jump to navigation

This is the captain speaking… October 18, 2010

Posted by Earthdragonette in Cultural Exchange, FC Bayern Munich, Gym Adventures, Just Bizarre, Student Moments.
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
add a comment

I just want to let you know that we will be experiencing some slight turbulence this week.

Dude to a number of tricky and demanding threads that have all decided to run through my life at the same moment, each with its own emotional, temporal, financial, and occasionally verbal demands, I cannot promise that a) there will be the customary updates for this week or b) that these updates won’t be worse than no updates at all.

On my smörgåsbord of Stuff I Have to Do, we have: purchase new car because my old one is beyond repair (this story will definitely get its own post once the process is complete), assist in gigantic and fantastically demanding school-wide seminar on Wednesday, prepare significant presentation about Halloween, assist in gigantic and fantastically demanding school-wise Halloween activity next Friday, continue daily devotions and sacrifices to a multitude of spiritual entities in the hopes that Mario Gomez will keep scoring goals for Bayern and that Ribery and Klose will actually be back in action next week. Also: continue to apply to graduate school in the hopes that I will have a new Place to Go when I depart Japan in a mere 162 days.

So now, very quickly: memories.

~ Last Thursday = Survived a class with The First Years. Their home room teacher is, for some reason, on leave for an indeterminate amount of time and I missed her dearly. Although the love that these students and I have for each other is real and unshakable, they are the LOUDEST CHILDREN IN THE WORLD and trying to go and record music for The Band after a day with them is kind of like trying to milk a chicken. You could try, but there is no reason in the world that you should.

~ Last Friday = Field Trip with Friday’s Elementary School. This entire day was entertaining and enjoyable. Perhaps my favorite part was when one of my students came up to me and asked me about the difference between telling somebody to “go to heaven” or telling somebody to “go to hell”. This is not a question that I normally field at an elementary level and the answering process was both delicate and ultimately futile. This student is a very smart boy, and despite my best efforts he quickly understood that he had discovered, as it were, one of the much sought-after diamonds of English insults. So guess what I got to listen to for the rest of the day? Kids say the darnedest things.

~ Saturday and Sunday = There was The Gym. Also some progress on the car issue. Also I may or may not have forgotten that cheese nan is a dangerous thing. I have since remembered.

~ Monday = My third year students had a singing test for We Are the World and, in order to make the process less embarrassing (singing by oneself in front of a class can be kind of intimidating), I sang with them. This means that I sang the song about 20 times in a row (the kids came up and did it in pairs). Definitely not the kinds of activities I’d envisioned for myself when I decided to sign up for the JET Program back in 2005/2006.

 

And that’s about it for now. I hope that I can stay organized and productive so that I can keep up with the posts this week. I think we’re in for some really interesting experiences.

 

Then I saw his face
Now I’m a believer

 

 

 

3.14 = Pi Day! March 14, 2010

Posted by Earthdragonette in Apologies, Japanese GET, Julie Gets Philosophical, Time to Party.
Tags: , , , , , , , ,
add a comment

It would seem that if I am consistent about anything, I am consistent about Having Good Intentions. We seem to have the “Early-Week-Blogging” routine secured, it’s just that “Hump-Day-Going-Into-The-Weekend” portion that continues to elude us. I blame it on Thursday. And Bad Luck. Between Chaos and Illness, Thursday night has started to become that “required Night of Comfort Food and Great Movies.” Last week featured spicy chicken with rice soup and Wayne’s World. It did not feature an update about how much I love the vice principal at Thursday’s elementary school.

Okay, so, pulling away from my errant nature, let’s regroup, focus, and do what needs to be done. We have memories – actual, honest to goodness memories – to peruse. And I must say it’s about time.

Thursday: I love the vice principal at Thursday’s elementary school
…because he was extremely generous and let me go home after lunch to finish recuperating from my cold.

In addition to this love, though, Thursday was special for me because I had a class with The First Years. It was our last class of the year, and things went particularly well. Their home room teacher was back with us (The Hippie), and so they were a lot more manageable this time around (she was absent for the last class and so we were all feeling a bit feisty and difficult). To put it plainly, on Thursday The First Years did everything that makes me adore them as much as I do. They were rabidly curious about all elements of the lesson, they were enthusiastic, when they made mistakes they were comically horrified, and they danced the macarena like nobody’s business.

I’m not sure if I’ll have a class with them next year or not (I haven’t been informed of any decisions to that effect), so it’s still up in the air as to whether or not that was my last class with them. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

Friday: Sticker Please
At Friday’s elementary school, the 12th was the last day for students to earn and/or redeem stickers for this year’s sticker card. Demonstrating that the art of procrastination transcends all borders, races, and religions, the students waited until the last possible moment to crowd around me, grubby and well-loved sticker cards in hand, so that they could get the prizes that they finally chose to covet. Some students were so desperate to finish their cards that they spent the entire day stalking me between classes and writing me letters. It was perhaps not the most graceful end to this year’s Achievement Card program, but I suspect that things worked out for the best. The process was chaotic and enthusiastic, but generally positive. I didn’t have to deal with more than a few bad attitudes or similar points of conflict.

What really made this day for me, though, was that the teachers were incredibly kind, gracious, and helpful. Also, they invited me to have lunch with them next Friday after the graduation ceremony. If this by any chance involves leaving the school to eat at, say, a restaurant, then it will be the first time that an elementary school has ever extended a social invitation to me. That’s enough of an achievement to leave me feeling accomplished for at least the next two or three weeks. ~_^

Saturday: I Was a Social Hermit
The “hermit” part happened in the morning, and then the “social” in the evening. Friday evening found me the happy recipient of my lamb and veal bones, so I spent Saturday morning making a veal stock for Sunday’s soup. (I’ll post the recipe later.) I also cleaned and spent a significant amount of time chatting with my father and Jyona33, so it was most certainly a productive time.

In the afternoon, I drove out to The Japanese Best Friend’s house where we had a Sayonara Party for Rocko, who will be returning to the States on the first of April. It was a nice party, with good food and good company. The Japanese Best Friend’s husband was particularly engaging and hilarious, so we all laughed a lot. I’ll be honest, though, and say that my favorite part of the evening was the rest period right before we finished cooking and the guests arrived. Sitting down with her to talk and drink green tea is probably one of my most favorite things to do.

Sunday: Running skills – I still have them
As you may have surmised, I haven’t been running a lot over the last few months. The weather hasn’t really cooperated with me and it’s been getting dark so early that I can’t see anything by the time that I get home from work. With spring having finally, well, sprung, the time has come to dust off the running shoes and get back to work.

It was funny, because I went outside with the idea that I would just take a half-hour walk, but before I knew it, I’d started to jog. I was able to do one of my 4k runs without any problems, and so I don’t think it will take me that long to get back to 5k.

As I was running, I realized a few things that were important, and that brought a lot of the day into focus for me.The first was that I don’t have any real desire to run extensive marathons. I think that if I can get to the point where I can easily and consistently run 5k a few times a week, I’ll be content with myself. It’s nice to have a significant, yet not overwhelmingly challenging goal.

Having decided upon this, I also realized that my village is gorgeous. I think this is something that I forget about during winter but then suddenly rediscover every spring. With the plum blossoms in bloom and the cherry blossoms just on the horizon, the world around me is clearly waking up and stretching its wings. Being outside, I felt that same sensation inside of me. This feeling only grew stronger as I ran up and down the mountain hills, past the rice fields, past the Wisdom Shrine, across the old bridges that drape over the Ouchiyama river, and down old, moss-covered streets.

The air in my village changes significantly with the seasons. In summer it’s heavy and damp, and it smells strongly of grass and old wood. In the fall, the smoke from garbage fires and stoves is almost spicy, and it slices through the chill. Winter is disturbing because there aren’t many smells in the air – it’s as if everything really has frozen in time. It’s as if we’re all holding our breath.

But spring, though. In spring, the gardens are freshly plowed, the flowers are vibrant and sweet, and people have opened their windows and doors, welcoming spring and mixing the smells of the inside and outside worlds. It’s a time where we all exhale and savor every breath after.

Never giving in
Until we find the words to say

Two Words: ICE CREAM! February 1, 2010

Posted by Earthdragonette in Dance Troupe, ice cream, Student Moments.
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
1 comment so far

Where ICE CREAM = I Cant Exactly Choose (Raccoon!!) Enjoy All Moments!

Yes, just to show that there is always time for ICE CREAM (and thus, time for a post), I present to you in short, spastic bits, the contents of my weekend and Monday. It’s crude and inartistic at best, but in the interests of not progressing to a “Saturday-Sunday-Monday-Tuesday!!! Update!!!!”, it is quite necessary. I should be able to get back on a regular posting schedule as of Tuesday evening.

(Fun English Fact: It’s not “unartistic,” it’s “inartistic.” Fancy that.)

Onward!

~ Saturday, I cleaned. Cleaned and cleaned and cleaned and cleaned. I also righted the balance of the universe with an epic conversation with Jyona33. I suppose I should be concerned with the degree to which this man has an influence over my daily affairs, but we all need a few people like this in our lives. Otherwise, who would tell me where I should go on vacation in Japan? Or how to subtly convey to my coworkers that I would rather they not ask me about how I lose weight? Or instruct me on how to improve in the centipede race?? These are heavy topics that require the most delicate and thoughtful of consultations.

~ Saturday, I also danced. Danced and danced and danced and danced. I danced in preparation for:

~ Sunday’s Culture Festival!

Actually, let’s take a break from our ICE CREAM and go into a little more of a prose style here, because the events of Sunday are worth slowing down for.

In short, it was chaotic. I don’t think I’ve ever been so busy at a culture festival, and this includes the years when I was co-running the music club at the middle school. Those years required a lot of preparation ahead of time, but after our performance at 9:30 in the morning I was free for the rest of the day. That was most definitely not the case last Sunday.

The morning started out responsibility-free. I showed up to work, and then went to the gym to entertain the third year students until the rest of the classes and their parents arrived. We then watched presentations from all the classes, most of which were musical ensembles of some sort. I have to say that the first and sixth grade classes stole the show.

Many of you are already aware of the deep affection I feel for The First Years. To say that they are my favorite class does not properly express the emotion I feel for them; it’s more substantial than that. They are, honestly, the most amazing group of children I think I’ve ever encountered. They’re sweet. They’re enthusiastic. They can dance. And most importantly, they are so fantastically innocent and earnest in their beliefs that they do the most ridiculous things.

Here’s an example: during the first month of school, The Mentor caught them running down the hallway. He’s the sixth grade teacher and so already quite an imposing figure to their first year minds. The Mentor can also be very intimidating, so 99.9% of the time his commands are followed. (And I have it on good authority that the one student sometime, somewhere, who didn’t do what The Mentor asked was never heard from again.)

Anyway, so The Mentor caught them running in the hallway and told them to stop. He explained that students are not supposed to run in the hallways at school and that it’s dangerous. The First Years were so taken with this notion and so altered by this encounter, however, that they took him to mean that they’re not allowed to run at school EVER. Their home room teacher was eventually able to convince them (after about a week) that they are allowed to run outside.  Yet, to this day, if they ever see The Mentor watching them when they’re on the playground, they always slow down to a walk.

Now, how can you possibly not be enamored with these children??

So, given these emotional lenses that I had on while watching their performance (a recitation about their class and how much fun school is), it’s no surprise that it was my favorite. To be fair, the sixth grade play about traveling through time and bringing back noteworthy inventions from various historic eras was pretty sweet, too. I was impressed with how clear and loud their voices were; their public speaking has improved a lot over the last couple of years.

Okay, so the presentations ended at around eleven and then I lent a hand cleaning up the gym. This took awhile, though, and it only left me with about ten minutes for lunch, after which I went back to the gym to do my dance. I’d debated whether or not to leave my handsprings in the routine, but it was good that I did since I think that move was the crowd favorite. My dance was followed by the sixth grader’s final concert (they like to get dressed up, form bands, and sing to the school) and the afternoon activity corners.

As you will probably recall, my dance troupe lead one of the afternoon sessions, and that was also entertaining (if a bit busy). The kids did a really great job with memorizing the dance and I liked helping them out. The  various five to ten minute breaks were also enjoyable as the children sought fit to drag me into a variety of games (most of them requiring me to chase the children around the gym). Some of my middle school students also stopped by, and so it was fun to chat with them when I had the time.

Okay, moving slightly back into ICE CREAM form now, let’s recap the specific memories we’re tagging here:

Saturday: Jyona33 provides timeless wisdom to aid me on my life’s journey
Sunday: I am a dancing fool and The First Years’ performance left me in such a state of beatitude that I hereby pledge my life (for the next year and three months) to giving them the best English lessons I can.
That leaves us with Monday!

Monday was quiet, and perhaps marked by numerous interactions with Hannah Montana and Aphrodite. The Savant and Mary Sunshine were at a high school orientation, and so my usual suspects weren’t around. This time of year is always interesting, because although the third year students haven’t graduated yet, they’re not around as much and I don’t do many things with them in class. It’s the time of year when I start to shift my attentions more to the first and second years, and I try to prepare to say goodbye. We only have about a month and a half left of the term, and it’s going to go by quickly.

Hold on to your hats, ladies and gentlemen. A lot of interesting things are coming our way.