far, far away

My Poor Body

After last night's adventure, I was looking forward to taking it easy today. I had to go to the elementary school's festival, but I figured I could slip out after an hour or two. Maaaaaaaaan was I wrong.

So, first of all, turns out that there was no festival at the school. My elementary school supervisor doesn't speak very good English. What he tried to tell me was that there was a festival in the town that night. Another teacher had invited me and him over to have some food and drinks before the festival. Another teacher came as well. That was fine, I didn't mind really, because I really like those three teachers.

I could have done without the food. I just wasn't hungry and I really wasn't in the mood for exploring Japanese cuisine today. The drinks almost made me sick. It's really rude to refuse either, especially in someones house...so I just man'd up. How long could it last anyhow? Turns out it lasted a good six hours.

It rained, so there was no festival. We just talked and ate and drank. All my poor body wanted was some water and sleep. I got more than I bargained for today.

It was nice that someone invited me to their house though. The Japanese, being somewhat limited in the space they own, are quite private when it comes to their homes. Even the best of friends may never see each others houses, instead meeting out at restaurants or cafes instead. That being said, it's really an honor to be invited into someones house.

All is Forgiven!

Alright, I was pretty pissed last night. I'll admit that. Maybe I should have been a little calmer.

Shortly after my last posting, one of the English teacher's called me from the work party, wondering where I was. This annoyed me, because she was the one that had offered to drive me. She told me what station to come to. I almost said right then that I wasn't coming, but I didn't.

The party started at 6:30 and I got to the station around 7:10, so I was just a little late. Kato Sensei and another teacher met me at the station. We got to the restaurant about 10 minutes after that. When I walked into our room everyone clapped. I could tell by the score of red faces that they had been drinking quite a lot. A few moments of conversation confirmed this.

It was strange to see my co-workers in a relaxed atmosphere. The teacher sitting next to me rarely talked to me at work and I was beginning to think she didn't like me all that much. At the party though she was talking to me and pouring my drinks (you don't poor you're own drinks at a party, others do it for you) for me. My boss was very conversational and kept ordering me more drinks. The food was great, well at least the stuff that I was actually willing to put in my mouth, heh. So after about 2 hours we left and about half of us went onto karaoke.

Karaoke was pretty fun. I got the first song and quite a few after that. People began to trickle out slowly until it was close to midnight with just 5 of us left. One guy was curled up on the couch, either sleeping or passed out. My boss kept telling me to sing songs while he was engaged in a seemingly deep conversation with another teacher. Luckily someone realized the time and suggested we leave.

On the way out my boss and I decided it would be a good idea to walk home. After all 10 kilometers doesn't sound that far after a few drinks. Well, after a good hour of walking we finally got a cab. The walk was nice though. I got a good chance to talk to my boss. He said it was good that we walked and talked, I suppose it was. When the cab dropped us off at the station my boss took me to this ramen place set up by the station. I had never seen it before, even though I walk past that spot every day. I guess it's just a late night thing. It was really tasty, I'm glad we went.

After that, we went our separate ways.

Who knew?

Well, I suppose I shouldn't have counted my end of week chickens before they hatched. I can't say that Culture Day was such a great experience. I'm sort of tired of not knowing what the hell is going on.

The day started off this way. Usually in the morning lots of teachers are coming and going, so I didn't really notice until it was too late that I was alone in the teacher's room. You would think that someone, especially my fellow English teachers, one of whom is my supervisor, would clue me in. Nope...luckily, as the librarian was running down the hall, she caught me out of the corner of her eye and stopped in and got me. Then she handed me a program, complete with time schedule. Ohhhhhh, nice...that would have been great to have a day ago. Nice..real nice.

Ohh ya, I have no idea how to get to the work party tonight. What? Work party, oh ya, I found out about that yesterday. Thanks for the heads up. So, ya, everyone was "so busy" today putting on a half-baked culture festival, that they couldn't speak to me for the 2 minutes it would take to give me some directions. Awesome.

I'm not so happy right now.

I took some pictures...when I'm not hating school so much, I'll put them up.

Another week

I made it...another week down, plenty more to go. The week isn't really done, but tomorrow is just the Culture Festival, no classes. Thank god. Well, maybe that's a tad bit harsh, but a free day never hurts, right?

Things are...ok. Not bad, not great. I think the main problem at this point is a lack of feedback. I teach three junior high grades, an elementary school English club, and the oldest kids at the kindergarten. A little feedback would be nice. At this point a, "You're doing a terrible job, we want Lindsey Sensei (my predecessor) back" would be just as welcome as, "Nice job." At least I can do something with the, "You're doing a terrible job.." Besides, Lindsey Sensei ain't coming back, haha.

You need to do something pretty horrible to get "fired" from this job. I mean so bad that the deportation pretty much takes care of the job before any formal firing needs to be done. What do they have to gain by firing a JET? Nothing really. Once September is over there is no way to get a replacement and a lot of money has already been spent on bringing me here.

But, that's not the point. I'm not worried about getting fired, not at all. I'm worried about being a good teacher. I want to be a good teacher, I want to be a good foreigner. What's that? A good foreigner? Yes, in the eyes of my colleagues I want to be a good example of an American, not the lazy ass dim wit stereotype a lot of them, undoubtedly, have in their minds. That's what I want. 

My job is hard as far as JETs go. Some JETs just go to one school, usually a high school, and act as the human tape recorder. Not me, not by a long shot. I plan lessons, for three very different age groups. I think up activities and grammar explanations. I run an English club with two English teachers that can hardly speak to me. It's not easy, nor would I want it to be. I went into this knowing it would be hard.

I came here to prove to myself that I could do it, that I could get up in front of people every day and make it happen. I hate getting up in front of people, that is why I'm here.

What a job

I just realized that I'm only teaching 14 days this month. That's pretty nice, ehh? Friday is culture day, so no classes. Monday is a holiday, obviously, no classes. The school has 2 days of exams near the end of the month and the Friday of that week is for class trips, another 3 days without classes. I also highly enjoy getting paid for these days, especially the class trip day. I get to go on a trip and get paid.

In not so fun news...I have to plan the meetings for the elementary school English club. I have a few ideas, but I don't really know the students ability levels yet. The two teachers that run the club don't speak such amazing English either...an hour seems like an eternity when you start thinking in those terms.

It's not so much that I dread doing this, I don't. It's more that I dread being a bad teacher or a boring teacher. I want this to be fun for the kids, but I'm having a hard to trying to think of fun things that can also teach basic English.

Last Sports Day Post- I promise!

I'll make this one short. No "poetic waxings" about Japanese society and the true reasons behind "sports day."

Today was the elementary school's sports day. It was the biggest of the three, by far. A big part of that is that they just have the most students. It was pretty fun though. I got out of having to do all the goofy stuff this time too. I just sat back, relaxed, and watched the kids learn to be good little members of society. Right, right, no deep philosophical mumbo jumbo.

I saw lots of my students. I don't think I'll ever get over my kindergarten students calling me "Joe Sensei." It's pretty cute. I also enjoyed getting to see my older students outside of school (well, it was only a few feet from the school...but...well, you get the idea). It was funny to see them not dressed in uniforms, they seemed a lot more at ease too.

Ok. That's it. I swear. Sports day season is over. I'll be bitching/deconstructing culture festivals for the next few posts. Not really, I'm not sure how they fit into Japanese society...they may actually just be for fun. Friday is culture day at the middle school. Yes! No classes. Good news...the bad news? Of course there is bad news...I have to go to the elementary school culture festival on Friday. So, I guess they cancel each other out...

Ok, so that's what's coming up. Shell comes in 9 days! She's scared to death, but that's ok. It'll be fun. Ok, that's it. Really. Seriously, I'm done. Check out digg.com. It's cool. Trust me. That's all.

I can't speak English

One thing that people who are well traveled seem to notice about Japan right away is that not many people speak English. Well, duh, it's Japan, right? Of course, but go to Germany or Italy and you're sure to find many people who can speak English at a fairly useful level. Not so in Japan, at least seemingly.

One of the fun parts about sports day are the PTA events, where PTA members and community members get to participate in an event, such as tug of war or some silly relay race. I've been roped into several of these so far and aside from making an ass of myself and having some fun they taught me a good lesson. PTA moms, when needed, can somehow, seemingly miraculously, become fluent speakers of English. When is it needed? Usually to embarrass the new English teacher.

It happens something like this-
1) The poor, unsuspecting English teacher (i.e. Me) is minding his own business watching the kids participate in sports day, when suddenly out of the corner of his eye he sees a group of women with yellow PTA arm bands congregating.
2) More careful observation reveals that some sort of selection process is going on within the group. A "chosen one" is being sought out. The team breaks and the others try to act natural, while watching the "chosen one" at the same time.
3) The plan is in full action now, the move is being made. She calmly walks over and stands near me, feeling out the situation. I make a nervous glance over at her, she turns, and WHAM it's all over before I knew it started.
4) "Would you please play golf relay?" she says. "Hmmm, me?" (Pointing at myself. Usually playing stupid or pretending like you don't understand someone's English is enough to get you out of it. A classic bluff move, risky, but usually effective.) "Yes, is that...ok?" (She understood, the "ok" hand sign confirms it. Bluff called, deal sealed.) "Sure" (Smile now, happy happy.)
5) Let the games begin