January 21, 2008
SNOW!!
So it snowed last night. Only in the mountains though. But still. The first snow!!! I took pictures, but I'm at school now, so I can't upload them yet. Of course, along with the snow come cold temperatures. Japan is not a fan of central air or heating in general.I'm not sure, but I think even up in the north. So at school the classrooms are all cold. In the elementary schools they do have space heaters that they turn on occasionally. At my school, I guess since there are air conditioner/heaters installed in each room,they haven't purchased space heaters. And I guess it hasn't been deemed cold enough yet to turn on those heaters. Except in the teacher's office, for which I'm glad, even though my toes still get cold. But when I was vacuuming after break -- remember opening ceremony day? I vacuumed the whole teachers' room for about an hour --I saw a mini-space heater under a teacher's desk. A very good idea that I might have to copy. Anyway, I hope to remember to post the snow pictures later. I love snow.
UDON!!!!!!
We made Udon on Friday. Udon are Japanese noodles. But they are a specialty of Kagawa, my prefecture. They are often called Sanuki udon. (Sanuki being Kagawa's former name) It was our cultural workshop for the Mid-Year JET Seminar. It was a lot of fun. And surprisingly easy. But there is an art to it and a precision to making it just right that is not so easy. So I should say, making bad to not-so-bad udon is easy. Making it just the way you like it is difficult. Udon noodles were introduced by a monk who came to Shikoku from China back in the 8th century. They are a thick flour noodle that shouldn't be too hard and not too soft. They can be eaten hot or cold. They can be eaten in a broth or with a broth on the side to be dipped in. Usually they are topped with scallions, sesame seeds, ginger and a red spice - or any combination thereof. There are variations to the ingredients that can be included with the broth. You can have meat or a fish cake, tempura or tofu, seaweed or fish flakes. I don't know all the names or types that are possible. I usually just point to choose. Or I just order the same thing as the person in front of me.
Anyway, on to the noodle making. We were at a cooking school with our instructor being a famous udon making chef who owns several udon restaurants. He showed us in steps how to make it allowing us to complete each step after a demonstration of the step. You start with 700g of flour in a bowl. Pour in 200cc of salt water (10% concentration). You mix it together by rubbing the forming dough between your hands quickly. It should result in an even dispersal of the water and a uniform texture to the flour. Then you add 150cc of the salt water a little at a time and you begin kneading the dough. You probably won't use all the water. The dough shouldn't be too soft or sticky, but it shouldn't be too hard either. Then you take the dough and and place it in sturdy plastic bags. 2 should be good. And you knead it again with your heels (no shoes).
It's good to put some cardboard down. After you have kneaded it, you pull it out and roll it up. Then you knead it again. And repeat once more. Once it is sufficiently kneaded, you take it out. Then, you fold over three "corners". Then you take the last corner and the three combined corners and you try to pull them together. You must work slowly so the opposite side remains smooth and uncracked. You are trying to work the corners together so that no lines or creases appear in the dough. It should end up like small puckered mouth on the bottom of a dough mushroom. When you have the right shape, you put the mouth part down, so it looks like a proper mushroom and you mush it down with your hands. You don't knead it completely; you just want a nice round mound of dough with no cracks or creases on the top. Then you use cornstarch to dust your dough and your surface. You begin to roll out your dough into a circle with a rolling pin. It should be like a small pizza. After that, you then work it even thinner, but into a square. You can get a square by choosing where your diagonals will be and then rolling the dough on those diagonals. But you don't roll it the traditional way. You actually roll the dough onto the pin. Then you knead it out from the center while it's on the pin. Then you unroll it and move to the next consecutive corner and repeat. Make sure you are using corn starch to dust your dough and surface when you need. Eventually, it should magically take the shape of a square. It should make a rather large square. Almost a meter on each side. When, you have the right size and shape, you roll the dough onto the pin one more time, but from an edge, not a corner. Then hovering in one spot, you unroll the dough moving back and forth so that you are folding the dough over itself, like an accordion or a paper fan. Each fold should be about 2 or 3 inches. Make sure to dust the dough with cornstarch once more. Then you pull the folded dough close to you and with a sharp knife, you cut the dough into noodles. You just need to move along the folded dough and slide it as you go. The slices should be less than half a centimeter. So about 4 millimeters. Maybe even less. Be consistent as you go and make sure you slice all the way through. We didn't slice all the way through at our table and had to cut again to separate the noodles. As you're cutting stop (or have someone else) and pick up the noodles and shake the folds out and get the excess cornstarch off. Then lay them out elongated. Make sure that you separate them well where the cuts have closed up. You should have your water boiling by this point. And you plop the noodles down into the water. You should have enough water to allow them plenty of room as they boil. As you boil them for 15 minutes, you should be constantly stirring in a figure 8. 
If you like harder noodles, stop sooner and for softer noodles let them boil longer. Then you use a ladle or chopsticks to get them out of the water into a bowl. At this point you can add the broth or the various ingredients you plan to use. Some people will put the noodles immediately into cold water to help the noodles maintain their texture (or if they are going to eat them cold) and then heat them back up later with the broth. I think the broth is just water and soy sauce. But it's probably got more to it or at least can have more to it.
If you made it this far, wow. I really need to learn how to be more concise. It would be helpful.
Here's a couple of links to the news footage from the day. You can see me in the background of the group shot (where everyone is watching the chef demonstrate) in each of the videos. And in one of them you can see me in the background to the right wearing a brown sweater standing next to another guy who is bald in the background (That's Matt, my neighbor).
http://www.rnc.co.jp/news/index.asp?mode=1&nwnbr=2008011809
http://www.ksb.co.jp/newsweb/meta/jn08011804.asx
Anyway, on to the noodle making. We were at a cooking school with our instructor being a famous udon making chef who owns several udon restaurants. He showed us in steps how to make it allowing us to complete each step after a demonstration of the step. You start with 700g of flour in a bowl. Pour in 200cc of salt water (10% concentration). You mix it together by rubbing the forming dough between your hands quickly. It should result in an even dispersal of the water and a uniform texture to the flour. Then you add 150cc of the salt water a little at a time and you begin kneading the dough. You probably won't use all the water. The dough shouldn't be too soft or sticky, but it shouldn't be too hard either. Then you take the dough and and place it in sturdy plastic bags. 2 should be good. And you knead it again with your heels (no shoes).
It's good to put some cardboard down. After you have kneaded it, you pull it out and roll it up. Then you knead it again. And repeat once more. Once it is sufficiently kneaded, you take it out. Then, you fold over three "corners". Then you take the last corner and the three combined corners and you try to pull them together. You must work slowly so the opposite side remains smooth and uncracked. You are trying to work the corners together so that no lines or creases appear in the dough. It should end up like small puckered mouth on the bottom of a dough mushroom. When you have the right shape, you put the mouth part down, so it looks like a proper mushroom and you mush it down with your hands. You don't knead it completely; you just want a nice round mound of dough with no cracks or creases on the top. Then you use cornstarch to dust your dough and your surface. You begin to roll out your dough into a circle with a rolling pin. It should be like a small pizza. After that, you then work it even thinner, but into a square. You can get a square by choosing where your diagonals will be and then rolling the dough on those diagonals. But you don't roll it the traditional way. You actually roll the dough onto the pin. Then you knead it out from the center while it's on the pin. Then you unroll it and move to the next consecutive corner and repeat. Make sure you are using corn starch to dust your dough and surface when you need. Eventually, it should magically take the shape of a square. It should make a rather large square. Almost a meter on each side. When, you have the right size and shape, you roll the dough onto the pin one more time, but from an edge, not a corner. Then hovering in one spot, you unroll the dough moving back and forth so that you are folding the dough over itself, like an accordion or a paper fan. Each fold should be about 2 or 3 inches. Make sure to dust the dough with cornstarch once more. Then you pull the folded dough close to you and with a sharp knife, you cut the dough into noodles. You just need to move along the folded dough and slide it as you go. The slices should be less than half a centimeter. So about 4 millimeters. Maybe even less. Be consistent as you go and make sure you slice all the way through. We didn't slice all the way through at our table and had to cut again to separate the noodles. As you're cutting stop (or have someone else) and pick up the noodles and shake the folds out and get the excess cornstarch off. Then lay them out elongated. Make sure that you separate them well where the cuts have closed up. You should have your water boiling by this point. And you plop the noodles down into the water. You should have enough water to allow them plenty of room as they boil. As you boil them for 15 minutes, you should be constantly stirring in a figure 8. 
If you like harder noodles, stop sooner and for softer noodles let them boil longer. Then you use a ladle or chopsticks to get them out of the water into a bowl. At this point you can add the broth or the various ingredients you plan to use. Some people will put the noodles immediately into cold water to help the noodles maintain their texture (or if they are going to eat them cold) and then heat them back up later with the broth. I think the broth is just water and soy sauce. But it's probably got more to it or at least can have more to it.If you made it this far, wow. I really need to learn how to be more concise. It would be helpful.
Here's a couple of links to the news footage from the day. You can see me in the background of the group shot (where everyone is watching the chef demonstrate) in each of the videos. And in one of them you can see me in the background to the right wearing a brown sweater standing next to another guy who is bald in the background (That's Matt, my neighbor).
http://www.rnc.co.jp/news/index.asp?mode=1&nwnbr=2008011809
http://www.ksb.co.jp/newsweb/meta/jn08011804.asx
January Update
So, this month has been typified by a lethargy due in large part to my inability to decide whether I should recontract or not. Generally, when I have a major decision looming over my head, I tend to do anything and everything but that which would be beneficial. So, rather than discuss the issues with people close to me or make lists with pros and cons in an effort to bring myself closer to a decision, I become lazy and find activities that will take my attention away from that decision. Usually, it involves reading lots of books or playing lots of computer games. Lately, it's been the latter, but one day I read this really good French book called La grammaire est une chanson douce (Grammar is a Sweet Song). When this happens, it not only allows me to procrastinate the inevitable 'to stay or not to stay', but also to put off any unrelated by still quite important work that needs to be done. So the weekend after making mochi, I had three days to recover more fully from traveling and prepare for a presentation to be given on Wednesday to a group of Mitoyo teachers. Did I do either? No, I stayed up late and didn't really sleep in and did no planning at all. So I spent Tuesday and Wednesday preparing.
The Presentation
I really enjoyed myself. I was told to give a talk to a group of teachers and "any topic is OK, maybe American culture." I could get no other information of any use for me to plan. I finally decided on "American School Life from the Perspective of a High School French Teacher". Maybe boring, but something I know about so I can easily liven it up with anecdotes and be more comfortable than with an unfamiliar topic. Once I got going, I couldn't stop. I told them I can talk forever. And me not knowing when something is over in Japan because the cultural context clues are different didn't help the matter. So, the hour-long talk, after starting fifteen minutes late combined with my interest in the topic and the cultural misconnection, turned into an hour and forty-five minute deal. Oops. But I really tried to end it. First at 7:15, since that was an hour from when we started. I said, "Well, it's 7:15 now, and that makes it an hour. We can end there even though we haven't made it through the outline. As I said at the beginning, I planned more than I would be able to finish." Even though I wasn't done, we were at a clear breaking point in the outline with the last part not directly related to school life. It was more a discussion of methods. But no one reacted. I thought I made it clear enough that it was over. And silence isn't always fun, so I started talking again. And that happened a couple more times before finally it ended. But nonetheless, I really enjoyed myself. And the teachers said they found it interesting. (Though I know Japanese culture prevents them from giving any negative comments publically.)
Mid-Year Seminar
Thursday and Friday were given over to the JET Mid-Year Seminar. Of course, I had left my computer and important papers at the school after giving my presentation. And so I wasn't sure of the time the seminar started and I just wanted my computer so I could use email and skype. I sent a text to Matt and found out that he would be leaving at 7:33. So I planned to get up early enough to get ready and get to the school and get my things before then. ZZZZzzzzz.... I slept until 7:05. But I still managed to get up, take a shower, get dressed, ride my bike to school, get my papers and computer, ride back home, drop off my computer, grab my bag, (5 minutes left to the train coming at this point), race to the station and get on the train. I made it with about a minute to spare. This "extra" time almost resulted in me getting on the wrong train since mine hadn't actually arrived yet. It would have taken me in the wrong direction. And in a funny turn of events, Matt missed the train. Then got in the wrong section of a train and, when it decoupled from the rest of the train at a later stop, ended up going across the Seto Inland Sea. Anyway, the first day of the seminar was filled with workshops to make us better ALTs. The funny part is, most of us are gungho about doing our job well. At least at the beginning. And most of what they tell us is not news to us. It's a shame that our JTEs cannot attend the workshops with us, so that we can all have a better understanding of each other's expectations. After the first day though, I was in a foul mood. I didn't even want to eat lunch. I can't remember a time when something made me lose my appetite. It happened when I found out that all the repetitions that we do in class are actually deeply cultural. They have a name and are almost considered a cultural heritage. Definitely a tradition. I thought it was maybe just that methods were a little behind the times here for teaching English. But in actuality, these repetitions are used in all subjects in some way. I thought before that maybe I could influence the teachers to use them less and less or maybe in different ways. But I see now that it's not something that will change. The only thing that I could hope for would be that we use them less in the lessons when I am in there. But for my teachers, I think they really like having their students repeat after a live native speaker rather than the recorded ones. So maybe not so hopeful. Apparently there is a large body of Japanese research that supports the success and usefulness of this repetition. I don't know if it specifically targets language education, but if it does, it contradicts most everything that I have read or learned about language education. If it is successful, it is successful at helping generations of Japanese English learners be able to recite a dialogue (both parts one after the other) 20 years after they learned it. But as most everyone knows, reciting a dialogue is hardly communication. In the unlikely event that a situation presents itself that closely resembles one from the book, the learner may be able to actually start the conversation, but if it differs from the one in the book, chances are there will be miscommunication. Now, what the repetition does do, is help the students memorize bunches of vocabulary. If they work hard at it. And when I put a student on the spot outside of class, it may take a minute, but I can see their brain chugging away searching for a word that they know they know. And eventually, sometimes, they can put together some of those words to make something intelligible to me. Success! But it takes many, many of those opportunities for the student to be able to put all of that random vocabulary to use on their own. And it's when the students use the language on their own, that they can solidify the language in their own mind. If whatever they say is met with a response and it matches their expectation, then they are successful, and the language they used is given a power up. If they get a confused look or the wrong reaction, then they must start over at the beginning. And if they don't get these opportunities to try the language out and get feedback, then eventually time runs out and game over. Most of the useful language is gone from lack of ever being acquired. What is learned can be forgotten, what is acquired is there forever. Like riding a bike. When you are starting out, the explanations you internalize are examples of learning. When you are on the bike and your body is getting accustomed to the sensation of finding equilibrium, it is acquiring.
Anyway, see I love talking about teaching and I could go on forever. Let's just say learning about the repetition made me feel hopeless. And made me focus on whether or not I should re-contract. I had been leaning towards staying, but that made me feel like I would never be really happy at the junior high. And I only go to the elementaries so often. And even there, I don't always get to have a big impact on the lesson planning. After the seminar, I went to eat with friends and then went home.
Friday was better. We got to go in later and it was our cultural workshop. We made UDON!!! See the next post. And after that we had someone from CLAIR (a governmental organization related to JET) give a talk called "Making the Most of your Team-teaching Relationship". It was excellent and included research date from surveys they recently sent out. It was quite interesting. But again would have been made better had the audience included our JTEs. But luckily he had a copy of the notes in Japanese and I plan on showing that to my teachers.
Afterward, a bunch of us went bowling. That was good times. While we were there, we saw the Udon making workshop on the news. We were celebs. And after that we had Indian food and then I went with a group to karaoke where I fell asleep, as usual. I just can't make it through. I stayed at another JET's apartment. We got in around 3 and had to be up at 8 to get back to town to get tickets for the opening of Sweeney Todd. I stayed in town by myself after we got the tickets. I spent TOO much money on doodads at this really cool store called Loft. Then I bought some clothes (as I hadn't packed an overnight bag). I grabbed lunch from the grocery store and went to the international office where I watched the news in English on CNN until 3 when the Robin Hood the Musical auditions were being held. Some JETs are trying to get the play started to put on in June. They have done plays in the past, but it's been difficult to get interest this year. Not enough people showed up to audition. So we've got to recruit more people or it won't happen. It should be fun though if we can pull it off.
After that, a group of us went to Sweeney Todd. That was a pretty interesting if not terribly grotesque movie. I enjoyed it though. It was well done. And afterward, we went to dinner at this really cool cafe type place called Umie. Great food! But I missed the last train that would get me in at a decent time. I can either get home a quarter to 11 or 25 minutes after midnight. I always seem to miss the train by just a few minutes, too, which is incredibly frustrating. Anyway, yesterday was an almost wasted day. I started off pretty well. I did a load of laundry and had it hanging and a second one started and then I let myself get sucked back into the computer. Eventually around 10, I got up and got everything done. I picked up all the junk on my floors, cleared my kitchen table, cleaned my room, hung up that second load of laundry, did the dishes, took a shower, and got to bed. I think part of the wasted day was from not getting good sleep and just being tired. Because I felt pretty energized around 10. Obviously. Made this morning a little difficult getting up and all. But I've managed.
Monday
And once again I failed to know (either by my own deductions or by someone telling me) that I would be teaching no classes today. I mean I guess I don't mind. It's better than when I don't know I'm supposed to be teaching. But I feel like it's such a waste of my being here in Japan. Please utilize me. I'm sure there's an elementary school that would be happy to have me or maybe a kindergarten or pre-school where I could go and give students a small dose of English. But at this point it's kind of late to try and arrange something. Oh well.
The Presentation
I really enjoyed myself. I was told to give a talk to a group of teachers and "any topic is OK, maybe American culture." I could get no other information of any use for me to plan. I finally decided on "American School Life from the Perspective of a High School French Teacher". Maybe boring, but something I know about so I can easily liven it up with anecdotes and be more comfortable than with an unfamiliar topic. Once I got going, I couldn't stop. I told them I can talk forever. And me not knowing when something is over in Japan because the cultural context clues are different didn't help the matter. So, the hour-long talk, after starting fifteen minutes late combined with my interest in the topic and the cultural misconnection, turned into an hour and forty-five minute deal. Oops. But I really tried to end it. First at 7:15, since that was an hour from when we started. I said, "Well, it's 7:15 now, and that makes it an hour. We can end there even though we haven't made it through the outline. As I said at the beginning, I planned more than I would be able to finish." Even though I wasn't done, we were at a clear breaking point in the outline with the last part not directly related to school life. It was more a discussion of methods. But no one reacted. I thought I made it clear enough that it was over. And silence isn't always fun, so I started talking again. And that happened a couple more times before finally it ended. But nonetheless, I really enjoyed myself. And the teachers said they found it interesting. (Though I know Japanese culture prevents them from giving any negative comments publically.)
Mid-Year Seminar
Thursday and Friday were given over to the JET Mid-Year Seminar. Of course, I had left my computer and important papers at the school after giving my presentation. And so I wasn't sure of the time the seminar started and I just wanted my computer so I could use email and skype. I sent a text to Matt and found out that he would be leaving at 7:33. So I planned to get up early enough to get ready and get to the school and get my things before then. ZZZZzzzzz.... I slept until 7:05. But I still managed to get up, take a shower, get dressed, ride my bike to school, get my papers and computer, ride back home, drop off my computer, grab my bag, (5 minutes left to the train coming at this point), race to the station and get on the train. I made it with about a minute to spare. This "extra" time almost resulted in me getting on the wrong train since mine hadn't actually arrived yet. It would have taken me in the wrong direction. And in a funny turn of events, Matt missed the train. Then got in the wrong section of a train and, when it decoupled from the rest of the train at a later stop, ended up going across the Seto Inland Sea. Anyway, the first day of the seminar was filled with workshops to make us better ALTs. The funny part is, most of us are gungho about doing our job well. At least at the beginning. And most of what they tell us is not news to us. It's a shame that our JTEs cannot attend the workshops with us, so that we can all have a better understanding of each other's expectations. After the first day though, I was in a foul mood. I didn't even want to eat lunch. I can't remember a time when something made me lose my appetite. It happened when I found out that all the repetitions that we do in class are actually deeply cultural. They have a name and are almost considered a cultural heritage. Definitely a tradition. I thought it was maybe just that methods were a little behind the times here for teaching English. But in actuality, these repetitions are used in all subjects in some way. I thought before that maybe I could influence the teachers to use them less and less or maybe in different ways. But I see now that it's not something that will change. The only thing that I could hope for would be that we use them less in the lessons when I am in there. But for my teachers, I think they really like having their students repeat after a live native speaker rather than the recorded ones. So maybe not so hopeful. Apparently there is a large body of Japanese research that supports the success and usefulness of this repetition. I don't know if it specifically targets language education, but if it does, it contradicts most everything that I have read or learned about language education. If it is successful, it is successful at helping generations of Japanese English learners be able to recite a dialogue (both parts one after the other) 20 years after they learned it. But as most everyone knows, reciting a dialogue is hardly communication. In the unlikely event that a situation presents itself that closely resembles one from the book, the learner may be able to actually start the conversation, but if it differs from the one in the book, chances are there will be miscommunication. Now, what the repetition does do, is help the students memorize bunches of vocabulary. If they work hard at it. And when I put a student on the spot outside of class, it may take a minute, but I can see their brain chugging away searching for a word that they know they know. And eventually, sometimes, they can put together some of those words to make something intelligible to me. Success! But it takes many, many of those opportunities for the student to be able to put all of that random vocabulary to use on their own. And it's when the students use the language on their own, that they can solidify the language in their own mind. If whatever they say is met with a response and it matches their expectation, then they are successful, and the language they used is given a power up. If they get a confused look or the wrong reaction, then they must start over at the beginning. And if they don't get these opportunities to try the language out and get feedback, then eventually time runs out and game over. Most of the useful language is gone from lack of ever being acquired. What is learned can be forgotten, what is acquired is there forever. Like riding a bike. When you are starting out, the explanations you internalize are examples of learning. When you are on the bike and your body is getting accustomed to the sensation of finding equilibrium, it is acquiring.
Anyway, see I love talking about teaching and I could go on forever. Let's just say learning about the repetition made me feel hopeless. And made me focus on whether or not I should re-contract. I had been leaning towards staying, but that made me feel like I would never be really happy at the junior high. And I only go to the elementaries so often. And even there, I don't always get to have a big impact on the lesson planning. After the seminar, I went to eat with friends and then went home.
Friday was better. We got to go in later and it was our cultural workshop. We made UDON!!! See the next post. And after that we had someone from CLAIR (a governmental organization related to JET) give a talk called "Making the Most of your Team-teaching Relationship". It was excellent and included research date from surveys they recently sent out. It was quite interesting. But again would have been made better had the audience included our JTEs. But luckily he had a copy of the notes in Japanese and I plan on showing that to my teachers.
Afterward, a bunch of us went bowling. That was good times. While we were there, we saw the Udon making workshop on the news. We were celebs. And after that we had Indian food and then I went with a group to karaoke where I fell asleep, as usual. I just can't make it through. I stayed at another JET's apartment. We got in around 3 and had to be up at 8 to get back to town to get tickets for the opening of Sweeney Todd. I stayed in town by myself after we got the tickets. I spent TOO much money on doodads at this really cool store called Loft. Then I bought some clothes (as I hadn't packed an overnight bag). I grabbed lunch from the grocery store and went to the international office where I watched the news in English on CNN until 3 when the Robin Hood the Musical auditions were being held. Some JETs are trying to get the play started to put on in June. They have done plays in the past, but it's been difficult to get interest this year. Not enough people showed up to audition. So we've got to recruit more people or it won't happen. It should be fun though if we can pull it off.
After that, a group of us went to Sweeney Todd. That was a pretty interesting if not terribly grotesque movie. I enjoyed it though. It was well done. And afterward, we went to dinner at this really cool cafe type place called Umie. Great food! But I missed the last train that would get me in at a decent time. I can either get home a quarter to 11 or 25 minutes after midnight. I always seem to miss the train by just a few minutes, too, which is incredibly frustrating. Anyway, yesterday was an almost wasted day. I started off pretty well. I did a load of laundry and had it hanging and a second one started and then I let myself get sucked back into the computer. Eventually around 10, I got up and got everything done. I picked up all the junk on my floors, cleared my kitchen table, cleaned my room, hung up that second load of laundry, did the dishes, took a shower, and got to bed. I think part of the wasted day was from not getting good sleep and just being tired. Because I felt pretty energized around 10. Obviously. Made this morning a little difficult getting up and all. But I've managed.
Monday
And once again I failed to know (either by my own deductions or by someone telling me) that I would be teaching no classes today. I mean I guess I don't mind. It's better than when I don't know I'm supposed to be teaching. But I feel like it's such a waste of my being here in Japan. Please utilize me. I'm sure there's an elementary school that would be happy to have me or maybe a kindergarten or pre-school where I could go and give students a small dose of English. But at this point it's kind of late to try and arrange something. Oh well.
January 10, 2008
Mochi!!!!!
Bet you thought my next post would be about the Thailand trip. But I'm back and already the Japanese fun starts. After a bit of boring stuff.
Work was a bit dull the first day back. I thought the re-opening ceremony would be bigger and more interesting. Instead the students came in as usual and the teachers all met for about 20 minutes. Then it was cleaning time for a half-hour. Then everyone met in the (freezing) gym for about 30 minutes where the principals talked and presented various awards. Then they had an extended homeroom after which the students went home. That was all done before 11 am. In the afternoon, there was a teachers' meeting. So I just sat in the office until 3:45.
Yesterday was more interesting. I had a couple classes where I talked about my trip and one where I sat for most of the period while the students went over a recent test. Taught a little at the end.
BUT, in the afternoon, the real fun started. I went to Ninomiya (ニノ宮) Elementary for a special day. They were making mochi. Mochi is this mushy rice dough usually used as a dessert. In the olden days, they made it by hand. You make sticky rice first. There is a big stone bowl called an usu. You have to warm it up by pouring in boiling water. But it can't be too wet, so you have to continuously pour it in and ladle it out before you start to make the mochi. When the rice is ready, you pour it in to the usu. There is a special wooden mallet called a kine.
It's big and long like an ax, but the end, of course, is like a wooden hammer. You start by kneading the rice in the bowl holding the kine near the top and putting a lot of pressure on it. This gets the rice to start losing it's individual grains. After a bit, you back up and start hammering away at the rice. Usually the men use the hammer. The women have the dangerous job of taking care of the mochi. To make sure all of the rice gets mushed together, the women have to keep turning it over and pulling the rice from the sides of the usu. They do this in between throws of the hammer. It takes good timing so that their hands don't get mashed. While the hammer is down, the women wet their hands, and when the hammer goes up, they move the mochi. It doesn't take long before there is no more rice; it's just a big mushy ball that looks like dough.
Nowadays most families don't make mochi by hand. If they make it at home, they use a machine to do it. The principal wanted the students to have this experience. We did it yesterday because traditionally the Japanese will make mochi for the new year. They make "mochi-bana", mochi flowers. They take branches and wrap pieces of mochi around them to look like flowers. They hang this branch up at the entrance to their houses so it hangs over and brings good fortune and a good harvest for the following year. Mochi is white because it's made of rice, but they add red coloring to it (not sure if it's just dye or something special) to get pink mochi and a type of grass (mugwort) to get green mochi. Since the Ninomiya area is known for its green tea, they used that to make the green mochi.
The principal invited important community members and parents to come in and help make the mochi and she also asked journalists to come in. I got my picture in the paper with some of the kids and a mochi-bana branch.
You can eat mochi in different ways. You can just have a piece of mochi as is. Usually it's powdered with flour since it would be too sticky to handle otherwise. Often there is an that is rolled up inside. An is a sweet red bean paste that you can find EVERYWHERE in Japan. They put it in bread, ice-cream, mochi, cookies. It's a dessert ingredient. You think you're buying a pastry with some berries inside because that's what the picture looks like. NOPE. It's an. (pronounced AHN).
You get used to it and you might even begin to like it. Anyway, that's what they did with the mochi from yesterday. But today for school lunch, there was mochi in the soup. Sometimes you can find mochi with ice-cream. The texture is very interesting. Think of a marshmallow but much thicker and less flavorful. If it's in soup, the added moisture changes the consistency. Think of cotton candy but where you can't feel the individual strands. It's like your biting into nothing, yet there is something there.
Not sure if you could ever find it in the states, but mochi is definitely worth trying.
Work was a bit dull the first day back. I thought the re-opening ceremony would be bigger and more interesting. Instead the students came in as usual and the teachers all met for about 20 minutes. Then it was cleaning time for a half-hour. Then everyone met in the (freezing) gym for about 30 minutes where the principals talked and presented various awards. Then they had an extended homeroom after which the students went home. That was all done before 11 am. In the afternoon, there was a teachers' meeting. So I just sat in the office until 3:45.
Yesterday was more interesting. I had a couple classes where I talked about my trip and one where I sat for most of the period while the students went over a recent test. Taught a little at the end.
BUT, in the afternoon, the real fun started. I went to Ninomiya (ニノ宮) Elementary for a special day. They were making mochi. Mochi is this mushy rice dough usually used as a dessert. In the olden days, they made it by hand. You make sticky rice first. There is a big stone bowl called an usu. You have to warm it up by pouring in boiling water. But it can't be too wet, so you have to continuously pour it in and ladle it out before you start to make the mochi. When the rice is ready, you pour it in to the usu. There is a special wooden mallet called a kine.
It's big and long like an ax, but the end, of course, is like a wooden hammer. You start by kneading the rice in the bowl holding the kine near the top and putting a lot of pressure on it. This gets the rice to start losing it's individual grains. After a bit, you back up and start hammering away at the rice. Usually the men use the hammer. The women have the dangerous job of taking care of the mochi. To make sure all of the rice gets mushed together, the women have to keep turning it over and pulling the rice from the sides of the usu. They do this in between throws of the hammer. It takes good timing so that their hands don't get mashed. While the hammer is down, the women wet their hands, and when the hammer goes up, they move the mochi. It doesn't take long before there is no more rice; it's just a big mushy ball that looks like dough.Nowadays most families don't make mochi by hand. If they make it at home, they use a machine to do it. The principal wanted the students to have this experience. We did it yesterday because traditionally the Japanese will make mochi for the new year. They make "mochi-bana", mochi flowers. They take branches and wrap pieces of mochi around them to look like flowers. They hang this branch up at the entrance to their houses so it hangs over and brings good fortune and a good harvest for the following year. Mochi is white because it's made of rice, but they add red coloring to it (not sure if it's just dye or something special) to get pink mochi and a type of grass (mugwort) to get green mochi. Since the Ninomiya area is known for its green tea, they used that to make the green mochi.
The principal invited important community members and parents to come in and help make the mochi and she also asked journalists to come in. I got my picture in the paper with some of the kids and a mochi-bana branch.
You can eat mochi in different ways. You can just have a piece of mochi as is. Usually it's powdered with flour since it would be too sticky to handle otherwise. Often there is an that is rolled up inside. An is a sweet red bean paste that you can find EVERYWHERE in Japan. They put it in bread, ice-cream, mochi, cookies. It's a dessert ingredient. You think you're buying a pastry with some berries inside because that's what the picture looks like. NOPE. It's an. (pronounced AHN).
You get used to it and you might even begin to like it. Anyway, that's what they did with the mochi from yesterday. But today for school lunch, there was mochi in the soup. Sometimes you can find mochi with ice-cream. The texture is very interesting. Think of a marshmallow but much thicker and less flavorful. If it's in soup, the added moisture changes the consistency. Think of cotton candy but where you can't feel the individual strands. It's like your biting into nothing, yet there is something there.Not sure if you could ever find it in the states, but mochi is definitely worth trying.
December 26, 2007
thailand and cambodia
bangkok was cool. had some fun looking at the wats there and doing some shopping. got a thai massage as well. ate some awesome and crazy cheap street food. 5 of us ate several dishes of food with rice and had fresh squeezed orange juice for under 13 dollars.
we were in phnom penh yesterday and saw some of the city but mainly it was a stop before coming up here to siem reap. it's where angkor wat is. that's the place where tomb raider was filmed.. you know the ruins with the girl and the butterfly that she followed.
it's been amazing and hectic and jarring and breathtaking and just so interesting to see the sites and get to meet the people. tuk-tuks are sooooo fun by the way.
tomorrow is the 6 hour boat ride back to phnom penh. not so fun... especially being up until after midnight... but i had to call my family. it's christmas after all. and i figured if im already up late, might as well blog.
love everyone and miss you.
we were in phnom penh yesterday and saw some of the city but mainly it was a stop before coming up here to siem reap. it's where angkor wat is. that's the place where tomb raider was filmed.. you know the ruins with the girl and the butterfly that she followed.
it's been amazing and hectic and jarring and breathtaking and just so interesting to see the sites and get to meet the people. tuk-tuks are sooooo fun by the way.
tomorrow is the 6 hour boat ride back to phnom penh. not so fun... especially being up until after midnight... but i had to call my family. it's christmas after all. and i figured if im already up late, might as well blog.
love everyone and miss you.
December 20, 2007
Hong Kong
Well that's a first. I was at Kansai Airport at my actual gate ready to board a full 2 hours before we took off. I wasn't thinking about the fact that Alana left on a Saturday and I was leaving on a Thursday. She said to leave plenty of time so as they left the apartment at 6am or so and had a 10am flight as well. So I was up at 5:05 and showered and dressed and left by 5:45 or so. I was a little dazed or I would have been quicker about leaving.
Nothing really of interest to say. I purchased a drink at a restaurant so I could use their internet so I could take care of some online banking stuff and check for any last minute emergency emails from Alana. I'll try and post as often as I can along the way on the trip.
From what I can tell, Hong Kong is very hazy... or smoggy. But then again I'm just at the airport. I can see some huge hotels in the distance, but I won't be able to visit here. Just passing through to Bangkok. Ended up on the plane with another JET from my prefecture sitting right in front of me. He's heading home to New Zealand. A nice 12 hours flying trip for him. Well, I don't want to ramble too long. I do enough of that.
Nothing really of interest to say. I purchased a drink at a restaurant so I could use their internet so I could take care of some online banking stuff and check for any last minute emergency emails from Alana. I'll try and post as often as I can along the way on the trip.
From what I can tell, Hong Kong is very hazy... or smoggy. But then again I'm just at the airport. I can see some huge hotels in the distance, but I won't be able to visit here. Just passing through to Bangkok. Ended up on the plane with another JET from my prefecture sitting right in front of me. He's heading home to New Zealand. A nice 12 hours flying trip for him. Well, I don't want to ramble too long. I do enough of that.
December 19, 2007
Winter Holidays
Well, I'm just about to leave for Thailand, 11 hours and counting. (Why did I say that; I just got more nervous!) I've been sick for the past three weeks and have been lazy as a result. Well lazy with the extra things that I usually like to do, like keep up this blog, study Japanese, take care of myself. So, I haven't blogged since the 5th, I haven't touched a text book in about as long, and I have a jungle growing on the back of my neck and my fingernails need cut. But I'm trying to be happy since I'm finally feeling like I'm recovering, though I still have a bit of a cough and runny nose. And I am happy since I've made it through the end of ni-gakki (I think that's how you say the 2nd term) and am in Osaka ready to catch my flight.
I also finally managed to send out some Christmas cards and Christmas gifts. I had wanted to send out cards to a lot of people, but I was sick (and on top of that, I'm a procrastinator) and when I went to look at cards, the only place I had time to go to had ones that were super-expensive. The cost more that it would to send the card. They aren't as big with Christmas cards here. They are more into New Year's cards. The post office has a special box for them, I found out during my several trips there. And apparently they have a special system for them so that ALL the cards are delivered exactly on New Year's day. I didn't really know about this until too late as well. Maybe next time. I'll have to ask the teachers what kinds of cards you get and what you say in them. Anyway, so my Christmas mailing list was short and my gift list was even shorter. But I do love everyone and miss everyone! Even if I've neglected sending you emails that say so. And for those who I didn't manage to send something to:
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!
I know I've said in others that a picture post was coming and that they haven't appeared. But the really will be posted some day. Just not until after the 8th of January at the earliest. And likely not until after that weekend after I get back. And then of course I will have a zillion more pictures to post from thailand (which will probably take 3 months to post).
Ok, I really need some sleep tonight.
Wish me luck.
I also finally managed to send out some Christmas cards and Christmas gifts. I had wanted to send out cards to a lot of people, but I was sick (and on top of that, I'm a procrastinator) and when I went to look at cards, the only place I had time to go to had ones that were super-expensive. The cost more that it would to send the card. They aren't as big with Christmas cards here. They are more into New Year's cards. The post office has a special box for them, I found out during my several trips there. And apparently they have a special system for them so that ALL the cards are delivered exactly on New Year's day. I didn't really know about this until too late as well. Maybe next time. I'll have to ask the teachers what kinds of cards you get and what you say in them. Anyway, so my Christmas mailing list was short and my gift list was even shorter. But I do love everyone and miss everyone! Even if I've neglected sending you emails that say so. And for those who I didn't manage to send something to:
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!
I know I've said in others that a picture post was coming and that they haven't appeared. But the really will be posted some day. Just not until after the 8th of January at the earliest. And likely not until after that weekend after I get back. And then of course I will have a zillion more pictures to post from thailand (which will probably take 3 months to post).
Ok, I really need some sleep tonight.
Wish me luck.
December 5, 2007
Shadow Puppets and Appearance Checks
The students have been testing all week. Something like 3 tests every morning and then no class in the afternoon. They went home Monday and Tuesday, but today they stayed in the afternoon for a shadow puppet show. Somewhat similar to the bunraku I went to recently in that there was a narrator who was out in front doing the voices and narration. Behind the scenes were the characters moving, but it was all in shadow puppets. Fancy ones. They were different colors with crazy trippy backgrounds. I have no idea what was going on, but it was entertaining enough. Afterward they showed us how they do it and then they did some of the traditional hand shadow puppets that we all know and love. But they did some that I haven't seen before, like a rabbit with the whole body and tail and a swan with body and tail and a snail and a crab. It was fun.
Then, the 9th graders (sannensei/3rd year students) had to go in to get checked for their appearance. Throughout the year I have noticed teachers commenting on hair or uniform, but today it was official. They all had to line up and get checked. Tomorrow is picture day. But not a regular picture day. They will have their picture taken to go on their high school entrance exam. Their bangs can't go past their eyebrows and their sideburns can't be too long. Girls hair is expected to be shoulder-length I believe. Boy's hair can't be all funky and sticking up as is the trend these days. They have to have clean uniforms appropriately buttoned and with their class pins and name tags neatly fastened. It's pretty serious. One teacher would comment on the student while another would write notes on a class roster. I have no doubt they will recheck the student before the picture is taken. I talked with the students who didn't pass. They will be going to the barber's tonight to get their hair cut shorter.
I'm not sure how typical this is across Japan. In discussions with other JETs, I've found that some people have less strict schools or at least schools where the students are not as well behaved and much less compliant. But it's interesting.
Then, the 9th graders (sannensei/3rd year students) had to go in to get checked for their appearance. Throughout the year I have noticed teachers commenting on hair or uniform, but today it was official. They all had to line up and get checked. Tomorrow is picture day. But not a regular picture day. They will have their picture taken to go on their high school entrance exam. Their bangs can't go past their eyebrows and their sideburns can't be too long. Girls hair is expected to be shoulder-length I believe. Boy's hair can't be all funky and sticking up as is the trend these days. They have to have clean uniforms appropriately buttoned and with their class pins and name tags neatly fastened. It's pretty serious. One teacher would comment on the student while another would write notes on a class roster. I have no doubt they will recheck the student before the picture is taken. I talked with the students who didn't pass. They will be going to the barber's tonight to get their hair cut shorter.
I'm not sure how typical this is across Japan. In discussions with other JETs, I've found that some people have less strict schools or at least schools where the students are not as well behaved and much less compliant. But it's interesting.
Oven!
Did I mention that I bought an oven?
Well, I did. I thought I would use it for the Thanksgiving potluck, but alas, I didn't plan well. Last night, I was determined to make use of it. I made some toast with the toaster setting and ate that with my dinner. And I had gotten a bunch of ingredients for a casserole that my friend makes. Couldn't find everything I needed, so I had to improvise a bit, but I think it worked out. I'm going to eat that tonight with some friends. Or maybe just one. I didn't sound too confident in the message I sent out to invite them. But I just tried it and it tastes good enough.
Let's see if I keep using it. If nothing else, it makes toast easier than the broiler thing in the range that's supposed to be for fish.
Well, I did. I thought I would use it for the Thanksgiving potluck, but alas, I didn't plan well. Last night, I was determined to make use of it. I made some toast with the toaster setting and ate that with my dinner. And I had gotten a bunch of ingredients for a casserole that my friend makes. Couldn't find everything I needed, so I had to improvise a bit, but I think it worked out. I'm going to eat that tonight with some friends. Or maybe just one. I didn't sound too confident in the message I sent out to invite them. But I just tried it and it tastes good enough.
Let's see if I keep using it. If nothing else, it makes toast easier than the broiler thing in the range that's supposed to be for fish.
December 1, 2007
Singing with the Kyoto-Sensei
So, I meant for this week to be one where I got my apartment in order and got myself organized once again. But then I got sick and let that be my excuse to not do anything really all week on that end at least. Because I actually stayed busy otherwise.
I started off well by writing up a weekly schedule. You may recall that things were pretty slack at work in terms of ... well work. So I was studying Japanese every day for 2 or 3 hours in between classes and elementary visits. Well recently as you may have noted (although perhaps not as I've not posted, that in itself being a sign), I've actually been asked to do more work at school. This has given me little or no time for Japanese study at school and has made me more tired after school so that I go home and crash. Which actually isn't too different from before. I might have done some cleaning or gone out to do something with friends, but as far as doing something productive, I didn't really do. But now that I have to work at work, I am not studying Japanese and not taking care of my apartment or shortening my to do list, which includes various tasks from mailing Christmas gifts to organizing all the important papers that have amassed in a pile in my bedroom (futonroom?). Well, at the beginning of the week, I got my week scheduled out. Not so much a specific, do-this-then schedule, but more of a you have this free time here and this open time at work here, and these are some of the things that you should be doing then, so choose and do. I was starting to feel very rushed at school, but with the schedule done up I think I will be able to manage my time better and perhaps get back to studying some Japanese. There's a teacher who I have asked in the past for some help with my studies and who has recently come up to me multiple times saying she was free and could help me with any Japanese questions I had. Unfortunately, I've been working last minute on lesson plans each time. (Why can I not be concise?) All that to say, I made a schedule and didn't stick to it because I got sick. I hope after this weekend I start feeling better and can commit to it more firmly.
So, this was a perfect week to get sick. I didn't really have much to do. I didn't have a race to prepare for tomorrow, I didn't have to practice singing songs for a cultural festival, I certainly didn't have 3 demonstration lessons to prepare for and which were definitely not observed by board of education members including the superintendent, and I sure didn't have my long commute (25 minute bike ride to an elementary) either. Sure glad that all that didn't happen.
So obviously that all happened.
The long commute: Usually I don't mind it as that is one of the schools where I get to do what I want and I've been having fun with them. But it came on Friday in the afternoon, so at the very end of a long week. And just before lunch, I realized that I didn't have the typed up lesson plan with me at school. It was on my computer at home. So I had to race home to get it and come back before lunch. That worked out well enough and I didn't really have to race. (But I did have to race on Thursday when I realized that I had left my self-introduction posters at home right before my other elementary lesson which is only about 5 minutes at a leisurely pace away. So I was actually on time when I gave myself 10 minutes to get there. But that's when I realized I had to go home and get the posters. It takes 6 minutes at a leisurely pace to get home.... so a little math and... yes, if I were to go at a leisurely pace it would take me 17 minutes to get there making me about 7 minutes late for the lesson. So I raced. By the time I got to my bike and started heading out I had 9 minutes. Somehow, I made it to the school in exactly nine minutes. I know because I kept checking my watch and I arrived when the bell for class was ringing. Geez even my asides are too long.) Anyway, when I got there and started my lesson I realized that I had forgotten some pictures which were essential to a good chunk of the plan. I tried to make something up but that sucked, so I just decided to move on and stretch out the rest of the lesson and that worked. But this class totally wasn't into it like the other one was. So, I rode the 20 minutes back (it's quicker because it's more downhill). And I went home and just crashed in front of the TV. I watched some figure skating that happened to be on and I stayed up to watch the Japan vs. American volleyball game. I've been really into the World Championship that's been going on. I'll miss the game tonight though.
Demo lessons: Each teacher was to be observed for one period by a special prefectural person and evaluated on their lesson. During that lesson, about 8 or 9 local board members would come in for about 5 minutes to observe as well. Since there are 3 English teachers, guess who had not just one observed lesson but 3? Oh yes, that's right the Assistant English Teacher, ME! I wasn't too stressed about it because it's not so much me they are looking at, but the main teacher. But still the stress from the other teachers got to me a little bit. They kept coming to me to check the lesson plan and make sure we were clear. Which was great actually and I think all the plans went well. A couple of times I was thrown a curveball during the lesson, something we hadn't discussed, but it all worked out. And some good came of the evaluation. One of the teachers had been resistant to trying some of the interactive question and answer style that I did back home. I kept trying to explain it to her, saying it was like a discussion. We would read and then discuss by me asking questions that they answer. Well I finally just did it in class without her knowing what I was doing. After the lesson, she came up to me on her own and said that she really liked that and I said "That's what I mean by doing discussion!" And so we did that again for the demo lesson and lo and behold the evaluator commended her for actually using the language with the students in an interactive way. So, I think we will start doing that more. But I really have to commend her. I went up to the other two teachers to ask about their feedback. The first said, " Ok, good." and turned back to her desk. The second said it went well and talked about how much he liked the video she did and everything was great. The third one wasn't embarrassed to talk about the negative stuff as well as the positive. That can be really hard to do, admitting something like that to a peer (or even more so to an inferior, as ALTs are usually seen by Japanese teachers). She said how he thought her handwriting was too sloppy and she sometimes speaks too fast. I think she does fine. It's not my style but she does about the same as the other teachers. My two complaints are that she uses too much Japanese and doesn't escape the confines of the text. But then again, that's like the other teachers. Although they do tend to use English a bit more.
Singing: Today, this morning, I sang with three teachers and a Kyoto-Sensei (vice-principal) at a local cultural festival. We sang Edelweiss and 3 Japanese songs. I only can sing 2 of the Japanese songs as I only started learning them this week. I have no idea what they mean, but I've managed to learn them well enough to read the hiragana as I sing along. I have a picture that I will post of us singing.
Picturepost
It's been fun, but not as much fun as it would be if I wasn't sick.
(sorry gotta run, we are to sing again this afternoon, and we are leaving now. to be continued)
Well the rest of the singing went well enough. We were well fed also. And we went back to the school and that was that.
The race: Afterwards, I went home and started packing. The plan was for a bunch of people to go to Jeremy's in Nio and hang out for the evening and get up in the morning for Nio's First Annual Mikan Good Health Marathon (every run in Japan is called a marathon マラソン). Well that bunch of people dwindled to 3; Jeremy, a friend of his from out of town, and me. So, we met up with a bunch of people in Kanonji for darts, beer, and food. We had a pretty good time. The 3 of us at Jeremy's ended up staying up until about 2, which was silly since we had to be up at 8 15 for race check-in. Luckily, the race was literally next door to his apartment. We all opted for the 8k race. Our omiyage for the race was a big bag of mikan. Nio apparently has really good mikan. Mikan are mandarin oranges. But for some reason, I think of really big oranges when I hear mandarin oranges. These are very small but OISHII!! (delicious) No one collapsed. Everyone finished the race. So it was a success. Jeremy finished first and then me and then Sandra and then Leann. Afterwards we hung out at Jeremy's eating hummus and pasta and watching movies and chatting. Before leaving Nio we all went to the local coffee shop, Café de flots, which was amazingly cool, surprisingly so since it is in this out of the way small town with no train stop.
I started off well by writing up a weekly schedule. You may recall that things were pretty slack at work in terms of ... well work. So I was studying Japanese every day for 2 or 3 hours in between classes and elementary visits. Well recently as you may have noted (although perhaps not as I've not posted, that in itself being a sign), I've actually been asked to do more work at school. This has given me little or no time for Japanese study at school and has made me more tired after school so that I go home and crash. Which actually isn't too different from before. I might have done some cleaning or gone out to do something with friends, but as far as doing something productive, I didn't really do. But now that I have to work at work, I am not studying Japanese and not taking care of my apartment or shortening my to do list, which includes various tasks from mailing Christmas gifts to organizing all the important papers that have amassed in a pile in my bedroom (futonroom?). Well, at the beginning of the week, I got my week scheduled out. Not so much a specific, do-this-then schedule, but more of a you have this free time here and this open time at work here, and these are some of the things that you should be doing then, so choose and do. I was starting to feel very rushed at school, but with the schedule done up I think I will be able to manage my time better and perhaps get back to studying some Japanese. There's a teacher who I have asked in the past for some help with my studies and who has recently come up to me multiple times saying she was free and could help me with any Japanese questions I had. Unfortunately, I've been working last minute on lesson plans each time. (Why can I not be concise?) All that to say, I made a schedule and didn't stick to it because I got sick. I hope after this weekend I start feeling better and can commit to it more firmly.
So, this was a perfect week to get sick. I didn't really have much to do. I didn't have a race to prepare for tomorrow, I didn't have to practice singing songs for a cultural festival, I certainly didn't have 3 demonstration lessons to prepare for and which were definitely not observed by board of education members including the superintendent, and I sure didn't have my long commute (25 minute bike ride to an elementary) either. Sure glad that all that didn't happen.
So obviously that all happened.
The long commute: Usually I don't mind it as that is one of the schools where I get to do what I want and I've been having fun with them. But it came on Friday in the afternoon, so at the very end of a long week. And just before lunch, I realized that I didn't have the typed up lesson plan with me at school. It was on my computer at home. So I had to race home to get it and come back before lunch. That worked out well enough and I didn't really have to race. (But I did have to race on Thursday when I realized that I had left my self-introduction posters at home right before my other elementary lesson which is only about 5 minutes at a leisurely pace away. So I was actually on time when I gave myself 10 minutes to get there. But that's when I realized I had to go home and get the posters. It takes 6 minutes at a leisurely pace to get home.... so a little math and... yes, if I were to go at a leisurely pace it would take me 17 minutes to get there making me about 7 minutes late for the lesson. So I raced. By the time I got to my bike and started heading out I had 9 minutes. Somehow, I made it to the school in exactly nine minutes. I know because I kept checking my watch and I arrived when the bell for class was ringing. Geez even my asides are too long.) Anyway, when I got there and started my lesson I realized that I had forgotten some pictures which were essential to a good chunk of the plan. I tried to make something up but that sucked, so I just decided to move on and stretch out the rest of the lesson and that worked. But this class totally wasn't into it like the other one was. So, I rode the 20 minutes back (it's quicker because it's more downhill). And I went home and just crashed in front of the TV. I watched some figure skating that happened to be on and I stayed up to watch the Japan vs. American volleyball game. I've been really into the World Championship that's been going on. I'll miss the game tonight though.
Demo lessons: Each teacher was to be observed for one period by a special prefectural person and evaluated on their lesson. During that lesson, about 8 or 9 local board members would come in for about 5 minutes to observe as well. Since there are 3 English teachers, guess who had not just one observed lesson but 3? Oh yes, that's right the Assistant English Teacher, ME! I wasn't too stressed about it because it's not so much me they are looking at, but the main teacher. But still the stress from the other teachers got to me a little bit. They kept coming to me to check the lesson plan and make sure we were clear. Which was great actually and I think all the plans went well. A couple of times I was thrown a curveball during the lesson, something we hadn't discussed, but it all worked out. And some good came of the evaluation. One of the teachers had been resistant to trying some of the interactive question and answer style that I did back home. I kept trying to explain it to her, saying it was like a discussion. We would read and then discuss by me asking questions that they answer. Well I finally just did it in class without her knowing what I was doing. After the lesson, she came up to me on her own and said that she really liked that and I said "That's what I mean by doing discussion!" And so we did that again for the demo lesson and lo and behold the evaluator commended her for actually using the language with the students in an interactive way. So, I think we will start doing that more. But I really have to commend her. I went up to the other two teachers to ask about their feedback. The first said, " Ok, good." and turned back to her desk. The second said it went well and talked about how much he liked the video she did and everything was great. The third one wasn't embarrassed to talk about the negative stuff as well as the positive. That can be really hard to do, admitting something like that to a peer (or even more so to an inferior, as ALTs are usually seen by Japanese teachers). She said how he thought her handwriting was too sloppy and she sometimes speaks too fast. I think she does fine. It's not my style but she does about the same as the other teachers. My two complaints are that she uses too much Japanese and doesn't escape the confines of the text. But then again, that's like the other teachers. Although they do tend to use English a bit more.
Singing: Today, this morning, I sang with three teachers and a Kyoto-Sensei (vice-principal) at a local cultural festival. We sang Edelweiss and 3 Japanese songs. I only can sing 2 of the Japanese songs as I only started learning them this week. I have no idea what they mean, but I've managed to learn them well enough to read the hiragana as I sing along. I have a picture that I will post of us singing.
Picturepost
It's been fun, but not as much fun as it would be if I wasn't sick.
(sorry gotta run, we are to sing again this afternoon, and we are leaving now. to be continued)
Well the rest of the singing went well enough. We were well fed also. And we went back to the school and that was that.
The race: Afterwards, I went home and started packing. The plan was for a bunch of people to go to Jeremy's in Nio and hang out for the evening and get up in the morning for Nio's First Annual Mikan Good Health Marathon (every run in Japan is called a marathon マラソン). Well that bunch of people dwindled to 3; Jeremy, a friend of his from out of town, and me. So, we met up with a bunch of people in Kanonji for darts, beer, and food. We had a pretty good time. The 3 of us at Jeremy's ended up staying up until about 2, which was silly since we had to be up at 8 15 for race check-in. Luckily, the race was literally next door to his apartment. We all opted for the 8k race. Our omiyage for the race was a big bag of mikan. Nio apparently has really good mikan. Mikan are mandarin oranges. But for some reason, I think of really big oranges when I hear mandarin oranges. These are very small but OISHII!! (delicious) No one collapsed. Everyone finished the race. So it was a success. Jeremy finished first and then me and then Sandra and then Leann. Afterwards we hung out at Jeremy's eating hummus and pasta and watching movies and chatting. Before leaving Nio we all went to the local coffee shop, Café de flots, which was amazingly cool, surprisingly so since it is in this out of the way small town with no train stop.
November 26, 2007
Wedding Weekend
Friday after the festival for the Matts and Dan and the onsen for the girls, we went to Takamatsu for dinner to celebrate Sam's birthday. We tried to go to Surfer's for Mexican, but it was closed. Friday was Japan's Thanksgiving holiday. However, theirs is more of a "Thanks for working so hard, please have a day off" day. But people still work on Saturday and possibly Sunday as the concept of a work-free weekend is not a Japanese one. I didn't really understand that until recently. I was confused from the beginning because if I mentioned traveling somewhere or doing something on a weekend, the English teachers would say, "Oh yes, you had yasumi." And I know enough Japanese to know that 'yasumi' means vacation or holiday. And I would politely say, "No, it was just the weekend." It took a while to realize that the teachers actually will come to school and have practice for clubs and do work for lessons etc. on Saturday and Sunday. Maybe not every weekend but the majority I would wager. Anyway, afterward, we went on to Sambommatsu to Angelina's to hang out a bit, after which Sam and I headed back to hers.
Saturday morning, Sam and I went shopping in her town which had very few stores to get something dressy for me to wear to the wedding dinner. I did eventually find something but had to pay more than I intended, but it's ok. They are things I will wear again. Anyway, the wedding was between Dustin, a former JET that I met in Tokyo when the JETs from my prefecture went out together and Xiaofang, a woman who lived in the town he was teaching in. They met at their Japanese class. He's a cool guy who hails from Georgia coincidentally and graduated from UGA. We were there at the same time actually but never crossed paths. And Xiaofang comes from China and is funny and beautiful and very intelligent. They married officially a few months ago but are having celebrations in China, Japan, and the US because of their origins and the place they met. They are living in Tokyo now and will be there for a while.
The celebration was very nice. They had profiles instead of programs so that we could read about them and things like their first impressions of each other. It was a good idea. They had three people give speeches and we kanpai'ed. One of the speeches was done by the woman who coordinated the event; she was the teacher of the Japanese course they met in. The whole thing was bilingually emcee'd as well. Xiaofang did a Japanese dance as well that was quite beautiful. I took some pictures, but I was too far away to get any good ones. I'll post some if they turn out.
Afterward, we went to a local izakaya where we had an after party. The newlyweds joined us and it was quite nice. Afterward a bunch of us headed back to Angelina's where we all crashed. I left before most people were up since I wasn't feeling too well after several late nights and a couple of those including drinking. I got home and did 3 loads of laundry and watched too much TV. I was just exhausted. I really had been going hard since Wednesday night (out to a bar with friends for no real reason, just to hang out). I watched the volleyball game. For some reason, I've been really getting in to the World Volleyball Cub (I think it is) and rooting for Japan. They beat Egypt last night, but overall, they have some work to do to make it to the top 3. And the end.
Saturday morning, Sam and I went shopping in her town which had very few stores to get something dressy for me to wear to the wedding dinner. I did eventually find something but had to pay more than I intended, but it's ok. They are things I will wear again. Anyway, the wedding was between Dustin, a former JET that I met in Tokyo when the JETs from my prefecture went out together and Xiaofang, a woman who lived in the town he was teaching in. They met at their Japanese class. He's a cool guy who hails from Georgia coincidentally and graduated from UGA. We were there at the same time actually but never crossed paths. And Xiaofang comes from China and is funny and beautiful and very intelligent. They married officially a few months ago but are having celebrations in China, Japan, and the US because of their origins and the place they met. They are living in Tokyo now and will be there for a while.
The celebration was very nice. They had profiles instead of programs so that we could read about them and things like their first impressions of each other. It was a good idea. They had three people give speeches and we kanpai'ed. One of the speeches was done by the woman who coordinated the event; she was the teacher of the Japanese course they met in. The whole thing was bilingually emcee'd as well. Xiaofang did a Japanese dance as well that was quite beautiful. I took some pictures, but I was too far away to get any good ones. I'll post some if they turn out.
Afterward, we went to a local izakaya where we had an after party. The newlyweds joined us and it was quite nice. Afterward a bunch of us headed back to Angelina's where we all crashed. I left before most people were up since I wasn't feeling too well after several late nights and a couple of those including drinking. I got home and did 3 loads of laundry and watched too much TV. I was just exhausted. I really had been going hard since Wednesday night (out to a bar with friends for no real reason, just to hang out). I watched the volleyball game. For some reason, I've been really getting in to the World Volleyball Cub (I think it is) and rooting for Japan. They beat Egypt last night, but overall, they have some work to do to make it to the top 3. And the end.
Bunraku
After Thanksgiving a bunch of us (Matt, Sam, Angelina, Nick, Megan, and me) stayed at Matt's. We were to watch 300 but it was too late to start it really. We missed an earlier train and had to wait for one getting us home after midnight I think.
Friday, I got up and got breakfast and around noon Nick went home and Matt and I left the girls to go to a festival in Mino. The girls went to the local onsen (Japanese hot bath). The festival had the requisite food stands and kids' game stands. But this one also had people selling lots of plants. I could't resist and bought an azalea and some pine trees that I might try to do some bonzai with. They are really small, so don't get the wrong picture.
And at 1:00 o'clock there was bunraku at the local international civic center. (Can local and international describe the same thing?) Bunraku is a special type of Japanese puppetry. The puppets are quite large with movable hands and eyes. The puppeteers are dressed in black and cover their faces in black as well. They don't attempt to hide themselves during the play. It's as if they are to be considered shadows in the background. The puppeteers don't do any talking for the puppets. Off to the side and usually elevated a bit, you will see generally two people. One will read the narration and the dialogue using a special singing type voice. The woman would use different notes and variations to distinguish the different characters and her narration. Next to the narrator is the shamisen player. Shamisen is a Japanese stringed instrument that is plucked with a special device. They have a very unique sound. The music supports the spoken language and the movements on stage. It's all very cool. Though, I obviously couldn't understand the show, I think I caught that the language was an older form or something of Japanese and the first couple of acts were very emotionally wrought while the last ones were funny and triumphant. I enjoyed it and would like to see something like it again, perhaps when I've learned more Japanese. Apparently, what we saw was a specialized form of bunraku called Sanuki gen, I think, as my prefecture was formerly known as Sanuki.
(Picturepost and videopost to come)
Friday, I got up and got breakfast and around noon Nick went home and Matt and I left the girls to go to a festival in Mino. The girls went to the local onsen (Japanese hot bath). The festival had the requisite food stands and kids' game stands. But this one also had people selling lots of plants. I could't resist and bought an azalea and some pine trees that I might try to do some bonzai with. They are really small, so don't get the wrong picture.
And at 1:00 o'clock there was bunraku at the local international civic center. (Can local and international describe the same thing?) Bunraku is a special type of Japanese puppetry. The puppets are quite large with movable hands and eyes. The puppeteers are dressed in black and cover their faces in black as well. They don't attempt to hide themselves during the play. It's as if they are to be considered shadows in the background. The puppeteers don't do any talking for the puppets. Off to the side and usually elevated a bit, you will see generally two people. One will read the narration and the dialogue using a special singing type voice. The woman would use different notes and variations to distinguish the different characters and her narration. Next to the narrator is the shamisen player. Shamisen is a Japanese stringed instrument that is plucked with a special device. They have a very unique sound. The music supports the spoken language and the movements on stage. It's all very cool. Though, I obviously couldn't understand the show, I think I caught that the language was an older form or something of Japanese and the first couple of acts were very emotionally wrought while the last ones were funny and triumphant. I enjoyed it and would like to see something like it again, perhaps when I've learned more Japanese. Apparently, what we saw was a specialized form of bunraku called Sanuki gen, I think, as my prefecture was formerly known as Sanuki.
(Picturepost and videopost to come)
November 24, 2007
Thanksgiving Dinner
Chris Brashears is a nearby JET in Tadotsu (he hosted the BBQ a while back) who hosts the yearly Thanksgiving dinner. About 10 of us showed up this year and everyone brought something to share, a recipe from home that makes you feel all warm inside. That was the request at least. And he provided the specially ordered turkey. I didn't realize that night, but apparently it was supposed to show up Wednesday, but didn't arrive until noon on Thursday, still frozen. So he had to thaw it and cook it in about 6 hours. But it turned out great. And the food everyone brought was good too. Since I couldn't get all the ingredients I needed for my mom's green bean casserole (mainly because I'm a bad planner, I really could probably have found everything at foreign foodstores in Osaka) I made my dad's hariata. (Don't know if that's how it's spelled.) Anyway, it's a whisky drink made by boiled a cinnamon stick until the water is almost gone and then adding sugar and simmering that until it's a syrup and then mixing in the whisky until everything is dissolved together. Pour it back in the bottle and keep the cinnamon stick in it and there you go. I've never made it before, but it turned out quite well, and everyone who tried it enjoyed it for the most part I think.
Good times.
Good times.
November 21, 2007
Another Update
Sorry guys. I know it's been another week since I last updated. And I've been horrible about keeping in touch via email and real mail. I'm trying. I think I've been going a bit to hard on the weekends and letting myself off to easily on weeknights saying it was a long day... even if it really wasn't. Also, I've been keeping fairly busy on weeknights with going to dinner and hanging out with friends and I saw my first movie in Japan and it was a Japanese one. It was called Crow's Zero. It was about a high school gang turf war. It was pretty wicked at parts, had a couple of goofy scenes, but was very much like a manga (Japanese comic book) just in movie form.
I managed another weekend trip to Osaka. This time I planned on less partying out and more touristy stuff, but the actual ratio this time was only slightly lower. Out til 4 on Friday night and out til maybe 2ish or a bit later on Saturday night. This time I didn't take a whole day off. I went up Friday after school and came back Monday morning taking a half day off and working my afternoon classes (well one before lunch and one after). The trip didn't start off too well. I, of course, had procrastinated, but not too bad this time. I had my packing started and mostly thought out. I knew I would have about an hour after my last class until my train. I was able to finish my packing quickly and thought I would grab a shower since I had just biked from my elementary school. I think that did it, made me late I mean. I had wanted 15 minutes so I could calmly ride to the station, get money, and get my tickets squared away. But I still had 10 minutes to catch the train. No problem. Except I step outside with my suitcase and bookbag and see that it has suddenly started raining. It went from cloudy and dry to somewhat sunny and rainy. So I went back in and grabbed my umbrella went downstairs road my bike to the station still getting soaked along with my suitcase. When I saw my bank, I realized that I hadn't gotten my money out yet (my bank doesn't have ATMs in Osaka and my card wasn't accepted the last time I went and I ran out of money). So I went for my wallet and it wasn't in my pocket. It's still raining, I'm thinking my wallet is at home, I'm already soaked, I now have 6 minutes to get the train.
(post continued a few days later)
I'm trying to decide if I should leave my suitcase when I bike home to get my wallet. Then I realize that I had packed it in my backpack. So I grab it out and get money out of the ATM. I race over to the station in time to see the train pulling away. So I was wet along with all my belongings AND I still missed the train. Then I go to the counter to get my ticket squared away. As I'm walking away somehow my button gets caught and pops off. I was about to just go home, but I waited it out and got on the train. Oh and between when I started this post and finished it, I discovered that there is actually a cheaper and marginally quicker way to get to Osaka. There's a bus for about ten bucks cheaper. It requires no stops or transfers. You don't have to worry about your belongings because they are stowed beneath you. Oh well, for next time.
Anyway, so Osaka was pretty great! I got in and met with Sophie, a friend of Alana's that I met last time, and her friend Tamir. We grabbed some dinner and then met Alana back at her place. We started the night there and then cabbed it over to a former NOVA teacher's apartment for a goodbye party. (NOVA if you haven't heard of it, was the biggest (keyword: was) private English teaching company in Japan which recently collapsed and went bankrupt amid financial scandal and questionable business practices a month or so ago. The Japanese workers hadn't been paid since July and the foreign employees hadn't been paid since September before the company officially and publically acknowledged anything was wrong and promptly filed for bankruptcy. Anyway, so there was and is a big crisis for all these former foreign employees trying to find work or leave the country, paying for past due bills and rent, because some of them were a bit clueless because nothing official was said until the very last minute, but there had been rumblings and the more savvy had made preparations. End sidenote.) It was a pretty cool party, just hanging out and talking and dancing etc. Then our group of people left and went for ramen. And afterward we headed for a bar and hung out for a bit and eventually went home around 4. That was supposed to be my early night. Oh well. I was up at 8 for some reason. Alana had to babysit for a friend and I was deciding on whether to join her or go off by myself and do touristy stuff. I eventually just decided to stay with her and we had fun with her friends' daughter at the part. She was cute. Afterward, Alana suggested Nara instead of Kyoto. So we went there. Unfortunately the main temple was closed so I didn't get to see the huge buddha that resides there, and the lights weren't on at the gate to illuminate two other big guardian statues. But we did get to see some great views from the top of the hill and the changing colors of the leaves. AND!!! There are deer that wander around there. All over. They are kind of in a park, but there aren't really any fences, so they just wander around all over. AND!!!! The monks train them to bow. So you can buy little cakes and walk up to them and bow and they will bow and then you give them the food. IT'S SO FUN!!! Then we went souvenir shopping and ate Vietnamese before heading back to Osaka where the group got together once again and went out this time to celebrate Alana's friend James's birthday. It was pretty fun. We just went to some local bars and I eventually left early because I was pretty tired. But early was maybe 2 am I think.
On Sunday, I was up around 9 maybe and was getting ready and then Alana was up. I was considering leaving early and then she would join me, but it seemed silly to go since she was already up and getting ready. So, I waited and we left and grabbed lunch (which was soooo good, we had galettes, I haven't had those since France) and headed to the station where Sophie joined us. We were on the train by about 1 I think and in Kyoto by 2. We started in Arashiyama which isn't in the city center. It's more to the west in the mountains. TONS of people there to walk around and see the leaves changing. We walked through this realllllly cool bamboo forest and took some nice pictures and bought some souvenirs and ate candied fruit. We mainly do candied apples in the states, but here they have candied strawberries, mikan (oranges), pineapple, plums, etc. It's nice. Then, we headed to the center of Kyoto, specifically the Shijo area to meet up with Sandra and Aki, friends of mine from Kanonji in my prefecture. They were traveling and we thought it would be neat to meet up. And we walked along the main strip over to Gion and area of Kyoto known for it's small shops and restaurants. A bit touristy, but we were in the souvenir mood. I think I have a lot of my Christmas shopping done. Which is odd for me, since I'm usually last minute. The test comes with whether or not I will get everything shipped in time. We ate Indian together and then around 9 Alana, Sophie and I went back to Osaka. I packed up my bags as Alana uploaded all the pictures of the weekend and we got to bed around midnight maybe. I had thought I was going to have to get a 5 am train. But luckily I found one that left just before 7 that would get me in at 11 in time to go to work at 11 30. I had just taken the morning off. So all in all, it was a very nice weekend.
I was pretty tired though during this week. I dozed off Monday and Tuesday night around 9. Wednesday night I bought a small oven hoping to get ingredients and such together to make something for Thanksgiving, but that didn't work really.
I managed another weekend trip to Osaka. This time I planned on less partying out and more touristy stuff, but the actual ratio this time was only slightly lower. Out til 4 on Friday night and out til maybe 2ish or a bit later on Saturday night. This time I didn't take a whole day off. I went up Friday after school and came back Monday morning taking a half day off and working my afternoon classes (well one before lunch and one after). The trip didn't start off too well. I, of course, had procrastinated, but not too bad this time. I had my packing started and mostly thought out. I knew I would have about an hour after my last class until my train. I was able to finish my packing quickly and thought I would grab a shower since I had just biked from my elementary school. I think that did it, made me late I mean. I had wanted 15 minutes so I could calmly ride to the station, get money, and get my tickets squared away. But I still had 10 minutes to catch the train. No problem. Except I step outside with my suitcase and bookbag and see that it has suddenly started raining. It went from cloudy and dry to somewhat sunny and rainy. So I went back in and grabbed my umbrella went downstairs road my bike to the station still getting soaked along with my suitcase. When I saw my bank, I realized that I hadn't gotten my money out yet (my bank doesn't have ATMs in Osaka and my card wasn't accepted the last time I went and I ran out of money). So I went for my wallet and it wasn't in my pocket. It's still raining, I'm thinking my wallet is at home, I'm already soaked, I now have 6 minutes to get the train.
(post continued a few days later)
I'm trying to decide if I should leave my suitcase when I bike home to get my wallet. Then I realize that I had packed it in my backpack. So I grab it out and get money out of the ATM. I race over to the station in time to see the train pulling away. So I was wet along with all my belongings AND I still missed the train. Then I go to the counter to get my ticket squared away. As I'm walking away somehow my button gets caught and pops off. I was about to just go home, but I waited it out and got on the train. Oh and between when I started this post and finished it, I discovered that there is actually a cheaper and marginally quicker way to get to Osaka. There's a bus for about ten bucks cheaper. It requires no stops or transfers. You don't have to worry about your belongings because they are stowed beneath you. Oh well, for next time.
Anyway, so Osaka was pretty great! I got in and met with Sophie, a friend of Alana's that I met last time, and her friend Tamir. We grabbed some dinner and then met Alana back at her place. We started the night there and then cabbed it over to a former NOVA teacher's apartment for a goodbye party. (NOVA if you haven't heard of it, was the biggest (keyword: was) private English teaching company in Japan which recently collapsed and went bankrupt amid financial scandal and questionable business practices a month or so ago. The Japanese workers hadn't been paid since July and the foreign employees hadn't been paid since September before the company officially and publically acknowledged anything was wrong and promptly filed for bankruptcy. Anyway, so there was and is a big crisis for all these former foreign employees trying to find work or leave the country, paying for past due bills and rent, because some of them were a bit clueless because nothing official was said until the very last minute, but there had been rumblings and the more savvy had made preparations. End sidenote.) It was a pretty cool party, just hanging out and talking and dancing etc. Then our group of people left and went for ramen. And afterward we headed for a bar and hung out for a bit and eventually went home around 4. That was supposed to be my early night. Oh well. I was up at 8 for some reason. Alana had to babysit for a friend and I was deciding on whether to join her or go off by myself and do touristy stuff. I eventually just decided to stay with her and we had fun with her friends' daughter at the part. She was cute. Afterward, Alana suggested Nara instead of Kyoto. So we went there. Unfortunately the main temple was closed so I didn't get to see the huge buddha that resides there, and the lights weren't on at the gate to illuminate two other big guardian statues. But we did get to see some great views from the top of the hill and the changing colors of the leaves. AND!!! There are deer that wander around there. All over. They are kind of in a park, but there aren't really any fences, so they just wander around all over. AND!!!! The monks train them to bow. So you can buy little cakes and walk up to them and bow and they will bow and then you give them the food. IT'S SO FUN!!! Then we went souvenir shopping and ate Vietnamese before heading back to Osaka where the group got together once again and went out this time to celebrate Alana's friend James's birthday. It was pretty fun. We just went to some local bars and I eventually left early because I was pretty tired. But early was maybe 2 am I think.
On Sunday, I was up around 9 maybe and was getting ready and then Alana was up. I was considering leaving early and then she would join me, but it seemed silly to go since she was already up and getting ready. So, I waited and we left and grabbed lunch (which was soooo good, we had galettes, I haven't had those since France) and headed to the station where Sophie joined us. We were on the train by about 1 I think and in Kyoto by 2. We started in Arashiyama which isn't in the city center. It's more to the west in the mountains. TONS of people there to walk around and see the leaves changing. We walked through this realllllly cool bamboo forest and took some nice pictures and bought some souvenirs and ate candied fruit. We mainly do candied apples in the states, but here they have candied strawberries, mikan (oranges), pineapple, plums, etc. It's nice. Then, we headed to the center of Kyoto, specifically the Shijo area to meet up with Sandra and Aki, friends of mine from Kanonji in my prefecture. They were traveling and we thought it would be neat to meet up. And we walked along the main strip over to Gion and area of Kyoto known for it's small shops and restaurants. A bit touristy, but we were in the souvenir mood. I think I have a lot of my Christmas shopping done. Which is odd for me, since I'm usually last minute. The test comes with whether or not I will get everything shipped in time. We ate Indian together and then around 9 Alana, Sophie and I went back to Osaka. I packed up my bags as Alana uploaded all the pictures of the weekend and we got to bed around midnight maybe. I had thought I was going to have to get a 5 am train. But luckily I found one that left just before 7 that would get me in at 11 in time to go to work at 11 30. I had just taken the morning off. So all in all, it was a very nice weekend.
I was pretty tired though during this week. I dozed off Monday and Tuesday night around 9. Wednesday night I bought a small oven hoping to get ingredients and such together to make something for Thanksgiving, but that didn't work really.
November 14, 2007
That's better.
I had to get the immediate frustration out. And I tried working on it, because an hour is a fair amount of time, but it just wasn't happening. So, I talked with the teacher and she agreed to wait until next week. Chances are they will still be working on the lesson or will only just have finished it. So today I will try to do a simple religious explanation of the holiday and next week I will do more of the mostly secular traditions surrounding Christmas.
Arggghhhh!!!
So. Frustration level is up now. Since I don't have that much actual work, I try to keep myself busy by studying Japanese. This morning I've been studying kanji. So, an hour before a lesson (and believe me, I'm thankful it was that much, considering it's been as little as 3 minutes before, but not for something this involved) I was asked to, you know, whip up a Christmas lesson like my Halloween one. WHAT?! That took me at least 4 hours to get all together. I had spent several hours searching for clip art, making little cards, creating a Halloween quiz in Japanese, etc for my elementary lesson. And when I did the lesson in the Junior High I wanted a quiz in English and a little puzzle and that itself took about an hour to complete. And on top of that trying to simplify how to explain a holiday into words and grammar structures that the students know is reallllly difficult. And so I'm supposed to just put together a similar lesson in less than an hour. I've only now just brainstormed some simplified topics related to Christmas. And realized I was superfrustrated because she really wants a worksheet to go along with the lesson. And I know there's a crap ton of clip art but it's hard to get it all sized right and put on a single worksheet... argh... I guess maybe I'll check out mes-english.com... apparently it has good stuff. But when I don't usually like using ready-made lessons and things because it's not exactly what I want. Guess it will have to do because I'm not going to stress myself out for this.
PLUS! It's freaking November 14th!!!! And why are we doing the lesson now???? Because that's the next lesson in the book. And heaven forbid we skip it and come back. (Then again, I know that would be very difficult since this book actual works in a cumulative fashion, which is good. But the timing is a bit off.) I had Thanksgiving on my mind. Was thinking of putting something together for that. Oh well. And no luck having a predecessor who had their act together to have some leftover lessons and materials to work with. There is a box o' Christmas crap in my apartment most likely from before my predecessor's time. But it's there and I'm at school.
Oh and did I mention, I didn't go to a single class at the junior high yesterday?!?!? I was sitting at my desk twiddling my thumbs alllllllll day!!! (well studying Japanese, but you know what I mean, doing no work!!!!)
SOOOO frustrated.
PLUS! It's freaking November 14th!!!! And why are we doing the lesson now???? Because that's the next lesson in the book. And heaven forbid we skip it and come back. (Then again, I know that would be very difficult since this book actual works in a cumulative fashion, which is good. But the timing is a bit off.) I had Thanksgiving on my mind. Was thinking of putting something together for that. Oh well. And no luck having a predecessor who had their act together to have some leftover lessons and materials to work with. There is a box o' Christmas crap in my apartment most likely from before my predecessor's time. But it's there and I'm at school.
Oh and did I mention, I didn't go to a single class at the junior high yesterday?!?!? I was sitting at my desk twiddling my thumbs alllllllll day!!! (well studying Japanese, but you know what I mean, doing no work!!!!)
SOOOO frustrated.
November 8, 2007
Forgot to post this.... mmmm.... FISH!
So, remember that fried fish that was curled up and facing me as I ate it??? Yeah, thought you might. Well, that was on a Friday. And lucky me, I got more fish with the head still attached on Monday!! I forgot to post the picture though. So, here you are! Enjoy!
Yes, these were what I ate. They are called シシャモン (shishamon) which sounds like sea salmon to me, but I forgot to ask if that's really what it is. Usually, they are pregnant, but I think the ones I had weren't pregnant, because I didn't get the gritty texture that people told me you usually get. And the eggs didn't burst out like they did to my friend when he had it. Anyway, believe it or not, I liked this more than the fried up fish from the Friday before. I could actually see myself ordering this at a restaurant possibly. Oh and as usual, if those two weren't enough fish for you, the side dish of mixed vegetables on the plate also contains the little minnows. You can never have enough fish in Japan!
Yes, these were what I ate. They are called シシャモン (shishamon) which sounds like sea salmon to me, but I forgot to ask if that's really what it is. Usually, they are pregnant, but I think the ones I had weren't pregnant, because I didn't get the gritty texture that people told me you usually get. And the eggs didn't burst out like they did to my friend when he had it. Anyway, believe it or not, I liked this more than the fried up fish from the Friday before. I could actually see myself ordering this at a restaurant possibly. Oh and as usual, if those two weren't enough fish for you, the side dish of mixed vegetables on the plate also contains the little minnows. You can never have enough fish in Japan!
November 6, 2007
Quick Update
Sorry, it has been a while since I posted. Let's see. Halloween Party on the 27th. It was fun. Drank too much. Resolved to treat my body better and start getting back into shape. I've been running semi-regularly since then. Just went this morning actually. The past week was pretty good. A bit off because I didn't really have a good sleep after the party and I didn't sleep at all that Sunday night. But it was still ok. I got to do my Halloween lesson all week which was fun. It was different for each level because the teachers didn't all have the same picture of what I was doing. One gave me 5 minutes (which invariably turned into 10-15), one gave me about 20-25 minutes (she gave me more and more time as the week carried on), and one gave me the whole period (I think she was happy about not having to plan the lesson). I had a lesson first thing Monday morning and of course I wasn't prepared. When I saw she only gave me 5 minutes to talk about Halloween, I thought, "Great! I'll just talk a bit and she'll translate and we'll move on." Yeah, I wish it would be that simple. I talked too fast; she couldn't translate easily because I hadn't chosen common words and simple sentences constructions and she was on the spot; and it was boring besides. So, I spent the 2nd period which I had off fixing the lesson and adding to it especially since I was going to have 20 or so minutes in the next one. The next one was 1000 times better. I chose my words better to make it easy for the students to try to figure out the meaning just from my words and easy for the teacher to translate ensuring that all the students understood. I had laminated picture cards (already prepared from an elementary lesson) and a fill-in-the-blank and crossword worksheet. I had Halloween stickers. By the end of the week, the lesson was just about perfected. I even remembered in the last lesson of the week to bring the witch's hat and the ghost's sheet and dressed up the students. During the 2nd lesson, I realized it would be good to liven things up a bit, so I added a mid-speech scare. I chose someone who wasn't quite paying attention and casually walked to their desk as I talked and "Boo!!" made them crap their pants. Even though I taught the same thing in all the classes, I managed to scare the kid every time. I even got 2 kids in the same class a couple times. But by the end of the week, I was sick of Halloween, but I had already agreed to help Tye with a Halloween culture thing in one of his teacher's towns on Saturday the 3rd. That took from noon until 7 and it wasn't all that great. But the drive there was neat. It has given me some new places I might bike and/or run to.
Sunday, we had school. Yes, since Japan has no national religion officially (unofficially, it might be Shinto, I think, but even then, I don't think they have a sabbath day as in Christianity) you can have school and/or school events any day of the week. We had Sports day practice on Saturday and sports day on Sunday. And Sunday, we had classes in the morning and it was sort of open house. So during 2nd period, families started showing up and walk around the school and the classes had put projects and assignments on display. The parents also got to walk into the classrooms as lessons were being taught to observe their child in class. Then, in the afternoon, we had the chorus contest. Every homeroom has to sing the school song (I think that's what it was) and then they got to choose their own song to sing. They've been practicing everyday for about a week and a half. Some classes were canceled to allow for practice. People stayed after school to practice. And there is no choice. Everyone participates. And so we all go to the gym (yeah have I mentioned the lack of an auditorium. I guess that's not so different from the US. I remember my elementary schools had stages in the gym or cafeteria. Well, the stage is in the gym. But the difference is that no chairs are brought in. Everyone sits on the floor. There are a few bleachers at the back, but not enough even for just the parents. But remember gym shoes are different from outdoor and indoor shoes. So officially there shouldn't really be any dirt on the floor.
Anyway, all the homerooms got up and sang their two songs and some teachers and student leaders were judges and voted on who did the best. At the end the trophies were awarded to the 2 best 3rd year homerooms.
Yesterday was a regular day at school. Though, I did manage to take over part of the lesson. The teacher had come to me earlier to say what we were doing and she mentioned that she disliked these pages in the book because they were boring. So, before the lesson I came up with something that might make it more relevant to them. It worked out, but then again I have an edge sort of. I think in general since I'm not their real teacher and I'm a foreigner, things I do might seem that much more interesting. Anyway, they were practicing how to say whether you agree or disagree with someone. The book had some lame situation about cell phones and whether or not middle schoolers should have one. I mean I guess it would be interesting if it wasn't in the text book. But then again, I think the controversy over cell phones has past if there ever was one. But it's still in most textbooks as something to hopefully grab students' attention. It never does. Anyway, I didn't think what I came up with was good, but I figured I'd give it a try. I just wrote 4 sentences and the students had to write whether they agree or not and give an additional thought or explanation. The example was "Math is difficult." With possibly answers: "I agree. I have to study a lot." or "I think so, too. I don't understand it." "I disagree. I think it's interesting." or "I see what you mean, but I think it's useful." The sentences I gave them were: "Students should study for 5 hours after school every day." "English is the best subject." "Fall is the most beautiful season." "School lunch is always delicious." The teacher said she thought they really tried to answer these seriously when usually they don't take their work seriously. So, it felt good. And I asked her to collect the notebooks so I could look at the sentences and give them feedback.
I had been asked by my supervising teacher to help her grade notebooks. But it turns out she just was feeling too busy and tired and wanted me to do the useless/meaningless stamping of the book. You just go to the last page write the date and stamp or sign it. No checking really. No comments really. No actual assignment that I could tell either. Students just spent hours copying vocabulary, sentences or entire dialogs from the textbook. No evidence of understanding. No evidence of cognition. Simply copying shapes from one page to another page. Anyway, because of that, and because of the way she asked me to do it, I wasn't really happy about it. But collecting notebooks that actually have some work that can be corrected or commented on, that I'll do. I guess it helps, too, if I'm the one who assigned it. But I can't tell if it's that I'm the one who came up with it or if it's that I know what I'm actually looking at and grading.
Anyway, that brings us to today. This morning I went for a run, but before I did, I managed to get a shot of the little elementary students on their way to school. They all wear their uniforms, and when they are on their way to or from school, they have their yellow hats. AND if it is raining, like today, they have their yellow umbrellas.
(Sorry, picture to come soon.)
Now I'm heading out to do some shopping. I'm playing soccer on Saturday and need some cleats. I also want to get a winter coat before it gets too cold. I'm sure I'll find some other things I absolutely need along the way. Well, I'm off.
Sunday, we had school. Yes, since Japan has no national religion officially (unofficially, it might be Shinto, I think, but even then, I don't think they have a sabbath day as in Christianity) you can have school and/or school events any day of the week. We had Sports day practice on Saturday and sports day on Sunday. And Sunday, we had classes in the morning and it was sort of open house. So during 2nd period, families started showing up and walk around the school and the classes had put projects and assignments on display. The parents also got to walk into the classrooms as lessons were being taught to observe their child in class. Then, in the afternoon, we had the chorus contest. Every homeroom has to sing the school song (I think that's what it was) and then they got to choose their own song to sing. They've been practicing everyday for about a week and a half. Some classes were canceled to allow for practice. People stayed after school to practice. And there is no choice. Everyone participates. And so we all go to the gym (yeah have I mentioned the lack of an auditorium. I guess that's not so different from the US. I remember my elementary schools had stages in the gym or cafeteria. Well, the stage is in the gym. But the difference is that no chairs are brought in. Everyone sits on the floor. There are a few bleachers at the back, but not enough even for just the parents. But remember gym shoes are different from outdoor and indoor shoes. So officially there shouldn't really be any dirt on the floor.
Anyway, all the homerooms got up and sang their two songs and some teachers and student leaders were judges and voted on who did the best. At the end the trophies were awarded to the 2 best 3rd year homerooms.
Yesterday was a regular day at school. Though, I did manage to take over part of the lesson. The teacher had come to me earlier to say what we were doing and she mentioned that she disliked these pages in the book because they were boring. So, before the lesson I came up with something that might make it more relevant to them. It worked out, but then again I have an edge sort of. I think in general since I'm not their real teacher and I'm a foreigner, things I do might seem that much more interesting. Anyway, they were practicing how to say whether you agree or disagree with someone. The book had some lame situation about cell phones and whether or not middle schoolers should have one. I mean I guess it would be interesting if it wasn't in the text book. But then again, I think the controversy over cell phones has past if there ever was one. But it's still in most textbooks as something to hopefully grab students' attention. It never does. Anyway, I didn't think what I came up with was good, but I figured I'd give it a try. I just wrote 4 sentences and the students had to write whether they agree or not and give an additional thought or explanation. The example was "Math is difficult." With possibly answers: "I agree. I have to study a lot." or "I think so, too. I don't understand it." "I disagree. I think it's interesting." or "I see what you mean, but I think it's useful." The sentences I gave them were: "Students should study for 5 hours after school every day." "English is the best subject." "Fall is the most beautiful season." "School lunch is always delicious." The teacher said she thought they really tried to answer these seriously when usually they don't take their work seriously. So, it felt good. And I asked her to collect the notebooks so I could look at the sentences and give them feedback.
I had been asked by my supervising teacher to help her grade notebooks. But it turns out she just was feeling too busy and tired and wanted me to do the useless/meaningless stamping of the book. You just go to the last page write the date and stamp or sign it. No checking really. No comments really. No actual assignment that I could tell either. Students just spent hours copying vocabulary, sentences or entire dialogs from the textbook. No evidence of understanding. No evidence of cognition. Simply copying shapes from one page to another page. Anyway, because of that, and because of the way she asked me to do it, I wasn't really happy about it. But collecting notebooks that actually have some work that can be corrected or commented on, that I'll do. I guess it helps, too, if I'm the one who assigned it. But I can't tell if it's that I'm the one who came up with it or if it's that I know what I'm actually looking at and grading.
Anyway, that brings us to today. This morning I went for a run, but before I did, I managed to get a shot of the little elementary students on their way to school. They all wear their uniforms, and when they are on their way to or from school, they have their yellow hats. AND if it is raining, like today, they have their yellow umbrellas.
(Sorry, picture to come soon.)
Now I'm heading out to do some shopping. I'm playing soccer on Saturday and need some cleats. I also want to get a winter coat before it gets too cold. I'm sure I'll find some other things I absolutely need along the way. Well, I'm off.
October 31, 2007
October 24, 2007
Badminton Club
Today was good. Maybe I'm getting the hang of the sort-of teaching that they are asking me to do. I enjoyed the classes for the most part. Got my Japanese studying in. About 3 hours or so. (Found out that I've gone now from 2 classes tomorrow to 4 classes. Because I missed class 1-1 earlier this week because she was passing out tests and I couldn't teach 2-1 today because of chorus practice.) But it should still be ok, they are still spaced out pretty well tomorrow. And I don't have elementary because it was canceled.
Anyway, after school I came home and unloaded my stuff, checked email, picked up my bedding to hang it outside, knitted a few rows, and changed to gym clothes. I asked Monday if I could go to badminton club. So, that's where I went this afternoon. It was pretty fun. Boy am I tired!! All the running and reaching and hitting. And after my first-in-a-long-time run yesterday, I think I will be super-sore tomorrow. But it was worth it. Tonight, I'm going to Tye's eikaiwa (Remember that one? Yes, community adult English class. Think more conversation class.)
I'm actually ready early for it. I thought I was gonna get picked up at 6 so I was in the shower by 5:58 and ready by 6:05. (Take a sip ST and AH!) But I won't be picked up until 6:40.
Anyway, after school I came home and unloaded my stuff, checked email, picked up my bedding to hang it outside, knitted a few rows, and changed to gym clothes. I asked Monday if I could go to badminton club. So, that's where I went this afternoon. It was pretty fun. Boy am I tired!! All the running and reaching and hitting. And after my first-in-a-long-time run yesterday, I think I will be super-sore tomorrow. But it was worth it. Tonight, I'm going to Tye's eikaiwa (Remember that one? Yes, community adult English class. Think more conversation class.)
I'm actually ready early for it. I thought I was gonna get picked up at 6 so I was in the shower by 5:58 and ready by 6:05. (Take a sip ST and AH!) But I won't be picked up until 6:40.
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