Typical day at school

I’ve got 11 schools, that’s quite a bit if you ask me, and there is no way for me to highlight all of them, so I thought I’d run you through a typical day in the life of Josh.

So this is a typical day at one of my schools. The day starts around 8:15 as I head to my school. Today’s school has 30 kids. It’s tucked away off the main road, about a 1 minute walk from a beautiful beach. This being my first day at this school, I get something of a celebrity status (well a celebrity that everyone knows is a celebrity, but doesn’t actually know who they are…but they’re famous and so should be treated as such). As I walk in, all of the kids stare nervously at me, by now I’m used to getting a few stares (or a lot), but for a small gradeschool, the kids were initially pretty calm about me coming. I get invited in to chat with the Principal. He’s obliged to chat with me for at least 10 minutes and while he’s cordial, I’m a bit too nervous to ask him any questions (for fear I might offend with my not so great Japanese) and so just stick to answering what he asks me. The kids from the 5^th and 6^th grade (the ones who have to learn English) come and get me. There are 7 of them and they are excited and nervous for me to be there. Unbeknownst to them, I’m also a bit nervous, seeing as my teacher has yet to give me a lesson plan for the day nor have I met him before. This actually is becoming the typical, coming to a school with no idea what I’m doing or teaching (more on this later). I’ve come to realize that Japan is a go with the flow kind of country (I can dig it). The highlight of the class was question time, because for some reason the students couldn’t figure out the difference between “I like…” and “Do you like…?” so students would raise their hands, look very excited, and then say “I like banana?” and wait for me to answer. Luckily the kids had a good sense of humor and so everyone got a big laugh whenever it happened. Lunchtime was meat as usual (being a vegetarian in Japan is…well..a bit interesting sometimes. I usually can get away with just not eating the meat, but sometimes the kids ask why I don’t eat meat? I’m not sure they would understand in English (let alone my terrible Japanese), so I usually just tell them it is because I really don’t like it and so I don’t eat it. That usually gets a weird stare and I go about my day).

This week is also sports day practice for all the elementary schools (the junior high school sports day was just last Sunday) and so all the kids are practicing very hard to make sure everything is right. Today the kids were working on cheerleading for their team (They are split up into white and red teams and face eachother through various events the day of).  I’m not usually one to think things are very “cute”, but I have to hand it to these kids, they were pretty damn cute. They were suuuper excited about cheering on their team, had prepared songs and dances themselves and all wore little red hats to match. After that we had cleaning time, which, especially at small schools, is my favorite. In Japan, the kids do all the cleaning. In fact, they also serve themselves food, clean up their trays, weed the lawn, vacuum, you name it. Some very small first graders (girls of course) asked me to help to weed outside (pulling grass -  a favorite past-time of the Japanese school system). The highlight of my day was holding a conversation with a first-grader. While not much, sometimes just that little bit helps me gain a bit of confidence in my language ability (even though they are first-graders...it’s ok, I’m lame) seeing as most of the time I just kinda glide along and nod my head to what everyone else is saying around me.  Favorite question of the day – a little girl asks, “Is America bigger than this Island?” as if she knew nothing (which is probably true) about the world outside of the island. I try not laugh as she has a very confused and serious look on her face, she desperately wants to know the answer to this question. So I tell her, straight face as possible – “Yes, yes, America is bigger than this island”, satisfied, she returns to weeding that dreaded grass.

After lunch, I get back in my car and head back to the Board of Education. Fill out some paperwork, study some Japanese/prepare for lessons and then punch out (yes, we still punch time cards here in Japan) for the day around 4:45. Depending on the day, I either have Kendo, Aikido, or study Japanese when I get home. Hit the hay around 11:30 (need to work on getting to sleep earlier), wake up and do it all over again. Hip Hip Hooray! J

School starts!

School has started! Finally I am actually doing what they are paying me for. So far, school is actually going pretty well, although I haven’t really gotten into the meat of it yet. Most of it has been my Jikoshoukai (self introduction). I tell the kids about Kentucky, show some pics (they ooo and awww) and then they introduce themselves to me. Time seems to fly when I’m teaching (which I assume means I’m actually having some fun), and although I’m not actually “teaching” English yet, I am getting to interact with the kids, which (if what the teachers tell me is true), is making many of their days. My elementary schools come in two sizes, small and really small. The really small schools have 10-15 kids (in the whole school) and I think I like those schools the best. Everyone knows everybody, it’s almost like a small family, especially given the fact that in Japan the school is much more a part of raising the child than it is in America. The kids are obviously very excited for me to be there, and at times can be a bit too excited. I had one kid who would not stop asking me for my address (which I politely said that I had forgotten…) and a couple of girls that look like they might follow me home (luckily my car is faster than they are). Junior high school is great so far. I think I’m going to like that more than gradeschool mostly because I actually get to do a bit of teaching there. My kids are generally well-behaved (I’ve heard horror stories from other JETs, literally things I still don’t believe because they are so ridiculous, maybe more on those stories later), but have a pretty low level of communicative English ability. I think they actually understand more than they let on, but are way too nervous/not used to listening to an English speaker and so give me blank stares when I ask them questions. They then stand their awkwardly while I try to rephrase the question. I stopped a student in the hallway today to talk to him and he wasn’t giving me anything (not even much in Japanese) and finally I realized that since I was a Sensei, he couldn’t walk away. I told him it was ok to leave and he quickly thanked me and scurried off. Oh well, maybe next time. 

Kendo test

Well I passed my test…although it was only for the ikkyuu (the rank right below shodan). I was immediately the most popular person there, being not only the only foreigner at the time (but, as I found out later, the only foreigner ever to take a Kendo test in Tokunoshima), but also being the oldest  by at least 10 years. There were about 60 kids testing for different belts, the younger ones were, to say the least, very cute. I wish I had gotten to take some video, but instead I sat in seiza (on my knees) for 30 minutes while everyone else tested. When it was finally my turn (after I stood up to get feeling back into my feet), I was paired up with two junior high school girls (everyone was in groups of threes). I’m pretty sure this was a mistake because they added in a guy at the last second and told me I was going to do my test with him. Unfortunately the memo didn’t get relayed to everyone so I ended up going against the 12 year old girl, who was most assuredly frightened (Big foreigner screaming in her face…can be a bit intimidating), but also nervous because she thought I was very cute (we sat next to eachother and she couldn’t stop looking at my and giggling…plus 2 for Josh’s self confidence, can get 12 year old Japanese girls to giggle). I was actually the more nervous one because I knew she was going to kick my butt (she did) and literally the room was quiet as can be because every person in there had their eyes fixed on me wondering what I would do. Somehow or another, I passed and so will take my shodan test in December.

Also, today was the annual sports day at the local high school. Below are some pics and a video of them doing the tug of war. 

My supervisor and his supervisor

again, smiling this time.

Me!

My friend Mea in the pink, laying down the english law.

Sports day prep.

Japanese National Anthem

Tug of war...

That's all for today....

Random

(Around early September)

Pancakes I ate....by myself. They were delicious though!

A typical Japanese food - stir fry...and rice.

Kendo destroying my foot....

some pics of the kids preparing for the Kendo test

After the test, going home.

So it’s been a long last couple of days. We were supposed to have a sort of game night and pancakes for dinner type of thing this weekend, but the typhoon (it’s typhoon season over here…which, by the way, goes for like 4 months), made it so instead of having friends come over, I sat in my house by myself and gorged on some pancakes, which, apart from making me ridiculously sad because I was eating a bunch of pancakes by myself on a Saturday night, were surprisingly good. Monday, was, well, Monday. The only redeeming quality is that I have kendo on Mondays and Thursdays (more on that later). I was feeling in a less than happy mood – I felt like my Japanese sucks, I still hadn’t made any friends, and some of the people at work were getting to me (added to the fact that I literally did NOTHING all day, except give a bad Japanese speech to the entire city hall...definitely a good way to make a first impression). Tuesday, however, turned my week around.  I finally got to go to a school and see some kids! Of course, they decided to tell me literally the night before that I was to give a speech in Japanese to the entire school…awesome. It turned out ok though, I started out speaking English and then did a Japanese version, I immediately became (for once in my life) the coolest kid in school. J I also got to help out with preparation for a speech contest (perk of my job), the kids were really impressive, one of them was writing her own speech in English, more on her later, but I have to say she is the ballerest  kid I have met yet.

                Today also was looking up, while I didn’t do anything at work (again), I did watch some cool YouTube videos on ants (more on those in another post…), and one of my coworkers invited me out to play some basketball (I can only assume that, being American, they thought I was good at basketball…apparently they have never heard of “White men can’t Jump”…oh well). Luckily (and to my surprise), I was definitely not the worst there and it was good to hang out with some (relatively) young people. After that was more Kendo – we did Kata practice (ritualized forms with a wooden sword) and keiko (where we put on protective gear and hit each other with bamboo sticks). I found out (just tonight) that I’ll be taking my Shodan test (black belt) this Saturday. I might note that I’ve been doing Kendo for 8 months, not even close to the 2 years it takes a normal person to get to the Shodan level. I’m more than a little nervous, but I’ll do my best (頑張ります) and hopefully it will be a good learning experience if nothing else.

Kagoshima Orientation

Circa mid August

So just got back from a weeklong orientation in Kagoshima city (the main city in my prefecture). It was a...well...good orientation I guess. I still haven't actually learned too much about how to teach a class (practice makes perfect!) but it was good to make some friends and meet some new people. The orientation was split into two parts, the first was a business type event where we had meetings and presentations and such and the second was a cultural/language orientation. All 50 of us headed out to a remote area in the mountains of Japan (yes it was that beautiful) for a three day adventure.

Most of the people running the orientation didn't speak much english, but through some rough japanese, we got some great stories. They had all (for the most part) done the Japanese "Peace Corps", a 2 year program in a developing country either teaching/farming/etc. One had taught math in Ghana, another had done work in South America (all over). It was interesting to hear them talk about their international experience and made me think about what my future may hold...but alas, more on that one (as usual) later.

The culture classes were pretty cool, we did flower arrangement and tried on Kimono's. I had never done flower arrangement before and was unsure of what to expect. I'm still not exactly sure how to describe it...basically it is a way of arranging flowers in a vase. Yes, people devote their lives to this. But, being Japanese, it is much more than just arranging flowers, it is about arranging the flowers in such a way as to express your feeling, as to cultivate your mind and soul (much like meditation), and to learn to appreciate (and find the beauty) in the simple. It is very "asianesque", but there is some sort of rhyme and rhythm to it (I just don't know what that is!).  

Japanese class was a blur, I was put in the top class (mistake) and was lost for a good part of the time, although I did start to catch on to a few things here and there. My class was full of interesting characters, not as a bad thing (if you're reading this, unlikely as that is...), but just a very diverse group of individuals. 

Until lata,

Josh

Below are some photos of us going to a beach on the island (The one below is an airport).

Alright

Alright, so I'm finally gettin around to puttin some stuff up on the blog, it's a bit random here and there, but hopefully i'll catch up. Read and enjoy and send me some snail mail while you're at it!

-Josh

Some pics for your viewing pleasure:

My desk at work

My...backyard

My Room

On the way to the beach

Seta-umi Beach

More beach

Some night beach shots

Sunset

No I will not marry your daughter....

Circa early Aug.

So last night I got to talk to a friend of mine Beth (who is a JET in fukuyama) and instead of letting me enjoy speaking english for just a bit, Japan decided it would be better if it remade Hitchcock's The Birds....with earwigs. In Japanese they are called "Hasamimushi" which means "Scissor bugs" - I find this name somewhat more comforting, considering the english name came from the fact that the bugs apparently crawl in your ear whilst you sleep and lay eggs....ugg. I swear I committed some sort of international crime with the amount of them I killed last night. Every time I'd get one, another one would just pop up, or fall on my head, literally out of thin air. Ridiculous. I wake up this morning to Coco Puffs (when I saw them in the grocery story, I was compelled to buy the store out, which meant that I got one pack of Coco Puffs....), a shower, some more earwigs, and then off to work. Per usual, I sat at my desk and wondered if I should actually be working or not and decided to do a little preparation for classes coming up. Preparing posters, laminating things (that was an experience) and games, lots of games. I feel like I'm getting ready to run my own class, but alas, I am but a lowly ALT (which, don't get me wrong, has its perks). Sometimes I wish I were at a high school, but other times I'm glad I'm not! Little kids have a lot more energy and don't realize that English is actually an impossible language and there is no point in studying it....ok so I jest, but they are actually interested in english and games and fun, as opposed to high school which I hear is more about doing well on the entrance exam into college.

Today was also buy my plane ticket for orientation in Kagoshima City (the main city in the prefecture). So the lady who sits next to me decides to take me for a ride (the place is a block away). We get in her car and she looks at me and says that she isn't very good at driving. I laugh with her until she says, 'Really, I'm not very good, especially at backing up'. I chuckle a few nervous laughs and tighten my seat belt as we begin to back out of the parking lot (which isn't really a parking lot, more of a gravel field with no rules for parking....). We go to the store and are greeted by a lady who is going to sell me my ticket. She seems very nice at first, until she asks the dreaded question - Do you have a girlfriend? - In Japan, a girlfriend is signaled by lifting the pinky finger up and waving it around. I get this a lot, I mean pretty much every woman I meet greets my by holding up her pinky and shaking it around. I should just walk everywhere with my little pinky up just to let everyone know I HAVE A GIRLFRIEND AND DO NOT WANT YOU TO SET ME UP, THANK YOU VERY KINDLY THOUGH. I laugh and tell her I don't and then she gets serious. 'Well I've got a daughter in tokyo, she's very pretty' and then laughs a bit. A little surprised (why should I be, I mean I DO have blue eyes) and then says that it would be a great thing. We could get married, I could teach her english, take her on trips to australia, she could teach me japanese....I'm trying to politely decline, but it is of no avail. While it's clear she is sort of joking, she is also sort of not joking in that `I'm being serious that you should meet and marry my daughter` sort of way that mothers get, it was a strange endeavor which I can only assume will happen again. I'm thinking of just lying next time and saying that I have a girlfriend in America whom I love very much and is very pretty, thank you very much. Something tells me that wouldn't really stop them, hell it might even make them more determined!

Well annnnyway, I'm off to go look at a car, it is apparently metallic gray and is a manual, so we'll see how it goes, I'll keep ya updated, having a car would be nice, even if it is a small island.

-Josh