differently than you did before you watched it:

Finn: You see, what they don't tell us is that marriage is an anachronistic institution, created for the sole convenience of the father who needs to pass off his daughter into the care of another man, like, 'Here, here. She eats too much. Take her off my hands.' You know, now. Now we've gotten our independence that we earn our own living. There's no purpose in being someone's wife. Why can't we love as many people as we want in our life time? Monogamy is really a very unnatural state that's been forced on us for centuries by screwed up religious leaders who are completely out of touch with their own sexuality. You know what I mean?
Anna: Have you been talking to your fiance about any of this?
Finn: All right. Let me ask you this. If you were to choose between marrying a lover and marrying...a friend...who would you choose?
Anna: I would marry my soul mate.
Finn: Who is it?
Anna: He's the only man I don't have a picture of. I don't even know his name. I was in Paris, and I just turned...and...my latest love affair was over. A stranger sat down on my table and ordered me some cake while I cried into his handkerchief. Before long, I told him about my broken heart, then he told me about his poetry and his thoughts on love. The afternoon became night. I knew he had somewhere else to go. But, I found myself asking him to have dinner with me.
Stranger: Look, I already have a dinner to go to...with my wife. This is what I wrote today. As he left, he gave me one of his poems.
Finn: Read it.
Anna (reading poem): Young lovers seek perfection/ Old lovers learn the art of sewing shreds together/and of seeing beauty in a multiplicity of patches.

Please wear a ring.

A few favorites

2006-05-16T20:17:00.000+09:00

It was a wonderful day at elementary school. I hate to have favorites, but I can't help it. This blog is dedicated to my favorite class, my favorite school, and my favorite student. Masami is this little (?) guy to the right. He's in the first grade now. But when I first met him, he was a kindergarten student. He would come up to me sporatically and say any English word he knew then go back to playing with his friends. He's always smiling and just loved getting his picture taken today. He tries very hard to talk with me outside of class. Likewise, he's patient with my Japanese and let's me practice and ask questions. Cheers to Masami; I always look forward to his smiling face.
The rest of these photos are of kindergarten class. I am lucky to see them once a month. And beyond "teach this song, teach these cards," the teachers let me run the class and chose the method in which the material is taught. The lighting was nice in the classroom and the temperature was pleasant, so it was a perfect photo opportunity. No doubt by next month sweat will be dripping off my face.

阿蘇

2006-05-15T20:41:00.000+09:00

Last weekend I went to Mt. Aso National Park with my neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Fujino. I don't even know what to say about it other than you really must go. Not only was the volcano itself a magnificant sight, but the landscape in that area of Japan is quite unique and unlike any other I have seen.

This flower is miyamakirishima. We went to Aso specifically during this time of year to see this flower.

This volcano is on a "break" right now, as Mr. Fujino described it.

This is Mt. Aso in the background. When we first arrived, we were only able to view it from an observation deck due to the amount of gas it was producing this day.

But luckily right, as we were getting ready to leave, the ropes were removed and we were able to get upclose to the volcano. I was quite suprised that it was green. What a sight!

On the drive back through Oita-ken, we paused for me to take a couple photos of the terraced "tanada." These photos don't begin to capture the uniqueness of these ride paddies.