So today I went to my smallest school, Mitani Elementary. This school boasts a whopping 58 students spread throughout 6 grades. Yet oddly enough, the school is a fairly large, 3-story building equipped with all the amenities I’ve seen in my other, larger schools. Mitani appears to be a frightening example of Japan’s plummeting population size. While driving to school this morning my supervisor informed me that the amount of kindergarten-age kids in the area has declined so much so that the grand total of next year’s first graders will amount to only five students…in the whole grade!
Classes went well. I taught a combined 5-6th grade class as well as a super energetic 3rd and a docile 4th grade class. After lunch I went to the school gym and played with the 2nd graders, who were eager to show me their proficiency on stilts (?!?!) and unicycles (?!?!?!?). I kid you not. They don’t use balls or jump ropes for playtime recreation—they use circus equipment. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s awesome! It just struck me as a bit unusual.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
September wrap-up
Apologies for not posting regularly, but more than that, the lack of pictures. It takes too long to put them up, so for a visual update on what’s going on, see my facebook albums (or ask me for a link to photos).
It’s been incredibly busy the past few weeks and today is my first day back at the office since the semester began. I have now been to 7 of my 9 schools at least once, and have met several hundred kids and dozens of teachers and staff. I am generally picked up in the morning at the BOE or somewhere near my apartment by the principal, vice-principal or some other senior staff member and driven to school at times ranging from 7:40am to 11:00am (although on the days when I start later, I have to be in the office at 8:30, getting prepared or making materials for future classes).
They’ve so far all been interested in who I am, where I come from, who I had to kill to become a teacher at age 21, and how on earth it’s possible for me to stomach Japanese food. This food phenomenon often evolves into a 20 minute quiz from when I step into the car to when I enter the staff room on all the foods they can think of, with me responding, ‘’yes, I can eat that, too…’’, which is met with further gasps of surprise. I can only assume they’ve met foreigners with palates so limited that stomaching anything beyond cheeseburgers and fries would be simply impossible. Thankfully, though, I believe the staff at my schools are simply looking out for my best interests, or they would probably not proceed to ask me the same questions again come lunchtime, which is inevitably the case:
Teacher: Mike-sensei, can you eat Japanese food?
Me: Why yes, I can.
Teacher: Really??? Sugoi (amazing)! Even rice?
Me: Yep, hasn’t done me in so far.
Teacher: Sugoi! How about miso soup?
Me: Yes, even miso soup…
Teacher: Sugoi! How about *every other dish on the tray*?
Me: …
I guess that’s just part of the fun of cultural exchange. By and large we have a good time, and the teachers are friendly and receptive, quick to offer their help or extend a cup of tea when they’re not running around.
Last night my fellow foreigner friends (say that ten times fast) and I took a bus to Yamanaka, part of the greater Kaga area that is relatively close by, hoping to have a great time at a festival that was taking place there. Unfortunately, there was a massive rainstorm, which meant that the festival, which was all outdoors, was going to………....continue as planned. So after going to a traditional Yukata-wearing ceremony and dance practice (for the ladies), we ended up going outside in the misery and walking around disappointingly underpopulated vendor stalls, eventually getting some food and a beer, but eventually wrapping it up early.
Between myself and my three other English teacher friends, we cover pretty much every school in Kaga, elementary, junior high, and high school, so amusingly enough, we saw our students everywhere that night. It was pretty cool, actually. You’d see some young kids glance in your direction, go wide-eyed, and then exclaim to their friends ‘’Look, it’s Mike-sensei!!’’ And the same happened to the others, pretty much the entire time we were there, students recognizing us as we strolled up and down the booths.
After that, we went to Yamanaka Onsen, which is a famous ryokan (traditional Japanese hotel) and onsen (public bath created by hot springs for people to relax in). We were in an outdoor one, with no one else around, so with the rain and the cool night air it was perfect.
It’s been incredibly busy the past few weeks and today is my first day back at the office since the semester began. I have now been to 7 of my 9 schools at least once, and have met several hundred kids and dozens of teachers and staff. I am generally picked up in the morning at the BOE or somewhere near my apartment by the principal, vice-principal or some other senior staff member and driven to school at times ranging from 7:40am to 11:00am (although on the days when I start later, I have to be in the office at 8:30, getting prepared or making materials for future classes).
They’ve so far all been interested in who I am, where I come from, who I had to kill to become a teacher at age 21, and how on earth it’s possible for me to stomach Japanese food. This food phenomenon often evolves into a 20 minute quiz from when I step into the car to when I enter the staff room on all the foods they can think of, with me responding, ‘’yes, I can eat that, too…’’, which is met with further gasps of surprise. I can only assume they’ve met foreigners with palates so limited that stomaching anything beyond cheeseburgers and fries would be simply impossible. Thankfully, though, I believe the staff at my schools are simply looking out for my best interests, or they would probably not proceed to ask me the same questions again come lunchtime, which is inevitably the case:
Teacher: Mike-sensei, can you eat Japanese food?
Me: Why yes, I can.
Teacher: Really??? Sugoi (amazing)! Even rice?
Me: Yep, hasn’t done me in so far.
Teacher: Sugoi! How about miso soup?
Me: Yes, even miso soup…
Teacher: Sugoi! How about *every other dish on the tray*
Me: …
I guess that’s just part of the fun of cultural exchange. By and large we have a good time, and the teachers are friendly and receptive, quick to offer their help or extend a cup of tea when they’re not running around.
Last night my fellow foreigner friends (say that ten times fast) and I took a bus to Yamanaka, part of the greater Kaga area that is relatively close by, hoping to have a great time at a festival that was taking place there. Unfortunately, there was a massive rainstorm, which meant that the festival, which was all outdoors, was going to………....continue as planned. So after going to a traditional Yukata-wearing ceremony and dance practice (for the ladies), we ended up going outside in the misery and walking around disappointingly underpopulated vendor stalls, eventually getting some food and a beer, but eventually wrapping it up early.
Between myself and my three other English teacher friends, we cover pretty much every school in Kaga, elementary, junior high, and high school, so amusingly enough, we saw our students everywhere that night. It was pretty cool, actually. You’d see some young kids glance in your direction, go wide-eyed, and then exclaim to their friends ‘’Look, it’s Mike-sensei!!’’ And the same happened to the others, pretty much the entire time we were there, students recognizing us as we strolled up and down the booths.
After that, we went to Yamanaka Onsen, which is a famous ryokan (traditional Japanese hotel) and onsen (public bath created by hot springs for people to relax in). We were in an outdoor one, with no one else around, so with the rain and the cool night air it was perfect.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL
Today was my first day of class. Actually, that’s a bit of a stretch. I was picked up at the crack of dawn at the Board of Education by the principal of Sakumi Elementary school. Sakumi is the second biggest elementary school in the Kaga area, topped only by Yamashiro Elementary. A relatively large school, it has a massive outdoor sports area, 3 floors, and 2 large swimming pools. I’m not sure what size the student body is, but I bet it’s not small. When we arrived at school, little kids were filing into the building and the place was bustling by 8am. I actually recognized one of the 6th grade students who took me on a Kaga tour a couple of weeks earlier. After briefly introducing myself to the staff, I met the 3rd grade homeroom teachers I was supposed to teach with, and then 1st period started.
However, instead of heading off to class, I was told to wait in my seat for my escorts. As I was pondering the security implications of this ominous command, a couple of tiny little kids came into the teacher’s office, walked up to me and ordered (not asked) me to come to their class with them. I did as I was told.
The class was great! The kids were pretty young and more than a little excited to see me. Overall it was a success--I had to cut down my photo self-intro to make it go by quicker and simplify it for the 3rd graders’ comprehension abilities. I would lift up a picture (i.e. of a family member or hobby) and they would yell what they thought it was. According to these kids, both of my brothers are my dad, my sister is my girlfriend, and my parents are my grandparents. One thing they really nailed was my dog’s name, Kuri, which apparently means ‘chestnut’ in Japanese. Also, Anna was right about using your voice a lot…I met all the students in the class individually and asked them what sport they liked, plus had to yell to get people’s attention a few times during games, so my throat was getting scratchy after only about an hour.
I had a couple of free periods, so I watched some of the kids and teachers prepare for their sports festival, which is coming up, and then went to my second class, also with 3rd graders. The lesson plan was virtually identical to the previous class, except these poor buggers were told by their homeroom teacher to raise their hands before speaking, which you could tell took every effort on their part. From time to time it looked like they would burst with the need to ask what I can only believe must have been the world’s most important question. This class was a little more raucous, and I got crowded at the end of class with a flurry of questions about everything imaginable. Most kids thought I dyed my hair and told me so. Others were shocked at the colour of my eyes (one kid ended up calling me ‘aoi-mei-sensei’, which means ‘blue-eyed-teacher’). Still others asked if I was married, what my favourite kind of bug is, who I like, etc. It was fun answering those questions.
I had promised to have lunch with my morning class, so I returned there to find a bunch of students had gotten it in their heads to ask me for my autograph. Pretty sure I laughed out loud at that request, but hell, happy to oblige the loving masses! I’m just glad I bought a stamp to replace my signature, but they were crafty and got it out of me anyway. So then of course the kids with my signature and a stamp told the ones with only a stamp that I gave them my signature too, so everyone and their uncle came at me with even more pieces of paper. One cheeky little bastard got it into his head to make me sign several piece of paper, presumably to trade or sell to other classmates after I’d gone, until I caught on, laughed with surprise at his entrepreneurial spirit, and then told him to get lost. After an untold number of notebooks, arms, and scraps of paper were stamped and signed enough to pass laws, I left the class with promises of a swift return. An entourage of about 15 kids followed me down the stairs to the door, but just as I was leaving some of the groupies from my second class came running to the door begging for my autograph as well, but sadly I had to turn them down.
So my first day went really well, I think. Because these were the youngest kids I’ll be teaching, chance are it won’t be as easy to wow some of the older grades, but I’m sure it will be fine. If today taught me anything, it’s that I’m a celebrity with the under-10 crowd and that in itself makes it way easier to teach because if you can impress them, you can get their respect. Also, gotta remember to carry around a coloured pen and stamp around to quell the overeager fans.
However, instead of heading off to class, I was told to wait in my seat for my escorts. As I was pondering the security implications of this ominous command, a couple of tiny little kids came into the teacher’s office, walked up to me and ordered (not asked) me to come to their class with them. I did as I was told.
The class was great! The kids were pretty young and more than a little excited to see me. Overall it was a success--I had to cut down my photo self-intro to make it go by quicker and simplify it for the 3rd graders’ comprehension abilities. I would lift up a picture (i.e. of a family member or hobby) and they would yell what they thought it was. According to these kids, both of my brothers are my dad, my sister is my girlfriend, and my parents are my grandparents. One thing they really nailed was my dog’s name, Kuri, which apparently means ‘chestnut’ in Japanese. Also, Anna was right about using your voice a lot…I met all the students in the class individually and asked them what sport they liked, plus had to yell to get people’s attention a few times during games, so my throat was getting scratchy after only about an hour.
I had a couple of free periods, so I watched some of the kids and teachers prepare for their sports festival, which is coming up, and then went to my second class, also with 3rd graders. The lesson plan was virtually identical to the previous class, except these poor buggers were told by their homeroom teacher to raise their hands before speaking, which you could tell took every effort on their part. From time to time it looked like they would burst with the need to ask what I can only believe must have been the world’s most important question. This class was a little more raucous, and I got crowded at the end of class with a flurry of questions about everything imaginable. Most kids thought I dyed my hair and told me so. Others were shocked at the colour of my eyes (one kid ended up calling me ‘aoi-mei-sensei’, which means ‘blue-eyed-teacher’). Still others asked if I was married, what my favourite kind of bug is, who I like, etc. It was fun answering those questions.
I had promised to have lunch with my morning class, so I returned there to find a bunch of students had gotten it in their heads to ask me for my autograph. Pretty sure I laughed out loud at that request, but hell, happy to oblige the loving masses! I’m just glad I bought a stamp to replace my signature, but they were crafty and got it out of me anyway. So then of course the kids with my signature and a stamp told the ones with only a stamp that I gave them my signature too, so everyone and their uncle came at me with even more pieces of paper. One cheeky little bastard got it into his head to make me sign several piece of paper, presumably to trade or sell to other classmates after I’d gone, until I caught on, laughed with surprise at his entrepreneurial spirit, and then told him to get lost. After an untold number of notebooks, arms, and scraps of paper were stamped and signed enough to pass laws, I left the class with promises of a swift return. An entourage of about 15 kids followed me down the stairs to the door, but just as I was leaving some of the groupies from my second class came running to the door begging for my autograph as well, but sadly I had to turn them down.
So my first day went really well, I think. Because these were the youngest kids I’ll be teaching, chance are it won’t be as easy to wow some of the older grades, but I’m sure it will be fine. If today taught me anything, it’s that I’m a celebrity with the under-10 crowd and that in itself makes it way easier to teach because if you can impress them, you can get their respect. Also, gotta remember to carry around a coloured pen and stamp around to quell the overeager fans.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Hangoro
Funniest thing that happened today:
My office co-workers, one of whom is a longtime veteran teacher, taught me how to say 'I'm going to beat you to death.' After going through it a couple of times together, one of the BOE bosses looks over and says something, which I can only imagine was along the lines of 'what kind of crap japanese are you teaching this kid?!?!' Made me laugh.
My office co-workers, one of whom is a longtime veteran teacher, taught me how to say 'I'm going to beat you to death.' After going through it a couple of times together, one of the BOE bosses looks over and says something, which I can only imagine was along the lines of 'what kind of crap japanese are you teaching this kid?!?!' Made me laugh.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Week 3
It’s been an interesting week. Last Tuesday I went to Kanazawa for a two-day prefectural orientation at the Jyosei Center. It was essentially designed to give us info on life and work specific to Ishikawa. I found it on the whole a lot more helpful and pertinent than the orientation at Tokyo, plus when combined with night outings it was a pretty fun time.
Upon returning to Daishoji, Anna and I were taken on a tour of the Kaga area by a local ESS teacher and some elementary school 6th grade girls. They drove us around and brought us to various museums and temples, doing their best to provide explanations for everything in English. Even though the kids were deathly afraid of using English or even engaging us in conversation, they were good sports and seemed to enjoy themselves after a while. They go to Sakumi Elementary, a school that I’ll be visiting two or three times a month, and overall it was cool to finally meet some of my future students. They seemed a lot older than I would have expected elementary-age kids to be, and did a decent job of showing me their too-cool-for-school attitudes, but we’ll just see about that. Can’t believe I’m saying it, but I’m definitely looking forward to school!
Let’s see…on Saturday the Kanazawa JETs took the train down to Daishoji and got a taste of our neck of the woods. We showed them around a bit and then headed off to Kaga Onsen, where we met Issei. You see, our buddy Issei was throwing a huge BBQ party, so I’d inadvertently invited a bunch of foreigners (8 in total). Thus, showing up at his BBQ with what must have looked like a UN delegation was more than enough to shock the pants off of some of the Japanese guests. But after a couple of drinks and some yakitori everyone loosened up, so despite difficulties in communication, everyone to my knowledge had an awesome time.
On Sunday I went with my friends Ai-Chih and Akiko to Kanazawa and saw some of the traditional samurai housing district, just south of the city center. It was comprised of narrow, winding streets with high walls and small, old-looking residences. For lunch we went to a world famous cross-cultural restaurant that boasts some of the most popular food in the world: McDonalds. The guy serving us was all smiles and we even had a chat in English about all the places he’d been in Canada and how long I’d been studying Japanese. Could you imagine that taking place in Canada or the U.S.??? In the afternoon, we went to the Geisha district, which used to have lots of traditional entertainers, plus a gold leaf museum and various tea houses.
On Monday my supervisor took me on a driving tour of the nine schools I’ll be visiting. We entered them, and amid shocked gasps at how young I was, I had a chance to meet various staff members at my schools. It hit me by the end of the day just how many schools I’ll be going to. Nine!!!! Just learning the names of my school supervisors and relevant English-teaching faculty will be difficult—students’ names, impossible. But all in all, it was good to actually go to the schools and see where they are, that they physically exist. It makes it a bit more real…
Oh, I also got a mobile phone through the company Softbank. Calls and messages are free between members from 1am to 9pm, so it’s a pretty sweet deal (although the phone itself cost an arm and a leg). It does a whole lot of cool stuff, including TV, but I have pretty crappy reception in my area. I did manage to catch some Olympics though, pulling out of the station in Kanazawa, but sadly, nothing at home. But--I was able to call my momz from my cell phone for free!
Upon returning to Daishoji, Anna and I were taken on a tour of the Kaga area by a local ESS teacher and some elementary school 6th grade girls. They drove us around and brought us to various museums and temples, doing their best to provide explanations for everything in English. Even though the kids were deathly afraid of using English or even engaging us in conversation, they were good sports and seemed to enjoy themselves after a while. They go to Sakumi Elementary, a school that I’ll be visiting two or three times a month, and overall it was cool to finally meet some of my future students. They seemed a lot older than I would have expected elementary-age kids to be, and did a decent job of showing me their too-cool-for-school attitudes, but we’ll just see about that. Can’t believe I’m saying it, but I’m definitely looking forward to school!
Let’s see…on Saturday the Kanazawa JETs took the train down to Daishoji and got a taste of our neck of the woods. We showed them around a bit and then headed off to Kaga Onsen, where we met Issei. You see, our buddy Issei was throwing a huge BBQ party, so I’d inadvertently invited a bunch of foreigners (8 in total). Thus, showing up at his BBQ with what must have looked like a UN delegation was more than enough to shock the pants off of some of the Japanese guests. But after a couple of drinks and some yakitori everyone loosened up, so despite difficulties in communication, everyone to my knowledge had an awesome time.
On Sunday I went with my friends Ai-Chih and Akiko to Kanazawa and saw some of the traditional samurai housing district, just south of the city center. It was comprised of narrow, winding streets with high walls and small, old-looking residences. For lunch we went to a world famous cross-cultural restaurant that boasts some of the most popular food in the world: McDonalds. The guy serving us was all smiles and we even had a chat in English about all the places he’d been in Canada and how long I’d been studying Japanese. Could you imagine that taking place in Canada or the U.S.??? In the afternoon, we went to the Geisha district, which used to have lots of traditional entertainers, plus a gold leaf museum and various tea houses.
On Monday my supervisor took me on a driving tour of the nine schools I’ll be visiting. We entered them, and amid shocked gasps at how young I was, I had a chance to meet various staff members at my schools. It hit me by the end of the day just how many schools I’ll be going to. Nine!!!! Just learning the names of my school supervisors and relevant English-teaching faculty will be difficult—students’ names, impossible. But all in all, it was good to actually go to the schools and see where they are, that they physically exist. It makes it a bit more real…
Oh, I also got a mobile phone through the company Softbank. Calls and messages are free between members from 1am to 9pm, so it’s a pretty sweet deal (although the phone itself cost an arm and a leg). It does a whole lot of cool stuff, including TV, but I have pretty crappy reception in my area. I did manage to catch some Olympics though, pulling out of the station in Kanazawa, but sadly, nothing at home. But--I was able to call my momz from my cell phone for free!
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Kanazawa
Bright and early (10-ish) Saturday morning, Anna, Daniel, and I woke up and were driven, very gratefully, to Kanazawa City by Issei, who has a sweet ride and a wild driving style, making a drive through the country and small towns all the more exciting. We made a brief pit stop at one of Ishikawa’s two Starbucks and then headed to Kanazawa station, where we had arranged to meet with some of our other JET friends living in the city.
Despite being little more than a week, it really seemed as though we hadn’t all seen each other in months. Everyone was settled in to their surroundings and enjoying themselves. I already feel like such a hick, which was compounded by gaping ridiculously at tall buildings and feeling a touch of panic around crowds. More than anything, though, I’m resigned to the fact that getting your bearings when there’s more than one large street is pretty much impossible.
Since it takes forever to upload pics on here, I've posted them on facebook. Let me know if you need the link.
Anyway, our first stop was Kenroku-en Garden, considered to be one of Japan's top 3 gardens. It was pretty breathtaking, but unfortunately our breath was spent panting cuzza the heat. I couldn't believe how hot it was. After leaving we sort of skirted Kanazawa Castle and met up with some other people for lunch. After lunch, Issei, Daniel, Anna, Richard and I went to The 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, which among other things featured an exhibit by Ron Mueck, who does amazingly realistic human sculptures, but in an almost creepy way. No, I take that back. Some of the works were definitely creepy. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pictures, so if you get a chance look this guy up. The museum also had a pretty cool simulated pool. The edge of the pool and the pool itself were actually separated by a sheet of glass which had water on it, so it fully looked like a pool, but you'd have visitors around the pool and also 'in' the pool looking up. Definitely had some fun with that.
After that we went to Mister Donut, and then down one of Kanazawa's main roads, which happened to have a huge festival. There were a lot of people dancing, singing, selling stuff, giving out free fans (yes!) and drinking beer. I'm not completely sure, but I think the festival revolved around a newspaper (?) but I could be wrong. Exciting stuff nonetheless! We headed off to the train station, shopped a bit, and then had delicious okonomiyaki for dinner. I'm gonna try and make it at home sometime--actually seems pretty simple. After dinner, we went to a tiny bar where one of Issei's friends works and had a couple of drinks, but ended up leaving not long after calling one bartender a samurai and the other an assassin. All said, a pretty fun day.
Despite being little more than a week, it really seemed as though we hadn’t all seen each other in months. Everyone was settled in to their surroundings and enjoying themselves. I already feel like such a hick, which was compounded by gaping ridiculously at tall buildings and feeling a touch of panic around crowds. More than anything, though, I’m resigned to the fact that getting your bearings when there’s more than one large street is pretty much impossible.
Since it takes forever to upload pics on here, I've posted them on facebook. Let me know if you need the link.
Anyway, our first stop was Kenroku-en Garden, considered to be one of Japan's top 3 gardens. It was pretty breathtaking, but unfortunately our breath was spent panting cuzza the heat. I couldn't believe how hot it was. After leaving we sort of skirted Kanazawa Castle and met up with some other people for lunch. After lunch, Issei, Daniel, Anna, Richard and I went to The 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, which among other things featured an exhibit by Ron Mueck, who does amazingly realistic human sculptures, but in an almost creepy way. No, I take that back. Some of the works were definitely creepy. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pictures, so if you get a chance look this guy up. The museum also had a pretty cool simulated pool. The edge of the pool and the pool itself were actually separated by a sheet of glass which had water on it, so it fully looked like a pool, but you'd have visitors around the pool and also 'in' the pool looking up. Definitely had some fun with that.
After that we went to Mister Donut, and then down one of Kanazawa's main roads, which happened to have a huge festival. There were a lot of people dancing, singing, selling stuff, giving out free fans (yes!) and drinking beer. I'm not completely sure, but I think the festival revolved around a newspaper (?) but I could be wrong. Exciting stuff nonetheless! We headed off to the train station, shopped a bit, and then had delicious okonomiyaki for dinner. I'm gonna try and make it at home sometime--actually seems pretty simple. After dinner, we went to a tiny bar where one of Issei's friends works and had a couple of drinks, but ended up leaving not long after calling one bartender a samurai and the other an assassin. All said, a pretty fun day.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Life at the BOE
Today is Friday, the last day of the work week—a day eagerly anticipated by CEOs and school children alike. Here at the Kaga City Board of Education, Friday seems to have been five days in the making. The famed Japanese work ethic is punctuated surprisingly often by idle fanning, lengthy smoking breaks, listless paper shuffling, gazing out the window while not-so-secretly leaning over the air conditioning, and of course office colleagues jumping up to answer even the most mundane questions from we clueless newcomers (including a lengthy introduction to properly straining tea and the cumbersome complexities of the fax machine). Let no one tell you, however, that this is limited to the locals. If this looooong week has taught me anything, I need a firm plan if I hope to survive this many weeks of nothing.
In my Board of Education little is taking place right now. It’s the middle of summer holidays, and the workload for most people is very limited. However, due to a communal effort to maintain a functional atmosphere, the staff are continuing to put in full days, week in and week out. The same applies to me. Nevertheless, there is a noticeable distinction between my job and theirs. As an Assistant Language Teacher here in Kaga, my job description entails visiting various local elementary school and junior high schools on a daily basis, teaching kids between the ages of 6 and 15 the merits of English and multiculturalism in general. This presents a bit of a problem in the summer, when classes are out for several weeks, and I am left with little to do at the office for eight hours a day until September.
Granted, there are lots of things I could be doing, but at the end of the day, after carefully pacing my review of teaching materials (don’t want to be left with absolutely nothing to do that’s actually work-related) and studying Japanese for an hour or two, there are still a lotta hours to kill, and I’m fairly sure the rest of the staff feels the same way.
Today Anna and I had a welcome reprieve from trying to look busy when a local French ALT took us out to the local International Exchange Association for morning tea, where we met a couple of locals and shared random treats. Alexandre, the Frenchman, and his fluent French-speaking wife,Yasue, were hospitable to the point that Anna and I have volunteered to take part in a community cooking event in which we are expected to cook a dish from our respective home countries with the help of local members of the community in an effort to further cross-cultural communication. Food aside, it’s designed to make us foreigners look more approachable and also give us a chance to meet people who may currently be too frightened of us to greet us on the street. Remember, the town of Daishoji is very, very small. That said, the meal I end up preparing will probably account for a significant portion of my public identity, so I feel as though investing some thought into it wouldn’t hurt. A year from now I don’t want to be walking down the street getting “Look!! It’s Salmonella Mike! Damn him and the poison Canadians call food!!” spat at me from left and right. So if anyone can think of some simple recipes that might be fun to share, and that vaguely represent either Canada, Switzerland or New Zealand, and that aren’t just maple syrup, chocolate (however delicious) or lamb, please let me know.
Haha this just happened: the lady who works across the desk from me just offered me and the other folks around some Godiva chocolates. I gratefully received it with a “oh cool, Godiva chocolate”. I was, however, immediately corrected on my pronunciation of the word ‘Godiva’, which I had pronounced in the American way (guh-die-vuh). The correct pronunciation for this American chocolate brand name, it turns out, is ‘Godiva’ (goh-dee-ba).
The things you learn.
Anyway, tomorrow I’m going to the city of Kanazawa, north of where I am now, with Anna, Daniel and a Japanese guy from Kaga named Issei. It’s the biggest city in our prefecture, so we’re going there to do some sightseeing, maybe some shopping, but most of all to get out of the country and into a city for half a second. Then on Sunday Anna’s going to break in her new set of wheels and take us to the beach, which, if we’re to believe maps of the area, is apparently quite close to where we live. She’s the only one with experience driving on the left side of the road, hence a higher chance of survival. Speaking of which, apparently they have deadly jellyfish that start popping up around this time of year....woohoo seaside!
In my Board of Education little is taking place right now. It’s the middle of summer holidays, and the workload for most people is very limited. However, due to a communal effort to maintain a functional atmosphere, the staff are continuing to put in full days, week in and week out. The same applies to me. Nevertheless, there is a noticeable distinction between my job and theirs. As an Assistant Language Teacher here in Kaga, my job description entails visiting various local elementary school and junior high schools on a daily basis, teaching kids between the ages of 6 and 15 the merits of English and multiculturalism in general. This presents a bit of a problem in the summer, when classes are out for several weeks, and I am left with little to do at the office for eight hours a day until September.
Granted, there are lots of things I could be doing, but at the end of the day, after carefully pacing my review of teaching materials (don’t want to be left with absolutely nothing to do that’s actually work-related) and studying Japanese for an hour or two, there are still a lotta hours to kill, and I’m fairly sure the rest of the staff feels the same way.
Today Anna and I had a welcome reprieve from trying to look busy when a local French ALT took us out to the local International Exchange Association for morning tea, where we met a couple of locals and shared random treats. Alexandre, the Frenchman, and his fluent French-speaking wife,Yasue, were hospitable to the point that Anna and I have volunteered to take part in a community cooking event in which we are expected to cook a dish from our respective home countries with the help of local members of the community in an effort to further cross-cultural communication. Food aside, it’s designed to make us foreigners look more approachable and also give us a chance to meet people who may currently be too frightened of us to greet us on the street. Remember, the town of Daishoji is very, very small. That said, the meal I end up preparing will probably account for a significant portion of my public identity, so I feel as though investing some thought into it wouldn’t hurt. A year from now I don’t want to be walking down the street getting “Look!! It’s Salmonella Mike! Damn him and the poison Canadians call food!!” spat at me from left and right. So if anyone can think of some simple recipes that might be fun to share, and that vaguely represent either Canada, Switzerland or New Zealand, and that aren’t just maple syrup, chocolate (however delicious) or lamb, please let me know.
Haha this just happened: the lady who works across the desk from me just offered me and the other folks around some Godiva chocolates. I gratefully received it with a “oh cool, Godiva chocolate”. I was, however, immediately corrected on my pronunciation of the word ‘Godiva’, which I had pronounced in the American way (guh-die-vuh). The correct pronunciation for this American chocolate brand name, it turns out, is ‘Godiva’ (goh-dee-ba).
The things you learn.
Anyway, tomorrow I’m going to the city of Kanazawa, north of where I am now, with Anna, Daniel and a Japanese guy from Kaga named Issei. It’s the biggest city in our prefecture, so we’re going there to do some sightseeing, maybe some shopping, but most of all to get out of the country and into a city for half a second. Then on Sunday Anna’s going to break in her new set of wheels and take us to the beach, which, if we’re to believe maps of the area, is apparently quite close to where we live. She’s the only one with experience driving on the left side of the road, hence a higher chance of survival. Speaking of which, apparently they have deadly jellyfish that start popping up around this time of year....woohoo seaside!
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