May/June, Bday, Job, Nagoya, Osaka, Shirakawa and more!

I’ve found with traveling you make the unfamiliar the familiar and all of a sudden the familiar can also become unfamiliar. What you once believed was commonplace isn’t so commonplace over here, and you find yourself struggling to explain the smallest things about home and still constantly asking why about things in your new home even months after living here. Recently I:ve met some people who were new to Japan, talking to them was really interesting though. I:ve learned just how far I:ve come this year and how incredibly much I:ve learned and adapted to.

As always lots has happened since I last wrote. My birthday came and went, and I:d like to say thanks once again to all my great friends and family who helped me celebrate from around the globe! I went out with my usual crew here and we celebrated it in our usual dinner Karaoke style, with a trip to Monkey Park and Sweet Castle thrown in as well! I love still acting like a kid sometimes! It can be fun to let loose and enjoy simple activities like a day at the zoo watching monkeys and eating ridiculous amounts of sweets!

Lately I:ve been enjoying more spare time just chilling out at my apartment. I:ve been reading many books that range all topics from spiritual awakening types, to stories about kids with autism, Japanese documentary types, good ole fashioned cheesy romance, and of course war and suspense books. I:ve been trying to keep up with Japanese but once again I:ve let it slip away longer than I would have liked. I hope I:ll be ready for the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) come December! Guess I should get on learning my kanji! Other distractions that have kept me from it, are getting addicted to all the sitcom and reality shows I hadn:t had time for the past 5 years… I:m getting caught up on Lost, the Office, Desperate Housewives, Dexter, Sex and the City, and of course Grey:s Anatomy when it was on. (I love that show!!! ) I:ve also been watching more movies and documentaries both in English and Japanese (with subtitles still). But, the main thing keeping me from studying was job applications for back in Canada come September. Fortunately….. the search is now over!!

I:ve accepted a position at Bonnyville High School teaching Social 9, 20-1,20-2, and 33 as well as coaching volleyball come September. (So other coaches/vball players out there, i:d love to hear tips/drill ideas from ya!) It:s a relief to have that security and not have to spend my time this summer worrying about jobs apps and interviews. In the week where many places in AB were hiring, I did 2 interviews and was offered both positions and then had a few more calls to set up interviews. It was really neat doing the interviews via Skype too. Bonnyville sounds like it has extensive new technology and the administration team and I seemed to really hit it off as well. I:m very excited (and a little nervous) for this upcoming school year as I think it:ll be very enjoyable and rewarding, albeit extremely stressful.

Back to my life here, I:ve discovered a joy of teaching that I am soon sure to lose… my elementary kids always holding my hand and being so excited to see me. The new grade ones have completely stolen my heart and they truly are the sweetest things in the world.
Their smiles can completely turn my day around. Grade 1/2/3 are awesome to see each once a week and play with! I will definitely miss this when I go to High School!
My Junior High students had a blast on their homestays in Devon. I`ve been helping them write posters, speeches, thank you letters and constantly hearing stories and seeing pics from their time in Canada. It:s so neat to learn about their impressions of my country and more so home town! Some of my favorite stories include their reactions to eating raw vegetables, thinking planes are a lot smaller and scarier than they look on TV, and having cold showers for a week since they could not figure out how to work the `bizarre` Canadian showers.

Other news from the schools, I`m really enjoying the new staff this year. It always impresses me the way people just seem to fit and you couldn:t imagine the school without them. The team effort really does show here in teaching staff, as demonstrated by things that are pretty unthinkable back home- like vice principals cleaning toilets and principals picking weeds alongside kids in a field. In the Junior High PE classes, students just finished the dance unit. I was sure to attend as many classes as I could and help out and enjoy watching them learn to explore different dance types. It was pretty different from home in how shy the kids were (or maybe it was just cuz I was a dancer as a child and it a school where we were maybe a little too comfortable with eachother and crazy).
Still, by the end of the unit we saw definite improvement and some of the grade eight girls totally reminded me of myself when I was young- making up dances with friends on the weekends. I had a great time in those PE classes, and got a deeper insight into the Senpai culture that permeates Japanese schools and makes them run so efficiently. As you know and I have probably mentioned many times before, Japan is a culture with a strong basis in respect. In schools, jobs etc the elder/mentor is “Senpai” in Japanese. The other day I realised that it even infiltrates the smallest aspects of my tiny school of 30 some kids. During dance class the grade 8s were hot and wanted to take off their sweaters/roll them up etc, and they had a whole discussion whether they were allowed to (in their own little internal student culture code) based on what the grade 9s were dressed as. Apparently the dress code is dictated (mind you they have school uniforms) even to who can roll their socks up etc based on the student unwritten code. It was interesting to see the honorifics transferred down from teaching the ocarina and leading the school cleaning, to how far open a classes door can be during summer and what they can wear.
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Other school news, I continue to learn a lot about my students and get many laughs from their daily diary entries to me and letters/reports about their trip to Canada. Their attitudes and motivation levels have improved so much since they got back. I’ve also gained many an insight into how they think and the way the language works from the way they translate phrases and their opinions about Canada and our food, houses, schools and culture. Speaking of food, this week’s school lunch has brought liver, beef tongue and jelly fish into my life and stomach. Trying to be a model at lunch time, I managed to swallow all of my lunch at the Elementary school, but later learning exactly what I had eaten, well sometimes I guess it’s just better not to know at the time. Mom, Duane, and everyone else who knows that I can be a little picky about food- you will be so impressed at what I eat now! I:ve even come to really enjoy fish and tofu.

Ok, I guess I:m a little involved in my life here as a teacher since I keep coming back to it but… more from the classroom… Kids here are adorable, especially the young junior high ones who are like `ooh pick me pick me! Look at my hand! It:s the highest, I have a beautiful long arm!! Let me answer! ` haha add that to the list of things I will also not be hearing next year back in Canadian high schools! It almost is enough to counteract my hatred for the fake voices on the tapes that we sometimes listen to in Junior High English classes. They drive me nuts! As many an ALT has said- it:s also somewhat insulting for the kids to be listening to fake la la voices on a tape while you have a live native speaker in the room. Hey, half the time my job is like a human tape recorder anyways, don:t take away some of my usefulness in the classroom. (Can you tell that I am excited to be a `real teacher` when I get back home?) Even with my meetings and team teaching, it:s hard to overpower a textbook and seasoned Japanese teacher on how best to teach reading and writing and the alphabet. Still don:t get me started on how they are using katakana and teaching without phonics or about blends etc. My kids have gone from months of `this is how you make a perfect letter c` to write `empitsu (Japanese for pencil), `cat` then `computer` then `house` then `thesaurus`. For people who don:t realize, there:s a slight difference in sounds and trying to learn to read/ sound out words… common! This was seriously all in one lesson after having 20 previous lessons of how to print neatly in Roman characters. Also the Rice/Lice—and all the other overused tricks and legends of traditional English teaching in Japan have unfortunately continued this year in my classroom. I don`t even know how he manages to bring it up—but there they are! Of course the infamous report about a homestay student who answered the door wrong or did something at Halloween and got shot etc. also has slipped in over the year, but I guess that is inevitable. The students revolutions in English class this week- `What do you mean not all languages have a ‘kanji’ picture word for each word! Oh gosh. Ok I:ll stop by ranting there, I just wish that I was getting through to them more and was allowed to teach the things that I learned as a kid like rules about vowels bopping eachother on the head and combos of ch, sh, th.

Ok I really do what to move on from talking about work, but one or two last things that I had notes about that I wanted to say. Like a few weeks ago when I was playing in the gym with kids at lunch- well the girls and boys were in each other:s bathrooms as if it was no big deal…. Kids with no clothes on throwing balls at each other (ooh and them all trying to pants the student teacher today) ~ oh how high school will be different…. Right?
We had an astronaut from NASA come to our school last week. It:s pretty darn cool for anyone to meet an astronaut and hear a motivational speech about making your dreams come true and realizing anything is possible after looking down on the planet Earth. But it was absolutely the talk of the town for a week in Neo! For the week leading up in all my gr 6-9 English classes we prepped the kids for how to talk to the astronaut and ask him questions (he was a Chinese American who spoke no Japanese by the way). Some of my faves were the grade 6`s asking , Is space food delicious? How does it feel to look down at Earth, what is it like to poop/sleep in space?

I’ve also (of course) been traveling lots lately. I’m learning more and more about the importance of food culture here. What you do in a place is eat/buy those specific foods for omiyage. It’s such a huge part of tourism here to all Japanese (not just my friends like I originally thought!)
A few weekends back now, I went up to Shirakawa with Jess, Narin and Kiri to check out Jordan’s new apartment. Wow such an improved to the old one! Moving was painful I’m sure but it’s definitely worth it. Such a sit-com type apartment now, and no more outside showers!! We toured the Gassho houses with Jords again and went to a tea-gassho-house of someone he knew then to yakiniku for dinner. We had a really great time and also got some ideas for a “on your way home” trip the next day. So Jords and Narin in one car, and Jess Kiri and I in mine, we set off Sunday morning for what was supposed to be a stop or two on our way home- which turned into a multiple prefecture adventure. We went to Kanazawa to visit Kenrokuen gardens and drink some famous tea with gold in it. It was a really beautiful garden and a neat ancient city. Jordan of course was our resident historical tour guide! Next we went to Eiheji temple which was way further than expected, but quite magestic and powerful. It was such a neat retreat in the rainforest, I wish we could go back (and it wasn’t so darn far!).

The next weekend Jords and I went to Osaka on a last minute random trip. We had a goal to leave our inaka life and head to the big city for some shopping and to visit a Lubu hoteru. (Love hotel). We wanted to find a realllly tacky one, but apparently the government has been trying to cut down on the really bad love hotels due to bad world press. Still we had fun “hotel shopping” and ended up in one with a purple bed, mirrors everywhere, and a see through shower! It was a really neat experience though. You go into an entrance and usually don’t speak to anyone, but choose your selection from a machine that lights up which rooms are available. It’s a really easy and kinda fun process—except a little bizarre with sometimes crazy middle aged ladies dressed in all white hip hopish outfits ushering you in…. By the time we decided to turn in for the night we were pretty tired and settled perhaps too early as we are still waiting to find one with all the lore of “alibi sounds” and really crazy theme rooms. I think you have to get to them pretty early and have certain ones in mind. We did find hotels with open hot tubs on roofs in the shape of a Cadillac, and multiple with massage chairs and karaoke machines in the rooms. Another highlight of Osaka was just wandering the city though. It’s a great place to be among crowds and get a taste of different foods. We went to a Thai restaurant that was quite fantastic! As well as some funky shops in America-mura, like a kung fu shop hidden above the staircase of a purse store. We head back pretty early the next morning since we were going with cheap slow trains and were meetings some of my teachers for a movie at Malera Sunday afternoon. Fun weekend with Grandpa Jords for sure!

The past two weeks have also had me eating natto at school—or rather, my kids eating natto and me trying not to gag from the smell. I dunno how people enjoy that one! Tofu and maybe even miso have grown on me but natto never will I’m pretty sure. Still I love my kids, and really enjoy lunch time when after eating they try to teach me Japanese in the library. Good times! After one of my real Japanese lessons with Narin the other day the battery in my car died yet again. When will I ever learn to shut off the lights in Gloria? Speaking of my car, I’m currently licenceless, waiting on my new International Licence to come from Canada so I don’t have to be dependent on my one car train that runs every hour and a half. Commmoonnnn licence!

I’ve learned that from an English teaching standpoint I’ve grown a lot this year. I’ve started to realize just how much I know about the kids and their levels when some of the new teachers are coming up with some unrealistic things they want the elem kids to do. Ahh, now I know what Murachi must have felt like when I came in August! Still, I’m working more with some of them and we’re actually instituting a bit of collaboration and team teaching at Elem and having lots of fun with it! The kids are usually pretty genki and adorable so we have a good time. This week has had me also facing my own fears and singing acapella Amazing Grace- teaching it for 2 hours to my grade 6s. Eeks! Wow thank you karaoke for helping boost my singing confidence!

Other times, I’m still frustrated by team teaching and bored out of my mind. I thought the “you’re somewhat a real teacher but not really” would pass, but it still prevails in much of my life. It’s really annoying feeling like I’m not a full member of the staff even after being here a year. (Although sometimes I realize that’s definitely advantageous, as I’m never here until 10pm like most of them!) One example yesterday that was annoying, was that it was an observation class day. We have about 4 or 5 of them a year, where the subject teachers from each school come to watch a model class with the board of education and then an hour critique meeting afterwards. I think these observation days are really beneficial or if nothing else interesting, as well as I generally like getting a chance to meet and talk with other ALTs and English teachers. In the past, I urged my schools to let me go even when I was the only ALT there. The chief decided that it was a good idea for me (and all alts) to be going, so he said in the new school year (which started in April) all alts should be encouraged to come to them. So, after being told 2 weeks in advance and getting a copy of the lesson outline that I would be observing, yesterday I got all dressed up and arrived at school to find out that now, I would not be going because it wasn’t really necessary, and that I should take the elementary kids to the bus instead. Usually I do take the kids to the bus, and I love it.. but even after telling them I had been planning on going to this and was expected to attend, they decided that I should stay back and wait around to take them to the bus stops anyways. Apparently the other people staying- counselor, student teacher, office boy, janitor/kitchen lady weren’t qualified to walk 20 gr 1-4 students 100 meters and wait with them 10 minutes while busses came to pick them up…..but somehow I was. I didn’t even mind walking those ones, since I would still be able to go to the class after, but they also wanted me to wait around for the grade 5-6 students (who were the subjects of an observation class) so I could walk them to the bus (12 of them) at 3:00. Anyways, so I ended up staying back (without laptop or internet access eeks!) and basically doing nothing most of the afternoon. I tell you, there’s only so many flashcards a girl can make. So the annoying part was that in the end, there were still other people who came on both bus stop runs! Grrr… Just frustrated not knowing what my role is here still. Not a real teacher, but more qualified to take care of the children than others –but not to give the end of the day “Sayonnara” speech call out. Speaking of how everything is in ranked order, as I was typing, I just had a teacher come up to me and give me a candy—but only once it was my turn-- officially went from Principal, to vice, to third in command, to 6-5-4-3-2-1 homeroom teachers, to me, to counselor, to gym teacher, to office boy to janitory/cooking lady. Even though we are all in completely different sections of the room. Haha oh Japan.

Going back home from living abroad, people say you are like an actor- have to figure out what you just do in front of other people, and who you actually are/want to be. It’s easy to make excuses here, but when does it get to the point where this is your real life and you are taking the easy way out? People often go abroad and try out new personalities. When I came, I didn:t necessarily try anything new, but did take it as a bit of a year off from my previously hectic life. I went from the super planner do everything to pretty laid back and can waste time easily.. Not sure if it was a good thing, but with all that has happened in the last year, I:ve learned many a lesson about just living in the present, enjoying life and not stressing out too much…. Perhaps these are good things to accept- although it may make going back to a stressful life more difficult. It’ll be interesting anyways to see how I’ve changed in relationship to those around me, and how the ‘reverse culture shock’ will go.
Ok enough serious talk/complaining (bad ego!)! Question of the day: Is it rude not to use the flushy sound? Female toilets (both squatters and western) here always have a “music” button (aka flushing sound) to mask the sound of peeing. I know a lot of people get like stage fright and can’t go with others around.. but is it also for the other people, to make them more comfortable because they can’t hear you pee? So the question is, if you don’t need it, should you still push it?
Ooh I forgot one of the other weekends I went on. This past weekend was my first Japanese baseball game in Nagoya! It was a great time with about 10 friends cheering on the Japanese 2007 champions- the Chunichi Dragons!! (Who have a koala named Doala as their mascot btw—still can’t get over that. Oh random Japan.) They were playing against the same team they beat in the final last year (the Nippon Hams from Sapporo—who had a bear mascot by the way). After we won, we went to a Nagoya Friends International party in Sakai. It was the second we’ve been to, and ‘twas neat seeing some of the people we met last time at Halloween, and meeting new faces too. Some of us got more friendly and drank more than others, and it ended up turning into a night with lots of stories and memories without a doubt. Also impressed at just how many people we could fit into a tiny Japanese hotel room. One “double bed” room had 7 crashing there. Haha good times.

Well my kids are off starching their socks in their summer uniforms and I’m looking out into sunny blue skies. Should be a good weekend indeed. Heading to Tokyo tomorrow morning to meet up with some friends that I haven’t seen since Jet Tokyo Orientation so it’ll be great to swap stories and see how everyone’s Japanese is coming along. Fun times ahead!! Hope everyone back home is having a lovely farmers day long weekend. Yeah Alberta and out of date random holidays. Tokyo Disney and theme restaurants here I come!!

Cheers! Kampai!! See you in less than two months! Ooh and HAPPY BIRTHDAY DUANE! And HAPPY FATHER”S DAY DAD!

Useful Japanese words of the week
いけめ-hot/handsome
矢かまし-noisy