Today was the first day of actual classes with the students. It started out with a formal ceremony. We all assembled in the gym, all the students in their formal uniforms. I swear to gawd, if you have seen any anime with students in uniforms, this was IDENTICAL to that. Girls dressed in blouses with bows around the neck, of course, skirts, and stockings. I was complemented on my suit about 5 times by various teachers despite all 5 of them having seen me in the exact same suit before. I really felt like the oddball/against the norms of society guy with my green dress shirt and aqua-green tie as every other person was wearing a white dress shirts and usually without fail that is what they wear, day in day out. I must say this is really boring. Add some color in your lives, sheesh. Anywho, so I was to give my introduction after the principal’s speech during which one of the English teachers whispered to me “Maybe this speech is a little too long, no?” I chuckled because I had already sat through it once with the principal in his office. This time it was too long from the beginning because it was in rapid fire Japanese and I understood maybe 50 words in total. Then it was my turn, as I walked past all the students, sitting on the floor like cornstalks lined up in a cornfield, not a single one out of place. I bowed, walked on stage, and approached the mic only to be stopped by the principal and told not to speak just yet. I felt like a right ass but afterwards I decided that it was ok because no one told me what I was supposed to do…I was just supposed to know, I suppose. Gave my introduction and short speech in English to a lot of blank stares. Then I repeated the same thing, more or less, in Japanese, which the students could then understand a little better. Afterwards, I was told that the students in fact did understand my Japanese very well although I am sure that some of it was wrong. P.S.- I was not nervous one bit, it was great.
Off to my first class, which was a special needs class. Now, I must say that I have had some time to get my introduction together but I was in no way prepared enough to talk about myself for 50 minutes. So after exhausting myself trying to phrase everything in sentences of no more than 5 simple words, I resorted to just asking for questions from everyone. I answered them and the class was over. These kids in the 6.7.8 class were actually really intrigued and asked a lot of questions compared to my next class, which was a group of ichinensei (1st years=7th graders). They too were interested but I had to pull answers and questions out of them. I guess as they get less nervous around me, things will become easier. Then another class, this time sannensei (3rd year students=9th graders). They were able to ask some more complex questions which I enjoyed tremendously. It is kind of annoying after a while if all you hear is “Do you like baseball?” or “Do you have a girlfriend?” The best question I had was “How do you spell Aerosmith?” because well my mom is a huge Aerosmith fan and so I helped her spell it so she could ask me the full question, “Do you like ‘Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing’ by Aerosmith?” I told her that this was a brilliant question and that yes I really like the song and the band. I then told her how it is my mom’s favorite band and I smiled a lot during the whole thing because it seemed like it was one of those odd things that happen to remind you that the people you love the most are there for you even when you are halfway across the world. At the end of that class a group boys came to me asking me to teach them how to sing ‘Way of the World’ so they can do it in a school talent show/skit. Looks like the students really like me, which is positive for sure.
At lunch, I had 5 sannensei girls come to my office to speak to me and later 3 more stopped by to chat. After school, 2 girls came in and we talked for almost an hour, covering almost everything I could think of to talk about. Most of it was the two of them asking each other in Japanese how to say something in English and then only spitting it out when the two of them agreed 100% that they were right. I wish I could just be like “don’t worry about making mistakes, I will help you through it, and it is better to just try and not depend on each other all the time.” Then again, they are only in the 9th grade so I was really impressed because despite being shy, they are really good at English. The two of them made a date with me the next day during lunch to talk some more.
That night, I went out to dinner with Joey, one of the other JETs in the area. We went to Rock Pool, which is a restaurant that I was recommended by Oi-san. I was told to try this soup they have there. We went inside and were waited on this guy that we had met at a bar the week before. He told us to come by and he would treat us well. We looked on the menu for the soup that Oi-san said to have but it was not on there so I asked about it and sure enough they had it. Got that and a spinach salad which had amazing dressing. The server gave us grasshoppers as an appetizer and told us to try them. I was all about it and determined that they are pretty good. Later, I would find out that grasshoppers are really expensive and we just got them for free. Woohoo, already making the connections in Japan, hehe. It was a really good way to spend the evenings and we both liked the food a lot. I will have to go back there. On a side note, I found out that the word for spinach in Japanese is ほうれん草 (hourensou). The kanji at the end is actually 草 (kusa) which means grass. Now, I know that it is a plant but the last time I checked it does not resemble grass at all. Not sure, maybe they are talking about a different kind of grass, if you know what I mean, lol.
My introduction speech
Hello everyone. My name is Richard Sypeck. I am 22 years old and from the United States of America. I will be the new Assistant English Teacher. It is my pleasure to be here to help teach the students of Usuda Junior High School. In the last 2 weeks, I already saw some of the talents of the students outside of the classroom. I am sure that I will see a lot of talent in the classroom as well. Thank you for having me here and let’s have a great year together!
皆さん, おはようございます。はじめまして。リチャードサイペックともいます。私は２２歳です。アメリカから来ました。新しいAETです。仕事が臼田中学校でとても気に入っています。教室のそとですでに学生の才能を見たことがあります。教室の中へたくさん才能があるでしょう。いい年がありましょう。よろしくおねがいします。
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