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I think The Scorpions said it best… September 27, 2010

Posted by Earthdragonette in Cultural Exchange, Dance Troupe, Enkai Aftermath, FC Bayern Munich, Student Moments.
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Or at least they said it well:

I follow the Moskva
Down to Gorky Park
Listening to the wind of change
An August summer night
Soldiers passing by
Listening to the wind of change

The world closing in
Did you ever think
That we could be so close,like brothers
The future’s in the air
I can feel it everywhere
Blowing with the wind of change

Chorus:
Take me to the magic of the moment
On a glory night
Where the children of tomorrow dream away
In the wind of change…

Setting aside, for the moment, references to the former Soviet Union, there is a lot about the imagery in this song that works for me during these cold, misty early days of autumn. It’s occurred to me more than once over the past week that with this changing of the seasons, it’s going to be a very long time before I again have the chance to enjoy a warm summer day in Mie, Japan.

This is going to be a shorter post than I’d originally intended. After I got home from work on Monday, I sat down at the computer with the intention of cranking out a first-class, comprehensive, previous post-referencing gem of an update for you. The next thing I knew it was 10:30 and I’d fallen asleep on my keyboard. So, you could say that things didn’t go according to plan.

Still, I’ve been quite busy since we last touched base on Wednesday. Here are the highlights:

~ Thursday: Had another draining, but productive practice with The Band. As usual, Mr. Coke was at the center of all humor and there was extensive discussion as to whether or not he would be wearing his Spiderman costume for our concert on October 3rd. (He will not.)

~ Friday: Helped the elementary school set up chairs and tables for the sports festival. I found a job for myself on the second floor of the gm, where I took chairs and tables down from high places and passed them to the children who then carried them down to the athletic field. I was amused to see that something of my work ethic has rubbed off on the girls, because they were determined to carry at least three chairs on their own because “Julie can carry six.”

Julie: Not just for English anymore.

~ Saturday: My last sports festival! My first enkai with the staff of an elementary school! If time permits, I’m going to try to write a longer, more comprehensive post about this day. (Please stop laughing, I can hear you.) I must say that I kept myself well occupied throughout the day, from baking fresh bread for the staff members, to taking pictures, to entertaining students, to interacting with the parents. What was also pleasant, and particularly memorable about this day (besides not doing the mukade race!!) was that I felt I had a chance to interact with the other teachers in a way that we hadn’t before. It felt friendlier, more relaxed, and quite welcoming.

~ Sunday: This was a pretty standard Sunday for me. I worked out in the Gym in the morning, went shopping in the afternoon, and caught up with family in the evening. FC Bayern did not play well on Saturday night, and I have to say that it left a bit of a shadow on my Sunday.  Still, I don’t blame The Guys for the current state of affairs. The team’s been decimated by injuries and the manager is having some … managerial issues. We have a game mid-week and I’m hoping that things will go more smoothly.

~ Monday: Good things about this day: a letter from Kanemoto, absurd lunch conversations with Penelope, a relatively successful speaking check with the second year students, and reminders as to why I really like this first year class (even if they’re hyperactive to the point of being dangerous to themselves and others).

Not so good thing: Being the object of The Child’s emotional turbulence after school.

Monday was the day when all of the third year students officially retired from clubs and student committees and passed the reins on to the second year class. I think that The Child was feeling really sensitive about this ceremony, and the prospect of having to leave middle school. As such, when I went out to the bicycle racks to say goodbye to the third years, he used me to vent his frustrations and told me that I was a bothersome and annoying person who needed to just be seen in English class.

It’s been a long time since he’s turned on me in this way, and so I really wasn’t prepared to respond to such an aggressive tone. I knew that although he was serious, his words weren’t genuine. Still, they did kind of sting and I retreated to the second years to give him his space.

I’m certainly not upset with him for his behavior; The Child is in fact, a child, and I know that he is still learning how to control and handle his emotions. Because of his intelligence and sensitivity, this is particularly challenging for him. The only thing I can do is go back into class on Tuesday and treat him as I always have. I think that the best thing I can give him is constancy and stability, even if he is determined to lash out against it.

Ah, teaching. And people say that this is an easy job?

Walking down the street
Distant memories
Are buried in the past forever…

My Teaching World / General Update August 4, 2010

Posted by Earthdragonette in Apologies, Cultural Exchange, Student Moments, Summer Vacation.
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Welcome back ~ to both of us!

I’m sorry that this week has gotten off to a slow start. I’ve had some computer issues that I’ve been dealing with and I also may or may not have completely destroyed my sleeping schedule on Sunday/Monday so that I could watch a game between FC Bayern and Schalke 3. In addition, I’m taking a trip to Tokyo this weekend and so my schedule has picked up and grown a bit hectic thanks to those preparations.


Quite possibly the Best Team Song Ever

Now, though, my computer is working and My Beloved Bayern is hard at work training and not playing games that make me get up at 2 o’clock in the morning. Let’s move forward, shall we?

As I mentioned before, it’s summer vacation in Japan now and so my Teaching World has been relatively quiet over the last few weeks. June and July were quite busy, though. I had open lessons at my middle school and a lot of small projects that I had to finish. While all this was going on, I do believe that it was Moments With Students that kept me (relatively) sane. Some highlights include:

Everybody’s Favorite making a triumphant (and hilarious) visit to show off all that he’s learned since leaving middle school. He further declared that middle school is better than high school in every conceivable way and that I am not allowed to return to the States.

The Child continuing to vex me in ways that only he can manage. Still, he’s decided that he actually wants to attempt to go to high school and so he’s become a great deal less snarky and more studious over the last few months. I’m still not sure what his chances of success are; it’s difficult to correct years of intellectual neglect in only about six months. Still, I’m pulling for him and I’m hoping to help him in any way that I can.

The Whistler and I have been playing word games in the hallway over the last two months or so. It’s actually the same word game – a popular little mental exercise called Shiritori. The idea is that you say a word and then another person has to take the last letter of that word and make a new word. “Egg” could lead to “goblin,” which leads to “nest,” which leads to “turtle,” etc. We’ve been playing the same game during cleaning times and 10 minute breaks. A winner is declared when one’s opponent can’t come up with a new word. Considering we have hours in between turns, I think this is probably the Shiritori Game That Will Never End. At present, it’s my turn and the last word was “thought.”

Hermione and I have spent a lot of time together. If it weren’t for her and Hannah Montana, I probably would be significantly more sad and lonely. I made both of them happy right before the break because I arranged for the second year class to watch the new Tim Burton version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. That was probably the most successful movie day I’ve ever done.

Kanemoto and I have also interacted a lot during the first term. He seems to be adjusting to the middle school, and I go out of my way in every way, shape, and form to annoy him. There are just some students that one can’t help trying to frustrate and provoke at every turn, and Kanemoto is that student for me. I can’t begin to describe how much fun it is to see him grow increasingly agitated as I take him to task (for the fortieth time in an hour) for not writing me a letter in English. The best part is that when he finally breaks (which he does every time) and scolds me in ardent, exasperated Japanese, I always look at him blankly and tell him that I don’t speak Japanese so he’ll have to do that once more in English. The magical part of this entire relationship, though, is that these little confrontations actually work. I’ve gotten some absolutely smashing letters from him as a result.

So that’s more or less what’s been happening on the middle school front. The elementary schools have also been busy. The weekly 5th and 6th year lessons are a constant worry, but I’ve seen some real growth and progress in my students so I can’t complain. My Little Monkey has been remarkably scarce, but Fievel and his brother have been my little shadows at every possible moment. In addition, I attracted some new fans after showing my classes a slideshow about England; I’ve had a lot more letters from 3rd through 6th graders newly inspired by all things international. I’m planning on putting together a presentation about the trip I’ll take to the States in December, so I look forward to sharing that with them as well.

Perhaps the most significant and entertaining activity on the elementary front were the two-day long summer camps that I went to at the end of July. Wednesday/Thursday saw me cooking, singing, and otherwise frolicking with Thursday’s elementary school, and then Thursday/Friday focused on Friday’s school. It was a busy three days for me, but I was able to take a lot of great pictures and I think that I connected with some students in a way that I hadn’t been able to before.

And… I think that’s a pretty fair overview of My Teaching Word, which will continue to be on hold until September 1st. I’m using my summer vacation as best as I can, and look forward to trips with my friends, afternoons at the gym, visits to the movie theater, and days at The Beach.

I’ll leave you with some pictures from the summer.

Making curry and rice.

I enjoy taking pictures of fire.

This would be more fire.

Fire in Flower Form

FC Bayern Deutschermeister ja so heißt er mein Verein,
Ja so war es und so ist es und so wird es immer sein

Let’s state the obvious! June 1, 2010

Posted by Earthdragonette in Julie Gets Philosophical, Just Bizarre, Me Time.
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We have seven weeks until summer break!

But really, who’s counting?**

However, until those blessed days of ice cream, visits to the beach, and nationally televised high school baseball tournaments arrive, I still have about a hundred classes left ~ give or take. There also may or may not be a wealth of other happenings and obligations. I really don’t want to be the kind of person that ignores the present in favor of drooling over future prospects, though, so let’s pull back from this summer-oriented daydreaming and focus on what’s been going on in the here and now.

To be honest, I’ve been having some difficulties figuring out what to write about in this post. It’s not that I don’t have good memories from the past few days. For example:

Friday: The school had a special event second period that ran long and prevented us from having English class with the 5th graders. They were completely ruffled and absolutely enraged and by the experience, which did my heart a world of good. It was also vastly entertaining to watch them try to reschedule the class themselves. They were only placated when we promised to do two periods of English this Friday. Kids wanting more classes, who knew?

Saturday: I had a spectacular dinner with My Japanese Sister and her family. I was particularly pleased with my menu (one can never go wrong with homemade bread and beef stew), and it was nice to catch up with them again. It’d been quite awhile since our last dinner together.

Sunday: I’ve had this image in my mind for quite some time of using Sunday mornings to work out at the gym, go by a local farmer’s market, and eat Indian food for lunch. I was delighted to see this plan come to fruition; not much gives me more pleasure than seeing a collection of ideas become a bona fide routine.

Monday: I did a day of speaking checks. Four periods of speaking checks to be precise. I don’t know that we can say I’m doing a good job of encouraging and promoting conversational English. However, I believe we can say that I’m not doing a bad job of it. I still feel as though there are miles to go before I sleep.

Tuesday: The Gym. Also podcasts.

I think that perhaps one of the reasons that it’s been a little hard for me to reflect on my circumstances recently is that part of me is a little wary and unsure of these new routines. For so long, just about every waking moment I had was dedicated to class preparation. Working on nights and weekends wasn’t an option – it was just what I did. I started to notice, though, that the process really did leave me feeling very tired and more than a little stressed out.

To some degree, that kind of effort is required with my kind of job. I don’t have a lot of guidelines or rules or formal procedures that I can follow; I’ve had to more or less create my role. Having such a vast world of possibility and potential to work from is overwhelming (to say the least). My job is like a huge ball of clay, and the only way that I have been able to shape it into some kind of profitable state has been to put in a great deal of time and energy.

This year, though, I’ve started to take a step back. This isn’t to say that I’m not busy (on the contrary, my work hours are more packed than ever). It’s just that I’m feeling more of a need to take time to focus on other parts of my life, I suppose. Whether it be listening to podcasts about international politics or going to the gym or singing with the rock band – part of me is trying to establish a role here that is not directly linked to my status as an English teacher or a foreigner.

I guess part of me feels guilty for this move away from my work. I feel as though the students would benefit from some of the activities/projects that I used to do regularly. On the other hand, I go through each day with the knowledge that I’m going to be leaving this town next March. Perhaps what’s happening now is an initial shift away from here and back home; a shift from Japanese Julie to American Julie.

Still, as Mary Sunshine once told me, “first [take care of the students, then [I] can go home.” It’s important for me to remember what’s kept me here, and what brings more joy to my day – even more than going to the gym or listening to the BBC News. The Child’s jokes, Kanemoto’s letters, the rival between Fievel and My Little Monkey, Hannah Montana’s laugh. Perhaps these are the keys to soothing the next ten months of restlessness.

I can see the way you look at me
And even when you look away I know you think of me


**I am.

I need a degree in economics. May 19, 2010

Posted by Earthdragonette in Student Moments.
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And we have Kanemoto to thank for this revelation.

Yesterday, I decided to sit at Kanemoto’s table during lunch. Next to us was The Prodigy who proved to be entertaining, even if she wasn’t involved in my current desire to compare Adam Smith and John Maynard Keynes.

While we ate, the students around me were trying hard to speak in English, so I was giving out a lot of Julie Money in the process. At one point, however, I noticed that two of the students (Kanemoto and another-as-yet-unnamed individual) kept passing their money to a boy sitting at the end of the table. Curious, I asked Kanemoto what the deal was. His reply? “Oh, he’s the bank.”

The what?

“The bank. We made a bank for Julie Money and he holds the savings.”

You read correctly – a bank. An honest to God, lending-and-interest-rate using bank.

Here is the situation as I understand it: Kanemoto and a group of his friends were talking one day and they realized that earning Julie money can be difficult because I’m usually mobbed by students between classes and after school. They also realized that individually they all had about 75 units of Julie Money, but together it was closer to 400. Most of them are aiming for the quantity of 150, at which point they can get an English translation of a Japanese comic. On their own, this dream is far away for all of them, but with their combined forces, it’s possible for many of them.

The system works this way: the members of the bank (of which I believe there are currently six) are free to borrow money to buy whatever prize from me they want. Let’s say you have 100 units of Julie Money saved and you want a comic – you’re allowed to borrow 50 from the bank. This is permissible, but only under the condition that you’re not allowed to borrow again until you’ve invested 100 units into the bank (double of what you borrowed).

This is a fantastically steep interest rate in the real world, but for a bunch of first year middle school students it’s fair and easy to calculate.

In all of my dreams and hopes surrounding the success of Julie Money, I never once conceived that my students would take it upon themselves to organize and run a bank. It does, however, explain why those six students (many of whom are extremely active and wealthy in the Julie Money world) are not spending their Julie Money. They’re saving it. Some don’t know what they want to buy yet, some want to be able to buy more than one comic at once, and some just want to help their friends because they’re not sure that they want to buy anything.

Banks, interest rates, market liquidity, potential inflation if the kids don’t start buying things … yes, I definitely need an economics degree.

I’ve been funny I’ve been cool with the lines
Ain’t that the way love’s supposed to be?

And now back to our regularly scheduled blogging… May 11, 2010

Posted by Earthdragonette in Apologies, Culinary Pursuits, Cultural Exchange, Just Bizarre, Student Moments.
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Honestly!

So my brief trip to Tokyo turned into a long break from productivity in most ways, shapes, and forms. With the exception of cleaning my apartment and reading about probability, I have been lazy and sloth-like. Although glorious while it lasted, my vacation has left me scrambling throughout the beginning part of this week. I am now spectacularly behind on work. This just goes to show that I never do ~anything~ by halves.

So, according to my calculations, the last post I made was on April 29th. Wow. Am I that far behind?

Okay. Enough with the chitchat. It appears that I am in memory debt and it’s time to pay up.

Julie’s Incredible May 11th List: “12 Days, 12 Memories!”

1) April 30th: Taue (Also known as Rice Planting)
So, in addition to marking the splendid and festive occasion known as My Father’s Birthday, April 30th was noteworthy because I found myself knee-deep in rice fields surrounded by elementary school students. This is a somewhat ironic memory for me. Although I’ve lived here for almost four years and I’ve joked about the rice fields, I’ve never actually stepped into one. At least, not until April 30th.

Contrary to popular belief, not all Japanese people frequent (or have ever in their lives gone into) rice fields. In fact, The Japanese Best Friend told me that she’s never planted rice before. It’s very much a country custom, and it’s only in a few areas that children are allowed to try their hand at it. By all accounts, I was very lucky to have the opportunity to participate.

That is, of course, if you believe someone is lucky when they are given the opportunity to stand in mud while surrounded by insects and children who would rather throw the mud instead of plant things in it. By some classic bit of chance, I was right in the middle of the first and second years (arguably the least productive of the whole bunch) and so I spent two hours dodging fistfuls of mud while trying to finish our row. The process of planting rice is kind of difficult to describe, but here’s all you really have to know:

a) It involves standing in cold, muddy water that may or may not be home to the following: frogs, snakes, insects, and the ghosts of former, less successful Assistant Language Teachers.

b) Oh, yes. All of us were barefoot.

c)  Planting rice is absolute murder on the lower back.

d) Getting mud in the face is not as much fun as the cartoons would have us believe.

e) Without a doubt: I am from peasant stock. There is no blue blood in my veins. Not a drop. I say this because I can think of no other explanation as to why I find such inexplicable joy in working with soil. Much like the day I cooked potatoes Gypsy Style, I felt very grounded and happy after my sojourn with the Natural Elements.

When one considers what I did the following day, I guess my life is put into a rather odd perspective. The first of May found me in:

2) Ginza: Tokyo’s Luxury District
The Japanese Best Friend and I left her house at about 3 in the morning and by 1 o’clock that afternoon we were deep in the heart of Tokyo. Goodbye rice fields, giant centipedes, and roadside vegetable stands. Hello Chanel, COACH, Kitamura, (and my personal favorite) Longchamp.

Shopping with one of my favorite people is fun. Shopping with one of my favorite people and eating at the Tokyo Branch of a famous French cafe? That, my faithful readers, is a slice of paradise.

3) Eating My Weight in Chinese Food in Yokohama’s Chinatown
Paradise continued on Sunday when The Japanese Best Friend and I met up with a friend of hers for more shopping and fooding. The Japanese Best Friend met him when they were both at the same language course in the States a number of years ago.  He’s an 80ish year-old man who speaks great English and knows the city of Yokohama like the back of his hand.

With him by our side, we wandered the shops of Motomachi (a famous shopping district) and investigated the wonders of Chinatown. He was our host for an incredibly expensive eight course Chinese meal at a famous restaurant (the name escapes me but the Chef is widely known throughout Japan). I got to try a number of new dishes (many of which are on PETA’s List of Evil Things People Eat but, well, when in Rome…) and it was at this point in the trip that my credit card may or may not have melted.

I foresee a lot of home cooking in my future for the next two months or so. Still, because we didn’t take the train, the trip was not nearly as expensive as it could have been.

What? Did I neglect to mention that:

4) I drove to Tokyo
The Japanese Best Friend and I switched off on the driving, and I think that we both did about half of the trip. It wasn’t nearly as frightening as the time that I drove to Osaka. (That’s a story for another time.) It only took about six hours each way, and we passed the time by talking, listening to/watching videos, stopping at famous (and not-so-famous) rest stops, and planning future excursions to outlet malls in the prefecture and Tokyo Disneyland. I may only have less than 11 months’ time left here, but I have a feeling that she is going to keep me very busy.

5) Dinner with Old Friends
I spent most of Tuesday relaxing, but I did have the opportunity to go to dinner at a friend’s house in the evening. She’s a lovely woman who lives in a town to the south of me. I met her through Jyona33, and I think I may have mentioned her before. At any rate, she’s a fantastic cook, so I had a lovely evening with her and her family. She lived in New York for a number of years; her English is fantastic and her grasp on American life is quite keen and insightful. She loves to gossip about movie stars and politics. Her husband likes to talk about how she only married him for his money and how Japan is the greatest country in the world. With hosts like this, how could the evening go wrong?

The following day, I spent time with a not-so-old friend, in an event I like to think of as:

6) The Return of Mary Sunshine
She’s back! At least, she was back for about seven hours last Wednesday. I picked her up at a convenience store near her house around noon and didn’t return her until almost seven in the evening. We spent the afternoon making pizza, making brownies, and just generally catching up. I feel bad because a variety of circumstances have forced her to give up table tennis for the school year. I hope that things change for the better; she has an amazing skill and she deserves every opportunity to cultivate it.

I parted ways with her in the evening with mixed feelings. On one hand, I was terribly glad to see her. On the other hand, her life and her road are so difficult right now; I wish that there were more things that I could do for her.

7) Back to school . . . but not.
Thursday was the end of Golden Week, but I had a dentist appointment in the afternoon (to finish off a tiny bit of work on The Evil Tooth), so it was only a half-day for me. I like to think that I used my time wisely. Once the dental business was taken care of, I found a Seattle’s Best coffee shop and huddled down with a book on music theory for a few hours. It was very reminiscent of my college days, and for a while I was able to pretend that I was a student once again. I enjoy my position as a teacher and mentor, but some days (such as the previous day with Mary Sunshine) the role can become overwhelming. It’s nice to take a break from time to time.

8) The Day I Did Nothing
Friday, my elementary school was closed and so I decided to take the day off and do nothing. Now, this is not to be interpreted as “The Day I Didn’t Do Anything.” I’m a big believer in the concept of exerting effort for the sake of “nothingness.” There is, in fact, an art to being perfectly unoccupied, and I spent Friday in pursuit of this state. After the rice planting, the trip to Tokyo, the internationalizing, the mentoring, and the dental business, I was ready to perceive life on a less intense level. I started out the day intending to update this blog, but settled for brewing and drinking eight different kinds of tea throughout the course of the day. You will be happy to know that there is a discernible difference between caffeine free and regular chai.

9) Saturday, I felt guilty, and so I did things.
My Type A/OCD nature often relinquishes the Reins of Life to the less ambitious and laid back part of my personality. (The existence of which is a genetic mutation if ever there was one.) (If you have ever met my parents, then you understand why I say this.) So, Saturday I cleaned. And cleaned. And cleaned some more. Then I drove to a nice little Italian store so that I can make a Fantastic Minestrone sometime this week or next week. Then I cleaned some more.

Oh, my father and I also made a wondrous Red Lentil and Mustard Green soup. This isn’t exactly the recipe that we used, but it’s close enough. Try it! You’ll like it!

10) But Sunday, I told myself I should be relaxing…
Therefore, I spent much of last Sunday researching how Ugly Betty ended and revisiting my old anger that they got rid of one of my favorite characters back in Season 3. Jyona33 laughs at me when I describe how involved I become with characters of movies, television shows, books, or Japanese comics. But then again, I laugh at Jyona33 when he sings Britney Spears songs when we sing karaoke. So, you see, the relationship is balanced.

I also: made more soup (a Curry Cauliflower number) and read more about music theory. I did not update the blog. :(

Not surprisingly …

11) Monday was really busy…
… and that’s all I really have for it. The day went by quickly. My students are incredibly enthusiastic and my first years (in particular My #1 Fan, Kanemoto, Yoshi, and DJ Ozma Jr2) are very, very loud. They do not know the meaning of “Let’s talk later,” and I am running out of Julie Money faster than I can make it.

Am I really complaining? No. I’m thrilled that they enjoy English so much. Well, I’m thrilled that they enjoy speaking English so much. There is, however, a slight problem:

12) On Tuesday, most of my first years failed their first spelling test
I guess you could say that Tuesday came after me like the boulder in Indiana Jones: unexpectedly, loudly, and nearly fatally. From the moment I ran out the door until the moment I stumbled home, it’s been … hectic. In the middle of all this running, jumping, and dodging, there was that Rock of Disappointment. Out of 46 students, only 6 of the first years were able to pass today’s spelling test.

To be fair, this was the first spelling test they’ve ever had and I think that they didn’t quite understand how much they were going to need to study. Reading words and recalling how they are created are very different things; today was a wake-up call for them. On one hand, it’s difficult not to blame myself for this Spectacular Failure. On the other hand, my students are very, very good at: speaking, reading, and pronouncing words without an incredibly awkward and thick Japanese accent. I suppose I should count my blessings; they may be bordering on illiteracy, but at least they’re good conversationalists.

And … I think that brings us up to date. Once again, I’m sorry that I let this blog go so long without an update. I know that you’re used to the occasional hiatus, but I really would like to offer you thoughtful, concise, and daily glimpses into my world.

Well, I suppose like my first years, I too have much to learn about writing.


The future’s in the air
I can feel it everywhere
Blowing with the wind of change

Back from my vacation before taking a vacation. April 29, 2010

Posted by Earthdragonette in Apologies, Culinary Pursuits, Cultural Exchange, Student Moments.
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And, we’re back. I think. I hope.

I apologize for suddenly dropping off the face of the Blogsphere for about a week. My workload suddenly and severely increased last week and then I’ve been sick for most of this week. We can thank one of my extremely overzealous and somewhat unhealthy students for giving me a lovely bacterial infection last Friday. Thankfully, it seems to be gone now.

I wish I had more to report besides work and illness, but that’s more or less been my life for the past week. The school year is picking up in earnest and I am met with an abundance of English enthusiasm from my students no matter where I turn. This is a good thing, though. I am not complaining. I’ve worked very hard for a very long time to convince these children that Foreign Language is Fun! It’s about time that I get to enjoy the fruits of my labors.

So, I suppose that I’m behind on memories here. My last post was April 20th, so I need to account for the last nine days. That’s a fairly substantial task, so we’d best be getting to it.

1) I went on a field trip with my first year middle school students. We made butter, spoke in English, and drove the home room teachers crazy. I had a lot of fun talking with Kanemoto, who tried to establish a line of credit as far as my English Reward system is concerned. It seems that I am going to have to take a course in micro and macro economics in order to run things efficiently.

2) I met my new first year students at Thursday’s elementary school and it was Love At First Sight. This is the first class I’ve ever encountered where the entire group has come to play with me during lunch time – and they want to play in ENGLISH. We haven’t even had class together yet, and they already know how to sing Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes.

3) Last week, I got an unholy number of letters from the students at Friday’s elementary school. And the new year finally begins in earnest.

4) Saturday was rainy. I may or may not have been homesick. I made brownies and watched movies. Then I went out and saw Alice in Wonderland at the movie theater. This movie made me exceptionally happy because of the rampant Jabberwocky references. I guess the 23rd/24th was the weekend when most of my students went to see Alice as well, because my second years (who you may recall had to memorize the Jabberwocky last year) were Very Excited that they Got the References to the Poem. And in this way, an honest-to-goodness English teacher was born.

5) I cleaned on Sunday. And made this soup! My father and I really like Brazilian food, and so it was his idea to make feijoada (black beans and pork soup). It was one of our better ideas – I really enjoyed it!

6) On Monday, my second year students and I discussed the Jabberwocky. Kanemoto also followed me around most of the day so that he could speak English and get more money. I also got a ridiculous number of letters from my first year students. The students’ enthusiasm is good. Very good. Very, very good as a matter of fact.

7) Tuesday I was at Thursday’s elementary school because of a schedule change. We were supposed to go on a small field trip, but the weather was rainy and so it was postponed. Things worked out rather well, though, because I had more time to get to know the new first year students. One again, the entire class (all nineteen students) came to talk to me during recess and we had a lot of loud, giggly, ridiculous fun.

8) This was a particularly entertaining day. During the lunch break, Hannah Montana, Hermione, Kanemoto, My #1 Fan, and some other students all gathered around me to speak English (and get Julie Money). Hannah Montana and I were in rare form, and just about everything that happened was very loud and very funny. Lucky for me, despite the excessive volume, The Awesome Vice Principal did not get mad at me (this time).

9) On Saturday morning, The Japanese Best Friend and I are heading up to Tokyo for a few days. We’ve decided to save money by driving instead of taking the train, and so we’re preparing for this venture by stocking up on movies and snacks. To this end, Thursday baking zucchini bread, shopping for supplies, and trying to get organized.

And, that’s a very quick rundown of what’s been going on. I apologize (once again…) for the sudden breakdown in communication. Hopefully we’ll be back on track next week!

On a journey to the stars
Far below, we leave forever
Dreams of what we were

Keep on Chasing Rainbows, Fly High April 20, 2010

Posted by Earthdragonette in Cultural Exchange, Japanese GET, Julie Gets Philosophical, Student Moments.
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Okay, so I may or may not be in the throes of a very intense Avantasia obsession. For those not in the know, Avantasia is a side project created by Edguy front man Tobias Sammet. It is also one of my favorite groups. It just came out with two new albums; I will probably listen to very little else for the next several weeks.

This song is my favorite.

Pay particular attention to way that the chorus, Tobi, Jorn Lande, and Bob Catley dance around each other from 5:37 to 6:04. This may be my most beloved 27 seconds in the world of music.

~ So ~ that has very little to with Japan. But my day was (understandably) Japan-focused. So let’s direct our energies towards my memories, shall we?

Today’s weather was rainy and miserable, but I enjoyed myself. I’m also happy because I’m going on a field trip with my first years tomorrow and I think that it will be a lot of fun. I’ll be traveling with My #1 Fan and Kanemoto, so goodness knows what will happen.

Looking back, there are two particular events that I’d like to highlight.

The first happened after lunch (which in itself was enjoyable because I had a great chat with Penelope).  Before I could return to the teacher’s room, my first years dragged me into in a mosh pit so that they could speak English and get “Julie Money” from me. (I used to give out stickers to reward efforts to communicate with me in English, but Julie Money is easier. It is also significantly more popular. ) This was entertaining and a quite fun.

Eventually the crowd died down, and I decided to walk around the school to see if I could inspire some stragglers to speak with me. On the second floor by the library, I found a mixed group of first and second year boys (mostly members of the ping-pong club). They greeted me with a surprising amount of enthusiasm and we proceeded to chat for about fifteen minutes. Other students eventually gathered around as well, but it was more civilized than the mosh pit.

I’m fond of this interaction because I had the chance to talk to students who are not part of my usual crowd. These are boys who I don’t speak with unless it’s related to a classroom activity, and so prior to our talk I couldn’t have said much about their ability to freely converse. I wasn’t unhappy with the content of our conversation; they genuinely wanted to know certain things about me and they did their best to ask it in English. I also gave away an absurd amount of Julie cash, and so they were happy with the exchange as well.

The rest of my day was busy preparing lesson plans for my elementary lessons, and it was while I was meeting with teachers at Thursday’s elementary school and speaking with The Mentor that the second Noteworthy Memory took place.

I don’t think I’ve ever properly explained my situation with The Mentor. I hint at it on the Cast of Characters page, but I think that’s about as much background as I’ve given you. It’s a kind of epic story, with a lot of twists and turns that I don’t understand and probably never will. The short version is this: I’ve worked with him since I arrived, when I first got here he was dismissive although not unfriendly. I went through a period where I had very poor lessons, he became dismissive and angry with me, and I grew to fear him more than any one else on the planet. In an attempt to redeem myself and wrestle my circumstances into submission I began to plan lessons in such a way that I felt he would be comfortable. Over time, my efforts paid off and he began to treat me like a human being. A few outside of school seminars, several after school meetings dedicated to discussing education and problem students, and almost four years of team teaching have finally Melted The Ice.

I wouldn’t go so far as to say that we’re friends, but he is most certainly one of my favorite people.

Okay, so that was … not … short.

Well, like I said: it’s an epic story.

The reason that I’ve gone to all of these efforts to get into The Mentor‘s favor is that he’s quite simply the best teacher I’ve ever seen in my life. His control over his classes is absolute, and the adoration and affection that he receives from his students is unparalleled. He works himself into the ground eight times over for their benefit; no activity is too time consuming and no personal crisis is beneath his notice. He was the one who taught me to think about why students do what they do. He showed me how, as a teacher, my responses to student behavior are critical and can have tremendous consequences without me even knowing it. Because of him, I was compelled to find a reason to make my position in this town a position that others could respect. The thought that this incredible teacher would find my lessons expendable or annoying was Not Acceptable. His anger with me indicated that I had alternative ways of conducting myself, and so I truly owe any and all my success to him.

On a more personal level, is also the only teacher to have ever reached out to me when I’ve needed help. He’s the only one who has been willing to cross cultural and linguistic lines to help me improve my lessons. Over time, he’s extended his assistance into other areas (like culture or sports festivals), and so I also owe a lot of my non-English activities at Thursday’s school to him as well.

So … that’s The Mentor. And, as I said about 400 words ago, he figures into Tuesday’s second memory.

I got to Thursday’s elementary school at about 4:15, and I briefly met with the first through fourth home room teachers to discuss some ideas that I have regarding the content of this year’s lessons. When that was finished, I went by to chat with The Mentor about this week’s class. What began as a discussion about our lesson turned into a discussion about the English curriculum, and then we started to talk about how the new first years were adjusting at the middle school. This topic led to dialogue about problem students and books that he’s reading now to help him understand how he can work with them and integrate them into the rest of the class. He wants me to read these books, but he knows that the Japanese is still above my level. By the time that we finally parted ways, we’d talked for almost an hour.

I think what made me so happy about this exchange is that I feel as though he was telling me that he believes that I could be a teacher that works well with problem students. Given our history, I am (understandably) Ridiculously Happy whenever I receive positive reinforcement from him. I’m so glad that I was able to meet with him on a level playing field and discuss topics that we both find interesting. In addition, something exceptionally pleasant about our exchange was how much we laughed. To me, shared laughter is an indication of shared perspective. When I first got to Japan, he was the last person in the world I thought I would intellectually and socially reconcile with.

I am so glad that in that respect, I was totally and utterly mistaken.

Oh boy the ice will break
You’ll just feel your heart rending

Today I worked in a mosh pit. April 14, 2010

Posted by Earthdragonette in Just Bizarre, Student Moments.
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Okay, so this is only figuratively speaking. But besides the absence of loud and soul wrenching music, I’m hard pressed to find a way in which several points of today did not technically fall under the definition of a “mosh pit.”

Observe:

According to Webster’s Online dictionary, a mosh pit (noun) is “an area in front of a stage where very physical and rough dancing takes place at a rock concert.”

Now, I’ve already granted that there was no music involved, so we can shorten this to “an area in front of a stage where very physical and rough dancing takes place.”

Once again turning to Webster, we see that a stage (noun) defined as “a center of attention or scene of action.” This brings our definition of mosh pit to “an area in front of a center of attention or scene of action where very physical and rough dancing takes place.”

Now, for the last crucial word: dancing. Webster, my friend?

dance (verb): to move or seem to move about in a quick or lively manner

Therefore, our newly constructed understanding of a mosh pit is:

an area in front of a center of attention or scene of action where movement in a quick or lively manner takes place

And that was most certainly my work environment today.

The. Entire. Day.

We can thank DJ Ozma Jr. 2, My #1 Fan, and Kanemoto. All three of them seem to be under the impression that my arms and hands exist only for them to pull me in any given direction. They also seem to believe that because I knew them when they were nine years old, their recent matriculation into middle school has no bearing on whether or not they are allowed to jump on my back whenever the feeling strikes them.

Unfortunately, they all felt the need to exercise these misapprehensions at the same time and at several moments throughout the day. Whenever they saw me, actually. And, if you have never had the extreme discomfort wonderful experience of carrying three 80 pound children at once (who are trying to get their hands on your case of English Participation Tokens), then you should definitely set the person on fire who suggests that you try it.

Granted, these moments all involved enthusiastic and skillful English conversation, but since I just spent ten minutes hugging a warm cup of tea and a bottle of Tylenol, that silver lining is thin indeed.

I don’t mean to give the impression that these boys were the only reasons that I found myself fighting the urge to crowd surf. All of the first year students are hyperactive when they first get to the middle school. For the first two months or so, they are spectacularly fanatical about my English Rewards Program. This enthusiasm eventually levels out once they feel comfortable with their new routines, but for the next eight weeks I am going to have to find some ways to organize the masses. I do not have the luxury of the LAPD to help maintain order.

And in the meantime, I will cuddle up with my Tylenol and try to knit that silver lining into a warm blanket. I suppose that this situation is a lot better than many alternatives (including my constant worry of suddenly becoming old, boring, and uncool).

Besides, I head to the elementary schools for the next two days so I’ll have a brief respite.

Oh, wait.

Elementary visits.

…well…

It’s a good thing I have a lot of tea.

Through all the hard times in my life
Those nights kept me alive

*This post was ever-so-slightly edited because I realized that my final definition of “mosh pit” was decidedly risqué and that was (honestly) not my intention. -_-; This will teach me to take more time with my proofreading.

I just realized… April 13, 2010

Posted by Earthdragonette in Julie Gets Philosophical, Student Moments.
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…that I’ve gotten behind on soup recipes!

My dad and I didn’t make one when I went to Osaka, but we’ve been active over the last two weeks. Both recipes are from the God-inspired Good & Garlicky Thick & Hearty Soul-Satisfying More-Than-Minestrone Italian Soup Cookbook. The first was a Broccoli and Leek Soup With Rice. It more or less involves simmering broccoli, leeks, potatoes, and chicken broth for about 45 minutes. Once that’s finished, puree the soup in batches, add a little butter and about 1/3 cup of rice (I used pre-cooked brown rice). Let that cook together for about 15 minutes, then season with pepper, salt, and some grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.

The second soup was from this past weekend, and was a Chicken Vegetable Soup that used a whole chicken (this time sans stuffing). Like my first encounter with a whole chicken in Japan, my little friend from Sunday still had a significant amount of vital organs and neck attached. I didn’t have a lot of time to get prissy about it, so I (if I do say so myself) quickly and efficiently prepared the bird and got the soup cooking. You see what this is, right?

This is personal growth. I am now a better person.*

Anyway, both soups were delicious and I would post the recipes in their entirety if I weren’t worry about copyright infringement. But, seriously, this book. Pages 134-135 and 186-188. You won’t be disappointed.

Today, as I’d predicted, has been very busy. I have a lot of paperwork that I need to organize and various kinds of lesson plans and curriculum-related material to gather together for my elementary schools. It would have been nice if they’d given me a little more time to work on these artifacts, but this is the Nature of The Beast when one is Building a System From the Ground Up. I just have to smile, go with the flow, and be thankful (very, very thankful) that they want to hear my opinion in the first place.

To take just a single memory from the day, though, means that we have to turn our attention to Kanemoto.

On the cast of characters page, I talk about how Kanemoto has dramatically transformed over the last four years. He started out as incredibly shy and distrustful of me and the English language. Gradually (and I do mean gradually), he began to come out of his shell and write me letters. I like to think that we currently enjoy a solid, affectionate relationship.

There are still times, though, that I sense a distance. It’s not personally directed at me – it’s just the way that he is. He doesn’t like to be put on the spot, and only rarely offers his opinions to the class at large. He likes to have time to go back into his corner and prepare whatever it is that he has to offer. To that degree, he will often cut corners in class so that he doesn’t have to improvise.

For example, today, the students were working with small alphabet cards at their desks. We were asking them to arrange the letters in certain ways, and most of the activities required that the students begin with the cards scattered randomly across their desk. Kanemoto was self-conscious about taking a long time to do the exercises, though, and so he kept arranging his cards into seemingly-random-but-actually-secretly-organized clusters.

Normally, I wouldn’t have much of a problem with this little trick, except that I know Kanemoto has some difficulties with the alphabet. I also know that he likes English and that he wants to learn it, and so it’s important to me that he try to trust himself a little more and actually attempt the activities. I feel that he needs to begin as he means to continue, and this means starting with facing his difficulties head-on.  If he cuts corners now, I really do worry as to how he will handle the future assignments. I don’t want him to study English in a distanced and superficial manner because he’s too afraid to make mistakes.

Last Saturday, I ate lunch with next to him and The Prodigy. Kanemoto knows that I’m especially fond of him, and so I think he might have been a little embarrassed by the gesture; he spent the entire lunch wildly fluctuating between actual conversation and humorous, snarky language challenges. These challenges ranged from: “Julie, I challenge you to STOP TALKING.” to “Julie, I challenge you to MAKE EVERYONE LAUGH RIGHT NOW.” There was something a little unusual in this dynamic, and I’m not sure that I handled it as well as I could have. I guess you could say that I was worried that having such an awkward lunch would mean that our classroom relationship would suffer and that I’d lose him before the end of the first week.

I guess you could also say that I wear paranoia the way some women wear perfume. -_- It is perhaps no wonder that Kanemoto and I dance around each other as we do.

Anyway.

Today, when I saw his attempts to skirt around the English activities so that he wouldn’t *actually* have to do them in a meaningful way (where he may or may not make mistakes), I crouched next to his desk, looked him in the eye, and asked if he’d like to try it together. He hesitated for a minute or so, and tried to wiggle from under the weight of my attention, but he eventually agreed and we worked together. He wasn’t the first one done with the task, but he wasn’t the last one, either.

I suppose when I look at Kanemoto, I see a child that has a lot of incredible potential. He has so much energy and so much life inside of him, and it’s just begging to be let out. I think that he might be afraid – afraid of failing, and maybe even afraid of succeeding because he then has more to lose. I can’t stress how many times I have felt this same way, and to what degree I empathize with him. In some ways, it’s almost a physical response because I remember that kind of heartbreak.

Well, no matter what the reasons are for his behavior, I truly hope that English and the emphasis that my class places on communication will open up a new world for him. I hope that he learns to express himself and to interact with the world in a confident, skilled, and meaningful way.

I hope that today was another step towards that goal.

Oh, turn the wheel and heal me
Since moonlights fade I’m empty, heal me

*As long as one does not ask for the opinions of animal rights activists.

Do you know what I miss? April 7, 2010

Posted by Earthdragonette in Julie Gets Philosophical, Lessons Learned, Student Moments.
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Renaissance Festivals.

In particular, this Renaissance Festival.

And I’m not ashamed to admit it. In fact, if you’re somebody who’s known me for any significant length of time you probably have noticed that I have a somewhat intense fixation with Western history (both real and fictional). Someone once said to me recently that I should have been born in a slightly altered form of our Victorian Era.

I can live with that.

I don’t really have a point here; it’s just something I’ve been thinking about recently. I used to go to Renaissance Festivals every year. Roasted turkey legs, natural soaps, handmade jewelry and jousting ~ what more could you ask for??

So, Wednesday I did not go to a festival (renaissance or otherwise). I did, however, go to my middle school and interact with my students as they went around the school for their yearly health checks. It was a basic examination: height, weight, sight, hearing, etc. Aside from a rather intense discussion that I got into with my third year girls about why they do not need to go on diets (they’re supposed to be growing for the love of God), it was a pleasant affair.

I managed to chat with all of the grades, but I definitely spent more time with the first year students. It’s gratifying to know that they are as loud and spastic as I predicted they would be. I’m not sure if they teachers really believed me when I warned them ahead of time about the fantastic decibel levels these students’ voices can reach, but after yesterday they understand. Oh, do they understand.

Still, shattered eardrums or no, I did my best to walk around the school and say something to each of the new students (making sure to address them by their names). I also tried not to be too visible or present – they need some time on their own to get used to each other and find their own class dynamics. Still, I had a good time joking with Yoshi and My #1 Fan. The World Is His Oyster appeared a little overwhelmed, and The Prodigy looked exhausted. Kanemoto seemed to be holding up well, though, and that made me happy as I am especially protective and fond of him.

I think that my favorite moment from yesterday, though, was when I ran into some of my as-yet-not-made-into-characters first year boys. I went to the second floor to get something and passed by the first year classrooms. This was particularly amusing, because the first year girls are still shy about changing the outside layers of their uniforms in front of the boys. The students wear t-shirts and shorts underneath their uniforms and track suits, so it’s not as if anything scandalous is exposed during the changing process. But, well, you know. Once their schedules pick up, both girls and boys will be so busy they won’t care who sees what. Until then, though, the boys will probably be subjected to various levels of classroom exile.

Anyway, when I arrived, three boys came up to me and begged for my help in determining when it would be safe to enter their classroom again. It wasn’t so much that they didn’t want to see what the girls were doing – they just knew that they would incur the wrath of a thousand suns if they even tried to get a peek. While we were waiting for the girls to finish, we started to chat. It was a great moment for me, because these were the boys that stayed clear of my radar when they were in elementary school. They did okay in class but it was obvious that English wasn’t their favorite subject. They were also always otherwise occupied during recess, so we didn’t bond then, either. We’ve kept a pleasant, if significant distance from each other over the last three and a half years.

Despite this distance, we had an animated conversation. They even went so far as to joke with me and reference events from our elementary school days that I didn’t even know they’d been aware of. When the girls had finally finished and agreed to let the boys back into the classroom, we parted cheerfully, and they were grateful for my assistance.

This incident coincides well with something that I’ve noted over the last week or so. I was really worried about the departure of The Great Photographer, because he was such a vibrant, enthusiastic, and omniscient entity. He had some part in every activity, every lesson, and every element of the middle school. When he left, I was afraid that the school would feel empty and cold, without life and without effervescence.

As I’ve mentioned before, although this year’s atmosphere is different, the school hasn’t ceased to be a warm, welcoming environment. Other teachers have filled the void in their own ways, offering their own energies, their own experiences, and their own talents. Things have changed, but it’s not unpleasant or negative. I feel as though I’m coming to see the middle school in new ways. It’s as if, for a long time, I was listening to an orchestra and there was a really strong trumpet player. The trumpet player is gone, but now I can hear the flutes, the clarinets, and even the French horns. The song is different, but it’s still beautiful.

The same thing is happening with my first year students. At the elementary school, we had a routine specific to that environment. Now that they’re here, people are playing music differently, and some are switching instruments all together. The musicians are still the same, and there’s security in that, but they have yet to decide what kind of music they will make here.

There are so many possibilities – so many opportunities – waiting for them.

I can’t wait to see how things turn out.

“Tic Tac” is the message
And the lunatic fears
He is no more

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