Lazy, Lazy Since I had today off I decided to... do nothing. I slept in way late. I laid on the couch, all tired and sloth, watching a tape of Blind Date for much of the day. The shows were hilariously funny, but I probably could have attempted to do something else. Something useful. Nah.

Volleyball With Old Folk I actually remembered about the evening volleyball today and got my butt off the couch fast enough to get ready. Only when I arrived, no one was there. I thought about using the exercise room instead (since I had already driven to the culture center anyway) but then three women arrived. They didn't seem to remember that I'd been invited. Maybe they weren't the ones who invited me? When I told them it sounded fun, they kind of jokingly asked if I wanted to play, too. I was like, yes, I actually do. I hung out with them as they got the nets ready and more people showed. I felt a real sense of neutrality about my presence. Not unwelcoming, but not welcoming either. But it was clear when we did start playing that they knew I was there and furthermore, they thought I didn't speak Japanese. I have to admit, the actual playing part was a lot of fun and really brought back memories of playing it way back when (when I was 15?) as part of a youth group team, but I felt kind of strange when they amused themselves by trying to remember how to say things in English. I didn't interrupt. My problem: I was taking it a little too seriously. I wanted to play well and not be any sort of drag on the team (even though the teams rotated all the time and people switched off being the scorer and the referee.) So when they called me out twice on what looked like a completely legitimate serve to me, I was really annoyed. They played with a big beach ball and served from the front row, not behind the back line. But there was all these rules about serving from the front that they told me one at a time including that I had to serve behind this random line in the middle of the court, but make sure my serve did not fall forward of the same random line on their side. And I had to serve underhand and not move my feet at all. (My preferred style is sidearm and taking a step.) They did let me re-do one, but even when I did get all the rules right, the ball would fly off out of bounds half the time because I've never been good at underarm (or overarm, but that would not be an issue here with such a low net). Well, if nothing else, it was surprisingly good exercise. I was sweating and tired by the end of the almost two hours despite that everyone I was playing with was older than me.

Personality Test At my English conversation class tonight, I borrowed an idea from Kate and did a personality test. It had questions about what colors you liked, what position you slept in, and how you reacted with groups and with that, told you what kind of person you were. I could say mine was accurate, but since my score was almost in the exact middle, it meant that I was not in any of the extremes. I don't know how legit it was, but it was definitely amusing. They really enjoyed watching me act out some of the questions so they could understand their meaning.

Persistent Volleyball I snuck in with the Wednesday group of volleyballers tonight just to see what it was like. Well, I was more welcomed by the members and they were more my age, which was nice. Actually, there was an older team playing on the other side of the gym (Maruyama was playing with them!) but I decided to stay with the younger (and more competitive) team. Oddly, they scored points differently than Monday's group. On Monday, a team could only score if they served, which sounded right to me, but here, there was a score every bout regardless of which team had served. Although they also used a soft ball, they served from the back line like I'm used to. I had a lot of fun playing (though was taking it too seriously again) and the only thing that really bothered me was the formation they were using for the four-player teams. Instead of a square, it was a diamond shape. I was never quite sure where I was supposed to be nor which balls were supposed to be mine (I kept going for balls that the girl behind me was supposed to get... then I would miss balls I was supposed to get.) I did score a couple good hits, but these guys had clearly played a little bit beyond my level in the past. We were all diving around, though, and my sweat pants had a hole in the knee at the end. Another thing that was a little bit annoying was that two players would switch positions during play. The switching was not so bad once I understood what they were doing, but it also meant I never got to set, which was my position when I played way-back-when. This athletic-type girl was always setting. However, since I can't spike all that well, I didn't see how this was good. I didn't complain but felt kind of wrangled out of doing anything useful. I mean, this is all for fun, with players switching teams between games anyway, so what did it matter who was the setter? (Ironically, I was only setter on my youth group team because I was the shortest and could not spike over the net, unlike this team where everyone is short and the net is low.)

Nursery School At The Gym I met a nice woman. I think she wanted to play volleyball, but she had four small children and they all were with her. Her husband (the loud one) was playing as well and people offered to watch the youngest kid, but the youngest did not want to let mom go. I knew the other three kids from nursery school. Amazingly, they were three kids I would have NEVER guessed were siblings. They look nothing alike and all have completely different personalities. One is a sweetie, one is rough and rowdy, and the other is just insanely energetic. The mother is very nice, though. I did play with the kids a little while and found out that they really noticed that I did not come in today (I had back-to-back morning classes.) Hmm. I better make sure to go next week.

This Morning I realized how much difference an hour of sleep makes. I finally remembered my dreams (and was not surprised to find that they took the form of a JET conference.) Although it is going to make me behind on my kanji, I'm going to try to go to bed before 11, no matter what. I can't believe how much better I felt today compared to the rest of the week (except for details like my body being sore as hell from all that volleyball.)

Spring? The weather felt so warm today, I forgot my winter coat and it did not matter so much (though I did wear my scarf.) It seems a little too early for spring. I don't trust it. I'm keeping the snow shovel in easy reach.

Arts and Crafts for the Past Tense My latest activity idea was to make a Past Tense Puzzle where I had a bunch of verbs, then a bunch of past tense verb endings that went with them. That was kind of fun to make. (I just like using the powerful Cutting Machine in the supply room.) The activity would have worked better if I did not try to challenge them by throwing in three (out of twenty) words they did not know, one with an irregular past tense. I had to give some assistance for the puzzle to be solved, but in the end, they all figured it out.

A Problem of Pairs Working in pairs is very common in language classes because in order to learn a language, one must use it, as one cannot talk to oneself as effectively. Our English classes have students pairing up almost every single lesson, but it bothers me a lot because I remember always HATING to pair up nearly my entire school career. Why? Well, unless you have a good friend in the class, you don't have anyone to be with and you have to wait until everyone else has paired and you get whomever is left. I usually preferred when the teacher paired unless I DID have a friend in the class. I've had teachers who do the pairing at random; do it in a orderly fashion based on the attendance sheet; let the students choose themselves; and one clever set of teachers who had everyone write down three students who they WANTED to be paired with and one whom they did not. That much preparation is only relevant for a big project, though. (And it didn't work on me, who would have rather done the project on my own.) I guess I never realized until I became a teacher myself, that pairing students is a pain in the neck. Not only that, but I feel like I'm pairing people who don't want to be together and forcing something that doesn't need to be forced. If I did it very methodically and impersonally, I would end up with bad pairs a lot, especially in the 9th grade class. The 9th grade class has two slacker guys (up to five on bad days) and a few dreadfully shy girls. In fact, girls and guys pairing together on their own is very rare except in the 8th grade class where there are only two girls in the class. Yesterday, there were two 'leftover' people in the 9th grade elective class, a guy and a girl, and it ended up that the girl paired with Tomomi and I paired with the guy. That was stupid, so today (I had two elective classes this week which was a first) I spent most of the beginning of the class, when the students were busy doing Tomomi's handouts, mentally pairing the students but trying to make it look like it was not deliberate. The problem of course, was the extra girl. I went through it about a dozen times trying to, from what I knew of the students, make it work. I paired the extra girl (choosing who would be the extra girl was hard, but since I remembered which two had already been paired with guys, I made sure it was not either of them) with the smartest guy in the class. I paired one slacker with his friend, but I totally screwed up the other slacker's pair so much that there was a groan of disappointment. Other than the two who hated each other and did the dialogue looking away from each other, it actually seemed to work well. Everyone did a good job, ESPECIALLY the smart guy and the extra girl (who was also very smart.) Two of the girl pairs I made were getting very close, sitting in the same chair even, as they did their dialogue. But what is my conclusion? I felt a bit manipulative and unfair pairing so deliberately, but in that class, I could see how random pairing could lead to disaster. Methodical pairing would have the same effect, and I would feel terrible every time someone got 'stuck with a slacker' as it were. The 7th graders are easier since the girls and guys are evenly numbered. I guess I'll continue letting them pair themselves, even though I had vowed never to do that.

Grading As much as I get bothered about pairing, grading is worse. The other day, my entire scale became too lenient because two of the worst went first. I had the same problem when the best went first. Harder than that, though, is the grade for the term. Although I am not responsible for any large portion of their grade, I still give them a score for all their dialogues over the semester. I never realized how hard it is to separate the grade from the person. I try to base it objectively off their performance, but I admit, it was difficult to give a really nice a girl the equivalent of a C, even if she did not perform as well. Though I had no problem giving the slacker guy a C.

Random School Stuff A bunch of teachers randomly went to the Elementary School today for a meeting. I can't imagine what for. Someday, I will not only be good enough to understand what they are saying at morning meetings, but I'll be awake enough to bother listening. Anyway, this meant that the two alumnus girls who had stopped by had to wait a bit to see their old teachers. Even so, only a few of the teachers they remembered having were still in Sakugi. I think they were amused to see an ALT here in little Sakugi. They said "Hello" to me.

Inspection I went to the board of education after school today. The office was nearly empty! My desk, and most of the other desks, were gone, as well as all the filing cabinets and piles of stuff. It took me a second to remember them telling me about the Inspectors. Apparently, the board of education is not SUPPOSED to be in the culture center at all! They are supposed to be working in the town hall so that is where they had to move when the Inspector came today. This would explain why I have never seen a SINGLE sign that says Board of Education anywhere. They had spent all of Wednesday moving all the desks and files half a mile down the street. They will move them all back tomorrow. I think it is all terribly funny, especially since they are kind of embarrassed about it. But obviously working in the culture center is so much easier for them that they aren't spending a minute more than they have to at the town hall. Sakugi cracks me up sometimes.

Things I Learned From the Millionaire Show I learned tonight that facsimile is a Latin word. The Japanese contestant learned it, too. The hard way.

Hey, Maybe People Do Like Pairing Celebrities Although I am never in the vicinity of my Corner to know which students look at it and when, I have noticed that different celebrities are under the hearts every time I walk by. Someone is having fun at least. That makes it feel like it was worth all the time I spent on it. "If even ONE person is SLIGHTLY entertained..." is my new standard apparently.

New Schedule! Maruyama went to Miyoshi again for a meeting and this time came back with hard information. Although she earlier gave me the name of a Jr. High I might be adding to my schedule, she gave it to me in paper this time. They actually changed it a bit, but it seems pretty set in stone now. Starting April 1st, I will be going to Miyoshi Junior High once a week. That will be a culture shock. It has to be the biggest Junior High in the area. I am also completely changing all the days of the week I do everything, too. Elementary school moved to Thursdays and I'll be at the new Junior High on Friday. All in all, I think it will be a good experience for me to go to a bigger city school and teach. I think it will make me appreciate Sakugi even more.

The Japanese Oscars? I turned on my TV and DVD player to watch Pirates of the Caribbean when I suddenly came upon the 27th Annual Japan Academy Awards. The background was kitschy enough that I thought it could be a rerun of some 70s awards show, but no, one of the movies nominated is out in the theatres now. Specifically, Odoru Daisousasen: The Movie 2! I saw Oda Yuji sitting at one of the tables. Three of the five nominees for Best Picture were samurai movies. The samurai film, "Mibugishiden" (When The Last Sword Is Drawn) is the one that took the prize. Anyway, after that, I finally got my Pirates fix. Woo hoo!! Even better the second time.