In Okinawa, it's 20 C, or for the people in America, 68 F. People are wearing long pants, jackets, and talking about how cold it is.
Right now in Tokyo, it's about 8 C, or 46 F. People are wearing long pants, jackets, and talking about how cold it is.
Well, with both temperatures being above freezing and having a difference of about 20 degrees, I've decided that not only is Okinawa NOT cold, but neither is Tokyo. Sorry.
I think about an English teacher here who is from Alaska. She told me how at her university, the heaters would stop working at -10 F. She said it would suck cause it would be too cold to think, and you couldn't do your homework. That's cold.
So I have come up with one rule for determining if it is cold or not. If this rule does not apply, you are not allow to say it is cold. The rule is: the temperature has to be at or below freezing.
Just because the sun is behind a cloud doesn't mean it's cold...Okinawa people.
My Okinawan kids know this. They know the words hot, warm, cool, and cold. But they are most familiar with hot and cold. Everyday I ask, "How is the weather?" Everyday (even this month), they responded, "It's hot!". And they're saying this while wearing Florida winter clothes: jacket, shorts, and sandals.
Just because you want to wear a jacket doesn't mean it's cold...Tokyo people.
If it's COOL enough to wear a jacket, but I'm sweating after walking a block, then it's not cold. And what's with blasting the heater on the trains and in the stores? People are coming from outside wearing jackets, hats, and gloves, and then they end up sweating like a pig after standing inside for 5 minutes.
Cold weather was last night when it was -3 C and raining. When I couldn't warm myself up by walking. I met a man from Singapore named Sean (who introduced himself as Sean Connery) at my hostel. I told him it was 20 C in Okinawa and he asked me if he could fly there for under $500. He just wanted out of the weather. I told him Okinawans find 20 C cold and he told me they're crazy.
****
Tokyo has been a blast. After my first day of confusion, I quickly readjusted to a non-rural life. Been hanging out with people who went to UF and have made some new friends. I've decided that if you are a lone tourist, there really aren't that many interesting attractions. The fun has been in the abundance of places to go to to socialize.
My mom and sister arrive this afternoon. We'll take it easy this evening and begin our tourist adventures tomorrow, starting with the Tsukiji fish market!
It's kind of funny that the thought of going to Tokyo a year ago would have felt like the biggest trip in the world, and now it's only a 2 hour flight away (and I get to stay in the same time zone!). However, landing in Tokyo this time gave me a different impression of the city from the last time I was here 4 months ago. The first time was filled with wonder and thank-God-we-finally-landed. This time, I felt a little like Gong Li in The Story of Qiu Ju, the country-bumpkin who travels to the big city. First thing I noticed was the smog. When I arrived in Shibuya, I was dumbfounded by all the people.
I looked the complete tourist, too. Had a small suitcase and a 40 L backpack, plus a map telling me how to get to my hostel. Add in the deer-in-the-headlights look, and there you go. The great thing about my journey to the hostel is the help I got from the locals. I asked one guy for which train I should take and he looked it up on the internet with his phone and told me. Then as I am wandering around Asakusa, I was approached TWO different times from people, who asked me in English, "Can I help you?" I must have looked really lost. The last person was actually a group of three people, and they walked me to the hostel. I told this to some Tokyo friends later and they were all surprised because people from Tokyo have the reputation of being mean.
I brought a large sack of shekwasas with me. I've been handing them out randomly in the holiday spirit. I was about to give one to a homeless man, but I was stopped by my friend. He told me he's seen that guy before running around in circles spitting. No shekwasa for you if you can't behave.
Had a fire drill in the afternoon! Exciting enough for a blog post! I was given a little notice as to what was expected from me. My job: grab a fire extinguisher and mime releasing the trigger and spraying.
In America, we are given no advance warning on a fire drill. Just that loud alarm and you run for the hills with the teachers...while the school burns.
What happens in Okinawa is the kids run away, and the teacher's fight the fire. I'm assuming to buy time until the real fire fighters show up. The fire department was actually there with a smoke machine, to simulate the school burning. Some teachers grabbed long hoses and pretended to spray at the fire, while me, the tea lady, and the vice-principal saved the kitchen. All in a day's work.
Tomorrow morning I leave for Tokyo. Will be returning to Okinawa on January 6th! May get to blog while on the trip. If not, また来年！
The semester is wrapping up, but this is the first time I am not thinking, 'the semester is FINALLY wrapping up'. Being a teacher is definitely the way to go. Hard to believe it's been 4 months already.
I teach until next Wednesday and then the next day I am off to 'Real Japan'! I'll be hanging with old exchange students and Jclub members. It'll be a blast. On the 24th, my mom and sister arrive, and we began our trek through the south-eastern portion of Japan. I have spent the past week figuring out where to stay and making the reservations. This is Japan's busiest time of the year (isn't it everywhere?) so finding hotels with availability, that were still cheap, was difficult. But the hotels are set, now I just need to research the train schedules.
We will be going to:
Tokyo - Japan's capital
Fuji Go-ko - Fuji Five Lakes, a town with good views of Mt. Fuji
Nagoya - has a big (replica) castle and mandatory shrines
Kyoto - ex-capital, foreigner haven, geishas, will be here 2 nights
Kumamoto - another big (replica) castle
Fukuoka - parent meeting time
All by train. I cannot wait. What am I looking forward to the most? The food. In Japan, each prefecture is known for a certain dish. In Fukuoka, it's ramen. In Okinawa, it's champuru. And it can move down the hierarchy with cities and villages being known for producing a specific vegetable, fruit, etc. For example, Ogimi (my village) is known for the shekwasha.
I come back on Jan. 6, so I will be away for 2.5 weeks! I plan to post blog entries and pictures as the trip unfolds.
Hear about the Heisman? Seems some Gator won it... Go Tebow!
Sunday was the Japanese Language Proficiency Test, or JLPT. There are four levels (kyu), with 4-kyu being the easiest and 1-kyu being the hardest. I took 3-kyu and am uncertain if I passed it. The test is divided in three parts: kanji/vocab, listening, and grammar/reading. I rocked the kanji and I think I did really well on the grammar. But I bombed the listening. I do not use the word 'bomb' lightly. Out of the 23 questions, I think I got 1 right. That's okay though, because I need a possible sum of 240 points out of the 400 to pass, regardless where the points come from.
The listening section was lame. Each dialogue ran for about a minute, and you only got to hear it once. I would be following along okay, then a trick would be thrown in, and I was lost. It was the listening-equivalent of that cup game, where they put a ball under one of three cups and you have to keep track of it.
An example dialogue:
Male: That town over there is famous for ships and fishing.
Female: What about this town?
Male: I don't know, but pig is my favorite food.
Female: What? Why did you say that?
Male: No reason. This town is famous for beef and milk.
Question: What color shirt is the man wearing?
So regardless if I pass or fail, I feel I'm ready for 2-kyu. Ready to start studying for it, that is. Will I be ready by next December? We'll see. Let me put into perspective the jump from 3-kyu to 2-kyu.
Total vocab:
4-kyu: ~700 words, ~100 kanji
3-kyu: an additional ~700 words, ~200 kanji
Here comes the fun part:
2-kyu: an additional ~4000 words, ~600 kanji
The jump from 3-kyu to 2-kyu is huge. So I started studying the day after I took the test. I'm looking at about 20 words a day for the next year, which gives me weekends for review and time to be finished two months before the test.
I've been told that fluency in a language is knowing 14,000 words. By 3-kyu standards, I am 11% fluent. In a year, I will be 40%. Bell curve, yea!
Yesterday was kindergarten again. Have them once a week and hate teaching them. Individually, they are cute. But as a group, they merge into an evil-Voltron intent on destroying me. We were playing musical chairs, which I have learned is the best game to do with them. They behave and they don't have to speak English. But it's English cause the music is in English, see... So a kid sits down, another kid wants the seat and pushes the kid out of the seat. The other kid gets up and knocks the other kid in the jaw. Not some baby push or girl slap, either, but a fist. Kid starts wailing, and that kid gets scolded for pushing the kid out of the chair in the first place. Kid who punched him was allowed to keep playing.
I only mention this because I didn't blink an eye. This kind of stuff has become normal to me. I just thought, "Silly kids..." and in the back of my mind, "Nice punch...". What's happening to me?
Last week, I realized it was Thanksgiving when Vaughn asked me, "Are you doing a Thanksgiving lesson tomorrow?". The answer was "no" because it had completely slipped my mind. I was leaving Thursday night for Fukuoka, cause it was a three day weekend. Friday was 'Work Gratitude Day' in Japan, or Labor Thanksgiving.
Got into Fukuoka City around 10:00 p.m. and met some of Yuka's work friends. Afterwards, we stayed at one of her friend's apartment and played Wii Tennis and Monopoly. The evil American capitalist (me) played until he owned every piece of property, which took until 5 am. Found out later they thought it was funny how into it I was. We'll see who's laughing when I increase your interest 5%...
Friday we shopped around a little bit for...my new hard drive! All 160 GB of it. Then we took the hour and half train ride to see Yuka's family. I feel more and more nervous every time I meet them because I feel they are expecting more out of me language wise. Her mom is fine and I can kind of talk to her, but her dad is a brick wall. He likes taking me out to dinner and randomly giving me his old clothes, but most of the time we just sit in awkward silences.
In a bit of irony, found out that he knows the superintendent in Kurume, the town I wanted to be placed in for JET. Had I asked him to say something, I apparently would have gotten my request. I think the Theory of JET Placement proves this wrong, however. I asked if he could mention my transfer request to Kurume, but since he doesn't work there anymore, he can't ask for a favor.
Saturday I had a 'job interview' for a kindergarten in Kurume. The owner is the brother of one of Yuka's friends (I love connections). The kindergarten is a rich-kid's kindergarten, where doctors and the like send their kids to learn English. Job pays $600 less a month than JET, but the work week is 23 hours. It also has a end-of-contract bonus of $1200. I'll take it. Problem is, Japanese schools start in April, to coincide with the coming of spring. So I would begin April 2009. My JET contract will end August 2008. If I get my JET transfer approved, then I won't worry about it, but if I don't...I'll think about that later.
Saturday night, I met up with Josh, the JET from UF who requested Osaka but got the place I wanted. It was nice to FINALLY talk NCAAF to someone. For those who don't keep track, UF demolished FSU last Saturday in what looked like a Div I vs Div III match up. And Tenn winning the SEC East? They are ranked lower than UGA and UF!
This Sunday is the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. The once a year test that foreigners have to take so they can get a job where Japanese is required. There are 4 levels, with 4-kyu being the easiest and 1-kyu being the hardest. Most jobs require a 1-kyu certificate, but the other levels are there to help pace people working their way up (or down depending on how you look at the numbers). I will be taking 3-kyu, with plans to take 2-kyu next year and 1-kyu the year after. Am I ready? Ehh...
...my Macbook harddrive. I was working on lesson plans and my program froze. This has happened about twice since I got my computer, so I forced-restarted it and I get a blank grey screen with clicking noises coming from the Macbook. Clicking noises = death of harddrive. I immediately jump on Apple`s support page and see TONS of complainsts from people who have had this happen to them in the past week. It`s all from people who bought the first generation of Macbooks. After a little more searching, I found the problem is the Seagate harddrive manufactured in China.
I had my harddrive crash (not fail) three times in college, and I always say a good data loss is good for the mind. Get to clear things out and start anew, like drawing on a fresh piece of white paper. It`s the existential crisis of the modern age, and you either move on or you don`t. Since I have no money for another 2 weeks, I am computer-less for that time also. I will now sit in my room with an Orion, stare at the ceiling, and contemplate the meaning of life.
That said, I am NOT happy with Apple. I don`t care if it is a Seagate problem. Apple only allows its operating system to run on Apple hardware. The argument for this to allow greater quality in it`s products. But some people are saying it is not just the Seagate drives with the 7.01 firmware. What if it`s some flaw with the Macbooks? Am I suppose to expect a crashing one a year?
Luckily a new drive is cheap. I will be getting a $100 160GB drive and go ahead and get Leopard. So if this does happen again, I`ll have Time Machine running.
Anyone interested in buying a Macbook?
Today was わくわく塩や子のタイム, or Shioya Kid's Fun Time...on a Sunday. I would personally find more fun on a Sunday away from school, but that's just me. I was told there would be food cooked by the kids. Free lunch will get me anywhere. With the help of family, the 3rd, 5th, and 6th graders prepared a feast, while the 1st, 2nd, and 4th graders did arts and crafts.
The most impressive thing was the food the 6th graders caught in the bay that the school sits next to: fish, crab, shark, and ray. Again, kids handled knifes and blow torches. It all feels normal to me now, and I know I'll be having a reverse culture shock when it comes to school kids. A JET's mother visited last week, and she was saying how a teacher is not allowed to touch a kid at all. I can't imagine not giving hugs to my kindergartners or 1st graders.
Updated my Flickr account. Enjoy the slaughter.
In America, we have baby showers, a small gathering which men try to avoid to celebrate the baby who is about to be born.
In Japan, they celebrate the baby's first 100 days. So last night, Elina and I went to my supervisor Tacchi's parent's house for such a celebration. We didn't know what to expect, but both of us had not eaten dinner in the hope of getting free snacks. We arrive to see a giant over hang erected with people sitting at tables. The event was one large feast. There was no time frame for how long it lasted. People would arrive, eat, and leave to give their seat to others. I think at least a 100 people came in and out. We delivered our gifts (mine was the Japanese translation of Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar) and were given a huge plate of food plus a bowl of goat soup. After finishing, it was decided that the soup wasn't a good enough introduction to eating goat, so they served us goat sashimi. Yep, raw goat. Yum. Apparently goat is the food to eat at these 100 day parties. How was this paid for? We found out that the gift to bring is money. Before I left I saw a garbage bag full of envelopes.
Beer and the ubiquitous awamori were the drinks of the evening. One thing that still surprises me is how a lot of my kids were there, and when I would run into them, they would shout, "Haha, Cliff-sensei is drunk!". I wasn't (that much) for the record. But Japan has a huge drinking culture where if you don't drink, you are weird. One teacher was telling me a few weeks ago how there is a problem with junior high and high school kids drinking. I wonder why.
I enjoy these events because I get some good speaking practice. All the old men come up to you and want to say a "Hello" in English. Then you say something in Japanese, usually "Hello" back, and they flip out. This is considered fluency, so they'll run their mouth telling you some story. I just pretended that I understood by nodding my head.
One old guy there was a magician! He was walking around the tables doing hand tricks for people. This guy was awesome. One trick he did for me was poke a hole into a ¥1000 note with a pen, pulled it out and there was no hole. Mind you, this is at close range, too. No clue how he did it. Then he had a ¥10 coin and a ¥100 coin. One is copper, the other is silver. He had the silver coin in his closed fist and the copper coin sitting on top of his fist. He tapped the copper coin with a pen, and, I swear, it turned into the silver coin. It literally flickered into the silver coin! I think this further confirms my theory that Ogimi is run by vampires that meddle in the dark arts.
When I left, I was given gifts for showing up. Got a set of pink hand towels and a large cake with chocolate frosting. A nice weekend snack.
The first thing I noticed after graduating from college was that I had no homework! However, my body has been in grind mode for so long, that when I get home at 4:30, I'm completely bored. The summer leading up to Japan I watched lots and lots of movies. Now, I am without Netflix and it takes about a week to download a movie. What am I to do?
Tues - Karate with four other JETs: Elina, Vaughn, Justin and Emily. The teacher is about 55 and completely hardcore. He speaks little English, but enough to get points across. Plus, with our JET powers combined, we can usually figure out what he means. Practice is an hour and a half, and I sweat about a gallon. Workout = intense.
Thurs - Calligraphy and Chinese lessons. There is a Chinese lady who takes karate with us, and she mentioned that she gives Chinese lessons once a week. So me and another JET show up and we do an informal Chinese/ Japanese/ English lesson. Since English is her third language, I use it for more of a Japanese class. I'm not putting that much effort into the Chinese, but the other guy is.
Half way through Chinese, I go to calligraphy lessons, which is in the same building. Justin, the other JET, then spends the time I'm away learning kanji from the Chinese lady, since he's a noob. Calligraphy is awesome and very difficult. Calligraphy has always been in that 'I don't get it' category. Other activities have been art and golf. I've found that I 'get' something as soon as I attempt it myself. That's when you learn to respect pros.
Fri - Karate again. Another 1.5 hours of sweat
There's a youth sports group here in Ogimi, and when I first moved here, I met a few of the members. They all asked, "Do you play basketball? Do you play baseball? Do you play soccer?" I said I did and thought I felt an encouragement to join. A few weeks ago, I asked a girl at the village office to find out when practices were. I asked her cause she knows everyone and speaks really good English. She said basketball hasn't started yet, but that there were baseball and soccer practices. Since baseball is lame, I asked to join the soccer practices.
She came back with a flat 'no'. I have been shamed.
The reason for not being allowed to play soccer is that the 'leader' is really serious. So serious that they play games every now and then against other villages. So serious that they practice once a week. So serious that the leader, apparently, tried to go Pro. That's why he now lives in the Middle-Of-Nowhere, Okinawa.
I don't get it. If they were worried that I sucked, ask me to come try out. I'd be okay with not making the cut. What is the real reason? I think they don't want to attempt to communicate with me. They probably know I won't understand everything being said. When I think of the communication barrier, assuming I'm right, I can almost understand their position. But then I think, 'What if this happened in Florida?'. What if I had a group of friends that played soccer, then one of them mentions a friend Pedro that wants to join, but he doesn't speak English?
He would be more than welcome to play.
When I planned out my lessons for the semester, I knew I was going to throw a Halloween party. I didn't know what it was going to be, but I figured I would do some small game with each class and give them candy. About a month ago, Elina told me that the last JET threw a school wide Halloween festival. She did bobbing for apples and stuff. Forget that. I would have done it for one school, but to gather all the materials for four different schools and be responsible for all those kids at once? No thanks.
I got the impression that the last JET chose to do this herself and that it wouldn't be expected by the school. Since we've been told that the JET experience is what you make it, I chose to play ignorant. Lazy? A little, but it's not a bad lazy since I'm doing something else that I think will be better. So I waited each week for some teacher to bring up the school festival. Nothing. I figured this was really good or really bad, if they decided to ask me the week before.
Well, last week, one school brought it up to me. I said I would do it, but I didn't know what games to do, besides bobbing for apples. I could think of a million class size games, but school sized activities? A little more difficult. So I asked what Gabrielle did last year. She couldn't remember. She asked other teachers. No one could remember.
So I said I had been planning a class party and she said I could do that instead. Awesome. 
At this school, the vice-principal went on base and bought two big, orange pumpkins. They have pumpkins here in Japan that they eat, but they are small and green and, more importantly, not good for carving. I chose to have a carving class for 5th grade and one for 6th.
It was the first time they had seen a big, orange pumpkin before.
I remember in elementary school when a police officer would show up for some 'drugs are bad, mmkay?' speech. We would shout out, "Have you killed someone?" and "Can we see your gun?!" I expected the same reaction with my assortment of knives. I had one kitchen knife, a grapefruit knife, and two mini pumpkin saws. I had them wrapped in a towel, so when I displayed them, I felt like an evil surgeon. Everyone shrank back, "scary!" A little culture difference.
I took it upon myself to divert from the carving lesson and teach knife safety. I showed them how to carry a knife, how to hand it to someone, and how to cut away from yourself.
The carving went great. I did the main cutting. The students pulled out the seeds, wash the seeds, and then scraped the inside. I then cut out the face, but I let them cut a little with the mini pumpkin saws. Then they took all my knives and scrapers and washed them and threw away all the newspaper. Great experience for them, little work for me. Just how I like it.
Clicking on the pictures will take you to my Flickr account where I also have pictures of the undoukai that took place last month.
Experienced my first earthquake tonight.
I don't know if I heard it, or if there was a slight tremble that I was unaware of. Either way, I'm in the middle of a movie, and, like a dog, my ears perk up and I think, "Uh oh". I knew exactly what was coming.
You could hear a faint rumbling and then the building shook. About 10 seconds later, gone.
Nothing too special besides it being my first. Imagining a big earthquake now is scary though.
Can't find much info about it. Apparently it was a 5.3 off the east coast of Okinawa, but I don't know if that's what I felt.
Monday is kindergarten day. For my regular elementary school kids, I usually do a little bit of review in the beginning, teach some new material, and then play one game. If the game goes bad, I'll play two games.
I applied the same plan today, and I went through three games. Meaning, everything fell flat.
I try to play English games only, because part of my job is to not only introduce the English language, but its culture too. But the trick comes in explaining how the games work. I guess I take for granted what has been drilled into my head and what I take to be common sense. I also think it is best to assume the way the kids acted today isn't how "Japanese kids" do it, but how my specific class behaves.
Game 1: Fruits Basket. Okay, I said I like to stick to English games, but since I was teaching fruits, this was an easy one to start with. Basically, you make a ring of chairs with one missing. A kid stands in the middle and calls out a fruit. Everyone holding a card with said fruit jumps up and changes seats. Actually, this game went okay with the exception of the fat kid refusing to get up out of his chair, along with little Sylvia Plath, who sits and cries every time I show up.
Game 2: Red Rover. Of course I wasn't going to teach 5 year olds the entire Red Rover song. I thought it would be easy to teach "Come here, please" instead. Well, the way the Japanese *cough*, I mean, the way my kids played the game was one team huddled up and took about 5 minutes to decide who they should call over. Then, after calling out the kid's name, the kid on the other side would freeze and say, "I don't want to." A few brave souls, bless them, actually made the run to the other side. One kid, when he was called, turned around and cried.
I swear, EVERYONE was crying today. I was playing a staring game with one girl, and she literally collapsed and fell smack on her face. For no reason! She cried, too.
Game 3: Orange, orange, apple. AKA Duck, duck, goose. Again, when a few kids were picked, they didn't want to get up and run. One kid, after being unable to catch up with the kid and having his seat taken, walked up to him and kicked him in the FACE! If that doesn't signal instant beating, I don't know what does. The kid who got kicked just ignored him. Didn't cry, didn't yell, just sat there looking off. The teachers looked stunned, and I was waiting for hardcore discipline. What happened? They ignored it! They cried out with a "Kenji!", and that was that. I've been told that elementary school kids are not disciplined, because kids should be kids. The switch, as I understand, is turned on in Junior High.
Afterwards, I learned they enjoyed "Jump on Cliff-Teacher", "Climb on Cliff-Teacher", and "Pick Me Up So I Can Touch the Ceiling". They obviously do not care about "Cliff-Teacher's" back. This is where there were more crying kids. No, I didn't fall on any this time. It was from kids shoving other kids out of the way so they could be picked up. The shoving was usually little Japanese boy asserting male-dominance over little Japanese girl.
Honestly, with the amount of drilling they give kids in respect to those of higher rank, they should give equal time in teaching manners to those on the same or lower level. But I guess they are only 5. *sigh*
In all, it actually was a fun day, because I didn't take anything personally. I just stopped the game and moved on. When I left, I had a group of five walk me to my car and wave goodbye till I was out of site. But I also walked out knowing that they hadn't learned a single thing today.
Next week: group games only.
Today I experienced that childhood feeling of accidently hurting someone while playing and feeling incredibly guilty. Except this time I'm 23 and the kid is 7.
We were playing kickball inside the gym and I was guarding 2nd. Someone kicked the ball, and the kid on first ran by me. I had the ball, went to tag him, slipped, and fell on him. *crack* I either popped his foot or broke it. I quickly got off him and he started laughing. But a second later, after he realized I had crushed his foot, he started bawling. Nothing like being the teacher supervising a bunch of 1st and 2nd graders in the gym, and you cause the pain.
He gets up crying and limps away. All the kids are saying "It's okay, don't worry". I figured I should let a teacher know first instead of taking advice from the kids. So I go to the teachers room to tell them what happened.
Teachers: "You fell on him?!"
Me: *shamefully* "yea..."
Teachers: "Is he crying?"
Me: "yea..."
Teachers: "Oh, he's fine. Don't worry"
Me: "I'm a 6'3" barbarian. I'm three times his height and weight, and you haven't even seen him yet."
They almost seemed to think it was funny. So I grab one of my Tootsie Rolls off of the break table (one of the gifts from America the teachers never ate) and run to the room where he was. All the kids are at their desks waiting for class to start, and Hurt-Kid has his head down STILL crying. So I give him the Tootsie Roll and leave.
Later in the day I saw him walking around, so I know he's fine. I figured all I did was twist his foot, but still. I was honestly more worried of him hating me and having a fear of foreigners for the rest of his life.
I've spent almost every weekend this month attending some kind of undoukai (oon-doh-kai), or sports day. A few weeks ago, there was the Junior High one, then there was the village one, then this past weekend was the elementary school one. There are four elementary schools in Ogimi, and they all have their undoukai on the same day. Meaning I traveled to one school, show my face to the kids and teachers, then leave an hour later and go to the next. Next weekend is the kindergarten one.
Undoukais are like our field days...except it's on the weekend and parents, aunts, uncles, and grandparents show up. There are relays, organized dance, tug of war, and other little things. The kids and teachers spent all last week putting on the final touches, so all the English classes were cancelled. But I was still required to show up and sit in the teachers room until 4.
I would like to touch on something I've mentioned in a previous post. The kids do EVERYTHING here. There are no groundskeepers at the schools. In the morning they can be seen moving dirt with a wheelbarrow, planting plants, and sweeping leaves. Because this was undoukai week, they were measuring and making lane lines on the track field.
I remember being told to pick up sticks as a kid and I would complain before I was even out the door. The teachers must beat the kids who get out of line with baseball bats.
Another thing that is different is there are no cafeterias. Lunch is eaten in the classroom with the teacher. The kids put on these cute white aprons and hats, and then do rock-paper-scissors to see who dishes out the food. Afterwards, they bring the dirty dishes to a wash room.
Where do they find the time to teach the kids if they are laboring all day? Easy, they stay till 5. I get to work at 8:15 everyday. Kids are already there. I leave at 4:15. The kids are still there. There is actually a lot of free time, where the kids run off (unsupervised) and do kid stuff.
So I would like to see American elementary schools bulldoze the cafeteria and fire all the janitors and lunch ladies. And instead of having kids leave at 2:00 and making parents who work spend money on after school daycare, use the extra three hours for child labor. It will save money AND build character.
Yuka came and went again this weekend. This weekend was nicer cause it was a three day weekend! She'll be back again in two weeks!
While she was here, I got a second cell phone, or keitai!
For people in the States, there may be a pause of confusion, as you begin to work out the logic as to why I would need a second keitai, from a completely different cell phone company. Let me explain to you how the Japanese keitai system works.
I have one phone with AU. The plan is split into two smaller plans, an e-mail plan, and a talking plan. In Japan, you get an e-mail address to text message people with. In America, it's the same thing, just hidden. For example, to text message with a T-mobile phone, what you are really doing is e-mailing someone from 'phonenumber@tmomail.net'.
How does the talking plan work? Simple, about $30 a month for 25 minutes. Yes, that 25 minutes is for the ENTIRE month. See, in Japan, people text message. My crazy American habit of actually talking on my phone gave me an $80 phone bill for the two weeks I had it in August.
Now I have a Yuka-phone with SoftBank. The plan is $10 a month. Since Yuka has SoftBank too, we can talk for free and send each other messages for free. A system that makes it cheaper to have two cell phones is not a good system, in my opinion.
Yuka wasn't able to get on a plane Monday because all the flights were full, so we stayed the night in Naha, the capital. The hotel had an onsen, and since I threw out my back earlier that day, it sounded like a great idea.
An onsen is a public hot bath, separated by sex. Or, a large public spa where a bunch of naked men bathe together. Because of my back, and the fact that it was 11 pm, I figured I could slip in in my robe, disrobe next to the pool and hide myself without being seen.
I walk into the bathroom and there is a few mini lockers and several sinks with a sliding door on the other side. I slide open the door, and view a large room with men sitting on stools in front of mini cubicles either shaving or bathing themselves. In Japan, you clean your body before entering a bath. At the end of the room was the onsen, with more men sitting around it. Even from the distance, I could tell that the water was about two feet deep and very clear. In all, I viewed about ten glistening naked male bodies in the onsen. I realized the room I was currently standing in was the disrobing room. So I would of had to march to the other side of the room in all my gaijin glory. I silently slid the door closed and went back to my room.
I decided Japan isn't quite ready for my debut.
I have been hired as an ALT, which stands for Assistant Language Teacher. ALTs get sent to various junior high and high schools and work with a JTE, Japanese Teacher of English. Even though my position title is an ALT, there is no JTE in my classroom.
I am the teacher at 5 different elementary schools, responsible for lesson planning and material gathering. I did not major in Education and I have never received any teacher training. I have no textbook to go by, only my native English skill, which apparently is enough.
I'm not complaining about the position I'm in. I am being paid quite well for a job that, as another JET put it, 'accepts a person in a teaching role based on a couple of questions, an essay about their desire to come to Japan, and a 30-minute interview with some random people who will never have another thing to do with [you]'.
All JET workshops have been geared towards 'Japan adjustment'. Information packets and welcome DVDs have contained information on 'all the fun things you can do in Japan!' But as I learned this week, I also have to teach, too.
Here is a short list of observations I've made over the week:
-Students and staff are groundskeepers. First day of school, I pull up and everyone is sweeping leaves. I also learned they plant the flowers and cut the grass (with scissors!)
-The staff are not interested in my past teaching experience. For each school, I would walk in the teacher's room, introduce myself briefly, and there would be follow up questions. Such questions were usually, "Are you single? She's single!", "Do you have a girlfriend?", and "Are you married?"
-AC only exists in the teacher's room. I've been told no AC makes the kids "stronger".
-One 6th grade class came in late. The teacher had already arrived, so when the kids showed up, he growled some stuff in Japanese. The kids sat down seiza-style (formal Japanese sitting with your knees sticking out and you're resting on your legs), bowed, and said something about "I'm sorry..." in unison. It was amazing.
-Kids find the phrase "My name is..." funny. When said with a Japanese accent, it comes out "mai neimu izu", which sounds like "mayonnaise".
-All elementary school kids are expert unicycle riders. Each school has about 20 of them, and the kids ride around in their free time. In America, this would be a law suit waiting to happen.
-Some of the schools have more interesting staff than others. At one school, during lunch, people sat in silence for about 15 minutes while eating. Some lady decided to break the silence by asking me, "Are you Christian?"
-One 6th grader had a Grateful Dead pencil case. I asked her if she knew what it said and she had no idea.
-Kids serve lunches to each other everyday. They dress up in white aprons and wear these little white hair caps. It's so cute.
-One kindergartner showed me his bug collection. LIVE bug collection. He tried to give me one of his grasshoppers. I declined.
Overall, the week went well. Being in freak-out-mode, I over planned for everything. But with the first introduction week complete, I'm now faced with planning a balanced curriculum for all grades at each school. I've found they can sing their ABC's, count to 10, and know the days of the week and the days of the month. But when you ask, "How are you?", they freak out. Got to fix that.
Doraemon (Doh-raw-eh-mone) is said to be Japan's most famous comic. I had seen it referenced in Japanese movies and TV shows, but had no idea what it was. Arriving in Japan, I heard about it even more. When one kid asked me if they had Doraemon in America, I knew I had to read it in order to continue a conversation if it was ever brought up.
When Yuka was in the States, I made her watch all kinds of movies that I thought were important. Star Wars, Fight Club, and Lord of the Rings to name a few. Before you start thinking "poor Yuka...", I guarantee you know 'May the Force Be With You', 'First rule of Fight Club is, you don't talk about Fight Club', and 'My precious...'. Whether she liked them or not is less important than just knowing about them.
So I set off to the bookstore in a quest of my own cultural education.
I asked a bookstore employee to show me where they kept Doraemon. My Japanese probably came out as "Please Doraemon want read, have it?", but she understood and took me to the kid's section. Imagine how cool I felt when she handed me the comic.
This is Doraemon:
I was expecting something like Star Wars or Rambo.
Doraemon is a talking blue cat from the 22nd century. The first issue appeared in 1969 and ran until 1996, totaling 45 graphic novels. There is also a cartoon and many a merchandise tie-in. TIME selected Doraemon as one of the 22 Asian Heroes in 2002 (Thank you Wikipedia).
I will not hide that I bought the comic. But I will not tell you how much I'm enjoying it.
Biggest disappointment about Japan and JET so far is...University of Florida bragging rights.
Japanese people follow sports closely, if it's sumo or baseball.
Japanese Person: Oh, do you like sports?
Me: Yes, I do.
JP: American people like football, right?
Me: Yes. Actually, my university won the national championship in football. Oh, and we also won the national championship in basketball back to back.
JP: *blank stare*... So, do you play baseball?
Then there are my fellow JETs.
JET1: Where did you go to college?
Me: University of Florida.
JET1: *eyes glaze over* Is that in Florida?
JET2: You went to Florida?
Me: Yes! You follow sports?!
JET2: No.
Me: National Championship?...Football...basketball...twice...
JET2: ...
JET3: I like sports, my college was in the NCAA tournament two years ago.
Me: Oh! So was mine! University of Florida!
JET3: Don't know...
Me: Do you know who won the tournament two years ago?
JET3: No.
Me: FLORIDA!!
JET3: *rolls eyes*
And these are the American JETs. Everyone else is from the UK, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.
For it being a 'small world', Gainesville seems so far away.
Last week was a bunch of random trips around Ogimi. Did hiking, kayaking, and made a coaster! The first day involved cutting down a banana tree, trimming off the outside bark, and then separating the layers of 'workable' bark. These were boiled, then we did some more skinning until we had a bunch of white 'ribbon'. The next day, we tore the 'ribbon' until it was thread like, and then tied them together to create one long string. This was put into a loom and I made my coaster!
This weekend was Obon. On mainland Japan, Obon is in July, but Okinawa follows the lunar calendar. On Saturday, the ancestors come by sea and the family drinks and eats to celebrate their arrival. On Sunday, more lounging around. Then on Monday, there is another feast and more drinking to send them off.
Elina and I were invited to Tachi's wife's family's house for the sending off party. The atmosphere was relaxed. We sat around eating and talking while watching some World Track and Field Championship that Japan was competing in. A few people would ask us if we were religious at all, and then say how in Okinawa, their religion is only ancestor worship.
I view it more as ancestor remembrance. After the eating, we went into a room where an alter was set up. Three pictures of the family's ancestor's were hung on the wall. I guess they were the only ones alive when there were cameras. Then someone lit bowls of incense and the elder people started praying. I was looking around the room, and I see the kids shuffling their feet, the young adults sitting in respectful silence, but it's the older people who were praying hard. This is why I say ancestor remembrance, because it struck me that to these older people, they're praying to their mom, dad, brother or sister. The people who were family to them for so long who are now dead. What began to disturb me was the idea of my picture being up on a wall some day.
We left after that. Later on, they will go to the beach to light incense and send them away. On the way back, Tachi stopped at the beach and we saw another family doing just that. Because Obon is scheduled according to the lunar calendar, we had a full moon to look at. It was all very allegorical: the sea being a 'life-death cycle' and the waxing and waning of the moon.
Japan likes to remind you that, yes, you will die too.
Yuka came down Friday night and stayed until Sunday night. We went snorkeling and saw a pretty cool aquarium that had three whale sharks. It was a lot of fun, and the best part is that I'll see her again in 4 weeks.
Last night was our village festival. I was able to catch the end of it and witness the best firework show I have ever seen. I was thinking 'little village' = 'little fireworks'. Not at all. Simply amazing.
My supervisor is named Tachi (ta-chee). He told me last week that on Monday, I need to start showing up at the office at 9. This morning, I dressed in a polo, slacks, dress shoes, and showed up with my computer, thinking I would be sitting at a desk going over lesson plans. Tachi takes a look at my shoes and tells me I need to change, cause we're going hiking. Everyone else was dressed similar to me, except they were wearing tennis shoes. By everyone, I mean various people in the education system, so teachers and other administration people.
A bus pulls up, and Tachi drives everyone around to educate us in some of the local landmarks, which were mainly shrines, but we also went to a waterfall. During lunch, I learned that the "hike" we were going on was to see "world war holes". One of the teachers spoke English decently, so between his English, my Japanese, and hand gestures, we communicated.
On a side note, his everyday English is really good, but when he was trying to translate to me what was being said about this shrine, or that rock, he struggled with vocabulary. This is where I came in. What does 葬式 mean? Oh, funeral. What does 宗教 mean? Oh, religion. Glad to see three years at UF has taught me nothing about having a simple conversation, but I know these kinds of words. Thanks, Uotate.
So after lunch, we take a bus halfway up a mini-mountain and get out to begin our hike. I was expecting hiking as in trail, where two people or more could walk side by side with signs scattered about describing a certain tree or view.
How wrong I was.
Tachi and another elder man get out of the bus holding machetes. We start walking and there is a giant wire fence blocking the road. We had to walk through the woods to get around it. That was just the beginning. Behind the fence, we walked a dirt path, and then suddenly, Tachi starts hacking at the foliage beside him and we step into the jungle. There is no trail, only bamboo, trees, and wet leaves.
I have no tennis shoes. My shoes are skateboard shoes, so the soles are flat. I do not think I can describe how inconvenient my shoes and clothes were for this trip. We were climbing up a mountain, creating our own trail as we went. I slipped all over the place. Other people were falling. One elder lady did not go, because apparently the last time she did it, she BROKE HER LEG. We grabbed at roots and branches to pull ourselves up and up. Several places, we had to jump over little gaps, where, had I slipped, I would have easily broken my neck. Another thing to picture is that all these people are similarly dressed, and twice as old as me. They seemed to enjoy saying 「危ないね？」 ('dangerous isn't it?'), followed by laughter, after every slip and jump. Another 'humorous' thing about this trip is that I'm a head taller than everyone else, so the path Tachi was clearing was perfect for all the 5'5 tall Japanese people following him. I kept hitting my head on everything he missed. Parts of our trek took us through grass that was taller than me, and we had to be wary of the ハブ (habu), a poisonous snake that will KILL YOU.
During the hiking, the climbing, and the slipping, I was thinking about how I should act when we reach the 'world war holes'. Being American and being shown bomb holes created by your country, do I just look ashamed? do I bow? do I get on my knees and beg for forgiveness before being disemboweled by one of the men holding machetes?
Well, it turned out that 'world war hole' was just bad pronunciation. We were touring 'wild boar holes', or wild pig traps: deep holes in the ground resembling wells without the concrete. I learned Ogimi has many wild pigs in the jungle, and these traps were over 50 years old. One person told me that sometimes a pig leaves the jungle and will run through the street. I made a Ring joke about Sadako climbing out, and everyone seemed to appreciate it.
There were a total of 7 holes, and I think it took us about an hour and a half. When we got to the last one, I thought we would have to turn around, but thankfully, we stepped into civilization, and we were magically back to where we had parked. My shirts were soaked in sweat, my khakis and shoes were muddy, but it was actually a lot of fun.
I read in a book once that your soul can't travel on airplanes, so the farther you go on a trip, the longer you have to wait for your soul to catch up. I've never really gotten jet lag going to Japan in the sense of having sleeping through the day and can't fall asleep at night. But the first week is performed in a somewhat functional daze. Now that it's been a week, I can say my soul has caught up.
The closest city to Ogimi is called Nago, and it is about a 30 minute drive. The end of last week and this weekend has consisted of paperwork, unpacking, and making trips to Nago for supplies. I've spent more money than I care to admit on eating out and basic apartment necessities, but I guess it is to be expected when moving.
If I head west from my apartment, I cross a main highway and I'm at the beach in one minute. If I head east, I can walk deeper into an old neighborhood with lots of Ryuuku style houses. At the end of the neighborhood, there is a path that leads to a waterfall. The past two days have been rainy, and it finally let up when we went out. Because of the rain, the waterfall was flowing harder more than usual. We took off our shoes and waded into the pool and just stared at it and messed around for a good 30 minutes. When we left, someone pointed out what appeared to be a hawk. It was light grey and hawk-size. As it flew closer to us, we noticed the pointy ears, the fur on its head and body, and the teeth. It was a monstrous bat and it swooped down about 20 feet in front of us. I've seen the little bats at the Gainesville bat house, but this was amazing. I am now convinced vampires live in Ogimi and that's why they are the village with the longest life span in the world.
Welcome to Ogimi...MUAH-HA-HA....
Japan is awesome. Traveling to Japan sucks. From the moment you wake up until the moment you walk into your place of stay, the total time of traveling is around 24 hours. Then you have to spend the next week adjusting to the time difference, which is 13 hours ahead. I have never gotten jet lag going to Japan, and this time proved no different. You just find yourself going to bed around 10 and waking up at 5am.
I arrived at the Keio Plaza Hotel in Tokyo around 7pm. Sunday consisted of dropping off my luggage, going to find something to eat, and then crashing.
The next day was the first day of Orientation. In the morning, all the Okinawan people got together and introduced themselves. Then we listened to opening remarks by some important Japanese people (so we were told). After that was lunch and workshops. For me, it was lunch and exploring Tokyo. Me and my roommate went to Shibuya, where they have the busiest intersection in the world, and then to Akihabara, which is famous for its electronic stores. That night, I went to dinner with Josh (a fellow UF graduate) and Ben (who is studying abroad this summer).
Tuesday, I found some lunch and went to some of the workshops at the hotel, such as Driving in Japan and Teaching in Elementary Schools. That night for dinner I went to an izakaiya, which is place with lots of food and beer. I met up with Josh, Josh's friend Jamie (who's practically fluent), Ben, Megumi, and Junko (a penpal friend).
Wednesday, met in the lobby at 6:30am to begin the trip to Okinawa. The flight was bumpy, but it landed eventually. I had eaten some raw horse the night before (yes, RAW horse) and I had liked it the evening before, but after sitting in my stomach all night, plus the bumpy plane ride, I felt extremely sick. All that went away when I walked into the airport lobby after getting my luggage. A giant sign reading "Welcome to Okinawa" greeted me. I met Elina, the other JET in Ogimi, my supervisor, the superintendent, and a lady who worked at the junior high that wanted to come a long. We went out to lunch and then arrived in my new home Ogimi an hour and a half later.
Ogimi is beautiful. It is on the west coast of Okinawa and sits along one of the main state roads. So to drive along Ogimi, you have jungle on one side, and baby blue sea on the other. The weather feels exactly like Florida, the water looks like the Keys, and then there are little mountains. I will be taking lots and lots of pictures, and I will post some soon.
My apartment is very old, but awesome. There is a kitchen, and 3 other rooms. Two of the rooms have tatami mats, and all the rooms have sliding doors. Very Japanese. I have seen a cockroach under the sink, but that was no big deal. Boric acid, coming soon. What there are a lot of are ants. But they are small and they don't bite, so I have fun hunting the mats killing them with my thumb or sucking them up with the vacuum. I have seen two huge spiders sitting on the wall outside. I think they were the size of my hand, but I've been told they're not poisonous. I don't know what I'd do if I saw one in my apartment. Probably use the vacuum. Next week, when I go to Naha (the capital of Okinawa) for a welcome conference, I'm having my place nuked. After nuking, apparently it is unsafe to enter the apartment for a day. Sounds like the perfect stuff.
It's very hot, but no different than Florida. I just have a weaker air conditioner. I have some fans, and I use a mini cloth towel to wipe the sweat off my face.
Right now, I'm going through the paperwork. Getting my alien registration card, health insurance card, setting up internet, my van, phone lines, cell phone, and bank account.
Ogimi has the longest life span in the world. It has a population of 3,500, and almost no English speaking people. My supervisors all speak very little, so I've been using Japanese, which is awesome. Elina speaks Japanese really well, so she has been a huge help in communicating information to me. Right now, I am using her internet, cause I won't have my for another week (yea, I know). When I do, I'll post pictures.