jump to navigation

Let’s have some ICE CREAM. June 9, 2010

Posted by Earthdragonette in ice cream, Just Bizarre, Student Moments.
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
add a comment

Because I’m running behind schedule today and can’t seem to flesh any of my thoughts out into a full post.

~ Recently, I’ve been really disappointed with the caliber of the lunches at my schools. The menus have been bizarre (yesterday’s was white rice, a small piece of fried fish, and a weird sour vegetable salad-esque thing) and the taste not that tasty. Everyone eats the same thing at my schools (all the students and staff), and so we’ve been collectively suffering over the last month or so. Yesterday, The JTE and some other teachers took part in a rant after lunch, which was quite entertaining. I also got to complain, so that was a nice bonding moment.

~ I have an equation for you: Mary Sunshine : last year :: Hannah Montana : this year. Over the last few weeks, I’ve been spending a lot of time with my pop-culture queen, and I’ve discovered that it’s ridiculously fun to tease her during class. To this end, I’ve started using her name in a lot of my games and activities, and I made her a zombie in the Zombie Listening Test from a couple of weeks ago. She responds to my gestures of affection with various forms of physical abuse, but I’m starting to get used to this method of communication.

~ The Child had a very good day, which made up for the massive headache he gave me on Monday. While I was working with him on Wednesday, I was struck by how much he’s grown up over the past four years. I know that he doesn’t think a lot about his future (except to dismiss it as boring and tiresome), but I kind of hope that he rallies and decides to become a teacher. I think that he would be a good one.

~ I finally had a chance to go back to dance practice last night. The Dance Troupe and I have a small festival on Sunday. It should only last about five hours, so I don’t think it’s going to be too taxing. We’re doing the same dances that we worked on last year, although DJ Ozma is hard at work on coming up with a routine for Avril Lavigne’s Girlfriend.

~ Looking at the weather forecast for next week depresses me. The Rainy Season is indeed upon us.

Never wanted to know, never wanted to see
I wasted my time until time wasted me

Let’s state the obvious! June 1, 2010

Posted by Earthdragonette in Julie Gets Philosophical, Just Bizarre, Me Time.
Tags: , , , ,
add a comment

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.

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

Posted by Earthdragonette in Apologies, Culinary Pursuits, Cultural Exchange, Just Bizarre, Student Moments.
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
add a comment

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

Let’s not forget about the pretzels March 16, 2010

Posted by Earthdragonette in Julie Gets Philosophical, Lessons Learned, Taking Initiative.
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
add a comment

First things first:

The Official Osaka Countdown Clock puts us at 9 days or about 225 hours away from the much-anticipated okonomiyaki lunch in Namba! I would start packing, but I’m afraid I have plans to use those clothes before my departure. Alas. -_-;;

Moving on to a more reflective tone, I think that we can safely say that Tuesday was more upbeat and productive than Monday was (although I did not make bread today). I managed to get a significant amount of work done, and then I’ve also narrowed down my Weekend Cooking Project to either cinnamon rolls or soft pretzels. The cinnamon rolls are slightly tricky, because I’m technically observing Lent right now and all chocolate and pastries are off-limits until April 4th.

Although I could, theoretically, invoke the more forgiving interpretation of this pre-Easter trial and break Lent on Sunday to indulge in cinnamon goodness, I’m not sure that this idea is wise. I’m presently leaning towards the pretzels because I could make a lot of them on Monday and give them out to my schools next week. This makes Sunday a little more bearable, because it’s already going to be taken up with making lamb stock, crafting the Soup of the Week, and baking bread.

Anyway, this is more or less my inner cooking monologue, and all that really matters in the great scheme of This Blog is that I spent a little bit of time today researching my cooking options.

As far as memories go,Tuesday was interesting. Tuesday was the day that I took the initiative to seek out new interactions with my students that will, in time, develop into next year’s routine. Of course, the seeds of this routine have already been planted. After all, we’re already familiar with many of the characters I goofed around with today (Hannah Montana, Hermione, Clemente, The Child). Still, the times that I choose to linger around my students and the places that I choose to do this lingering – those are different now, and we’re all making adjustments.

I’m not sure how to qualify the exact memory I’m taking with me. It was … vivid. Vivid and …. alive.

I’ve mentioned before that I enjoy running and that I’ve finally started to get back into a running regimen after my winter break. Last year, when I went running during the spring, I always left work at 4:15 so that I could run around my village before it got dark.

Today, though, I felt like doing something different. Instead of leaving work at 4:15, I changed into my running clothes, grabbed my iPod, and settled for doing large laps around the school for about forty minutes. I wasn’t sure how the other teachers or the students would react, but I didn’t think that they would be against me getting a little exercise.

It turns out that everyone was incredibly enthusiastic about it. The principal praised me for healthy initiatives, thus removing any potential administrative barriers to my jogging. Additionally (but most importantly), my students mobbed me before they left school for the day. They were mostly interested in what I was listening to on my iPod, but they were also curious about the running itself. I often forget that my students are very physical beings (they can’t help it with all of the time they dedicate to their clubs), and one of the quickest ways to spark their interest and garner respect is to show them that I have some kind of physical skills; I do not spend all of my time making lesson plans, speaking English, and learning Japanese.

Incidentally, the other quickest way to spark their interest is to give them food. But, I can’t exactly do that every day.

I nearly forgot to mention – I did chance to see Mary Sunshine briefly after school. She came by to see her home room teacher and ask him a few questions, so I took the opportunity to say hello and lament about the tattered shreds of my lonely ALT heart. We caught up for a bit before I took my leave to start the aforementioned exercise.

It’s as I said before, though. I’m still suffering the pangs of Empty Nest Syndrome, but I’m recovering – just as my former-third years are. I don’t want to go so far as to say that Time is a Great Healer, but I will say that Time, if viewed with the correct perspective, creates opportunities to make changed circumstances into something new and interesting. I still have a lot of things to do – projects that await completion, odd ideas that deserve to see the light of day, and students to charm and/or bully into doing their homework.

And let’s not forget about those pretzels and cinnamon rolls.

If I could make these moments endless

Well, they’re gone. March 9, 2010

Posted by Earthdragonette in Julie Gets Philosophical, Student Moments.
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
2 comments

After months of anticipation and weeks of volatile emotions all around, today thirty-one students received their diplomas at my middle school. The weather was perhaps fitting for the occasion, although in my opinion it was too heavy-handed to be artistically ironic. It poured the entire day. Cold, wet, windy rain that made sitting in the unheated gym for two hours rather miserable. Still, it was what it was and we made the best of it.

Middle school graduations in small Japanese towns are perhaps more of an occasion than they are in larger towns (in Japan or elsewhere). These students have been together for a long time – many of them for nine years, and the class size is small enough so that they certainly know each other well. They’ve studied the same subjects, had the same teachers, gone on the same trips, and participated in the same clubs. This ceremony isn’t just an end to compulsory education, but it’s also a significant break with childhood. From here, everyone will scatter to different high schools, some in completely different towns or even (as with one of my students) different prefectures.

It’s not suprising that everyone – boys and girls, teachers, parents, and students – cry at these ceremonies.

Still, my third years are happy and positive by nature and they weathered through the emotional roller coaster rather well. After the ceremony, we spent a great deal of time reminiscing and taking pictures. Once everyone left, I enjoyed a lovely lunch with the other female teachers. Tomorrow we’ll find out which teachers will stay at the school for another year and which ones will be transferred, and so that was the Hot Topic of conversation.

For my part, I seem to be doing well enough. This is my fourth graduation and I think that I am starting to become used to the process. This class was particularly dear to me; I’ve known them since they were in sixth grade and, as you all know, we were close.

I can’t possibly pick only one moment from the day to focus on, so let’s make use of ICE CREAM.

~ Toshiki’s Sister gave me a lovely letter thanking me for teaching her English and asking me to help her if she ever visits the States. This was unexpected, and a very sweet gesture. She is someone that I’m sure will eventually make several international trips – that lifestyle will suit her – and I would welcome the opportunity to assist her.

~ Mary Sunshine took me aside with her father, told him I was one of her best friends and reiterated that we would train together this summer. She’s going to be the most difficult student for me to let go of – we really did spend a lot of time together and she was the one that I felt the most comfortable around.

~ The Boss finally forgave me for every wrong I’ve ever done him. Granted, I’m still not sure what these wrongs were, but at least I know that I won’t have to suffer some sort of Boss-inspired Purgatory at some point.

~ The Savant told me that he would “always remember [me], even when [he is] thirty years old”. Since this figure is roughly double his current age, I feel that this is indeed a profound declaration.

~ Macho Man took several pictures with me where we flexed our muscles. I so badly want to make a T-shirt out of one of them saying something to the effect of: YES. WE ARE MACHO.

~ Even though I mixed up some parent-child relationships, the parents were very forgiving. (Sometimes children really don’t look like their parents. -_-; )

~ Last, but certainly not least, I really appreciated The Awesome Vice Principal letting me go home a little early today. It was obvious that I was under the weather, and sitting in a cold and dreary staff room was not Where I Wanted To Be. He told me that I could take tomorrow off too, if I wished, but I plan to go in anyway. Thursday is going to be a busy day at the elementary school and I have a lot of things to prepare for my sixth years on Friday.

Now that this graduation is over with, we’re in the home stretch. I really don’t have more than a couple of handfuls of classes before the winter term ends and the spring one beings.

Just now, I was reflecting a little on that last sentence, about beginnings and endings, and I recalled something from the principal’s graduation speech. In his speech, he talked about how in English, we often call graduation ceremonies “commencement ceremonies,” because the idea is that the school is sending the graduates off into the world. I particularly like the way that he phrased this part of the speech; the image was very clear and powerful. It made me think about the places that I’ve gone to after my various commencement ceremonies, and the ways in which different parts of my life prepared me for those journeys.

I suppose this concept of learning and then being “sent off” to do something is rather timeless. However, it also strikes me as somewhat a product of our global age. There does seem to be a growing need for people to leave their homes to go and see new things. Sometimes we return, sometimes we keep traveling, sometimes we settle someplace completely new and unexpected. It’s the responsibility that we gave to our students this morning, and it’s a responsibility that I’ve been trying to fulfill for the last four years.

When I think about today’s events from this perspective, I don’t feel quite as sad as I did before. My former-third years and I – we’re both out in the world now, seizing new opportunities and experiences away from where we started. It’s undoubtedly the way that things are supposed to be. Our separation is not something to mourn about – it’s an opportunity to rejoice. Given the option, I choose to do the latter and to wish them all well on their journeys.

I’m gonna live my life like there’s no one to blame
Wasting time is a crying shame

Soup and Sentiment March 8, 2010

Posted by Earthdragonette in Just Bizarre.
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
2 comments

So… first things first. I present to you this week’s soup, as made by the International Father-Daughter Team. I have a lot of dried beans that I’m trying to use up, so I suggested that we make something with red lentils. This was what we found:

Turkish Red Lentil Soup (courtesy of this site)

  1. Bring 12 cups of water to a boil and add red lentils and 2 tsp salt. Simmer for 30 minutes.
  2. While lentils are cooking, put the olive oil, onions, and potatoes in a large saute pan and saute for 4 minutes or until the onions are translucent. Add the bulgur, paprika, cumin, cayenne, and stir until browned about 2-3 minutes. Then add the tomatoes, tomato paste, parsley, and stir for 2-3 more minutes.
  3. Add the contents of this pot to the lentils along with the additional 4 cups of water. Simmer for another 40 minutes or until the lentils and bulgur are soft.
  4. Some recipes recommend that you put the soup in a blender when finished and puree it. Normally, when I have it in restaurants it is pureed. The family recipes do not add this step, and I served it without pureeing. Either way it is equally delicious. If you want to impress guests, you might try pureeing. Otherwise, just serve as is.
  5. When ready to serve, add the lemon juice. You may want to serve with sliced lemon, fresh mint, plain yogurt, or sumac to add after serving, or you can add to each bowl for a beautiful and tasty finish!

My dad and I both left out the bulgur, and I used a can of tomatoes instead of fresh ones (since they’re still not really in season here). We also cut the recipe in half, since 16 cups of soup is a lot of soup and freezer space is limited.

I very much liked this soup. The texture makes it great for pairing with bread (in particular this bread, which I also made yesterday) and a glass of wine. The taste is very earthy and has a lot of layers to it. I definitely recommend adding something sour at the end (lemon juice, yogurt, sour cream…) ~ I think that the balance is strange if it’s left out.

Culinary-wise, I’m particularly pleased right now, because thanks to The Meat Guy I finally found veal bones and lamb bones so that I can make something besides chicken or vegetable stock. I’ve asked my dad that we make this week’s soup beef-stock oriented and he promised to find something interesting.

So… besides cooking, what’s been going on? What kinds of memories have I been making?

To tell you the truth, whatever force it was that awoke in February and decided to Mix Things Up in my life, it has decided to stay for the month of March as well. Given the way things are looking at present, I have a feeling that it’s going to make itself at home for the duration of 2010.

The more that I think about it, this force, whatever it may be, isn’t exactly malignant. It’s not something as simple as Bad Luck. The things that are happening, I can see why they’re happening so there’s method to this madness. In many cases, what starts out as difficult and frustrating ultimately resolves into something positive. The process by which we get from the frustrating to the positive, however, is what’s taking a lot of energy out of me.

In addition, there is no middle ground as far as my experiences (and memories) go. I am not having “okay” days. I’m having days where my activities and interactions are EXTREMELY GOOD or EXTREMELY UNFORTUNATE. The highs are high, the lows are low, and there is most definitely not any “in between” to speak of. Moderation has all but left the building.

Here’s an example of what I mean. Let’s examine what happened to me on Saturday.

~ Got up, had breakfast, enjoyed a lengthy conversation with my father = Very Good!

~ Drove to the gas station and had a lovely conversation with the attendants (an older couple) who are very interested in me and asked a lot of polite, well-meaning questions = Very Good!

~ Went to an Italian Restaurant and was not given certain menus because they didn’t think I could understand Japanese. Was forced to order a more expensive meal than I’d wanted to = Somewhat Unfortunate

~ During the meal at this restaurant, the pizza crust chipped one of my tooth implants = Extremely Unfortunate

~ Went to see Mozart’s Don Giovanni = Very Good!

~ Got Starbucks and great cooking supplies on the way home = Very Good!

~ Woke up several times throughout the evening sick because of aforementioned overly expensive Italian meal = Unfortunate

So, in the end, I can’t say that Saturday was a bad day, per say. But the Goods were good, the Unfortunates were unfortunate, and I am trying to keep things in perspective as best as I can. My situation could most certainly be worse (knock on wood), and to mope about the Unfortunates would take away from the Goods, which I refuse to let happen.

Still, Saturday is more or less the paradigm that I’ve lived through almost every day since the start of February. This is one of the reasons it’s been difficult to write about my memories; I’m not really sure what to say since each day is such a marbled mixture of both Positive and Negative. By the time that the end of the day rolls around, I’m really only good for making dinner and listening to heavy metal on repeat. It’s as if… and forgive me the slight hyperbole in this statement… it’s as if my experiences are a little too vivid. I feel overwhelmed by the sharpness of my experiences right now, and it’s been difficult to write about them.

Thinking about this, it occurs to me that (as I more or less said before) trying to keep a grounded perspective is the best thing I can do right now. I suspect that such a perspective, more than anything else, will help me to navigate through the bizarre waters that I seem to have drifted into.

So, skipping over the second part of last week because, well, I can’t remember that much of it ^_^;; … let’s try to focus on Monday.

Today was, not surprisingly, somewhat bittersweet. It was the last full day of school for the third years; their graduation ceremony is tomorrow. On one hand, everyone at the school is proud of the them and we want them to move forward. On the other hand, they’ve been a really great class and the school will feel empty without them. The students themselves have similar feelings, and so everyone’s emotions are wildly fluctuating between merriment and, well, misery.

I spent as much of my day around them as was humanly possible. I went to see them in between classes, ate with them at lunch, cleaned with them, and signed dozens of yearbooks. Mary Sunshine, Macho Man, and, yes, The Savant stayed close to me, too, I noticed. Mary Sunshine made me promise that we would go running on weekends and during the summer, and that she would always be welcome to do a home stay in the States. We also took moments here and there to sing Jay Sean songs and to dance together. Macho Man and I spent most of the day flexing our muscles and proclaiming to any-and-everybody that “We ARE Macho!” The Savant took several opportunities to tell me that he respected me very much and that he still maintains that He Is Perfect.

I did manage to catch some time with the first and second year students as well. I spoke with Penelope, Aphrodite, Snow White, Avril, Clemente, and The Child at some length while we were cleaning the gym in preparation for tomorrow’s ceremony. I think it’s good for me to spend time with them, because although they’re sad about the third years leaving, they’re also looking forward to becoming third year students themselves. It will be their year to shine, and this is a bunch that notoriously covets the spotlight.

My first years were functioning on a completely separate plane of existence today; although they’re interested in the graduation, they’re more focused on what teachers will be staying at the school for the next school year. The teachers themselves won’t know their assignments until Wednesday, and the students won’t be told until the 24th. I suspect that we won’t see a lot of teachers reassigned to other schools for this next year, but that’s just a theory. The first years were particularly concerned with my assignment, apparently unaware that I don’t get moved around from school to school like regular Japanese teachers. They were happy to know that I’d be staying for another year, and violently adamant that I was not allowed to leave after that.

I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.

So, I suppose what I’m trying to communicate via this long, winding post is that things are busy. Not wretched, confusing, or disheartening. Just …  overwhelming and taxing on all levels. I’m certainly not bored, and I suppose I should be grateful for that. Every day is challenging and I’m having to think fast and move even faster. I suppose these conditions are what makes it difficult for me to stop, reflect, and select one ripened, meaningful moment from the day.

But, I’ll muddle through somehow – that I have no doubt of. I’m not sure where we’ll be at the end of tomorrow, this week, this month, or goodness knows this year. But, that’s more or less the way that life goes, now isn’t it?

Even if you don’t wanna speak tonight
That’s all right, all right with me.

Countdown to Graduation: 1 Week March 2, 2010

Posted by Earthdragonette in Student Moments.
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
2 comments

This title means that as of Tuesday evening we have only two days left in the company of our snarky, funny, glorious third years. I just finished making their graduation presents and I can already feel the Empty Nest Syndrome hovering around the edges of my consciousness. I take refuge in the knowledge that the incoming first year class is going to be spectacularly fun, and that things will settle into a new and interesting routine. In the end, graduation is an emotional roller coaster whose highs and lows need to be put into the proper perspective.

This is what I keep telling myself.

We have a lot of little things that happened on Tuesday, so let’s ICE CREAM this post, shall we?

~ The Boss was really funny during lunch, and we now have a running joke about how we’re absolutely furious with each other. He claims that I told him he was gay (which I swear upon Galileo’s orange, rubbery soul I did not), and my claim is that he’s been trying to sabotage my happiness for the last year and a half. I regret to say that diplomatic discussions quickly degenerated into name calling via a rather unorthodox use of my electronic dictionary (I don’t anyone has ever called me a placenta before, even if it was in the heat of feigned anger). Now, our meetings in the hallway inspire mock rage, characterized by squinted eyes, and vague snarls that expose only the edges of our canine teeth. We part from these encounters yelling warnings about how the other needs to be sure to watch his or her back.

~ Mary Sunshine has been more or less attached to my person since the week began. If I sit down, she sits on top of me. If I stand up, she tries to climb on my back. It’s nice to know she’ll miss me, too.

~ Macho Man is really such a fun person for me to interact with. Although he and I don’t have thoughtful, intense discussions, I enjoy our exchanges because we say so much in so many unique ways. Take lunchtime for example. He was sitting at the table next to mine and we were facing each other.

I looked up and saw he was looking at me. I nodded my head. He nodded his head.

I nodded my head again.

He nodded his head and gave me a little wave.

I copied the wave.

He started to laugh, and I gave him a sharp look in rebuke.

He copied the look and then we regarded each other with suspicion.

Cue staring contest.

It was a tie – we blinked at the same time. (We may or may not have crossed our eyes in an attempt to break the other’s concentration.)

He flexed his right arm. It’s macho.

I flexed my right arm. This is also macho.

And that’s pretty much the end of the conversation.

~ Hyde, bless his little rocker soul, listened to my recommendation and tried out Edguy. It is no surprise that he enjoyed them, because they are in fact the best band in the world. Really, with the knowledge that he is aspires to follow their every move on twitter, my work here is almost done.

~ Because of all the focus on my third years, I decided to take time out and reconnect with my second years during the lunch recess. Penelope, Clemente, Aphrodite, and Avril were in attendance and all were fantastically hilarious. I guess they’re having drama with the first year class, and so they regaled me with stories of their grievances. Ah, middle school.

~ And last but certainly not least: The Child. The second years had a speaking test this week and I wasn’t sure how he would do on it. He worked really hard during the class when we introduced the test and practiced for it, but he is notorious for not studying *after* class. It was anyone’s guess as to how he would perform. I am pleased to announce that he did a spectacular job. He had moments of confusion, but he was really good about correcting himself, and (I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again) his pronunciation was amazing. I feel that now the time is right for me to push him with this Othello Rap for the culture festival.

I suppose I still have high hopes for reconciling these universes of mine.

Even… with graduation looming ahead of us … even if these universes are changing.

When you and I are alone
I’ve never felt so at home

Thank God for chocolate chip cookies. February 14, 2010

Posted by Earthdragonette in Apologies, Just Bizarre, Lessons Learned, Student Moments.
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
2 comments

Because they are what saved my sanity this week.

I apologize for more or less taking a week off from writing. This week was a bit “difficult,” because I was “feeling culture shock” and so slightly “emo.”

When I first got to Japan, I clung to the belief that the longer I was here, the less I would suffer from culture shock. This is both true and not true. Although it doesn’t happen to me as often as it did when I first arrived, there are still moments when I feel confused, overwhelmed, misunderstood, and unappreciated. I think the more that time passes, the more my culture shock manifests when I feel as though my schools are taking advantage of me or being even ever-so-slightly condescending about my foreigner status. Once the month of February begins, the chances of me getting this kind of culture shock increase exponentially. For a variety of reasons (which I will not go into, but one of them happens to be that all of my pets tend to die in February), I am not a fan of the second month of the year.

And on that note, let’s move on…

So we appear to be seven memories behind schedule. To keep this from becoming unnecessarily long, we’ll just quickly go day by day.

Monday
This was the beginning of my Ms. Grumpy McGrumpgrump phase, so looking back on this all I really recall is a dark cloud of … er, grumpiness. One saving grace about the day, though, happened when I went by Thursday’s elementary school to talk to The Mentor about the class we were going to have on Wednesday. When I arrived, the teachers at the school were extremely friendly and welcoming. Even The Mentor, who occasionally bristles at me interrupting his afternoon plans so we can chat, was happy to see me and quite helpful.

Tuesday
This was one of those days where I Did. Not. Want. To. Go. To. Work. This happens very rarely, and even I was surprised by the vehemence of my emotions. Still, I pulled myself together and managed to get out the door and to school. I’m glad that I was able to do this, because the class I had with The Savant, Mary Sunshine, The Boss, Hyde, and The Policeman was worth it. More than worth it. It’s probably the best class I’ve ever had with them, and we’ve had some pretty amazing ones.

The kids have been testing a lot lately, and so I thought a free day with a music video and a trivia/review game would be good therapy for them. I was right, and we all really enjoyed the activities. I’m not sure if the kids were inspired, insane, or perhaps some combination of the two. Whatever it was, they were hilarious. The Savant took it upon himself to police and overly analyze every team’s answer to every question given, and he challenged me on obscure grammatical points. The Boss kept flattering me in an attempt to get me to call on his team again after they’d given an incorrect answer. At one point Hyde tackled The Savant in an attempt to keep him from answering a question. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard in class before. Those 50 minutes made my week.

Wednesday
This was a pretty standard day at Thursday’s elementary school. I was here a day early because we had a holiday on Thursday, and so my schedule shifted around a bit.  Anyway, after school, I spent a rather enjoyable fifteen minutes goofing off with Fievel and his brother, who had to stay behind to wait for their bus. The War Between Fievel and My Little Monkey has more or less resolved into a  stalemate. When The Monkey is around, Fievel tends to make himself scarce, and when Fievel is around, The Monkey quickly loses interest. Usually Fievel gets to me first, and so I haven’t had a chance to see The Monkey a lot since the third term started. Still, both are around to some degree and both still regard me as a walking, talking jungle gym.

Wednesday was also noteworthy because I got to see Avatar for a third time. ^_____^

Thursday
I was thankful because my second visit to the dentist to deal with this root canal treatment went well. Days without tooth pain are, by default, good days.

Friday
This was spent at, not surprisingly, Friday’s elementary school. Although I’m tempted to use some time I spent with my sixth years as this day’s memory, something else happened that was more exciting.

On Wednesday of last week, the teachers at Friday’s elementary school had a meeting about the English program. I wasn’t able to attend the meeting (mostly because I wasn’t invited), but the principal came by my desk on Friday to talk to me about it. To make a long conversation short, here’s what she told me:

1) The fifth and sixth grade teachers want more of my input regarding their lessons during this next school year.
2) The first through fourth grade teachers are also willing to make more time to talk to me prior to our classes.
3) The teachers are interested in having me involved in other subjects besides English.

Yeah, number three made me do a double take, too. I was most definitely *not* expecting that little gem.

So, here’s the story as far as I understand it. The teachers know that my plan is to go back to the States to teach, and they’ve noticed that I’ve been going to a lot of the training seminars and lectures around town. I suppose this has made an impression on them, because now they’re interested in having me in more of a “ALT/Teacher in Training” role. I think the rationale here is that it will give me an opportunity to get more experience, and it will also create a closer working relationship between the homeroom teachers and me. With this system, they’ll feel a bit more comfortable around me and we can talk more about what could happen in the English lessons.

To make this happen, I think the plan is for me to start observing some of the regular language arts and math classes. If things go well and I begin to get involved, then the school is open to me eventually trying my hand at teaching a lesson or two myself. I didn’t even know that this opportunity was possible, and I’m really excited about it. As you can probably surmise, this news did a lot to soften the negative mood I’d been in throughout the week.

And seeing Avatar a fourth time didn’t hurt, either. ^_^

Saturday
This was a very lazy day for me. I made chocolate chip cookies and made more plans for Spring Break. As of now, my plan is to head up to Osaka on March 26th and stay for a couple of nights. I have an appointment at day spa for Saturday morning and tickets to see Wicked on Saturday night. I am very, very, very excited about this trip. I am also very, very, very happy that I’ve been able to arrange the details of this trip by myself.

Sunday
I spent the morning getting some things together for school and then went to watch open lessons at my Friday elementary school in the afternoon. (Open lessons are lessons held for the parents to observe.) I had a rather hilarious ten minute giggle-fest with my sixth year students before their lesson began, and that episode combined with a rather fantastic lecture that I heard in the afternoon helped to round out my ascent from the depths of Grumpy.

This next week is going to be somewhat long and intense. I have (as usual) a lot of things I need to get planned and made, and then next Saturday I’m going to a day-long seminar on elementary English. Hopefully, this will give me some fresh ideas and perspective.

And hopefully, I’ll be able to keep all of you with me along the way this time. ^_~

Tan sólo he venido
a estar contigo
a ser tu amigo
a compartir con mi Dios

A Worthy Occasion February 3, 2010

Posted by Earthdragonette in Lessons Learned, Student Moments.
Tags: , , , , , , , ,
2 comments

Indeed, today is a worthy occasion. You may not be aware of this, but today marks my 100th post! By all accounts we should have gotten here a little earlier, but what matters is that we got here at all!

In honor of this occasion, I want to say thank you for taking the time to read my whimsical and occasionally nonsensical musings about my routine. Goodness knows there are blogs out there dedicated to more exciting topics (I can direct you to some real gems if you like). I appreciate your patronage and will do my best to keep providing you with accounts of good times, cultural insights, and the effects of my sleep deprivation.

Moving on to today’s memory, there are two points from the day that stick out in my mind. I’d like to share them with you, so we’ll put the task of updating my 6th Grade character list on to the back burner for the present.

The first memory is consistent with the other posts that I’ve made this week; it represents that end-of-the-year transition. Mary Sunshine has been studying for tests during the lunch recess over the last couple of weeks, so I’ve had to entertain myself elsewhere. Today, I got the bright idea of taking my rattlesnake eggs up to the first graders to see what they thought of them. The response? Pure magic.

Giving hyperactive children two strong magnets and telling them to amuse themselves is fantastically amusing (and occasionally dangerous). (Just a warning here – do not let children attach the magnets to parts of their body. It hurts a lot.) The students were so taken with throwing these magnets around, attaching them to different parts of the classroom, and organizing a variety of experiments, that many began to ask if there was a way that they could acquire these magnets for themselves. I told them that if they reached a certain benchmark in the sticker program then the magnets were a potential prize. And, Voila! Their enthusiasm for English and collecting stickers returns!

I hate to say it, but part of being an effective teacher is selling one’s  subject.

I am not above bribery to make this happen.

So, that was fun. The first years, for all that they’ve been at the middle school for almost an entire year, still remind me of elementary school students. I think that it’s the second year where that “child to teenager” transformation happens, so I’m looking forward to seeing what kinds of changes are in store.

The other moment that I want to discuss (briefly) was something that happened when I was working with my third years during third period. I’d already had two long lessons with my first years today (we’re preparing for an Epic Speaking Check and it was a weighty and kind of unexciting lesson, so they were grumpy with me), and I was feeling a little less gracious than usual. To add to this environment, the third years were exhausted and unmotivated because of all the tests that they’ve been taking. The game that The JTE picked for today was interesting, but challenging, and so the kids had to push themselves to complete the tasks assigned. A few of my students were trying to wiggle out of doing the activity and there was, if you will, a slight Clashing of Wills.

It came down to one definitive moment:

Me:  Okay, so, let’s try to do this guys.
Them: No. It’s too hard. We’re tired.
Me: It’s not too hard. We’re all tired.
Them: No. It’s too hard. We’re tired.

It’s moments like these where I think to myself, “Why do I like this job? This is annoying. Just do it.”

Luckily, I quickly had my answer to my question; I remembered that I like this job because it’s moments like this one that make me get over myself and do the right thing.

Letting my students not do the activity wasn’t an option, and so I had to find the energy I didn’t think I had to motivate them. I had to show them that they could do this activity and that they would enjoy it once they got their feet wet. It was funny, because as I literally dove in to help them (by pulling up a chair and physically prodding them to get their heads off of their desks) I realized that all of my training with The Child has conditioned me to handle stubborn and lethargic students.

From him, I’ve cultivated the confidence to keep pushing and nagging when by all accounts I should probably go and do something else. I’ve learned to do this pushing and nagging with a teasing smile and infinite patience (losing my temper as rarely gotten me results). I’ve learned that I need to show the student that I value him or her on some level and that this is why it’s important to me that they participate. To make an analogy here, I’ve learned to take a student by the hand and jump off some kind of Cliff of Pride. As we fall, it’s my job to get them to fly.

Thank goodness, I was on the right track today. Although hesitant at first, the students indeed flew. I’m not going to say that this was their most favorite activity ever, but I think that it was useful. They discovered that they knew more about English than they thought that they did, and that’s rewarding in of itself.

And I found another reason why it’s quite possible that right here and right now is where I intended to be.

Things are changing
It seems strange and I need to figure this out

Now we, too, shall start preparing for the new year. February 2, 2010

Posted by Earthdragonette in Background, Student Moments.
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
2 comments

First and foremost, I’d like to apologize for the rampant grammatical errors that wrecked havoc with my last post. I think I’ve managed to catch and neutralize most of them, but I suspect that it damaged my well-educated and scholarly image. I wasn’t joking about the necesity of using the ICE CREAM format; I only had about twenty minutes to write yesterday’s post and so there wasn’t nearly enough time to edit.

Okay, so now that that’s out of the way, on to Tuesday’s post. Thankfully (for all of us), I’m writing this in the evening and I have time to devote to all the joys of writing. The brainstorming, the webbing, the flow charts, the … awkward moments when I can’t think of the phrase I want to use to convey the actual process of writing without using the phrase “actual process of writing” because it sounds wordy, and the editing to make sure that my tenses are consistent!

Today was interesting because although my third years were back, they were so busy with preparing for their high school entrance examinations and interviews that I didn’t have many opportunities to interact with them. We’ll have a class tomorrow (the first time in a while), so I’m looking forward to that. In the meantime though (and as I tried to indicate indicated in yesterday’s post), I’ve been spending more time with my second and first year students.

I had a particularly entertaining conversation with Aphrodite today, because Valentine’s Day is quickly approaching and it’s the Japanese custom for women to give men hand baked chocolate goods on February 14th. (The boys are supposed to return the gesture with [store-bought] white chocolate products on March 14th.) The problem here is that Aphrodite hates (and I do mean HATES) cooking, and so she suffers through this holiday year after year. I think her problem is hilarious and find great satisfaction in teasing her about it.

The feeling of camaraderie that I felt with her and the other second years during this exchange was tangible. I wouldn’t say that it’s on part with the comfort I have with, say, Mary Sunshine, but I could feel the potential for a more substantial “older sister” kind of relationship. I do know everything about her love life, after all.

So, in the spirit of the season, I think that it’s time for us to get ready for the next school year as well. We can do this by reminding ourselves of our key first and second year students and including some new names. Tomorrow, assuming that nothing absolutely extraordinary happens, we can do the same with the sixth year elementary students.

So, what do we have?

2nd Years:

The Familiar:

The Child
This student is one of my favorites. Ever. But he has been my greatest challenge since I first conceived of striving against adversity in any form. He is temperamental, extremely intelligent, unapologetically sarcastic (which is kind of amazing because Japan doesn’t do sarcasm), easily bored, easily frustrated, easily discontent with losing, easily discontent with winning. Some days he loves me and no one else is allowed to talk to me, and some days he requests that I go somewhere and die. His English is the best in the school as far as pronunciation goes. He likes to collect English translations of Japanese comics.

Clemente
Like Roberto Clemente, this student is the epitome of charity and work ethic. He is also one of the most genuine individuals that I’ve ever met and is honest beyond question. He often helps me work with The Child and he’s just a fun kid to be around. Clemente is in the baseball club and he is both a fantastic first baseman and an amazing catcher. Recently, I’ve been talking with him more often and he’s quite hilarious.

Penelope
Just as Penelope is the literary icon of faithfulness, ingenuity, work ethic, sincerity, this girl plays this role at the middle school.  She’s the kind of person to go to a presentation that nobody else cares about. She will not only go to it, but she will sit up straight the entire time, take notes, and then ask questions afterwards and it’s all completely authentic. She cares that much. This is one student that has made me a better person for having known her. She is the current Student Council President.

Aphrodite
She is one half of the school’s Super Couple – we spend a lot of time talking about our love lives (both the good parts and the bad parts). She’s quite lively and sweet; I really enjoy interacting with her and I get most of my romance gossip from her. She’s also one of my best letter writers, so I’ve learned a lot of great Japanese from her. I suppose it would probably be okay to mention here that she’s been dating Macho Man for the last year.


The Newcomers:

Snow White
There is just something about this student that tugs at my heartstrings. She is incredibly sweet, and she has this unusual combination of insight and innocence that makes her remarkably genuine and empathetic. I think that I feel the most like a teacher when I’m around her. Perhaps she is one of the few that looks at me as an authority figure, and she takes what I say to heart.

Avril
Smart, sassy, and more than a little rock and roll, Avril will say the things that other people are thinking. This isn’t to suggest that she’s rude or mouthy, she’s just very clever and does not suffer fools. I like her because she’s very direct and clear about her opinions, and this makes interacting with her both entertaining and enlightening.

1st Years:

The Familiar:

The Whistler
My favorite first year student. He’s genuinely interested in English and always goes the extra mile to make sure that he understands what’s going on. I call him The Whistler because we have a thing (dating back to his elementary school days) where we whistle when we’re around each other. It’s quite fun – we copy each others’ responses, try out various songs that we both know, and comment on what happens around us.

Hannah Montana
This girl knows more about current American pop culture than I do, thus the name. High School Musical is, I believe, her favorite. She’s Penelope’s younger sister and she has that same honest spirit. I like to eat lunch with her and her friends because she always does her best to use the recent classroom grammar to communicate her feelings. She’s on the kendo team and I respect her a lot for trying such a difficult club. Recently, she’s started to write me letters about once a week and so we’re starting to get to know each other better.

Sailor Moon
Kind of a Japanese culture reference here, but let’s just say that this girl has two unbelievably long pigtails, an overwhelming addiction to junk food, and an equally overwhelming addiction to the spoken word. Still, she is hilarious, and she says the most ridiculous, sensational things. Her mom and I are buddies and we always spend a lot of time together at festivals (usually with her mom repeating the only five English words she knows while I try to keep up).

Newcomers:

Hermione
Just like her namesake (from Harry Potter), Hermione is extremely studious (at least about English) and very energetic. She takes great pride in overcoming the challenges that I throw at the students in class, and is extremely vocal when I do things she doesn’t like (say, for example, not showing Michael Jackson videos). She thinks that my Japanese is funny and takes it upon herself to quiz me whenever she can. I haven’t been doing so well recently and she’s starting to declare me a lost cause. I told her that we could trade and SHE could teach English, but she was pretty vocal about not liking that idea.

Britney
Brittney is interesting. Normally, it would be easy to categorize her as one of the non-studious popular girls that only cares about boys and makeup… but she’s very intelligent. Extremely intelligent, really, and she likes English so she does well in my class. I’m not exactly sure what it is about English that she likes and I can’t say anything about how she performs in math or science class, but she always knows what’s going on in my lessons and I like the kinds of things that she says. And, outside of class – you guessed it. We talk about boys and makeup … in English.

Lewis
Lewis was particularly taken with The Jabberwocky, and even to this day greets me by saying: “Julie! One, two! One, two! And through and through!” Lewis is entertaining because if he doesn’t talk, I think he forgets to breathe and loses consciousness. So, he pretty much talks all. the. time. Still, what he says tends to contribute to the conversation/lesson/positive nature of the environment, and so it’s pleasant to hear – once you’ve gotten used to it.

Carroll
Lewis’s partner in crime. Also a fan of The Jabberwocky, although not exactly a fan of English. He’s a very nice boy, though, so I forgive him for more or less spending my entire class praying for the clock hands to move faster. My entire plan for the rest of the third term revolves around getting him caught up so that the second year of English doesn’t destroy him.

And, there you have it. The big names that will be playing more prominent roles over the next few months. I’m sure that there will be others that we’ll have to add in the future, but this should do for now.

I believe in miracles
They happen every day

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.