October 2003
Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2003 Other people's stories
Here are some of my fellow JETs stories, slightly censored for a PG-13 rating, about life in Tokushima-ken.
From Brian, a JET from Atlanta, Ga., whos holed up in the mountain village of Ichiu:
I guess lets start with the sports festival. The festival itself was this past Sunday, and Saturday was a practice and preparation day. Most of this festival happens outside, but it had been raining all week due to a passing typhoon and the dirt schoolyard was a big mud puddle.
Great, I think. Now Ill be standing around in the mud for two full days, but just as I round the corner on my way to school on Saturday morning what do I see? Almost every student and teacher at the chugakko (junior high school) was out in the yard with big sponges soaking up the standing water and mud puddles!
I was utterly shocked. Such a concept would never have occurred to me in a million years, but it worked pretty *** well. By later in the day the yard was all but dry. Until then we practiced in the remaining mud as the Japanese will not be impeded.
Sunday morning arrives, and families (grandparents and the whole bit) lined the parking lot side of the yard with picnic blankets and picnics. The day before we had set up parade tents for special guests, old people, and the sound booth. After the obligatory opening ceremony, we got started and again I was surprised. I knew that there would be events for elementary, middle, and high school students, but I had no idea that mothers, fathers, the grandparents, and toddlers would also participate. Each group of people participated in various relay races and fun events.
Perhaps the highlight/most bizarre part of the afternoon was when two male teachers from the chugakko (Inoue and Haraguchi-sensei) were dressed up as women by the students! I think it was some kind of costume/fashion contest. It was a lot of fun, and (of course) I wound up participating in the Awa Odori, a relay race, and a traditional Japanese folk dance.
From Elliot, an English JET whos enjoying the good life in Hiwasa, a beach town known for its annual influx of egg-laying sea turtles:
I have started my first proper teaching and what a baptism of fire that was. After two weeks of mindless self introductions and being able to amuse and woo classes with a single high kick (Elliot knows, of all things, Thai kickboxing) and then spend the next 40 minutes teaching them kickboxing.
My first lesson proper, so to speak, came as a bit of a fall to earth. There I am sitting at my desk reading about Chelseas ascent to the pinnacle of football (soccer) superstardom, when a wee tap of the shoulder wakes me from my dream-like state and tells me that I will be needing to sort out a suitable lesson for class. Course I say, No probs, when is it? I inquire. In 15 minutes, was the reply. Recoil in horror at lack of prep time. Okay, I say, What is the subject?
AIDS IN AFRICA, comes the reply.
Dizzy with absentminded blurriness with this answer, I contemplate how the hell I am going to teach 16-year-old misfits who couldnt give a *** about English, let alone a lesson completely in English on AIDs. Needless to say, the lesson was a disaster the first words written on the board were, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome!!! Mouths dropped, students wondered on in a state of perplexed incomprehension, and I continued to write, Epidemic toll 6,000 die daily in the plague of civilization.
Needless to say again, I lost the bond a teacher strives to create between subject matter and student. All hell broke loose!! Mobiles started chirping merrily, mirrors, hairbrushes, and blusher came out of bags, Walkmans were switched on and comics were read.
I decided it was time for drastic action. Cue drawings of T1 cells injecting virus into DNA of healthy cell. Start explanation of meiosis and mitosis and we are bound to have the class back on our side its an English/biology class in one. Well, it ended up being the longest 50 minute lesson the world ever created, and I had to do it again later in the week, this time incorporating pie charts and a Q&A section at the end. That will teach them, I thought, when I give them a big fat zero.
Little did I realise the students can multi-task. Not only did they get every question right, they were even louder and more obnoxious than the first group, gits!!!
Egg on face it was, triumphant smile it certainly wasnt!!
With this experience in mind, all other lessons to date that have been planned solely by me and have involved playing Pictionary and Pictionary alone. Kids love it, as they can take the *** out of their mates drawings. I love it as it is minimal effort and maximum class attention, and my supervisors love it as Im teaching them new English words and the correct pronunciation.
Away from school I am still having as great a laugh as ever, nearly got myself in an altercation with the old bill the other day for having a piss on someones property oi oi!! I found the corner of what I thought was an empty car park and proceeded to relieve myself when all of a sudden out of the corner of my eye I spy a plump Japanese guy running full pelt straight at me.
Before I know it he grabs my arm and I proceed to piss all down my left leg!!! Not good! As you can imagined, slightly startled I break free of his grip and shout, What the *** are you doing? He didnt understand and waved his arms in disbelief and said something about the old bill, at which point he pulled out his mobile phone. Now I dont know what at that moment in time that old man was thinking but if he thought for one minute I was going to stand there like a nice lad and wait for the rozzas to turn up, he had another thing coming!!
Anyway in an attempt to calm him down I made the no gesture with my arms, which means crossing them over themselves in an x shape. However as I brought my arm up I smashed his mobile halfway across the car park. Super, I thought now, Im gonna be done for indecent exposure and common assault, but to cut a long story short I did manage to explain to him that I was sorry and that it wouldnt happen again. Smelling of urine, I made a sharp exit!!
From Audrey, a Canadian JET living just outside Tokushima City she recently went to Osaka, Japans second-biggest city and a bus-ride away from Tokushima:
I love love love Osaka! Its so fun there. The people in Osaka are really crazy and different from most Japanese people. Theyre really loud and funny and in-your-face. Wed be at the club and guys wouldnt even ask if they could join us, theyd just sit right down (so different from most Japanese men).
When we went shopping, these guys went up to Mika and asked her to ask me if Id consider dating them I dont think I could date a guy I needed a translator to communicate with! But they were really, really funny! I think Osaka is very much a pick-up culture; the Shinsai-bashi bridge is famous for hook-ups. People just stand around and pick people up!
Also, whats up with the really tall people in Osaka? Theyre like giants compared to the rest of the Japanese population. Must be something in the water.
While in Osaka, a man offered to cycle 25 minutes away from his clothing stand to pick up a soccer jersey for me. AND he said he would do it for me if I watched his stand while he was away from it! Talk about going out of your way for someone! He was going to sell me this official jersey for only 1000 yen, so its not like he was going to be making a huge amount of money off of it, and he would lose all the customers he could have had while fetching this jersey for me. Not to mention that I was a perfect stranger that could have run off with half his merchandise.
I got some deals while I was in Osaka (dont get me wrong, its plenty expensive most places). But many stores are privately owned, not franchised like in Canada, so you can haggle down some of the prices. Onegai shimasu means please, and Ive learned that saying Onegai!! can be a really adorable way of pleading with vendors (particularly with my foreign accent). This works especially well with the male merchants. They were like, Ok, cause youre cute and youre from Canada.
Thursday, Oct. 2, 2003 The head honcho gets happy
The school district department I work under had a welcome party for the citys five new ALTs: me, Tashi, Sally, Dan and Drew. The enkai took place at a restaurant called Kaikatei near Tokushima Station. The Japanese are scrupulously punctual and if ever there were an event for which you wouldnt want to be late, itd be your own welcome party. Nevertheless, Sally and I were late.
We got to the general vicinity of the restaurant at 6 p.m., but didnt know exactly where it was (itd been pointed out to me on a map, but then again, everything on the map was in kanji), so we had to call Takeuchi-sensei, who came and fetched us. We were right down the street from the restaurant.
You could tell Takeuchi was very aware of the time by the brisk way she walked but it was okay because the emcee of the night, Yamaguchi-sensei, pulled up right when we arrived we werent the latest ones there.
Takeuchi-sensei said the formalities in Japanese and Yamaguchi-sensei, in English. Takeuchi-sensei also blasted through our weekly ALT meeting, since itd been cancelled because of the enkai. Later, Takeuchi told me how to get rid of my broken rice cooker (happily, Id gotten a new one that works) and said she worried about me: You put too much energy into work. she said. Please relax.
Yeah.
The meal consisted of several small dishes brought out one at a time. The first dish had shrimp on one side and octopus on the other. It was my first time to eat octopus. Id always avoided it at home when I ordered stir-fried noodles and seafood because the bumpy tentacles grossed me out. These pieces of octopus, however, were small enough that there werent any visible suckers. They just looked like whitish lumps of meat in a clear sauce.
Octopus tastes okay. Kind of chewy, like squid. I wont go out of my way to find it.
Another dish was this intriguing custard of some sort in a tiny cup. It was the consistency and color of flan, but it wasnt sweet it tasted of cheese and cream. It felt light and rich at the same time, and was slightly salty. It had a tomato-based sauce on top.
Dessert was a teaspoons worth of orange sherbet. The portions are smaller in Japan and that makes you linger more on your food and enjoy the taste before its gone.
Throughout the entire enkai, people got up to pour drinks for others around the table. If they saw your cup of beer or wine was half-full, theyd fill it up for you but only after insisting you first drink the remainder. It is a very odd circumstance to hear your boss to encourage you to drink up. At school my principal, who knows I dont drink, has said, You need to practice.
Eventually Yamaguchi-sensei ended up on the ALTs end of the table to chat with us. He was the kind man who escorted me to my apartment that first day I arrived in Tokushima and dragged my 120 pounds worth of luggage up to the third floor. In his broken English and my broken Japanese (an endeavor that always takes way more energy and concentration than I ever suspected before I came), we talked about school, skiing, cars and cooking.
He taught for 20 years before begin transferred to his current position at the district office. The teachers here dont have much say on where they end up; every few years they are moved to another place in the district. Yamaguchi-sensei said he missed teaching elementary school kids.
I suspect the beer and wine relaxed him for chatting. I know that was truly the case with shocho-san, my boss boss, the head of the department under which we ALTs are employed. More on that later.
As Id mentioned before, at an enkai you dont touch your food or drink until the opening kampai, which is equivalent to, Cheers! An enkai also has set hours, so at 8:45 p.m., we did the concluding banzai cheer, which involves everyone standing up and yelling, Banzai! three times in succession while throwing their hands up in the air each time. That signals the end of the party and once again, you cant touch the food or drink.
An enkai often has two or three stages: first dinner, then karaoke, then a bar. We decided to proceed onto a karaoke place. All the ALTs and the Japanese school district employees there were six of them filed into a nearby karaoke bar. Thats when the alcohol really started to kick in.
Normally, shocho-san wears a very dour and stern expression on his face. Hes an straightlaced, older man who fits the image of a Japanese salaryman to a T short-sleeved, button-down white shirt and slacks. That night, his expression had been transformed from its usual severity to one that looked pretty happy. It turned out it was happy for the wrong reasons.
One of the ALTs, Cary, had casually invited him to the karaoke session. It was meant to be a general invitation, since all the Japanese employees present that night were going with us. We think in his inebriation, shocho-san misinterpreted the offer.
The karaoke room was divided into two halves of seating, presumably so the waiter could enter easily and distribute drinks. We immediately launched into singing avid renditions of American songs. Mike, the private ALT who lives one floor above me, revealed a hitherto-unknown karaoke-singing monster inside of him. He probably sang the most songs that night mostly rock and he wasnt half-bad, either.
It was partway through the karaoke session that I looked up to see Cary sitting next to shocho-san with her back partly turned to him and a completely stricken expression on her face. Shocho-san was stroking her arm with this slightly lecherous look and Cary was silently imploring us for help.
Id read about Japanese men growing quite uninhibited after some drinks but this was the first time Id seen it in person. We didnt know what to do! He was our boss boss, so we werent sure if turning to our boss would be much help. Plus, confrontation is something the Japanese frown upon.
So we made room for Cary on our side of the room. She hurriedly squeezed in and was buffered by the guy ALTs on either side of us. The next thing we know, shocho-san got up and insisted they move aside so he could sit next to Cary. What could they do? So they moved aside. He squeezed in and threw an arm around Carys shoulders. Her look of panic returned.
While shocho-san looked adoringly upon Cary, we discussed in low voices what we girls discussed our next course of action. It turns out there wasnt really any solution. The guys tried to distract him, but he remained stubbornly intent upon Cary. At one point he turned his gaze on me and even reached a hand up to touch my chin. I jerked my head back sharply. By then I probably had the same expression on my face as Carys.
By then one of the kind, kind Japanese employees must have noticed our discomfort. She got up and dragged shocho-san away from the ALTs and that was that. Cary was particularly discomfited because shes a second-year Tokushima ALT and this was the first time shocho-san had ever done something like that in her time here. A few minutes later, shocho-san abruptly got up from the room and ran out. We think the alcohol must have taken its toll on him. It did on the ALTs.
Friday, Oct. 3, 2003 Japanese names
By now I have met both a Kenshin and a Shinji. Those are the names of two characters from two of my favorite animes. Cooool.
Saturday, Oct. 4, 2003 Groceries and modeling
Heavens to betsy, the local supermarket has Nutella. YES!
I went to TOPIA, the prefectural international association, today for a rehearsal for its international fashion show. I volunteered for the show just for fun. There were already six people wearing Vietnamese clothes so I get to wear Pakistani clothes. Ah, the irony. We were coached by two real models and by real, I mean that the circumference of their thighs was the circumference of my arms. They showed us how to walk correctly, turn and pose. I do all three pretty shabbily and am proud of it.
Sunday, Oct. 5, 2003 Speech contests and soccer fields
I had to be at a speech contest today at 8 a.m. I sat through 27 speeches about world peace, if the world were a village of 100 people, what athletics has taught me, sign language, sacrifice, and internationalization. My eyes did glaze over sometimes but not as often as Id expected. One of my two students who participated earned an honorable mention.
In the afternoon, I went to hang out with some of the JETs at a soccer game of theirs. The soccer fields here are barren. No grass, just dirt. Their baseball fields are like that, too. Baffling. I didnt play, but chatted with some other supporters on the sidelines. Id only brought my windbreaker and it got pretty chilly. I had resolved not to buy any winter clothes because I know a box full of them are on the way, but the cold finally made me break down and decide buy a blue hoodie at a clothing store (a Uniqlo, Japan's version of Old Navy) on the way home.
Monday, Oct. 6, 2003 Brrrr
Still no winter clothes.
Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2003 Japanese lessons, FINALLY
Youd be surprised how often the students ask me if I can fly. Today I finally answered, Yes.
Then there was the kid who I thought first asked, Do you like the devil? But it turned out he was really asking, Do you like Daredevil? as in the movie and comic-book superhero.
Im going on the school trip on Oct. 27!!! Yes! Im going with the third-graders to Universal Studios Japan, better known as simply USJ, in Osaka. The alternative was going with the first-graders to Awaji Island between Shikoku and Honshu, the main island where I could get to, as one teacher informed me, Make butter.
This evening I went to Japanese lessons for the first time. The classes take place at Tokushima International Association. There were 13 students, 12 of whom I already knew because they were fellow ALTs in the prefecture. The remaining guy is a private high school ALT. The rest of us teach at public schools. I was particularly impressed by the dedication some of the ALTs demonstrated in merely coming to class two live more than an hour away, and this is a 20-week class!
Let me explain what Im up against when it comes to learning Japanese.
For starters, as Id mentioned before, Japanese relies on three written systems. There are two syllabaries, which kind of like alphabets. Hiragana handles Japanese words. Katakana handles imported words. For example, my name is printed in katakana on my bank card. And of course, theres kanji, Chinese characters which were imported and adapted to the Japanese language.
There are also different levels of formality. Theres the level you use with your friends, with your parents and elders and with those who are way higher than you on the food chain whom you must impart a great deal of respect. Each level requires a different way of speaking.
Then theres counting. When we count objects, we use the same numbers that we use when were simply counting. When youre counting with numbers, you say, 1, 2, 3, etc. When youre counting objects, you say, Id like three apples, or Id like eight comic books. Here, they have one system for counting numbers, another for people, another for flat objects, another for tall, slender objects and another for everything else. Oy.
Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2003 Bonding with the staff
At school last week the teachers didn't really talk to me, so I was kinda bummed, but this week they've one of them has zoomed in on me to encourage me to study Japanese, or at least one teacher has. Noda-sensei, a second-grade science teacher, decided he would extract me from my radio silence and get me to start talking: You and me have conversation. I speak English. You speak Japanese. Go. Now I'm kinda terrified because I can't even string a coherent sentence together. The other teachers dont talk to me much but they listen in on my conversations with Noda-sensei and pitch in help when he cant think of the English to use.
Noda-sensei has been teaching me regional slang. The teachers in the staffroom cackle whenever I repeat what Noda-sensei has taught me. My Japanese-fluent friend tells me what Ive learned is something only gruff, middle-aged men say, which is why it's so funny to the teachers.
Friday, Oct. 10, 2003 Shikoku English Teachers Conference
I think today was a school holiday. Whatever the case, I went to the Shikoku English Teachers Conference, which took place at the citys kyoiku kaikan, education hall. The teachers and ALTs there were mostly from Tokushima-ken. I saw a bunch of people I hadnt seen in a while.
In the morning, there were two team-teaching demonstration. I went to the junior high school demonstration. I was shocked at the activity the teacher had chosen for her second-year (eighth-grade) students and how the students did quite well considering the difficulty of the task.
They were asked to read a passage about photographer Kevin Carters Pulitzer-prize winning photo of a starving Sudanese girl huddled on the ground while a vulture eyes her. In teams, the students discussed DISCUSSED! In complete sentences! whether they agreed or disagreed with Carter taking the photo. Then the group had to field questions and comments from their fellow students. Although their sentences were quite simplistic, I was really impressed at what these kids accomplished. I dont think my third-years could do a project like this because of the level of English and vocabulary required. I later found out that these students had had five lessons worth to practice so I understood better how they were able to speak so well.
I should have been watching the demonstration from the standpoint of an ALT but the students were discussing journalism, which made me watch it as a journalist. Most of the teams said they felt Carter had done the right thing that without Carters photo people wouldnt have realized the plight of the Sudanese people. But some teams argued that Carter shouldnt have taken the photo and should have helped the girl instead. One team went so far as to say he should only take happy pictures. I wanted to have a little chat with them about the importance of chronicling such things, and that Carter probably had taken hundreds of pictures that day and he never could have known that it would be that photo that would galvanize people.
For lunch, I ordered an obento, a Japanese boxed lunch. I got a box of food and can of oolong tea. The first thing I saw when I opened the bento was a sprawl of prune-colored octopus legs. My friend poked around his lunch and discovered those tentacles belonged to a whole octopus, head and all. It took some of my appetite away. I ate the rice and fried food and a vegetable or two, but left about a third of my food untouched.
In the afternoon, we heard from the guest lecturer, Shizuka Tetsuhito, an assistant professor of English at Kansai University. He was a Japanese man with some pretty interesting stances.
He complained about how the English students who come to him speak horrible English and he blamed their failings on the system. He cited an article (though I am wondering if it was an editorial) that stated that Japan ranks alongside North Korea North Korea! in its English-speaking ability because of its insularity. He urged English teachers who cant pronounce, berry, belly and very, to quit their jobs until they could pronounce those words because if they cant pronounce English sounds correctly, he pointed out, how can they expect their students to do so? The Japanese have a hard time pronouncing ls and rs not to mention vs and ths. Thats partly because three of those four sounds dont even appear in their language.
Tetsuhito said he had been to English-teacher conferences before and had been confounded when the discussions took place in Japanese. That was such a joke, he said. He asked why they were speaking Japanese at an English conference and the officials had said they had important information to impart and that they wanted to make sure everyone understood. Tetsuhito said by relying on Japanese, they marginalize the importance of English. They should hold such discussions in English and for those English teachers who feel uncomfortable in that setting, thats how they should feel, he said: Because you should feel distress, you should suffer, to motivate you to learn English better. You are paid to teach English.
We Tokushima ALTs were allowed to leave after his lecture because discussions were scheduled to follow discussions that would, of course, take place in Japanese.
Afterward, I rode my bike to Bunka no Mori, the cultural center with the library, to return some books. I couldnt figure out where the book return was, though, so I asked the librarian in half Japanese and half English. She didnt understand what I was saying and just froze in her seat with this blank expression on her face. She thought I was trying to check out some books so finally I just gave up trying to return the books and looked for my library card, thinking shed figure out my request once she scanned my card and my books. But egads, Id lost my library card!
I made a hasty exit and went to the desk where I got my first library card. To forgo the same language confusion, I immediately asked if the lady at the desk spoke English. She didnt, but thankfully, she motioned me to a male employee down the way who spoke some English. Ahhhh relief. I got a slip of paper to use as my temporary library card and he even took the books Id wanted to return. I have learned that everyday tasks that take mere seconds in American get drawn out far longer here because of the language barrier and cultural differences.
Saturday, Oct. 11, 2003 Vivash
I met up with Sally and Chanda, who is placed in Awa Kawashima just outside the city, for lunch this afternoon. We went to Vivash, this nice eatery downtown. We spent all this time outside the restaurant staring at the katakana menu trying to figure out what sort of food to order, only to discover that the menu at the tables had both katakana AND English. Good job, good job. I had a BLT bagel (which included, intriguing, a sunny-side egg) and a drink of something akin to strawberry puree. It tasted delicious.
I had intended to take the train to Hiwasa and check out the local festival and a hiking trail but lunch was so late and the sky was overcast, so I decided against it. I bought some candles I have gotten over my fear of accidentally burning down my apartment and then headed home to do some errands.
That night, I had dinner at Sallys apartment. Chanda made what we dubbed, gone-wrong chili. Sally had thought she had all the ingredients we needed but then again, British Sally had never had chili before and had thought chili powder would suffice for chili seasoning. Gone-wrong chili was an amalgam of tomatoes, kidney beans, bell peppers and tuna. It was fine. I brought chocolate cake for dessert.
Sunday, Oct. 12, 2003 Warm again
My winter clothes came in! YES! I now can now face the winter with confidence. I also got my shipment of English-language books, which includes what surely must be the entire Robert Jordan fantasy series, given to me by a photographer friend from Abilene. There are enough books to get me at least through the winter, maybe even the year. Plus, I got my classical guitar music. Now all I need is a guitar, case, capo and tuner. I am anxious to feel music beneath my fingers again.
I forgot to ship over my copy of Larry McMurtrys Lonesome Dove. I hope I can find a copy here to read in the meantime; I had glanced at the first two pages before coming here and was instantly hooked by the writing.
My parents also included these goodies in my packages: Pringles, chocolate-chip cookies, Kit-Kat bars, peanut butter (I realized I can now make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches!!!) and crackers. I figure that at the rate I snack, theyll last me a week.
So it looks like Ill be spending my Christmas and New Years in Vietnam. Wow. My first non-family international trip not counting my current situation, of course. I am going with Sally and Chanda. We booked our flight today. The travel agent was asking where I work and just as I uttered the names of my two schools, I heard a bunch of boys saying, Hello Vivi! behind us. It was a pack of some of my students at Kamona Junior High School, who happened to have been passing by. I waved happily to them, then turned back to the travel agent: My students, I explained.
I spent most of my afternoon in sodden shoes. It rained all day, tauntingly so. It would rain hard and we would take shelter, and then it would lightly, so we would resume our trudging, but then it would rain hard again as if to punish us for trusting the weather. Sallys bike had a flat and a possible puncture and we spent the afternoon searching for a bicycle shop open on a Sunday. It was difficult and involved us first going in search of a the bike shop employed by the city, which turned out to be closed, and then asking for help at TOPIA and then calling our supervisor before finally going to a bike shop that had opened especially for us. Always in the rain.
Monday, Oct. 13, 2003 Squishy shoes
I was supposed to go on a relaxing hike up Mt. Tsurugi today, a national holiday (Sports Day). Tsurugi-san is the tallest mountain in the prefecture. The trip had been organized by the Tokushima International Association, where we were supposed to meet at 6:30 a.m.
I had already slept badly this past night because I knew I had to wake up at 5:30 a.m. Sally called me at 5:15 a.m. wondering what I was going to do. I was exhausted from my tossing and turning and it had rained all night in fact, it started to rain harder as we spoke and I finally gave up and said I didnt think I was going to go. If I had gone, that would have meant biking nearly half an hour through the downpour to get to TIA and then hiking up a rain-saturated mountain.
You know rain has been quite the bane. Showers kept us from dancing in Awa Odori, from rafting, and now, from conquering Mt. Tsurugi. Well, theres always next year.
Even the promise of a visit to an onsen after the hike wasnt enough to inspire me. I went back to sleep and woke up at 9 a.m. Ahhhhhh. It didnt rain the rest of the day (of course) but I enjoyed taking the day easy. That afternoon, I went to an AJET meeting at TOPIA. During the winter, the Tokushima JETs put on a musical because well, theres not much else to do. Past productions include Awa Cinderella and Snow White and the Seven Giants. Last years was an entire original production: Harry Potter and the Beckham Rescue. The audiences were noticeably bigger last year and the JETs think it was because they squeezed both Harry Potter and David Beckhams name in the title.
JETs who have done it in past years said the musical is done predominantly in English with some Japanese sprinkled in for effect (words in Awa ben, the regional dialect, apparently draw uproarious reactions from the crowd) and for explanation. We spend December through February organizing and rehearsing and they perform it in March.
At this meeting, we decided on a retelling of Shakespeares Taming of the Shrew for this years musical. Its the 10th year of the AJET musical and they want something good. I volunteered to work on the crew and I think I may end up being the person with the headset who acts as a traffic controller, letting the others know whos going onstage next, etc.
Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2003 More rain
You know, every time I think Im becoming adept at the Japanese way of riding a bicycle with one hand and holding an umbrella in the other, the asphalt reminds me how foolish Im being.
Riding a bike to get around sometimes makes me feel, nostalgically, like kid. Having to nurse my scraped knees and bruises makes me feel like a kid, too, but unnostalgically.
Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2003 Field day
I have no classes this week because midterm tests are afoot. The tests themselves take place on Thursday and Friday but I have no classes Tuesday and Wednesday, either, because the teachers dont want their students learning anything new. Ive been kept pretty busy nevertheless.
Since I had no classes, Ogasawara-sensei, the teacher of the special education class, invited me to come to her kids field day today. I met them at 8 a.m. in front of Lawsons, a convenience store close to my apartment, and together we biked to a track and field area east of my neighborhood. My students competed against other special education classes from around the city, including students from Kamona Junior High School.
I was pretty much a clumsy third wheel. The students competed in running, jumping and throwing events while the teachers scurried around timing them and measuring their feats. I did what I could but most of the time took a bunch of pictures. It was a good chance to snap some photos when the students were preoccupied with something else so they wouldnt flash that ubiquitous peace sign. I also got to test out my digicam's function for taking a rapid series of pictures.
For lunch, one of Kokufu students, Yukiko, had even prepared a bento a boxed lunch for me! I opened the plastic container to find a careful arrangement of two rice balls and fruit and vegetables. I did a double-take staring at the rice balls. They were staring back at me!!! The rice had EYES! Upon closer inspection, I discovered tiny little whole white fish had been mixed in with and camouflaged by the rice. It was a little difficult to bite in, but my hunger soon overrode any hesitation.
Thursday, Oct. 16, 2003 What to do if the earth starts to shake
I showed the students at Kokufu the pictures I took of them at their field day. I had downloaded them from my digicam to my laptop, which I brought with me to lunch. They loved seeing the pictures, and how it was like stop-action film. I ended up flipping through all the photos like four times. It was a nice feeling being able to communicate with them in that way through images since most days, I don't even have that.
Then one of my students bestowed me with a bag of rice! And now just any rice, but rice that his father than grown! Wow. And rice is pricey stuff, too, here in Japan. It reminded me of all the hard-core FFA members in Texas and how they stressed how important it is to know and appreciate from where you food comes.
On the agenda at the weekly ALT meeting: Discussing what to do if an earthquake hits as well as receiving paperwork to continue JET a second year. Not necessarily a very strategic move.
Earthquakes, tsunamis, typhoons, volcanoes. Oh, Japan, you are a hoot.
Friday, Oct. 17, 2003 Pizza Hut
I had some friends over at my apartment this evening for pizza. A Pizza Hut recently opened across the way from me and I was anxious to try it out. We ordered two large, thick-crust pizzas, one with deluxe toppings and one with some Italian-style toppings (chicken, eggplant and onions). I had been leaning toward the seafood pizza shrimp, squid and broccoli but declined because it also had mayonnaise as a topping. Yeah. The Japanese like peculiar combinations of pizza toppings.
Saturday, Oct. 18, 2003 Hiking in Hiwasa
I have really wanted to get out of Tokushima City for a while, so today I did. I rode the train to Hiwasa, a coastal town south of here, and did a little hiking.
First I had to do three loads of laundry, so I didnt get going until 1:30 p.m., when I caught the train in front of my apartment. Now, remember that my understanding of the Tokushima train system is still quite hazy. I tried to pay for my ticket from my station, Kuramoto, direct to Hiwasa, but the ticket machine wouldnt take my 1,000-yen (~$10) bill, so I paid for a 200-yen ticket to Tokushima Station.
Once I got to Tokushima Station, I went up to TOPIA on the sixth floor and enlisted the aid of Claire, a CIR, in decoding the train schedule to figure out which train I needed to take to Hiwasa. I bought a 1040-yen ticket to Hiwasa and jumped on the 2:13 p.m. westbound train.
Unfortunately, its last stop was Annan, which only took me halfway to Hiwasa. It was a little past 3 p.m. I got off and asked a conductor when the next local train I hadnt bought an express train ticket came. He told me the next local train came at 3:48 p.m. Rather than wait that long, I jumped the next express train when it rolled in at about 3:15 p.m. The fare for the express train to Hiwasa was 1150-yen, so I figured perhaps theyd let me pay the difference.
At 4 p.m. the train finally got to Hiwasa. I was the first person off the train and I gave the conductor my ticket and a 100-yen coin since I didnt have 90-yen in coins. But he made me pay the whole ticket! All 1150 yen! I was greatly irritated by this, but its not like I couldnt explain my intentions. Seriously, I think if I hadn't put the 100-yen coin in his head, thereby attracting his attention, I would have gotten off scot-free. They never look at your tickets when they collect them. Arrrrghhh. Grumpy and disgruntled, I walked out of the station 2,190 yen lighter.
By then the sun was setting and I knew I wouldnt have my time to hike. That was okay; I hadnt come for an all-out hike. I only had a half-bottles worth of water and no cell phone. Getting lost on the mountain wouldnt be much of a feather in my cap. I had come more to scout out the difficulty of the trail and check out the views in hopes of dragging some of my friends back in the future for a full day of easy hiking.
I had gotten directions from a Tokushima City ALT who lived in Hiwasa last year. As per his instructions, I walked straight out of the train station, spotted Hiwasa Castle on the mountain (more like a glorified hill) in front of me, found the red bridge and walked up the roadway that skirted the mountain. Once at the top, I found the discrete entrance to the train and began trekking.
The trail was very easy with occasionally great views of the town and the ocean. About an hour later, I got to a look-out point. I thought about reading for a while, but decided itd be better to head back. It was already shady on that side of the mountain and I didnt want to worry about struggling to find my way in the dark.
For a brief, panicky moment I was lost.
The trail branches out at several points and I couldnt remember which one Id taken. I made several U-turns looking for familiar footing. I backtracked, paused, ruminated. The worst-case scenario flashed through my mind. The mountain wasnt that big nor the trail that long. If I really had to, I could bed down at a look-out point and, in the morning, see the trail to its end. Both ends led to a train station.
Thankfully, I didnt have to resort to that. Eventually I found my original trail and was greatly comforted to see some signs that I recalled from my earlier ascent. I ambled back to town, forked over another 1,040 yen for a ticket and waited for the 5:53 p.m. train to come. It was a local train, which meant it stopped at every single stop along the way all 20. I didnt get to Tokushima Station until 7:40 p.m.
Triumph of the day: I figured out how to transfer trains! I had a copy of the Tokushima Station train schedule and finally figured out how to put it to good use. I made the switch so smoothly, I had to give myself props. I exited the train Id boarded in Hiwasa and boarded the 7:43 p.m. eastbound train. I got into Kuramoto Station a few minutes before 8 p.m. Beautiful.
Sunday, Oct. 19, 2003 20 things to do and see in Japan
I came across this hand-out that I received back during a travel session in July at the JET Orientation in Tokyo. It listed 20 things to do and see in Japan:
1. Hot springs (onsen). Get naked with strangers in hot water.
2. Temples and shrines.
3. Scenic views (Mt. Fuji if you must).
4. Food No. 1: Fugu (puffer fish) and/or Kobe beef. At least one thing around US $100.
6. Food No. 2: Something gross or still alive. But not whale (kujira). Never whale.
7. Gardens (zen, miniature, bonsai, etc.)
8. Kitch-a-rama, Japanese style.
9. Japanese traditional liquor and karaoke (together at last)
10. Museums (including peace museums in Hiroshima and Nagasaki).
11. Japanese baseball game and/or sumo match.
12. Traditional tea ceremony or flower arranging.
13. Traditional arts and crafts (make or buy pottery, fabric, glassware, paper, etc.).
14. Martial arts (take your pick).
15. Castles (not many are authentic but some are interesting).
16. Kyoto and Tokyo (try Shinjuku Station at rush hour).
17. Festivals local and national.
18. Factories (sake, miso, tofu, tatami).
19. Shinkansen (the bullet train).
20. Pachinko (but try it only once).
So I guess my itinerary is set. Pachinko is this bizarre slot machine-like game that allows the Japanese to get around their governments ban on gambling. In pachinko, you win ball bearings. Then you leave the pachinko parlor and go in search of a ball-bearing store that takes your winnings and trades it for money. Because thats not gambling.
And seriously, I am trying at all costs to avoid eating something still alive or newly dead. Just way too gross. I have made it very clear to my co-workers how I like my meat cooked. As for whale meat, check out Slate.coms really funny look at Japanese culture, including eating whale meat.
Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2003 How I manage to not injure myself more than I do
Sometimes I marvel how Ive managed to escape more injuries than the ones I already suffer.
Riding my bicycle is in itself a crapshoot, what with the drivers, pedestrians and other cyclists that I have to maneuver around. There are the school kids who like to ride two, three and even four riders abreast, thereby hogging the entire sidewalk. There are the little girls who like to swerve their bikes back and forth, back and forth on the sidewalk, thereby providing tantalizing but ultimately futile opportunities to pass by them. There are the pedestrians and cyclists with umbrellas, always on the verge of poking an eye of yours out.
And then theres my tendency to not be as careful as I should.
I was helping my lunch-group students cook lunch one day at school. The teacher put me in charge of cutting some of the vegetables. The knives were very sharp. I nearly cleaved a finger off.
At calligraphy, I have been working on carving my own han, stamp, with a kanji for my name on it. People who do calligraphy often sign their work with a stamp of their name. My teacher let me pick which kanji I wanted to use for my name. Since the Japanese language doesnt have a v sound, I have to go with a kanji for the sound bi (bee). I could choose between the bi that meant beautiful and the bi that meant eyebrow. Hmmm, guess which one I picked? (Although I have been signing my name beautiful eyebrow on my calligraphy)
I chose to do a stamp with just one kanji on it rather than two. I got a jade-green slab of stone on which to carve my name on one end. I drew the kanji in pencil. My sensei gave me the tools (again, very sharp) with which to do the carving. Although I didnt injure myself, I sure came close. My hand slipped a time or two, which resulted in a stamp with some nicks and scratches for character.
But I finished my han today! The kanji I picked looks rather spider-like. It rocks. Now I have a Japanese stamp with my name that translates to beautiful and a Chinese stamp with my name that translates to Small-Small Yellow.
Separately, I got quite a laugh at school today. After classes ended, I went, as I always do, with the special-ed class on their daily two-kilometer jaunt. I always ride my bicycle alongside the last student in the group. Today the class was smaller than usual because all the second-years had to go to a meeting about their school trip. I ended up riding alongside Kawae, a shy little girl with pigtails who never ever talks to me, although she does sneak quick glances at me.
Iguchi, one of the boys, often hangs back and runs with the last person in the group even though hes capable of staying up front. The three of us made it to the halfway point and had just turned around when, out of nowhere, this cute little dog ran out into the road with us.
It turns out Kawae is terrified of dogs, even cute little ones.
Of course, the dog immediately honed in on her and ignored Iguchi and me. Both he and tried to get the dogs attention to let Kawae run on ahead of us, but the dog didnt want to get near us and Kawae didnt want to leave us. She started getting really panicky. The majority of the jog back to school involved Kawae running in circles around my bicycle trying to keep me and the bicycle between her and the dog, who really only wanted to be friends with her.
I felt terrible because Kawae kept yelping, Teacher, teacher, help me! in Japanese and really couldnt offer much in the way of verbal consolation. I wanted to tell her the dog wasnt going to hurt her but, well, my vocabulary only includes dog and hurt thus far.
Eventually the dog got sidetracked at a curve in the road and we were able to continue on our way back to school unimpeded, although Kawae kept on throwing nervous glances over her shoulder.
Thursday, Oct. 23, 2003 Winter + No Central Heating = No Good
On a somewhat terrifying note, I have learned that my apartment has a reputation a REPUTATION! of being the coldest apartment among the ALTs in the city. I am told that I am most certainly going to be able to see my breath while walking around my apartment. This does not bode well. Maybe thats why my apartment has three electric heaters and a kerosene heater. Im going to have to figure out how to use them sooner or later.
Friday, Oct. 24, 2003 Japanese pharmaceuticals
Ive caught a cold, so I psyched myself up to check out a Japanese drug store. Japan has very strict rules on what sort of medication you can bring into the country and cold medication is among the prohibited drugs. So I could bring cough drops, but not Nyquil.
I was kind of dreading this day. I paid a visit to Charley, a drug store down the way from me, hoping Id find something, anything that looked familiar. Sadly, that didnt happen. I wandered this maze of drugs completely clueless as to their purposes.
I could have asked for which medication to use for coughs, but then Id have to brave the directions. And I think Im being pretty reasonable when I say that when it comes to being sick and taking medication, you really dont want to take chances. You want to know what youre taking, how much to take and when to take it. I dont mind diving in when it comes to unknown foods, but medicine is another category altogether.
Instead, I went home and got online. Surely there was some virtual store where I could get Nyquil. I went to the Foreign Buyers Club, which specializes in serving the foreigner community in Japan. Typically you buy their products (American-brand food and health products, etc.) in bulk and then receive your order weeks later. That wasnt going to cut it for me. I needed relief and I needed it now.
To my delight, I found out the Foreign Buyers Club has an Express Store that can get you stuff in five to seven days. I bought $40 worth of Nyquil, cough drop and Extra Strength Tylenol and paid $10 for shipping. It was a total rip-off when it came to the prices, I know, but I was desperate. I knew by the time the medication arrived Id probably be over my cold, but was comforted that Id be armed for future colds.
Saturday, Oct. 25, 2003 Hanging out in Takamatsu
I spent the afternoon in Takamatsu, the capital of Kagawa-ken just west of Tokushima-ken, with Sally and one of my English teachers, Kashiba-sensei. My first time out of the prefecture since arriving in August, whoo-hoo! Kashiba-sensei picked us up at Tokushima Station and we drove the one-and-a-half hours on the expressway to Takamatsu to check out a traveling calligraphy exhibit. Kashiba-sensei invited me and Sally to go with her when she discovered our interest in shodo, Japanese calligraphy.
Takamatsu is way bigger than Tokushima City. It seems more modern, too. As Kashiba-sensei dealt with the traffic, I looked around curiously wondering how many JETs are located in Kagawa-ken.
The exhibit was fascinating. It was helpful that Kashiba-sensei was there to explain the intricacies of the art because without that appreciation, shodo simply looks like sloppy handwriting to me. Kashiba-sensei studies kana, a style of calligraphy in which the writing is very squiggly and thin-lined. I had just finished carving my own han, stamp, so it was interesting to see other peoples stamps, too. I liked looking at the paper sometimes for kana pieces, they would choose colored paper, sometimes a bold, shocking color and other times a pale blush of pastel.
Afterward, we walked through the nearby park in Takamatsu. It felt kind of like NYCs Central Park not in size, but in atmosphere: a brief escape to nature from the concrete of the city.
Then we went for some udon noodles. Udon noodles are thick and white. They are also the specialty of the prefecture. You can get udon noodles in cafs here, even if its not on the menu. We went to a self-serve udon place where you pick want sort of toppings you want. Kashiba-sensei says only really good udon places can serve their food that way because the noodles are the focus of the meal, not the service or decor. In theory, she said, the shabbier the udon place, the better the noodles.
I actually dont particularly like udon; pho is way better but it was a nice cap on our visit to Takamatsu. On the drive back, Kashiba-sensei told us about this seafood restaurant she and the other third-grade teachers had visited recently. I guess to guarantee to guests that the food is fresh, the chef pulls the live, writhing seafood and places it on a grill before the guests. You get to see the lobsters and crabs try to climb their way out of a certain death. Sally was horrified but I was intrigued and, when Kashiba-sensei jokingly invited me to go one day, I agreed and said Id bring my camera.
When we got into Tokushima, Sally and I met up with some other JETs and went to Vivash. While slurping my Strawberry Frozen, a sweet strawberry puree, I grilled a fellow JET named Greg about his four months in Vietnam and how he got around and how safe he felt while in Vietnam.
Sunday, Oct. 26, 2003 And walk and pose and turn
I had to be downtown at 8:20 a.m. to prepare for the fashion show in TOPIAs international festival. I was rather disgruntled that we had to be there so early considering the show didnt start until 3:30 p.m. But then I found out just why they had us come so early.
First we rehearsed indoors in Clement Plaza, a mall-like shopping area. Then we rehearsed outside on the top floor of Clement Plaza in its beer garden. This all had to take place before Clement Plaza opened at 10 a.m. Then we were shepherded to the fifth floor for hair and makeup. As Im no fan of hair or beauty products (lotion aside), I tried to put this step off as long as possible. Maybe if I waited to the last minute, I thought, the makeup and hair people wouldnt have as much time to linger on me.
Didnt happen. When it was finally my turn, I gingerly sat down in my chair and watched in horror as they applied layer after skin-suffocating layer of makeup on my face. The beauticians worked in steps so I returned later so they could put on eye shadow and lipstick. The beautician student working on me thoughtfully let me choose between gold and bright red lipstick. I think she picked the gold eye shadow to match the gold trim on my Pakistani clothes.
The hair lady asked me if I wanted my hair up or down. I said down. She proceeded to tease my hair into a helmet of tangles and hairspray.
We did two fashion shows. I know I should have smiled more, but its hard to smile on cue for such a long period of time with all these people watching you. Personally, I think the Vietnamese ao dais were the best lot in the bunch, so I was kinda envious of the six or so people who got to wear that attire. Oh well. Next year Ill bring my own.
Rowan, a British ALT, and his Venezuelan girlfriend Elaine, a local med student, got to wear traditional Japanese clothes. The attire was so complicated that two Japanese women came to help get them into their outfit properly. I also envied the kimono as well.
At last weeks rehearsal our modeling coaches had graphed out all these different walking patterns to do on the catwalk. But sometime between then and now, the organizers decided that would take too long and that just a simple walk down, walk back would suffice. Worked for me.
Monday, Oct. 27, 2003 Rejected
Another day of waking up early. I had to be at Kokufu Junior High School by 6:30 a.m. this morning to go with the third-year students to Universal Studios Japan in Osaka. In the chill of the early morning, the students lined up outside listening to the teachers give them directions. Five charter buses pulled into the school parking lot to pick them up. We headed out at 7 a.m.
I was assigned to Bus 3. I thought I would be placed with the third-year English teacher, but instead it was with another teacher who spoke little English. The teacher, brave soul, still tried talking to me. We didnt get far.
The buses passed through Naruto, Tokushima-kens second largest city, just north of Tokushima-shi. Naruto is famous for its whirlpools, which can be seen from the bridge that connects Shikoku with Awaji Island. I got a chance to see the whirlpools as we passed over the bridge.
We got a half-hour break (break?! Wed only driven an hour and a half!) at a rest-stop on Awaji Island, just before we got on another bridge that connected to Kobe on the main island, Honshu. It was my first time to leave the island of Shikoku since arriving in Tokushima-ken.
We pulled into the Universal Studios Japan at 10 a.m. Heres when it got pathetic.
I had simply figured that once we got to USJ, Id just tag along with some of the girl students, since they travel in small packs anyway. But as we neared the ticket booth, it became pretty apparent that none of them was interested in inviting me to go with them. I cant blame them. Who wants to go with the chaperone? How uncool is that? So I decided, fine, Ill just wander around on my own. No problem. (Cause I sure wasnt going to tag along with the teachers.)
As I waited in line behind some Kokufu girls (their back to me, of course), I made the unfortunate mistake of making eye contact with one of the Kokufu teachers. The next thing I know, as I passed through the ticket-counter, I felt a hand tugging on my clothes. I turned and saw a Kokufu girl. She asked if I wanted to go together. I cheerfully said sure, and waited for her to drag me to her resident gaggle. But no! She started walking with me while looking altogether miserable.
I figured out that the teacher whod seen me on my own had probably grabbed this poor child and ordered her to go with the illiterate ALT. She obviously did not want to be with me. While we waited in line for the first ride, I pieced together enough Japanese words to tell her that her company wasnt necessary. I wasnt going to spend the rest of my afternoon with an unhappy teen-ager. I managed to convey to her that after the ride was over, she could go with her friends and I could go on my own.
She nodded a little too happily. The moment the ride was over, she split to find her friends. I was a little insulted that the girl didnt even put up a polite protest but in the end, both of us were happy with the split, so it didnt matter.
USJ was definitely foreigner-friendly, so I had no problem finding my way around. Most everything was in Japanese and English. A lot of the performers around the amusement park were foreigners, too. A lot of Americans (or maybe even Canadians its hard to tell sometimes) in the lot. In the three hours I had left we were supposed to regroup at 2:15 p.m. I rode the Back to the Future Ride (which made me glad I hadnt eaten beforehand), grabbed a burger (ahhhh burger ), and saw three shows: one on animation, one with animals and a Wild West Stunt Show.
In the Wild West Stunt Show, the action revolved around a pair of cowboys, one of them played by a Japanese person and one of them by an American. In the beginning, the American cowboy said, Howdy! to the audience. I so wanted to stand up and give a Hookem Horns sign and yell, HOWDY! back even though I NEVER say howdy. This is what happens when youve been separated from Texas for long periods of time.
Anyways, of course no one answered the cowboy when he said, Howdy! so the two performers of course went into this bit where the Japanese cowboy explained what howdy meant and made a big production of getting the audience to say it back. The show they proceeded into lots of entertaining fighting, falling, shooting and explosions.
When I returned to the meeting point, I noticed that almost everyone, teachers included, had big bags of souvenirs from USJ. The Japanese have this custom of bringing back gifts for friends and family whenever they go somewhere. One of the teachers asked if Id gotten anything. I hardly ever get souvenirs. They just take up space, a luxury I dont have. Id rather get take pictures instead.
One of the kids had gotten a Scream outfit, the one with the black robe and the white Scream mask. He put it on over his uniform and wore it the rest of the ride back to Kokufu. At the rest-stop, all the other students clambered to take pictures with him.
I tried catching some shut eye on the bus on the way back to the school. Just listening to the girls high-pitched screeching and giggling made me rather glad that I hadnt ended up going with a gaggle of them. It would have been wearying on the nerves. The students were so loud on the trip back. I continue to be amazed with the behavior Japanese teachers let slide. I can understand kids being loud on a fieldtrip, but to let the kids shout at each other and jump all over the seats? Seems a bit overindulgent.
Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2003 Annoying the teacher
Tuesdays are my Japanese class day. I go to the Tokushima International Association for a class that lasts from 6:15 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. On Thursdays I go to the Tokushima Prefectural International Association from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. for a separate Japanese class. Because both teachers are not good teachers at all, I figure going to two bad Japanese classes a week really add up to the equivalent of one mediocre class a week.
My Tuesday class is populated by mostly other ALTs, so we all know each other. We help each other out interpreting what the teacher is saying because sometimes he doesnt explain grammatical rules very well. It makes us wonder if its better to take Japanese classes from a foreigner who understands the confusion of going from English to Japanese.
Because of our bewilderment with the mechanics of the Japanese language, we are asking our teacher questions constantly. Sometimes they have to do with the grammatical point hes teaching us and other times, its something else altogether that we still cant figure out. For example, Im forever asking the teacher about the jisho (dictionary) form of verbs hes conjugated. Thats the equivalent of asking for the infinitive. My constant inquiry for the jisho form amuses the other ALTs. But I cant very well conjugate a verb if I dont know its original form now, can I?
Sometimes our teacher gets this really pinched look on his face. I think we give him headaches because he has yet to actually finish the lesson hes planned for us each week. We are forever interrupting him with our questions. But thats what hes THERE for, right?
Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2003 Tea ceremony
On Wednesdays I go to Kurohashi-senseis home for calligraphy lessons. I discovered she also teaches other traditional Japanese arts like chado (tea ceremony) and kado (flower arrangement). Today I got a taste of the tea ceremony.
First, I did some calligraphy. Kurohashi-sensei asked if I wanted to get a calligraphy brush. Since Ive been freeloading off her thus far, I went ahead and bought a $15 calligraphy brush. She threw in this cool reed mat you use to wrap around your brush to keep it in good condition. I also bought $35 worth of handmade paper. I worked on the kanji for the four seasons: spring, summer, fall and winter.
In the tea ceremony, I ended up drinking way more green tea and sweets than Id expected. First Kurohashi-senseis two students, Yoko and Reika, practiced and then Kurohashi-sensei herself did it. I sat on the side as a guest. That meant that I just had to watch, drink the tea and eat the sweets. The tea they used in the tea ceremony is different from the tea you typically get in the vending machines and in bottled form. For the tea ceremony, they use a powdered green tea, to which they add hot water and whip into a creamy froth. At least its supposed to be creamy. Kurohashi-sensei let me try using the whisk on my cup of tea and it ended up green but not creamy.
In addition to drinking the tea, you eat some sweets as part of the ceremony. You place the sweets (which are not altogether that sweet because the Japanese dont have as much of a sweet tooth as us) on what they call a special dish, but its actually a dish composed of paper specially reserved for the tea ceremony. Kurohashi-sensei ended up giving me some of that paper and even a little purse to keep it in. Both Yoko and Reika had their own special purse for that purpose.
The tea ceremony is a fascinating custom to watch. Every movement is measured, deliberate and graceful. You must hold your hand a certain way. Straight fingers are considered most elegant. When entering the tatami room the woman performing the tea ceremony must always step first with her right foot. She must first step with her right foot into every tatami mat thereafter until she gets to the place in the room where shell the tea. When she departs, she first steps with her left foot onto every mat. The amount of detail that goes into the ceremony is astounding.
Thursday, Oct. 30, 2003 What do YOU want to be in the future?
Now that Im back at Kamona Junior High School, Kashiba-sensei put me to work right away interviewing her students about what they want to be in the future. This is what my interviewing skills have been reduced to:
What do you want to be in the future?
What do you want to DO in the future?
Do you want to go abroad?
Repeat.
I interviewed four classes of third-year students thats about 150 kiddos about their aspirations. Kashiba-sensei gave me a dialogue to follow that consisted of the three questions listed above. The students knew to expect those. However, she also let me ask simple questions based on their answers. I was skeptical as to how well the students would fare when I had to ask them spontaneous questions Id done something similar at Kokufu with third-years, with horribly depressing results but was pleasantly surprised to find that the majority were able to handle them.
Sometimes I changed the question from, What do you want to be in the future? to What do you want to be when you grow up? because that sounds more natural. But the when you grow up part really confused the students and made them all panicky. So this is what Id do: First, Id ask, What do YOU want to be whenyougrowup? and throw in the when you grow up part really quickly. If I was lucky, the student wouldnt notice and would answer. But a lot of times, the student would START to answer, but a second later realize I hadnt asked the exact same question that Kashiba-sensei had given them. Then theyd stop in mid-sentence and look at me blankly and get all worried. Id sigh and rephrase the question to the original one.
Nevertheless, I ended up really enjoying this exercise with the students. It gave me a lot of insight into what careers are popular, which students have a sense of humor and which have an impressive grasp of English. It also opened my eyes to the fact that a good 50 percent of them have no inclination whatsoever to leave Japan the most popular reason being, I like Japan.
Some of the answers I got in these interviews:
One boy said he wanted to be like a soccer player I didnt recognize. I asked why. He has a magical left foot, the kid replied. I loved his response. What made me feel even better was that when I asked if he liked David Beckham and if he liked Real Madrid (Beckhams soccer team), the kid replied, Yes and So-so, which meant he was actually listening to the question and not agreeing blindly.
I want to lead an uneventful life. I asked why. I want to depend on everybody.
I want to marry and I want children. This was a boy talking.
I want to be a bride.
I want to be an acupuncture therapist.
I want to be a voice actress.
I want to fly. I like the sky.
I want to drink the night away. When this student told me that, I totally cracked up. I was the only person in the room who appreciated the colloquialism. Apparently the boy had looked it up.
I want to be the richest man in Japan. I like money.
Some other careers of choice: engineer, police office, interpreter, teacher, doctor, nurse, librarian, writer, chef.
I want to go to Australia. I want to hold a koala.
I want to go to the North Pole. I want to see a polar bear.
I want to breed ginger cats. I swear this girl said this.
I want to be the No. 1 Awa Odori dancer.
I want to be famous.
I want to be a playboy.
The most popular places students wanted to visit were: Australia, Korea (the reason most often being: to eat Korean food), Europe, Italy and America.
One boy said he wanted to go to Mexico. I asked him if he spoke Spanish hoping hed say yes so I could throw out some Spanish into the conversation. But, alas, he said no. But Kashiba-sensei was impressed (or perhaps puzzled) enough to bring up his choice of countries after the interviews were finished. She asked if he spoke Spanish just to be sure and again, he said no. I mentioned Id studied Spanish a long time ago. She asked me to share some with the class, so I was like, Uhhhh Ohaiyo gozaimasu (Good morning), Buenos dias. How are you O genki desu ka? is Como estas?
The kids remarked that my Japanese pronunciation was good. I replied by saying that Spanish pronunciation and Japanese were pretty similar.
Then, beneath my breath, I added that Id also watched a LOT of anime before I came