While I was in college, I started developing a strange habit. I developed a sense of things I felt a well-rounded person should be able to do, and I forced myself to do those things. As with most things, it started with broccoli. I forced myself to eat it almost every day, and soon began to like it. Then I moved onto other foods I was being picky about, and now I can eat about anything.
Before joining JET, I knew I needed some leadership skills, so I started the Japanese Club. That was a year and a half of fun events with lots of not-so-fun planning. I started realizing that I don't like doing things in front of a group of people, which explains why I hated doing piano recitals when I was younger. It's not that I don't want to do it, I just get really nervous when the time comes.
Yesterday, we had an English Talent Show at Shioya Elementary. This was an idea that a 5th grade teacher had. She approached me at the beginning of the school term last year and said she wanted to do this in the 3rd semester. I agreed and did my normal thing up until the 3rd semester started in January. Since then, I have not been teaching the kids anything new, only getting them ready for this event.
There were three groups: the 1st/2nd graders, the 3rd/4th graders, and the 5/6th graders. The 1st/2nd graders sang some songs and said things like, "Hello. My name is Shuto. I'm 7. Thank you." The 3rd/4th graders did the Hokey Pokey and did longer self-introductions. The 5th/6th graders did a skit and had me drill them on biographical details (When is your birthday? Where are you from? Do you have any brothers and sisters?, etc.).
I remember doing little performances for parents when I was in school, and I never liked doing them (probably that performance anxiety thing). So when I started getting these kids ready for the talent show, I began to wonder, maybe teachers made me do this kind of thing because they enjoyed doing it. Maybe some do, but around the second week of practicing, I discovered that I didn't.
The talent show was last Wednesday. Before it began, I was worried about not being able to squeeze everything into one hour. But like all events that have a director who is awesome enough to have the kids completely ready, everything went smoothly and we finished 10 minutes early.
The only thing that apparently didn't go smooth was me. I had to give a little speech (in Japanese), to the audience after the show was over, and afterwards, all the kids were making fun about my nervousness. I was cool in the head, but in these kinds of situations, my hands and voice shake.
One of the teachers asked me if we do we do lots of talent shows and the presentations in America. I said we do a little, but not nearly as much as the kids do here. These kids are ALWAYS doing some kind of presentation or another. I know when they grow up, they'll be able to talk in front of a group of people with no problem.
I now know why teachers made us do presentations, however infrequently. I am now going to put myself in a position to be in front of a group of people as often as possible. And for the record, I think presenting and teaching are two different skills. I like doing the latter and need to learn to like doing the former.
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Below is a quick Youtube of two 2nd graders giving their self-introduction. I brought my camera with the intention of filming almost everything. But everything went a lot faster than it did in rehearsal, and I completely forgot about it. Sorry.
Putting the 大 in 大宜味.
Today at Ogimi Elementary, I ate lunch with the 2nd graders and we played a little game which I'm calling "Black or White".
First, a quick Japanese lesson. Kokujin means 'black person'. Hakujin means 'white person'.
So while we were eating, the kid in front of me asks, "Cliff-sensei, are you black?". I replied with a polite, "No, I'm white.", which caused the kid to ask the teacher what the koku in kokujin was.
Once that little bit of information was sorted out, we somehow got into a guessing game. I would name a famous foreigner, and the kid had to say hakujin or kokujin.
"Kobe Bryant?"
"Kokujin."
"Yes!"
"Michael Jordan?"
"Hakujin."
"No!"
"Yao Ming?"
"Kokujin."
"No!"
"Hakujin."
"No!"
"Huh?"
The teacher also had a pamphlet of the current starters on the Okinawa pro basketball team, and so I went through the foreigners on the team and I'd say he got half of them right.
Calling someone black or white in Japan is not considered rude. But why couldn't the kid guess who was black or who was white? Probably just because he knew the name of the person, but didn't know what they looked like, so he just guessed.
It was a fun game, but I don't think I'll be adding it into my lesson plans any time soon, though.
If the JLPT was a test for life, my result would mean I am a failure at life.
Thankfully, it only means I'm a failure at passing a Japanese test.
Going for 1-kyu next year anyway!
Throughout December and January, I was experiencing a dying fan in my Macbook (a metaphor for a broken heart?). Actually, I don't know if it was dying, but when the rpms reached around 5200, my computer started sounding like an airplane taking off. It was really loud and really annoying.
I called Apple in Japan, and they said that for people outside of warranty, they offer a one price fix anything plan at an easy $400.
I ended up ordering the fan myself from PBParts.com for $29 + $7.50 international shipping. I want to plug the site because other sites had shipping alone at the $40 mark.
I followed an install guide on iFixit.com, and my Macbook is back to normal again.
After returning from Tokyo at the beginning of January, I was unsure about whether I wanted to stay another year in Okinawa or move to Tokyo. Once school got going again and things started to calm down, I found the decision easy. Of course I'll do another year in Okinawa.
This has me teaching up through July 2010. I first came to Okinawa reluctantly and planned to only stay a year. Now it seems I can't leave. I'm going to work on making Ogimi a home this year, instead of a temporary stopping ground. That means the Wonder Wagon will be replaced in a few months *sniff* along with getting "stuff" for my apartment.
Also, I've spent the past month trying to figure out what I want to achieve in Japan. I'm not too motivated so the list is short:
-pass Level 1 JLPT
-run a half-marathon (maybe a full)
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On Sunday, I ran in the Nago Half-Marathon race. I only did 10K and I'm planning to go for a half in April. It was my first race since running a little one when I was about 6. I wanted to run it under an hour, but I ended up running it in 62.07 minutes. If I don't cramp up next time, I know I can do it a lot faster.