jump to navigation

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

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

He calls me Mighty Teacher January 27, 2010

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

Where “he” is The Child, and the time is right after I have poked and prodded him to do his practice drills. I’d hoped for a relaxing return to work after two days out sick, but that was not what my students saw fit to toss at me. Glad to see me and profoundly curious as to why I’d been gone, I spent the entire day involved in one kind of scheme or another. With such a volume of incidents to choose from (and so little time to write about them), I would normally Quick Quips this. But a lot of what happened was situational and so doesn’t lend itself readily to Quips, quick or otherwise.

So, as of today, we have a new style of posting. I’m calling them the: “I Can’t Exactly Choose, Raccoon Enjoy All Memories”. “Raccoon” doesn’t have any significance, I just wanted the acronym to spell “ice cream” and I couldn’t think of what to do with the “R”.

So, here we go. ICE CREAM:

~ I showed my first year students Michael Jackson’s Smooth Criminal and was rewarded with love and adoration because we like him that much. I have no idea what cosmic forces of the universe came together to inspire such a rabid devotion to a man that they didn’t even know about this time last year (I suppose his death has something to do with this), but I do not question the phenomenon. I just find more videos for them to watch.

~ As I briefly mentioned above, The Child was in rare form on Wednesday. The students were supposed to go through a series of exercises in one of their drill books, and he wanted to copy the answers down from the answer key. After feigning complacency so that he’d put the answer key on top of his desk, I stole it and then prompted, prodded, bullied, nagged, flattered and bribed him until he actually tried the exercises himself.

It was probably one of the more glorious battles we’ve ever had, but that was because I knew that I could win so I was willing to pull out all the stops to get him to do his work. The Child has a variety of moods – sometimes he tells me that he doesn’t want to work and he really means it (and God Help Me if I try to change his mind), and sometimes (like yesterday) he says that he doesn’t want to work and what he really wants is attention. My victory was so fantastically thorough that he worked on all of his assignments until the end of the period. I was gifted with the title of Mighty Teacher just as the bell rang. I don’t intend to let him forget this – it could very well be leverage for our next encounter.

~ I had to give a speaking check to my third years during fourth period. We were working in an empty classroom, and one student came in and actually asked me to extend his speaking check so that we could chat. I suspect that part of this may have been thanks to the test that he was taking with the other third years. Still, whatever the reason, it was a most interesting chat and I had fun with it. I’d actually like to make him a character, so we’ll go ahead and call him Obama for now (because it sounds kind of like his last name). Obama is a funny guy – I’ll be sure to properly introduce him at a later time.

~Right before lunch I went to talk to Mary Sunshine and The Savant came up and snarked at me. I snarked back, and although I can’t remember for the life of me what was said, at the time it was absolutely hilarious and (if memory serves me correctly) eventually degenerated into both of us just shouting “OKAY” at each other.

~ With the powers of my laugh alone, I reduced my lunch table to a mass of giggling hysteria. That was entertaining.

~ My sixth years from the elementary schools came by today for a two-hour orientation about middle school life. I had a lot of work to do, but decided to attend the first half of the meeting so that they could see me and feel (perhaps) slightly comforted by a familiar face. I think that it worked – a number of them came up to chat and ask how my winter vacation was. I was particularly amused by how they took the opportunity during breaks to scout out the school. Some of them have never been to the middle school before and after six years at the same elementary school, they were ravenously curious about this new building. Sixth graders in the middle school setting always remind me of a bunch of puppy dogs.

~ And last but not least, one of my memories from yesterday is total dread because I have about 32 letters to write between now and 12:15 on Friday. It is going to take some divine intervention to make this happen.

It’s a new world, it’s a new start
It’s alive with the beating of a young heart

Answers, Explanations, and Then Some! January 22, 2010

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

So, the weekend has finally arrived, and just in time. It took me the better part of the week to get caught up on my elementary school responsibilities, and this was even with pulling back from a few of my ventures (say… letter writing?). I think that by the end of next week, all accounts should be settled.

In theory, at any rate.

So, let’s return to my last post and go through these questions, shall we? It seems as good a format to use as any.

1) What did I give The Savant for his birthday?

Answer: I went with the rattlesnake eggs afterall. If you’re not familiar with this toy, it’s a set of two small magnets. The idea is that you throw them up into the air (separately), and the variety of forces playing upon them as they drop causes them to hit each other and break away again (thus the “rattling”).

The way that I figure it, they’re on par with Galileo in entertainment value, and they probably cost about as much. The Savant was fascinated and grateful for them, to the point of driving the bus driver crazy on the way home from school. Luckily, I have not gotten into trouble for this. (Yet?)

2) How well did the first years do on their Jabberwocky speaking checks?

Answer: Surprisingly well, actually! I wasn’t strict with my grading, and I did little things to help prompt memories along the way. Still, even without this help from me, I was very happy with how well they did. One student  surprised me and memorized the first three stanzas (instead of just the first four lines) and then also acted out the part where the main character killed the Jabberwock.

What particularly pleased me, though, was the change in attitude that I saw in some of my students. When we had the speaking check for Michael Jackson’s Thriller, there were about five boys that gave me some snark about the assignment. They didn’t do well on the speaking check, and they did everything in their power to convey to me that they found the task beneath them and profoundly useless.

~ But~

This time, they seemed into it. I’m not exactly sure what changed. Maybe they had more time to memorize the poem so it didn’t seem so overwhelming, or maybe they preferred the content of The Jabberwocky. It could even be  an increased interest/confidence in English. Whatever the cause, they came to me with a lot more spunk and enthusiasm, and it did my heart a world of good.

I think that one of the reasons that I like these kinds of activities is that I can see how the students are progressing. Not necessarily with English comprehension, but rather with their willingness to commit the time to accomplishing a task that happens to be in English. Some students were only mildly interested in Thriller, but they really pulled out all the stops for The Jabberwocky (and vise versa). I like seeing the students’ responses to these different tasks, and I hope these exercises will inspire them to try their best with the grammar and vocabulary as well (you know, the potentially boring stuff).

3) Why was I happy that I went to dance practice on Wednesday?

Answer: Because it was fun! We’re getting ready for January 31st, which is the day of my Thursday elementary school’s culture festival. We’re going to be doing  a dancing workshop there, and so we’re trying to get a routine ready for the kids. It being the the fist practice of the new year, most of the members were there and we had a really great time catching up and getting back to business. I also had a running joke with DJ Ozma Jr., where I kept “mistaking” him for Michael Jackson and chasing him around the gym.

4) In what three ways did The Mentor completely surprise me on Thursday, thereby showing that he actually just might value me as another human being with a consciousness on par with his own? (Maybe.)

Answer: I can’t remember if I wrote about this or not, but back in November, I asked Thursday’s elementary school if I could dance for the kids during their culture festival. The Mentor was kind of skeptical about it, and told me that he didn’t think it would be possible. In the end, it wasn’t much of an issue because the festival got postponed until  January 31st on account of Rampant Influenza.

So, fast foward to last Thursday, where he tells me out of the blue that I’m allowed to go ahead with my dance. It seems that he’s been working on my behalf, and that since the teachers extended the afternoon recess, there’s now time for me to go ahead and Shake What My Mama Gave Me. I think that the kids will get a kick out of my performance, so that was great news to hear.

Secondly, he also showed me a videotape of his 6th graders doing this very intense jump rope exercise. It’s kind of hard to describe, but he’s done it with every class he’s ever taught. The idea is that, collectively, the class has to make as many jumps as possible in three minutes. His previous class managed about 324 I think, and his current class hit 349. He showed me the video he made of them breaking the record, and it was pretty spectacular.

I value The Mentor and his teaching style, so I’m glad for any opportunity to see more into his teaching world. It gives me the chance to ask questions, get feedback, and learn more about what kinds of qualities he tries to bring out in the students (and how he makes it all work). It’s also nice to know that he respects me (and my relationships with the students) enough to take the time to involve me in their lives.

So, hooray for The Mentor!

5) And, finally, what movie have I watched four times in the last week because it’s great for background noise and (I firmly believe) makes me smarter for having listened to it?

Answer: The 2007 version of Persuasion. It doesn’t have the smoothest ending, but I am extremely fond of the acting, the settings, and the story itself. I may have mentioned this before, but when I was younger, Pride and Prejudice was my favorite book by Jane Austen; now I think that Persuasion is starting to eclipse it. It’s strange how we change as the years pass.

So, there we have the answers to our questions. It wasn’t exactly the 1 day, 1 memory process that I try to adhere to, but I think it will suffice. This weekend is going to be busy and I need to get my act together. The Japanese Best Friend and I have Oyster and Wine night planned for Saturday evening, and then Sunday will be dedicated to visiting Tetsuya in Nagoya.

Ah, Japan. I think I’ve finally returned.

Please Pardon the Lack of Mess January 21, 2010

Posted by Earthdragonette in Apologies.
Tags: , , , , ,
2 comments

 

Where Mess = Updates

As I suspected, I’m currently trapped underneath a massive pile of work and I have another long night ahead of me. This is sad, because I have many interesting things to relate. It is also inevitable; I really need to get these posters and letters done.

Tomorrow evening should be free, though, and assuming that I haven’t passed out by 6:30 p.m., I shall provide you with a post with answers to the following questions:

1) What did I give The Savant for his birthday?

2) How well did the first years do on their Jabberwocky speaking checks?

3) Why was I happy that I went to dance practice on Wednesday?

4) In what three ways did The Mentor completely surprise me today, thereby showing that he actually just might value me as another human being with a consciousness on par with his own? (Maybe.)

5) And, finally, what movie have I watched four times in the last week because it’s great for background noise and (I firmly believe) makes me smarter for having listened to it?

All this and more tomorrow.

See you then!

Two Parts Good and One Part Awkward January 19, 2010

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

This is going to be quick tonight. The Stack of Work is calling and I have an extremely fierce desire to be in bed before one o’clock in the morning.

Today was entertaining. It was The Savant’s birthday, and since he gave me a present for MY birthday, I’ve been told that I have to give him something. I have yet to decide on something, but at present I’m leaning towards rattlesnake eggs.

So, when I look back at today (as the title suggests), two good things come to mind. One super awkward thing comes to mind as well, because I am not always articulate or intelligent. Let’s start with the awkward, so we can end on a positive note.

The Awkward Thing: A Conversation Where I Seemed to Advocate War and Murder
As I’ve mentioned previously, I am somewhat obsessed with Avatar right now. In honor of this fine movie, I have this picture set as my computer’s wallpaper. This morning, the school nurse saw the picture and asked me about it. I told her I liked the movie, she told me she liked the movie, and so thus began The Movie Discussion. As many of you know, I have a lot that I could say about Avatar … and English really helps me make this happen. The Awkward took place when the nurse asked me why I liked this movie to the point of seeing it more than once in the theater.

This was what I wanted to say:
Honestly? I just really appreciate the characters. I love seeing Jake’s transformation, and I’m particularly moved by the way that Jake and Neytiri protect each other in the final battle against the Colonel. The way that they work together to defeat him is, in my opinion, artistically done and draws a lot of parallels to previous moments in the film.

I do not have the skills to express myself that way in Japanese. Not in any way, shape or form. So, this was the way that my brain edited my thoughts so that I could try to convey them to the nurse:
I think that the characters are very interesting! I enjoy the final battle scene. The two main characters protect each other and become stronger because of it. I think their relationship is beautiful.

Buuuuut …. it was 8:31 in the morning when she and I had this discussion and the Japanese part of my brain wasn’t awake. This is what I actually said to her:
I LOVE THIS MOVIE. I’VE SEEN IT TWICE. I’M GOING TO SEE IT AGAIN. THE WAR IS FANTASTIC. I LIKE HOW THEY KILL THE MAIN VILLAIN.

-_-;;;

So, as you can see, not quite what I’d intended.

Awkward.

Okay, let’s keep moving forward! Let’s talk about Good Things!

The first good thing was that Mary Sunshine and I had our first post-winter vacation dance practice. We’re not too terribly out of shape, and when some of her friends came to watch our routine, they were impressed. Come to think of it, I actually spent quite a bit of time with Mary Sunshine today. I can’t believe that she graduates in less than two months. That very well may break my heart -_-;;

The second good thing (although a bit overwhelming because I’d planned to use sixth period to get more work done), was that one of the Two Terrific Teachers invited me to sit in on a class with the first years. He was planning on talking about the forest industry in our town and he thought I might be interested in seeing the lesson. He thought correctly, and so I abandoned my tasks, grabbed the ol’ electronic dictionary, and planted myself in the middle of the classroom for about an hour. I learned some new words, laughed at the class’s super enthusiastic responses to the lesson, and (before class started) listened to three students while they practiced The Jabberwocky.

So far, it looks like they’re successfully memorizing that poem. We’ll see how things shake out when they have their test. Tomorrow will reveal if my bizarre lesson plans are indicative of some kind of hidden English-teaching-genius … or if I’m just simply bizarre.

There’s nothing left to say
Don’t waste another day

土日曜日Recap January 17, 2010

Posted by Earthdragonette in Enkai Aftermath, Just Bizarre, Weekend Recap.
Tags: , , , , , , ,
2 comments

I think that, finally, I’m starting to settle down and get back into the swing of things here. As I pointed out before, transitioning back into my routine after being in the States for two weeks has been more than a little challenging this time around. Perhaps there is a formula involved in my adjustment process. You know, something like:

For Situations Where Number of Days in Japan < 250

Number of Days in the States + Number of Days in Japan + 2 bottles of wine + 5 hours with my students
= Adjustment Period Needed After a Roundtrip Visit Home 

But, for Situations Where Number of Days in Japan > 250, we’d have to use the formula:

Number of Days in the States + Number of Days in Japan + 5 bottles of wine + 25 hours with my students
+ shopping binge with The Japanese Best Friend
+ shopping spree on Foreign Food Store websites + 2 new cultural obsessions
= Adjustment Period Needed After a Roundtrip Visit Home 

The next time I make that trip, I’ll take notes and let you guys know what the results are. I could be on to something big here.

This weekend was, generally speaking, productive. My middle school had classes on Saturday so that the parents could come and watch the fifth period lesson. Sunday was spent trying to finish tying up loose ends. Unfortunately, thanks to that lovely two-day meeting last week, I’m still behind on work and I’m going to have to move the heavens and earth over the next five days to meet all of my deadlines. I’m not sure if this is going to interfere with my posting, so I apologize if I miss a couple of days. I will, at the very least, attempt to throw up links to random bits of Japanese culture for your perusal. (Although I am arguably not an expert on the subject.)

So, moving on to memories! 

As I mentioned just a moment ago, I was at my middle school on Saturday. This wasn’t exactly exciting, but I did have a chance to get a lot of work done, and (as always) I enjoyed seeing my students. I spent some time with the first years, and they told me that they’ve been practicing The Jabberwocky, so they think they’ll do really well on Wednesday’s speaking check. For my part, I’m just happy that they don’t seem to hate me right now, and that they like the poem. It so easily could have gone the other way.

The specific memory that I want to keep from Saturday happened in the evening. After we finished all of the lessons and the afternoon lectures about safe cell phone use, six of the teachers and 13 parents got together for dinner, drinking, and karaoke. I got to sit next to The Awesome Vice Principal during dinner, and we had a really interesting conversation. It was probably the longest that I’ve ever spoken with him, and we touched on a variety of topics, including his travel experiences (which are quite extensive) and my plans for when I return to the States. This was also the night that I announced to the PTA that I would be staying for a fifth year, and so that topic had some air time as well.

Returning briefly to The Awesome Vice Principal, at one point we discussed a trip to Canada that he took a few years ago. His daughter was studying there at the time, and so it was a chance for the family to get together. I guess Niagara Falls made an impression on him, because to this day he still has it as the background picture on his cell phone. I’m not really sure where I’m going with this; I guess it just had an effect on me. I thought that it was quite fantastic, actually. Maybe I’m so used to being The International Thing in my town, that I become absurdly happy when I see people showcasing the international threads that run through their own life’s tapestries. It’s kind of a way for me to say, “See? See? What I’m doing isn’t that unusual. You do it, too! Okay, well, maybe you don’t pick up and move over 8,000 miles away from your native land and people… but you do have an interest in foreign affairs!”

So, Saturday was, all in all, a great night.

Sunday was not quite what I’d planned it to be. My plans for Supreme Accomplishments fell a bit short, and I spent a great part of the day cooking and watching DVD versions of literature classics (Persuasion, Hamlet, and, of course, The Reduced Shakespeare Company). I guess winter really is the season for reading epic books (or watching their dramatized versions). Because I had so many things that I was bringing back with me from the States, I had to leave some things with my dad to be shipped later. Among these was my copy of Anna Karenina, and I’ll be honest and say that I miss it terribly.

Where was I? Oh, yes. Sunday’s memory. I feel kind of silly about this, especially since I’m going to be writing about this subject right after a paragraph that praises the act of reading English classics, but … well … okay. 

It’s time to introduce a new character.

Introducing: Galileo
Galileo is my new pet. He’s orange, round, and I like to throw him at the walls of my apartment to encourage the creative process. He was a birthday present from The Savant, which is to say that I saw The Savant throwing him down the hallway at school, stole him, and then asked if I could keep him as a birthday present. Since The Savant has been promising me a birthday present for about a week now, he agreed.

Galileo is a small, orange, rubber bouncy ball. He and I spent a lot of time together on Sunday because I was brainstorming about different projects that I have to do this week.

I figure that people have pet rocks, so why not a pet rubber ball? I’m not allowed to have animals in my apartment, and there are too many rocks around here for me to just pick one to love and cherish. Besides, Galileo is quite helpful. He and I have played catch several times during the last hour so that I might write the clearest and most well-rounded post for you. He is obedient and well-behaved; he always obeys the law of inertia, he never challenges my force with his mass or acceleration, and he always comes back when I throw him. Additionally, I don’t need to walk him, and I only caught him chewing on the cables once.

Okay, so now that I’ve completely overwhelmed myself with all of this talk of math and science, it’s time to wrap things up for now.

Have a great week!

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.