This one's for you, mom.

No one gets to choose where or when they are born let alone the parents that they get in life. For this reason, I consider myself to be the luckiest person in the entire world because the woman that I call mom is so much more than a mom. Now I know that I have a close relationship with my mom and for that reason I have considered her not only a parent but a friend through the hardest of times. I have never known someone to be more on my side than her. I could be completely overreacting, completely stressing out, broken-hearted, or seemingly at rock bottom and she has been the only one who helps me find clarity, chill out, put my heart back together, or find the ladder out of the pit I'm in. A thousand other friends just couldn't compare.

Recently my mom came to Japan and I must say that I stressed out and totally forgot that she traveled so far for ME. She came here to see me and it seems that sometimes I forget how selfish I can be. A part of me wanted nothing more than to give her the best experience possible in Japan, include her in this life of amazement that I've experienced the past 3/4 of a year. And I completely overlooked the importance to her that I get to know more about her life. She brought Joe to Japan with her and I felt like I didn't give my full effort getting to know him and why he makes her so happy. I guess a part of me was hurting because for as long as I remember it's been more or less me and my mom. We've had each other through some really tough times and I guess I miss us being there for each other every day.

It's so tough as we grow older. I think that it must be really tough for mothers to see their children leave. I could only imagine how it must be to have a son who likes to leave the country for extended periods of time. I do want to say to you mom that it has been really tough for me. I may smile and tell you to stop crying when we have to part ways but as soon as you are out of sight, I cry just as you do. I love you through it all, even when my behavior doesn't show it or I'm not showing my true emotions at the moment. I guess on this mother's day, I want to make a promise to you that I will be more attentive to my true feelings and that  we can enjoy our time together.

So for this Mother's Day, I hope that a set of haiku (Japanese poems) will suffice in lieu of a traditional poem.

A mom and her boy,

nothing can separate them,

not land nor ocean,

through lots together,

a special bond is present,

one stronger than steel,

bending and flexing,

through the good and the bad times,

it stays in one piece,

and despite it all,

this bond becomes stronger yet,

as they change and learn.

Eventually,

this strength they have together,

will be spread to others,

more love will arise,

and everything that they do,

will build something more,

something amazing,

a lasting testament to,

all that they have shared.

---

Happy Mother's Day,

I love you with all my heart,

and will forever.

The Climb to the Top

Career-wise I still have quite a ways to climb before I reach the top. Yet, this does not stop me from making other climbs along the way. I am talking about one of the highest mountains in Japan and noted as the most active volcano on these islands we call Nippon. Yes, Asamayama (or Mt. Asama in English) is what we call it. A huge group of us (about 20) took the holiday that we had and decided to hike this grandiose mountain on what turned out to be a beautiful day. There was nothing more exciting than finding the place. Apparently we weren’t quite sure where the access to the trail was and because I was the only person in the lead car who could read some Japanese, it was my mission to find out. Needless to say, my ability to read kanji is at about that of a 1^st or 2^nd grade level. You could imagine how far this got us. However, when we stopped to ask for directions, I was all over that and soon enough we found our way. Thus begins the hike, which ended up taking several hours to the top. Yet, as soon as we broke out of the trees, man oh man, what a sight it was. It seriously reminded me of scenes from the Lord of the Rings (so, I guess, New Zealand, then, lol). We decided to rest about halfway and a group of people stopped there. They didn’t want to continue. I did and decided I was going to catch up with the lead group. Joey decided to come with me and so the two of us set off only to encounter something amazing. At first, I thought it was some sort of bear. From behind it had a very broad butt and it was hard to see as it fled away from us. However, it eventually stopped and gave a look back at us, in which case we determined that it was a deer-like creature. Reminded me of the mythical forest spirit in Princess Mononoke with its white beard and high-strung head. Antlers prominently displayed, the two of us couldn’t believe what we had seen. We soon found out that these animals are extremely rare to see in the wild and we were so lucky to have been so close to one.

Our adventure begins...easygoing at first.

If we weren't convinced it was a volcano already.

Yeah, let's play in the waterfall!

Karen sneaks off down the path. Asamayama still far off in the distance.

Just a little ways up and already breathtaking views.

There's the beast, deceptively close.

I think I saw Frodo frolicking about...

Ah, at last, the vegetation dwindles away. Yet, the steepest part is yet to come.

You could spend days taking it all in.

Warning, shhmorning.

Krissy's expression mimics mine.

The crater

Group photo at what looks like the end of the Earth.

Nothing like a good vogue at 8,425 ft. 

Nagano makes me happy!

Yesterday I went to Lake Suwa to see a fireworks competition that was being held there. Absolutely amazing use of fireworks! I took pics but they of course don’t come out anything like you saw them. Right after they finished, it poured. And I mean it poured!!! The trains were backed up because of all the people and I was standing under my umbrella in a pool of water almost up to my knees, trying desperately to keep my bag dry which contained my only other clean clothes, not to mention my camera. It was one of those surreal moments where at first you are like “Is this really happening? This sucks,” and then it just becomes “Holy crap, this is awesome. *splash, splash*.” Needless to say I didn’t bring a second pair of shoes so soggy feet became the theme for that evening and the next day. The next day, however, was great. Erika drove us back to the Saku area but along the way she decided to take a detour and we ended up randomly going up into the mountains nearby. Crazy, windy roads and hairpin turns kept us wondering if we would make it down alive. Yet, the view from up above was amazing and we chanced upon a cosmos farm. Cosmos are these crazy flowers that grow almost everywhere around here and are really pretty. They come in several shades of pink and purple and white, which makes for an interesting display when you see them along the side of the road or in this case by the thousands in a field. Unfortunately it was raining the whole day but still saw many interesting things. No monkeys yet. Although, we did stop at a nice little vegetable stand where we bought crazy amounts of vegetables for practically nothing. Nothing like a day riding through the cosmos to make you wish that you could do that all day everyday.

Junior High Jazziness

So with the English speech contest this past Saturday, I was looking for this student Kengo everyday after school on the 3rd year floor so that we can practice and get him ready for the big day. In the process of searching for him, I would always stop and see what the students were doing after school. With the school festival only 2 weeks away, they are all busy making posters and banners and other fun things and anytime I ask them about it, they are more than happy to explain things to me. It seems a lot better if I go and just chill with them after school than if I were to see them in class. They really do put on a different persona. Anyhow, there are a few 3rd graders who are particularly friendly to me. One of them is Takeshi, who always says hello and makes it a point to answer questions in class. After school, the one day, he asked to have a picture of me. I felt like a true celebrity. I did like how he asked me first unlike the other students who just run up and snap a picture and run away giggling. I think I would like to be friends with some of the 3rd years. I would really like to know what they like to do and where they like to go, really get into the mind of a Japanese middle schooler. Sometimes I think I was destined to be a field sociologist.

Let's see, so yah, on top of that all the students take part in singing various songs for the school festival. They have been practicing since I arrived here and song amazing. I will be sitting at my desk lesson planning and hear the echoes of their songs from across the courtyard or through an open window. It is fantastic, being seranaded while I work. One of the songs the 3rd years chose to sing is We Are the World by Michael Jackson. They are slightly obsessed with this song, I've found.

Let's see, what else. Oh yes, the speech contest. It was good but really long. I arrived there at 11am and it went until 6:00 or so. 7 hours was waaaaay too long, especially because I was not told how long it would be and did not pack a lunch. I figured a few hours and I could grab a late lunch/early dinner. Well, guess it's my fault for not asking how long it would be. My students did not place, sadly. But the students of other JETs I know did which was great. I was genuinely impressed by the skill of all the students and wish them the best of luck with their English endeavors. 

After the contest, I went out to eat with Brynn and Emma at a ramen shop. Fan-freaking-tastic! It was some of the most enjoyable food I've eaten thus far and filling too. After that, celebration in Ueda which included doughnuts, alcohol, and good people. Hung out with Kazu, a Japanese guy I had met at Karen's party a while back. I offered to help him out with his English because I know how hard it can be in the company of native speakers (having lived in the Czech Rep.) and try to pick up things when no one is willing to explain context or what was said. He seemed quite excited about this and I'm sure that he will return the favor and speak with me in Japanese. :)

3rd years working on a countdown sign for the festival. Takeshi is on the far left.

Two 2nd years playing table tennis with their hands. They were hilarious.

These are meant to be snacks. Served at lunch, I found them to be disgusting, covered in some light sugary stuff and seasame seeds. Bleh, bleh, bleh. Trust me, don't eat these!

Mika giving her speech on 'Language'

Kengo giving his speech on the 'Nature in Nagano'

All the contestants, judges, and honorable attendees

Thursdays Take the Cake

So I've decided to not post day by day anymore because it is tough to do and I'm a bit lazy. Fear not, there will be plenty of content to fill the column of my blog and keep you satisfied with la vida de Ricardito.

That said, I am going to post about the last week by event/subject. The first is about my Elementary school visits. They rock. My first one was two Thursdays ago at Kirihara Elem. School. I was on my way to school by bike when I ran into a bunch of the kids walking to school. I got off my bike and walked with them. They were soooooo excited to be hanging out with me, showing me this huge ass bug that they caught, introducing me to everyone in the group, asking me all these questions, and hanging all over me like monkies on a banana tree. (Oh, bananas don't grow on trees, btw, gotcha, hehe) Anyway, I got into the school and was given my schedule, asked many questions, and gave an introduction. I then watched them exercise together which consisted of what I thought was an army drill and marching. For a country without an active military, they sure do train their kids to march well.

Went to my classes and gave self-introductions and got the kids jumping, clapping, spinning, and doing all sorts of things fun and interesting. The hardest part was getting the energy to do it all over come my 5th class. Talk about a workout. Lunch there was great as I got to talk to the students in Japanese which is great practice for me. They also loved that I helped them clean the room. I even played hide and seek with a bunch of the girls. Funniest part is that they all hide in the same spot practically so when they find one, they find them all. I just shook my head and thought to myself, "they really don't quite get it, do they?" and then laughed and ran to hide again with 2 of the girls following me and waiting to hide next to me. 

In one of my classes, this one little boy spent the entire class writing me a thank you note and then putting it in the romanized writing for me. I will include a picture and translation of it.

The kids were sooooo cute, you have no idea!

My other school visit this past week was at Usuda Elem. School, the biggest of the elem. schools that I will visit. I taught 6 classes that day (talk about exhausting!!!) and only 3 grades, 1st, 3rd, and 6th. This was an interesting mix but worked out well. Some of the older kids kept asking me what the English word for "the brown stuff that (and they gestured someone pooping)." I had to laugh. I told them I wouldn't teach them this word until they got to junior high. They were relentless though. And they kept saying things like "Beg pen-us," which I took as them trying to say 'big penis.' Boys will be boys, lol. 

Let's see, also, this one kid in 1st grade named Yuuta became my buddy. I will point him out in the picture below. He was such a cool kid, asking questions, loving the photos I brought, jumping all over me, and just really happy in general. By far the cutest kid I had met thus far.

They are just so cute. And the one boy snuggled right in next to me for the pic.

They were too serious in the first pic so I told them to smile and be wacky.

Practicing for Sports Day...in America things like this would be a lawsuit waiting to happen.

My favorite class thus far. 1st graders and Yuuka, the coolest, cutest boy ever. He's going to be a heart throb when he grows up.

Picture of Elem. students serving lunch in the classroom.

They found out I was taking their picture.

Everyone wanted to be on my phone.

Thank you note from a 4th grader. Click to read it.

TV I Can Understand

Here are some programs that I decided to film for you to see a little bit of what Japanese TV is like for kids. Enjoy.

Jump...Spiiiiiin!

Captured especially for Berç (sorry I didn't catch the end)

Uh yah, sure, why not.

Japanese Mail Rocks My Socks

The postman woke me up this morning at 9:30 with a letter from my cell phone carrier. It was 5,000 yen ($50) in gift certificates for the mall. Yippee!!! Nothing like starting you day off like that. As for the rest of the day, I was expected to wait for my Internet to be hooked up in the afternoon. I got a call from Tom that he was visited by the Internet gods and now is blessed with worldwide access. I waited and a guy came to verify the phone line. Yeah, step 1 complete. Now I just had to wait for the modem to arrive and I would be good to go. So, I waited by cleaning my bathroom. Washed my back doors, vacuumed a bit, prepared the vegetables and fixings for my dinner, straightened up, basically anything to kill the time that I had to be in the house and not out on such a beautiful day (it had been raining nonstop for the past 3 days). Five o’clock came and I decided something was wrong so I called the ISP and was like “yo, what is up with da wait?” And she was all like, “Dude, they work until 9pm so maybe it is on its way.” I was like “holy shiznit, 9pm on a Sunday?! I must be in Japan or something, eh?” She gave me a tracking number and telephone number for Fedex and I promptly called them. This now, without my knowing, became the hardest conversation of my entire life. I gave the person my information, told her what I was expecting, when it was supposed to arrive, and thought we understood each other pretty well until she came back and was like we don’t have a package for you. I was like um maybe I don’t understand; you don’t have this package that I was told you do have by my ISP? Ok, well try the tracking number. Oh, look at that, they do have it but apparently it is not deliverable. Wait, why? This is where the conversation went downhill fast and my Japanese was completely useless. After making her repeat herself about 10 times and still at the end going I’m sorry, I don’t understand, I decided to just ask her straight up what should I do now? To this she told me that they will just deliver it tomorrow and I asked what time to which she asked me what time? So I told her when would be good and she confirmed it with me. Then she went on in true Japanese business fashion to apologize to me basically for not being able to make me better understand. This still baffles me because clearly it is my fault and I am the one who should be apologizing for wanting answers but not knowing enough Japanese to get them.

On the bright side, I do know that I will have the internet tomorrow which thrills me after over 1 month without. Also, I did make $50 today by answering my door. Then to top it off, Usuda high school, which is in my back yard, is setting off awesome fireworks to celebrate the end of their school festival which was apparently today. I am amazed at how frequent and unique fireworks displays are here. It is really a neat thing to just be able to chill out and see fireworks. Especially these, because I am literally sitting here looking out my back door at the fireworks almost directly above me. And the colors are fantastic. I have never seen light baby blue fireworks before and reds and oranges that were so vivid. That is the marvelous thing about this country. Unexpected things happen all the time. You take a wrong turn and bam you are in the most beautiful botanical gardens with rock gardens and ponds, just placed randomly it seems in the middle of nowhere. Then as you find your way back, you happen to chance upon a street festival going on with food and festivities with just enough awe-factor that you smile involuntarily at everything that you can see, smell, and hear around you.

I really can genuinely say that life is good. I have people in my life that I care about and who care about me, I have the opportunity to explore a country I have always wanted to, and I am employed in a field that is very rewarding.

Side note about a song. I recently started listening to Stars. It is an interesting band with some good albums that range from alternative to indie rock to maybe blues. The lyrics are really a focal point for this band and I have found them really phenomenal. Perhaps, I find the mood of their music to be very thought provoking in the sense that it makes me want to contemplate my life in ways that I have not thus far. Kind of powerful if you ask me. They have really made me determined to write my thoughts down in the form of a song. I’ve decided that I don’t want to rush it though. I will let each idea and phrase make its way to paper in as much time as it takes. Perhaps the one good thing about not being a professional songwriter is that there is no pressure. I simply need to let the feelings and words hit me.

Le Japanese

Was going to go hang out with the people in Ueda but decided that because it was raining I would just go out with some people more locally. So I went out with Erika, Tom, Nina, Patrick, and Nina’s friend, Dave. We went to the restaurant Rock Pool where this server (Masatoshi is his name) that we met at a bar works. After dinner, we went to that bar and he came by after work was over for him. He played pool with a couple of the others and we all chatted leisurely about random topics. Thankfully after a few drinks my Japanese language fears diminish and I use it more freely because this guy is really cool. We discussed amusement parks, movies, and music mainly in half English half Japanese conversation and I learned a lot about things in Japan from him. I think it is the coolest thing meeting Japanese people and talking to them and getting their life stories. I foresee myself hanging out with a bunch of Japanese in the near future because they all seem to be just as interested in me as I am in them. To top it off, being one of the few in the group that can speak some Japanese really helps give you an edge with the conversations. I also met a doctor at the restaurant who told us to give him a call if we ever get sick. It is crazy the number of doctors that I have run into thus far. I mean, it is a good thing if I ever do become ill but still weird just the same.

It's Exciting to Me

Had another full day of classes. Apparently me teaching 3-4 classes a day is a lot compared to other ALTs. Most only teach 1-3 a day. After school, I coached Mika with her speech for the speech contest and she is doing fantastically. Her pronunciation has improved dramatically and she has almost the whole thing down without being stuck on any words. It is still a bit hard for her to work out the ‘th’ sound. Despite people making fun of the Japanese because of the difficulty for them to distinguish between l and r sounds, ‘th’ seems to actually be more difficult for most of the students, commonly saying ‘sa’ [sank instead of thank] for the soft ‘th’ sound and “d” for the buzzing or harder ‘th’ sound [dis instead of this]. I am only thankful that English has all the sounds used in Japanese because I know how hard it is having tried to master the initial ‘p’ sound in Czech and having failed miserably.

As for memorizing it, she already has about 1/3 of it committed to memory which is fantastic. This means we have started to focus more closely on hand gestures and motions along with voice volume, pitch, tone, and all that other jazz that really makes a speech come to life. She is going to be fantastic come time for the speech contest.

Went to the mall to get a few things that I wanted/needed like hooks for putting kitchen utensils on the wall and a microSD card for my phone so I can take more photos with it. I was also looking at Nintendo DS games to occupy my time on the train and waiting for people but well I couldn’t find anything that I really liked or that I knew to be good. So I will wait until I can go to a bigger electronics store. While in the video game section, I ran into one of my students and we chatted a bit about this antenna that you can buy for the DS that gives allows you to watch tv. What a novelty! He told me to wait and ran to get his mom and brought her to see me. I introduced myself but she already knew more about me than I thought. She was super nice and her English was remarkable. We started in Japanese but it was apparent that she wanted to try her English so I decided to switch. It was really neat because we chatted as if we had known each other for quite some time. I think it is neat that I keep running into my students everywhere I go and meeting their parents is always a treat because they are so appreciative of what I am doing for their kids. We parted ways once her daughter came over and asked to go to the bathroom. I will be teaching her one of the elementary schools soon.

That evening I went to a yakiniku (grilled meat) restaurant with about 20 other people from the Saku area, all of us teaching English or just friends living in the area. It was nice because there were a lot of new people but perhaps too many to keep track of everyone’s names. I ate next to a Japanese woman named Sai. She was crazy. I have never seen a person so full of energy and life. Everything was exclaimed with WOW! and you could barely keep her from sitting still. She was fun but you could tell it was a tad abnormal. I personally loved talking to her and seeing life from such a fast-paced high-energy all-over-the-place angle. Perhaps this is something that I envy about her. But maybe thinking about it, I am very content with the way I view life and live it. In my world, things don’t have to be exciting 24/7 and not doing something is not a loss of life. Sometimes it is the downtime in life that really allows someone to grow as a person, contemplating, understanding, discovering things about oneself. If I were always on the go, never stopping, I would have a shit ton of experiences but not really understand them I fret.

I think this is an important aspect to mention to some of you reading this blog who claim your lives are not “as exciting” as mine because I am in Japan seeing and doing something different to you. But in reality, the same is true for me. I see your lives as exciting because I, too, am engaged in something that is not your experiences. Perhaps it is the tiniest thing to you like a server at a restaurant being really mean, but to me that is something I need to hear because otherwise I may forget that some servers can actually be rude. It helps me realize the similarities and differences in life. If nothing else, it makes me happy to be a part of your lives. So please, don’t think that anything is too small or insignificant because I am sure I will find it interesting especially because it is going on in the life of someone I know and care about.

I'm All Wet...Again!

It started raining today and it sucked so badly because riding your bike in the rain is no treat. The roads are narrow to begin with, sidewalks littered with students carrying umbrellas of death (they can seriously poke out an eye), and cars that are apparently all rushing to the hospital at Mach 3 speeds splashing pools of water meters in all directions. So needless to say I get to work and I look like a drowned rat for the first hour or so until I dry off. Now, normally, I would be going to my elementary schools on Thursdays but that won’t start until next week. I thought I would have a free day until Nagai-sensei asked me to team-teach with her today instead of the classes tomorrow. I was all for this idea because that would mean the teaching would be more spread out. The only downfall to this was that when the other teachers caught wind that I had two free periods they tried to shove me in to do introductions. Apparently, when I do my introduction, it is a class they don’t need to plan or do any work for. Lazy SOBs! Whatever, teaching classes makes the day go by quicker so why not.

Gospel Not For God??

Today, I think I taught super well. My team-teaching sessions with Toeda-sensei, the head English teacher, went super well, especially 6.7.8 (special needs class). I was thrilled that they invited me specifically to have lunch with them today. It ended up being a great idea. While I barely understand their Japanese, so much communication happens through our body language it amazes me. How dependent we are on the things we hear that sometimes we miss those minor things that really are at the heart of a conversation. A ちょう (chou) [butterfly] came into the room with us while we were eating lunch and it was so cool because it was a huge butterfly with massive wings. It had the most wonderful shades of brown etched and swirled into its wings. I instantly thought of the Spanish word for butterfly (mariposa) and how this is a term for gay guys in Spanish. Made me laugh inside because in this country where guys often carry purses and machismo is at a minimum (not that I’m complaining about this, I think it is great!), here flies in this butterfly and unlike the Japanese attitude about homosexuality, this insect is embraced as a creature of grace and beauty.

There were only three classes today because we all went to a local concert hall to hear gospel music performed for the second half of the day. Now some of you might be wondering how this was for me considering that I am not religious and, well, gospel music tends to be a little bit on the Jesusy side of the spectrum. It was actually quite interesting because the students and teachers did not view it as anything more than a performance art. For many, it was their first time seeing gospel music performed. The classics were done, Amazing Grace, Joyful, Joyful, etc. The students were too shy to partake in any of the actions or pleasantries that the group tried to inflict upon them. I, on the other hand, was like whatever, I know English, and I’m going to sing and clap and carry on disregarding the lyrics’ meaning. It was also at this performance that I was first told directly by three girls that I was kakkoii (good-looking/hot/cute). The one girl I distinctly remember having asked me for my signature earlier on. At least they are being more direct with me instead of just giggling in groups. Maybe I can use this to my advantage somehow. Perhaps getting them to pay attention more to what I have to say.

I’d also like to make a note about the school lunches in Japan. They are fantastic! They are super well-balanced nutritionally and always include some sort of hot soup, a salad of some sort (not the lettuce-kind you are thinking of, either), meat in some variety (usually fish), and a huge, fresh piece of bread or if it is MWF rice!!! Plus, there is this neat dynamic about the homerooms here. They are like miniature families. They eat together, study together, clean together, and I tend to see them hanging out together after school. Anywho, back to lunch. I get to enjoy these lunches each day for only ￥273 ($2.50). As far as I am concerned, this is a steal because I don’t have to make it, it is healthy, I get to try all these great new Japanese foods, and it is cheap.

My friend Shannon, whom I met at Tokyo orientation messaged me to say she was happy that she sat next to me on the bus from the airport just one month ago. It feels like so much time has gone by but in reality only one month has passed. I just keep thinking about Mat and that he will be going off to college soon. I feel like I have been the worst person in the world, not having called anyone yet, especially him. I know that he understands. I seriously fight the urge to message him a million times a day, once for each time I think of him.

"POINTY!"

Had a very enjoyable lunch with the 1^st years today. There was this one boy names Jichun (I think?) He is Chinese and for a first year was as good if not better at English than most 3^rd years! We were talking quite a bit and he was really interested in going to the United States. He seems like the kind of student that just cannot learn enough about the world. I told him to remember me if he ever comes to the U.S. and to get in touch with me. It probably won’t be for a few years before he gets the chance to go off to the US but it would be neat nonetheless to catch up with one of my students years from now in the states.

Must have been one of those days where lots of great things happen because my last period sannensei (3^rd years) were fantastic. Aside from the obligatory “Do you know ‘We are the World’?” to which I always reply yes, they asked some of the most intelligent questions I’ve gotten thus far which means these students really do know their shit. They asked me if I read Harry Potter, whether I am going to vote for Obama or McCain, and what transportation is popular in the US. The brightest question was “What do you think about the situation with Tibet and China?” I almost died when I was asked that question because it was said almost perfectly and it was not the usual Do you know…/Do you like… questions that I was accustomed to.

The most fun questions were as follows:

“Have you seen UFO?” “Yes, I’ve seen at least 10!”

“Do you like orange juice or milk?” “Hmmm, difficult question (snickers in head)…orange juice.”

“Do you like sauce or soy sauce?” (yes, apparently a question Japanese ask one another and one which I totally just made up an answer and said…) “Sauce, of course!”

“Do you have a ‘kanojo’?” [Lit.: Do you have a she?, but kanojo can also be girlfriend]

I politely replied “Nope.” (I fought the urge to say “but…”)

“Did you ever ‘pirikura’?” [They are those photobooths where you get the mini photos with stars or sceneries in the background and are insanely popular here] “Yes, with my mom.”

“Why is your nose (makes a gesture that indicates pointy)?” I laugh and explain with pictures on the board, what we call the various nose shapes in English and told them they could say mine was pointy compared to their flat noses. Now they pass me and point to their noses and say “POINTY!” Cute, really cute. Lol

A bunch of girls came up after class to look at my photos and pointed out a picture of Nick, Tom, and Berç. Three of the girls thought Nick was so kakkoii (good-looking). The one argued with them and said Tom was more kakkoii. I laughed because I knew it was because of Nick’s blond hair. They were talking about it nonstop in Japanese. I then asked them to explain the difference between kakkoii and kawaii, which are used a lot. Apparently, it is the same as we have. If you say someone is good-looking/hot you are attracted to them whereas kawaii is more like the “they are cute together” definition of cute. So they pulled out another photo of Christine and me and they said that we were kawaii together and that I was kakkoii. I showed them a few more of my friends and asked them what they thought. They then went ahead and ranked everyone for me. The results were quite interesting and I won’t divulge who ranked above others. I asked why they chose certain people over others and they said that it had to do with their face and then hair color was important. I heard the girls saying how I had so many good-looking friends and that so many of them were really tall. I think they were specifically referring to Tom, Mat, and Melina in this instance.

Went out for some ramen with Joey and Erika, Tom joining up with Joey and me later. It was really good and decently priced.

Mushroom Head

Today I went to school the normal time…for 8:30 but apparently this was too late because the ceremony had already started as I walked through the door soaking wet from my cold, rainy bike ride to school. Do you think someone would have told me to be a few minutes early today? Oh no, I was supposed to inquire about this I guess. Oh wells, I’ll put it on the “not my fault” pile and move on. So, I introduced myself to another class today. They were second year students and of all the years, they are the worst. They are not energized at all, they don’t seem to care, and good luck getting someone to even try when you call on them directly (which is a no-no here but I do it anyway). The other class that I taught was the 6.7.8 class, which is a special needs class. I am having a hard time striking a balance with these students. Their levels are all so different and some of them don’t pay attention, others are too hyper and interject all the time and I can feel myself failing inside although I know that all in all I am not doing a poor job in the least. The kids are interacting with me, they are learning some English, and hopefully they are having fun doing so. I can feel myself getting worn out by this class though. I really do have a newfound respect for the people who can teach with such diligence and perseverance day in and day out. Maybe one day, I will find this but for now, not present.

There are student teachers that came in today and will be at our school for 3 weeks. Two of them are English student teachers. I think they are really nice but they are more nervous about teaching than I was when I came here and they have the advantage over me. They attended this school, they know Japanese traditions and ways of doing things, hmmm they know the language, and well they have had formal education in this exact field. I don’t know, maybe the overcoming of the anxiousness had to do with something else inside me, some soft skill I acquired along the way. What really shocked me was their inability to speak English. Now, one would think that you should be fairly decent at using a language before teaching it. Not so much the case in Japan. I feel bad for the students because they are the ones being disadvantaged by this phenomenon. The one student teacher pretty much refused to speak to me in English and I was forced to use Japanese. Then the other student teacher complained how difficult it was to read a short passage from the student’s textbook. Now, I know that reading English comes naturally to me but maybe if it were me trying to teach English students Japanese, I would definitely fully understand the basics. I mean we are talking 9^th grade here and this person just graduated from college. I don’t know, to me there is something peculiar about this. Then I realized that maybe it was not English but just this person’s desire to study and learn languages. In a later discussion, I found out that he had studied Spanish as well. Bueno! Sino no. Why? Because he just talked about how difficult the masculine/feminine noun system is. Honestly, if you can learn 2,000 kanji, you can memorize which words are male and which are female. I think I have a lot to learn from them as well. They are my age and seem to be a great window into the world of Japan, especially the local area. We will see what happens.

My lunch today was rather exciting. I ate with Toeda-sensei’s homeroom, which was ecstatic about having me. I was thrilled because that meant that they asked lots of questions and were really friendly towards me. I was even pranked with a question by this one girl. She asked me, “Do you like mushrooms?” To this I replied, “Yes, I love them.” Terrible choice of words because after a full minute of laughter among anyone who could hear, she explained that their nickname for Toeda-sensei is “mushroom head” because as they put it her head looks like a mushroom. So indirectly, I said that I loved the head English teacher in the school. Yet, I felt privileged to have been pranked and then let in on their nickname secret. Made me feel like I was not so much a sensei but more like a friend. One of the girls that was across from me asked if I like the anime Bleach and I said that I liked it a lot, that my friend Luca and I used to watch it all the time. She got lost when I tried to explain he is from Switzerland so I left it alone. Sorry, Luca, the Japanese don’t know European geography very well.  

My artistic side shining through, lol

Heath Ledger...Way to Go and Die on Me!

So, today, again was a relaxation day. Got a text message from Erika wanting to know if I wanted to see Dark Knight in the movies. Wanting to get the Japanese movie experience, I said yes. Got myself to the train station, the nearest one being a 15 minute bike ride and got myself to Sakudaira, the main hub of life around here. There I ran into Tom and Joey who were also waiting for Erika. We all went to the theater together where I spent the most I have ever spent on a movie admission in my entire life, $18.00. Yah, so some of you city folk might be like that is normal but for me, I am used to going to the one screen cheap-o theaters where it is the old school movie at an old school price. So trying not to think about the fact that I spent that much money to see a movie I had already seen, I say down and as the movie began, I remembered how incredible it was and didn’t mind after about halfway that I had been royally ripped off. The previews did have Get Smart which I still need to see. I think I will rent it when I get a chance. Mat and a few others said it was funny and it looked it.

After the movie, we hung out at the arcade downstairs where it would seem like the Japanese are obsessed with picture booths and those crane “just go ahead and take my money” machines. Although, I must admit, it was tempting to play for my very own Totoro plush. One day, Totoro…you shall be mine. Um, yah, so I did get distracted by the fact that Time Crisis 4 was lined up right next to not only Time Crisis 3 but Time Crisis 2 as well. All three of my loves, lined up in all their plastic gun blazing glory. Oh Japan, how you know how to make a geek like me weep with joy.

Ketch-up Day

Today I decided not to go to Ueda to hang out with people or go to a party in Chikuma or go to the beach with some people. I slept in, got up, did some laundry, listened to music, cleaned up my bathroom a bit, and decided to hand wash my hardwood floors which were thoroughly filthy. I must say that now, they look great. My apartment is starting to looks cleaner and cleaner each day and yet I still have a lot to tend to. I decided that I need a proper storage unit for my dishes. The last tenants here used this metal wire shelving unit to house their plates/bowls but I think it looks terrible in the kitchen and well doesn’t really protect against dust or whatever, the dishes are kind of just chilling out in the open. That will be one of my first big purchases, I think. I would really like to get things all situated the way I like before the winter comes because I know I will be spending more time inside when it gets colder out. I figure that buying a few nice new additions can be my contribution to this place. That and well the thorough cleaning that I plan to do routinely. It really is a nice place and deserves to be kept up with properly. I would ideally like to spend all my money and make this place amazing looking but I think that I will just make do with the things I have for the most part and save that money for traveling or my next more permanent apartment.

格好いいですね！

It was a quick day today. I did some official team-teaching today. Well, team-teaching in the sense that I planned my introduction for the one class but changed it up a bit. I added an activity which got the students moving about and working together. Basically, I gave each group a bunch of papers that have things like “my family” or “map of the United States” written on them and the students would race each other to get the items that were scattered up front. Figured it would be a good way for them to review what I had talked about and link it with the items/pictures. Worked out pretty well I think. I also liked working with Kobayashi-sensei. She was really nice and easy going as are all the teachers I guess. Later, I team taught with Kudou-sensei, the only male English teacher in the department. He and I taught an actual lesson. I basically went over vocabulary and read out loud the skits in the book. I then adapted the skits to other examples. To give you a better picture of what I mean. The book example was…

Mike: “Oh no! My cola!” (You see a picture of a boy knocking over his soda)

“I don’t have any tissues. Do you have any?”

Emi: “I don’t have any tissues but I have a handkerchief. Here. Use this.”

 

So I adapted it to other things like ripping my paper and needing tape or my marker running out and needing another or my rubber band snapping and needing something else. The rubber band went over well. The kids laughed when I actually snapped the rubber band in front of them. And of course, I was overly dramatic about it.

Richard-sensei: “OH NOOOO! MY RUBBER BAND!!!” (As I break it in half)

“I don’t have anymore. Kudou-sensei, do you have any?”

Kudou-sensei: “No, I don’t. But I have this paper clip. Here. Use this.”

Richard-sensei: “Whew, thanks.”

Yeps, I am teaching English alright, hehe. I gave out the omiyage (souvenirs) that I brought for the teachers and they were really appreciative. Worked with a student called Mika on her speech for the speech contest. She basically can say half of her speech almost flawlessly. Her r’s are great but she just needs to work on ‘th’ which is so difficult for Japanese I think. They are not used to having their tongue stick out between their teeth when they speak. Everyone seems inclined to say ‘sa’ instead of ‘th.’ I have faith that she will get it and be amazing. I am really impressed at the improvement she has shown since the last time that I worked with her. Will be helping her on Monday. She is one of the few students who is not afraid to make mistakes and improve herself. I don’t doubt if in many years I see her as someone doing something great in the world. I just have that feeling.

All the English teachers and I went out to a restaurant after work as a welcoming party for me. It was so nice. There were about 7 of us and well the conversation was in Japanese. I would like to say that I held my own but in actuality I understood about 50% of it outside of asking for a translation of some things. They made me drink sake and eat all these really authentic and special foods, including bamboo shoots prepared all fancy. The principal told me that this was considered a special food only served on the most important occasions and at big festivities. I felt really honored. We talked about numerous subjects ranging from the Olympics to politics to school stuff to me adjusting and also about the various differences between America and Japan. I did find out from the teachers that loads of students were calling me 格好いい (kakkou-ii) which means ‘attractive, stylish, and/or cool.’ Then they also told me the other thing the students were saying was いきな面 (ikina-men) which they translated for me as meaning ‘having a really good-looking face.’ I was really flattered. Didn’t know that I would be such a sight to look at for everyone. I guess this is better than hearing the opposite, lol. And at least it will get the girls to come practice their English with me, lol. Walked my bike home and talked to my friend Shannon on the phone. Had to walk my bike because you can’t ride your bike if you had anything to drink. Shannon is kind of my talk about everything girl over here. I am so glad she is on the same phone carrier as me so that we can chat for free because I anticipate we will be keeping in touch often. I like hearing about her relationship and I think she is genuinely happy about the news I update her with. We are also going to be cooking buddies and visit each other. Can’t wait until I find the right time to do so.

{Insert Interesting Title Here}

Started working on an English bulletin board for the school. Decided to make it primarily about the Olympics with sports vocabulary and pictures. Also, am going to have a comic corner. Found good Peanuts and Garfield comics with easy words that the students should understand. Also am going to have a Music section where I list my favorite bands, tell a little about them, and have songs that they should listen to. The first band I am showcasing is Metric. Oh yah!!! And then I also am going to put little pages that they can take that say, “Become a Translator.” They have Japanese and English phrases that can be translated back and forth. I basically just want to expose students to really common English words and phrases nonstop so that if they ever visit the States, they have an idea of what things they can expect. I don’t want to sugarcoat things too much because I know that there are some really superb students who are up for the challenge.