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.

Aliens DO Exist!

So I have to go into the main office each morning and use my inkan to stamp an attendance book. This does not seem like standard practice for teachers in the school but I guess they have a different system of denoting who is there or not. The front office secretaries are really nice but communication is delayed and often difficult because the things that I normally need to discuss with them are more complicated and use words or concepts that I haven’t come across yet. I am so glad that I have some Japanese behind me though because I honestly don’t know how I would get along without it. It would be so lonely not understanding a thing and I could imagine it would be even more frustrating.

On my bike ride home, I cross the river and on the bridge I stopped dead as I stared across to the mountains. I stood there and couldn’t believe that this was what I get to look at each day. The pure beauty of the area is breath taking and it is just all around you, you cannot escape it. Impossible to explain or show in a picture, you just have to feel it. It is everything…the smell of the air, the sound of the wind and water, visually a masterpiece, and the feeling of just being in the moment. You have to experience it yourself. I want everyone who visits me to feel this. I think if they feel this if but for a moment, they have really experienced one of the best things Japan has to offer.

P.S.- Today I received my 外国人登録証明書 (gaikokujin-touroku-shoumeisho) or my alien registration card. I am now official.

Introduction to Students (and Grasshoppers)

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 (1^st years=7^th 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 (3^rd year students=9^th 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 9^th 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。

A portion of my teaching schedule...I still don't fully get it.

Mmm, grasshoppers! Actually, quite tasty.

A Void I Cannot Fill...Not Just Yet, Anyhow

Today at work, I decided to log online and kill my time doing something to keep my sanity, considering I haven’t been able to talk to anyone in the longest time and it has been killing me. I saw that Mat was online and we started chatting away. Talk about easing my nerves. Leaving Mat was like quitting smoking cold turkey, although spending time with Mat was/is a good thing and not bad. You get what I mean. He and I had a much-needed discussion and both of us exchanged realizations that seemed to have struck us only after my departure. Mostly, I can say that we were both affected greatly. Personally, I cried because even though I am unsure if going to Japan was the right decision, I know that I had made the correct decision in spending my remaining moments with him. Tremendously…the word that comes to mind when I ask myself how much I miss him. Yet, deep down, I know that we will wait for each other I will get my storybook ending. The wait may jade me but I will make the most of it so I can share even more of myself with him. I hope that he does the same.

At 1:30, Oi-san, a clerk at the Board of Education picked me up and took me to City Hall. I was going to meet the mayor today. On the car ride to City Hall, Oi-san, who is a younger guy maybe I don’t know in his late 20s/early 30s (although I cannot tell with every Japanese person looking 20 years younger than they really are, lol), asked me if I would like to join him and the other office workers for tournament soccer. I got so excited at this notion considering that meant he was interested in getting to know me better. I agreed to play and he told me that they would be practicing that evening. SUPER…or so I thought. So, we get to City Hall, and I meet the other AETs (Assistant English Teachers) from Interac, which is a private company that employs AETs in schools. They were, well, interesting to say the least. I would like to say that JET’s process for employing people seems to bring a certain type of person to Japan and well Interac seems to bring a different kind. Not saying this is bad or anything but maybe the differences made it a bit awkward. Perhaps, I was just imagining all of this. Either way, Tom had showed up as well and the four of us went to see the mayor. We introduced, did all the formal shiznit, and then shot the shit with him about random things. Apparently he is 80 years old yet he seriously did not look a day over 65 if I were to guess really high. Afterwards, Tom and I were separated from the other two and put into a formal meeting where our responsibilities were spelled out to us, hmmm, maybe for the 6^th or 7^th time now. Basically, we are part of a great initiative, students are shy, don’t speak Japanese to the students, do our best, only speak English to the students, try to team-teach, oh and did I mention ONLY SPEAK ENGLISH!!! They were a little adamant about a few things can you guess which? :P Later found out that I cannot play soccer with Oi-san and the guys because of insurance reasons. I understood but at the same time I think it is complete crap. I mean, wth, why does this world have to be all about insurance and lawsuits and not just living a decent life? If I knew I wouldn’t offend someone by trying to break the rules, I would have asked to sign a waiver so that I can play.

That evening, I felt really tired and slept away my entire evening and night, skipping out on dinner and reality. Not a day goes by that I am not reminded of the best thing that has ever happened to me. If you are lost, reread the first paragraph.

Getting All Up in Your Fries

Honestly, don’t remember what I did this or the day before. So, instead I will insert some lovely quotes that I will try to remember right now.

“Don’t go getting all up in my fries, man.” –Dougal, on the bus ride to Nagano after Tokyo orientation. Apparently it is a Canadian thing??? Same thing as getting up in someone’s grill, which the British seemed to not understand either. Seriously, though, fries!? lol. It has now worked its way into most people’s vocabulary. Nice one, Dougal.

Joey explains that the Japanese way is to just “stick it to your mouth and suck.” I am not going to bless this comment with any context. I’ll let you use your imagination. For added amusement on my part, feel free to comment what you think he was talking about.

Don't Go Chasin' Waterfalls...Um, Why Not?!

Today we all trekked to this amazing waterfall located about 20 minutes from my house by car. There were about 10 or so of us from the area and it turned out to be a nice day for a swim. Stopped for lunch at the grocery store and found out that Japanese potato salad is much better than the American style. The water was cold as ice but felt really nice once you dove in. The current around the falls was crazy strong but fun to swim in. The area reminded me of the waterfalls that I have seen in videos of Hawaii, which kind of makes sense considering Japan is a series of volcanic islands.

That evening we came back to Nakagomi a part of Saku along the Chikuma River where there was an amazing display of fireworks literally above everyone who sat at the river. They were to celebrate the return and sending off of everyone’s ancestors. A little different from our fireworks is that here they announce each set and there were about 100 sets of fireworks, some small, some huge displays. Each one has a sponsor and a message that is said before they go off. After a while, I stopped trying to listen and just looked up when I heard どうぞ (Douzo) which means “Here they are.” Ate some food that they had there, yakisoba (fried soba noodles) and a melon flavored shaved ice. I love how they have melon flavored everything because it is so おいしい (oishii) [tasty]. I saw one of the students from my school at the event. He was sitting nearby where we were sitting and was excited to see me there. I, likewise, was happy to see him too.

After the fireworks, which seemed to last forever and dazzled everyone, we walked to a local karaoke place and had several hours of sing out heart out action. Embarrassment was only the beginning. As people drank and got past the “I look like a complete fool” stage, the fun really began. Personally, I love the whole concept of karaoke and jump right up from the start and really get into it. Come to Japan and we shall do it together sometime!!! Promise, it is great fun!

This spot is a 20 minute drive from my house :)

P.S. - The water is really freakin' cold.

Self-explanatory...I hope.

Taking a break from looking at the pretty lights in the sky.

Joey & I rocking out to something amazing, I'm sure.

After about 15 songs and 3 drinks, the table looked really nice.

Shake your Obonbon?

Today is the second day of Obon festivities, which means another day off of work. Can’t recall what I did this day as I am writing this day’s entry about a week later, hahaha. I most definitely went out and did something fun that day. Probably ended with hanging out in a bar or going to a restaurant for some Japanese num nums. 

Car Cramming & Other Crazy Fun

Got up and had a mini breakfast with our host. She then drove all of us into the center city Nagano so we could catch a bus home. The fun part was that there were 7 of us for a 5-passenger car, which to most would mean that 2 would need to take a taxi or find another way. But not for JETs. We crammed into this tiny ass Japanese car. Erika in the trunk, Tom, Joey, and myself in the back with Karen lying on our laps. Tonya and another guy (forgot his name) in the front, putting across the city. Honestly, it was the funniest thing to see us all piling out of the car. Anyway, I went to the prefectural office to get a re-entry permit for my visa so that I can get back into the country if I want to travel outside or go home. Ended up being the easiest thing ever to do and literally took about 3 minutes. To think that I was expecting the ‘wait 2 weeks and come see us in person’ or ‘you need this random form even though it doesn’t say you do’ Japanese bureaucracy. Took the bus back home just as it was starting to rain, which means I had a wet bike to ride home on, yippee! Pretty chill evening. Went out for dinner with a few people because apparently we never get sick of seeing each other, lol.

Here we are eating at a Yakiniku place. (You grill your own food at the table)

He greeted us at the door of the restaurant. Interesting pet, I must say.

That's Joey, being a trooper and taking the "trunk."

Technically a Paid Day of Work

Today was the prefectural conference that was held in Nagano, the capital city of the prefecture, and the site of the ’98 winter Olympics. The conference was quite entertaining and did not feel long at all. The sessions were a bit repetitive to what I had already learned but well it is always good to get a refresher on information. The highlight of the whole thing was doing the chicken dance. Why was this the highlight, you may ask? Well, while several people were embarrassed to be doing it in front of other people, I did my best chicken dancing since probably 4^th grade because all I kept thinking about was that I was getting paid right then and there to do the chicken dance, lol. Yah, so far my job is pretty damn sweet.

Next we went to Zenkouji Temple, located in Nagano. It was being setup for Obon, which is a festival to acknowledge the return of the ancestors to their hometowns. We had several high schoolers from the local high school show us around and explain the various parts of the temple. It was really neat having them there to talk to and get our information from and it gave them practice with English. Also, there is a neat little underground passage to the temple that is pitch black and there is something you must do in order to come out more pure than when you went in. I will not tell you what it is so as not to spoil it if you ever go there. :P

I didn’t do what I had to in order to be more enlightened and pure but I must say just being in a pitch black and nearly soundless environment was really relaxing. I would have liked to spend more time in that condition, just thinking and making sense of things in this world. Maybe I will go back and see if I cannot camp out in that tiny little tunnel, hehe.

Later, we went to the Smile Hotel, which had a restaurant that was all you can eat and drink. Needless to say I ate a lot and drank a lot too. Yet, I did not have as much to drink as some people and this made for a very entertaining evening. Many pictures were taken along with the occasional kanpai (“cheers”).  I made myself this really neon green drink that caught like wildfire with several people. Apparently people like the drinks that I mix together. Maybe I should consider bartending and focusing some time in making good drinks. Oh, wait, what am I saying…that is NOT me!

So many of us were not content with just ending the evening as so we all went for some crazy karaoke action. My first time doing karaoke in Japan and let me tell you it is fan-tas-tic~~! We had like 15 people in one room singing out hearts out to some classics. I definitely have to do this more often.

Finally after an evening of eating, drinking, singing, dancing, and carrying on (all for about $50), I crashed at another JET’s place in the city. She lives in the housing that was for the Olympic athletes, which was kind of cool for me because I slept where potentially some gold medalist had been. That is kind of exciting to think about.

Speaking of the Olympics, it kind of sucks watching them in Japan because I don’t understand half of what is being said about the athletes and they focus on the Japanese athletes all the time, how selfish of them, lol.

To the temple we go.

Our local high school tour guides.

Advertisements for the upcoming Obon. My bank is the middle set.

The entrance to the temple.

Say chiizu!

Look at those discriminatory prices!!!

The infamous green drink and Kelly.

I seriously love this guy.

This one is for my Moravian crew (esp. Jacquie, Clint, & Taylor)