Tuesday, Mar 9

IN A NUTSHELL: Eating Natto!

What's That Mysterious Container With Lunch? Today was a very quiet morning since most of the 9th graders were off taking tests in Miyoshi somewhere and several teachers had gone with them. At lunchtime, Matsubara-sensei came in and asked all the teachers to go sit with the 7th and 8th graders in the lunch room because 'they are lonely in there.' So we did. I kind of waited until the other teachers had found a spot then I sat down at an empty space at my favorite 7th grade table. (I was vaguely jealous that someone asked the music teacher to sit with them specifically. She, one of the two teachers younger than me, is apparently very popular among the kids.) I looked at my lunch which appeared to be typical fare but this time, there was a small container about the size of a yogurt. So I asked the kids. They told me it was not yogurt, it was natto. I blinked. Although I've been in Japan over a year total counting both trips, I've never had the pleasure (?) of eating the fermented soy bean product known as 'natto.' It is infamous, even in Japan. As directed, I opened it, took off the plastic top (it came off with strands of alien slime) which was covering a bunch of tiny brown beans, then mixed it roughly with the little packet of sauce (soy sauce?). It looked... very slimy. The comparisons to snot are not unfounded. However, I had earlier believed it was all slime and so was kind of relieved that the beans seemed intact. (It reminded me of a friend's comment: "The slime is there because it's gone bad! If someone saw that on their counter, they'd throw it away!" ) I mixed it for awhile, debating on whether to take a bite. It was while I was mixing that I noticed that in front of one boy's tray was no less than ELEVEN containers of natto. The 7th graders, it appeared, had donated their natto en masse to Nori-kun, who was the only person among them who liked it.

So What Does It Taste Like? I finally, and only after some pressure (I would have probably left the container untouched if people had not kept asking me about it) put a bit of natto into my mouth. Getting natto to one's mouth without getting slime everywhere is something of a task, but I got a few beans in my mouth and chewed. I thought about it. I chewed again. Everyone was watching me. The truth is, it wasn't terrible. It had a kind of salty, bitter taste that reminded me of vegemite (though not quite as strong.) I wasn't disgusted by eating it unless I started thinking, 'am I eating soy beans that have gone bad?' Natto is well known for being extremely healthy, so I suppose that means no one has gotten sick from it (and I eat bleu cheese, so, who am I to talk about food going bad.) Despite that I did not mind the taste too much, I'd hardly call it appetizing. I barely noticed the smell everyone complained about (I guess it smelled vaguely like refried beans, but that didn't bother me) but I could only manage to get three bites from the container to my mouth. The slime just grossed me out. I hate messy food. Anyway, now the challenge came: was Nori really going to eat 11 containers of natto? I didn't think it possible, but I ran to get my camera anyway (I forgot my cell phone camera unfortunately). Then I watched as he dumped all the containers into a big bowl, mixing and mixing. The pile of beans held together by slime became bigger and bigger, then before the large audience of 7th graders, me, and a disapproving teacher, he ate 11 servings of natto!

Coincidence? All the teachers who were gone this morning returned from Miyoshi AFTER the natto. Coincidence? Well, personally, I think it was rude to serve natto to the 7th and 8th graders because they are probably very stressed this week with all the tests they are taking. They deserve custard or ice cream or some nice treat for all their hard work. Even jello. I don't know who chooses the lunches, but why did they serve natto now?

A Brief Scare The principal came over to me and started talking in obviously practiced English phrases. I listened carefully, since it seemed he had news to share. One of the first things he said was something like, "Primary School will be cancelled." I was like, "WHA..?!?!" He then explained about how I would be going to Miyoshi one day a week, Sakugi Jr. High three days a week and the Elementary school one day a week. He pointed outside the window behind me toward the nursery school and said that would be cancelled. I relaxed quite a bit. This was all information I already had. I suppose calling it nursery school is a bit of a misnomer since it is more like preschool/kindergarten. It serves all the kids younger than first grade. Maybe his dictionary says primary school, which is not a widely used term in America (more Britain I think.) I told him I knew and that I thought he meant elementary school. I concluded later that it was really, really nice of him to let me know, in case no one else had told me yet, and try to do so in English. He had kind of freaked me out a bit (I would be VERY sad to lose elementary school) so I probably did not show my appreciation much, but I know a lot of JETs complain about being left out of the loop so the principal definitely did a good thing. I guess I'm lucky I'm in such close touch with the board of education. I know everything first.

That's A Long Way For Folders A random woman came to my door this evening from the Miyoshi branch of the farmer's cooperative (where I will evidently be getting my salary from starting April). She just said hello and gave me a nice gift of about 5 clear folders. She said "Please use them." Then she left. I was still standing there in the doorway after several moments wondering if she really made an hour round trip from Miyoshi to give me this nice, but modest welcoming gift. I suppose a small towel (another typical gift) would have been even more ridiculous, but I think the cost of gas was more than the folders. Well, I guess its nice to know my salary is being taken care of (even if many other decisions are last minute.) I hope I don't need the folders for anything official.

Wednesday, Mar 10

Thursday, Mar 11

IN A NUTSHELL: Happy Social Day

Um? I opened up the study book for JLPT Level 2 I bought and was very, very confused when I saw not one, not two, but three glaring mistakes in the opening bit. I mean, it was just a very simple verb table. It was like they copied and pasted but forgot to change it in the next column. I must be wrong. I must be. Because if I'm not, how can I trust the rest of the book?

Rehearsal We rehearsed for the graduation ceremony today. The 9th graders practiced walking in and out. We practiced the songs which included one that the 9th graders sung to us and three that everyone sung. The students' song sounded melancholy and cheesy, which I think was the point. Two of the three that everyone sung (namely the school song and some cheesy pop song that I'm PRETTY sure is not SMAP) we were given lyrics to. The third everyone knew but me. I found out later (after wondering why everyone seemed to know it automatically) that it was the Japanese National Anthem. The students practiced going up to get their diplomas. The principal practiced giving everyone a nice calligraphized B4-sized certificate, saying what number graduate they are (we are apparently up to 4,731 graduates over 57 years of Sakugi Junior High in case you were wondering) then their name and birthdate. Then he said congratulations ('omedetou' not 'omedetou gozaimasu') and the student carefully bended the certificate without creasing it and returned to their seats. This year is interesting because the two years of birth of the graduating class happens to coincide with the changing of the emperors. About half the class is Showa 63 and the other half is Heisei 1. There was some discussion that saying Year 1 sounded funny in Japanese, so they changed it. (And they did change things, improve things, and re-rehearse, which was good.)

Doing Something I've Wanted To Do Since The Day I Found Out There is No Special Teacher's Bathroom I had a battle plan thought up in advance. I saw "Big Cleaning" on the calendar (I looked up the kanji) the other day so today, I brought in windex (here, called "My Pet"), some bathroom cleaner spray, the "Simple Green" that my predecessor had left, paper towels (since there are NONE at the school anywhere), and an old sponge to put in my special Bag of Secret Weapons. I figured, for better or worse, I would attack the girl's bathroom that I've winced while using ever since I arrived. I would invade until someone told me otherwise. Anyway, as I snuck into the bathroom, armed, it turned out that one of my two favorite 7th grade girls (well, the ones I pick on because they are way behind, but very cute about it) was also assigned the bathroom. I finally saw with my own eyes the technique. They dump water on the floor and into a bucket (with only water in it - no cleaner), and scrub the floor with a long-handled cleaning brush. They do the inside of the toilets with toilet bowl cleaner (Ah ha! I spotted a chemical!) and a brush. What had never been touched was the walls or stall doors which were all kinds of dirty. So I started to Clean and was shocked when suddenly everyone wanted to use my supplies. The boys doing the bathroom next door were all over "My Pet" and the other teacher assigned to the bathroom took the bathroom cleaner immediately. In fact, I had to eventually ask to borrow one of the three bottles I brought. The 7th grade girls called me their manager even though I didn't ask them to do anything, I was too busy scrubbing grime. (I'd even brought in a dirty sweatshirt to do the job in.) The girls were helping me a bit toward the end, having no problem using the paper towels. The forty-five minutes was far to short, but I made a pretty big dent. I'm not sure what my conclusion is here. I thought people would abhor my massive spray-n-scrub and my tendency to waste paper towels by the dozen, but this did not seem to be the case. Maybe the school can't afford to buy cleaner (!?) or maybe they just, as policy, don't believe in using so many chemicals and being wasteful toward the environment. I would not be surprised since many Japanese seem content to clean so many things - tables, windows, their hands - with JUST water and seem very environmentally conscious about how much of everything they use. I don't think this necessarily extends to the home, though. After all, these cleaning supplies and paper products are widely available, even at the Sakugi mart.

Ribbons During the last bit of preparation, I hung around in the gym and finally, I found a task! (It is so hard for me to find something to do. Everyone else seems to be assigned a section and I'm just kind of there.) My task was with the 7th grade girls. They were tying the red ribbons in loops that the graduation certificates would be put into and called over from the stage to ask me to help. I really, really enjoyed myself, hanging out with the 7th graders on such a casual basis (even when the boys showed up to help too.) It's too bad I suck at tying bows.

Why It's Nice to be a Foreigner My cell phone showed that I had received a call from JTB, so I called back. I asked for the person who helped me (I'm glad I kept that handy romaji business card) and loved how I could just say my name to her and she knew immediately who I was. I'm sure that wouldn't work quite so well with any other Nakagawa, Tanaka, or Suzuki Japanese customer. Anyway, she sent my application out to get a China visa and will send me a voucher to give JTB when I come in to pick up my passport when everything has been processed. I was having trouble understanding her at first and so she politely asked if it was okay if she spoke in English. Why would I ever object to that?! Turns out, her English is pretty darn good, even though she barely used two words of it during our long ticket transaction. Maybe she was respecting my desire to learn Japanese? Really, when we're talking plane tickets, visas, and hundreds of dollars, I'd rather communicate than practice my conversational skills.

Running?! I, gasp, went for a run today. I haven't done that in awhile. The weather is finally warm enough. It was a perfect temperature and beautiful run all the way around my loop o' the red bridges. The river scenery at dusk was lovely, but I will be sore tomorrow, though, count on it. I saw my neighbor on the way back which was neat. I haven't talked to him in AGES (probably because we've been huddling under our kotatsu indoors). He's such a nice guy. He told me there would probably be one more snow before spring. He was also telling me how his mom has taken to sitting at home watching TV all day, which is kind of sad, but she does have trouble walking and is almost ninety. He invited me to come by so maybe I will. (I wonder if she watches any of the shows I watch... which is mainly the Heeeey show, the Millionaire show, Detective Conan, any comedy that's on, and Kids Are Alright Groovy After School. She probably watches the samurai dramas. I just can't get into the samurai dramas.)

Friday, Mar 12

IN A NUTSHELL: Saying Goodbye To The Ninth Graders (Even Though They Stop By Next Week Just For Fun)

No Break Even though the ceremony did not start until 10 in the morning, we all came in for our morning meeting as usual at 8:15. At around 9:30, Nosohara-sensei told me to go out and be a receptionist (like she had asked before.) So I went out. Reception involved giving everyone a program (though married couples only received one per couple) and having any guest who was not a parent sign in. To do something like this, it would probably help if one could tell who the parents were and who the couples were, right? So why did they assign me, another teacher that is newer than me, and only one veteran (Yamaguchi-sensei) to greet everyone? Both of us had to look to her almost every time, trying to discreetly figure out who belonged to which parent couple and who was just a guest. On top of that it was freezing standing in front of the door, so every time no one was in the area, we'd gather around the kerosene heater again.

The Graduation Ceremony There are no special clothes like gowns and mortarboards, the graduates just wear their school uniforms. (Not that I wore any gown for my 9th grade graduation, I just wore a dress, but apparantly, there are no such gowns, even in high school.) The ceremony was pretty straightforward and had a lot more bowing than I expected. A Lot more bowing. I mean, I EXPECTED a lot of bowing, but there was a LOT of bowing. The 19 graduating ninth graders entered the gym to Pachelbel's Canon and bowed as a row before they sat down. Misawa-sensei (the homeroom teacher) called their names one by one. The first and last student had to bow to both the guests and the teachers. The rest went up on stage, bowed to the principal, received their diploma, then bowed AGAIN to the principal. The student never faced the audience, so we got to see the backs of a lot of students as they bowed twice. I was wondering where the pretty, red bows we painstakingly tied would come in, but then I saw it: the students were rolling up the certificate at their chair, putting it in the bow and putting it under their seat. They all had secret red bows stashed in their uniform pockets. Strangely, the name of the student who hasn't been here in months was called and a certificate was set aside for him. He couldn't possibly have graduated. Anyway, after the certificates came the inevitable speeches. For EVERY SPEECH including the mayor, the superintendent, the PTA president, the elementary school principal, and the principal, the speaker bowed to the guests, bowed to the teachers, went up on stage, bowed to the flags (the Japan flag and the Sakugi flag), took his/her place at the podium, bowed to everyone then, after the speech was finished, bowed again to everyone. We all bowed back from our seats which, though I've seen it many times, still looks strange (like we are assuming crash positions.) Two students did a slide-show presentation successfully designed to start nostalgic tears flowing. A 2nd year came up to give a speech after that, which I was impressed with because he seemed to do better than any of the other speakers. After the speeches came the songs (and some more bowing). I was kind of irritated with the song we all sang. The few complicated kanji compounds I knew (and was all impressed with myself for knowing) used a different word in place of it. (Japanese songs do this sometimes but at karaoke, they always show the furigana.) For example, "shunkan" (which means "moment") was sung as "toki" (or "time") for no obvious reason. For posterity, I faked it. I also faked the Japanese National Anthem and was just glad I didn't have to put my hand on my heart or anything. That would have felt vaguely... anti-patriotic? ("I pledge allegiance to Sakugi!") Then, the ninth graders walked out to more music and received a red flower. All together, the ceremony lasted an hour which I suppose is not too bad.

Auditorium to Gym in 45.6 Seconds While the flower boxes were being lined up and people being arranged for group photos (and vice versa), the younger students were striking the gym. They had the chairs, tables, podiums, signs, decorations gone so fast, you couldn't believe they had just held a ceremony there. I was impressed. I got to be in one picture (or about three dozen since I think every parent was standing next to or behind the professional photographer taking their own shots, several of which having me putting chapstick on) and even the parents got to be in a picture.

The Reception Me and a few other teachers were warming up in the staff room (I think I caught a cold while sitting, bowing, and singing in the freezing gym) when a teacher came and told us that the teachers, parents, and underclassmen were headed outside. We went outside to find everyone lined up in two rows leading away from the door. Apparently, the 9th graders would soon be walking out the front door of the junior high school and onto new and exciting things. We were there to (sniff) congratulate them and wish them good bye! It reminded me of a wedding. After hearing "samui" ("it's cold!") perhaps a record number of times, the 9th graders finally came out with their flowers. The underclassman handed them individual posters that all the kids had signed, some had even more flowers to give and a couple were mysteriously passing envelopes both ways. Then the students haphazardly moved onto the teachers and shook everyone's hand as they received a 'congratulations.' A lot of the third years even came to me, but probably just because I was next in line. They all said "Thank you" in English and couple even wished ME luck, which I was surprised, but pleased at. Then they moved onto their parents and it was tear/photo time. I rarely saw a dry eye, especially among the female teachers and students, but also among the males - notably Misawa-sensei, though Tomomi-sensei told me he had cried last year when he was the 3rd year homeroom teacher. It was not so teary for me. Perhaps because A: I hadn't known the 3rd years more than 6 months and had not developed a close relationship with any of them and B: I don't think I'm quite as sensitive to sentimentality as the others (and C: this should be celebration! I remember thinking at my 9th grade graduation, "All right! I'm done! I'm outta here!") Since I was standing between two photogenic Japanese teachers, I got to be in some photos. Two 3rd year girls actually asked me specifically to be in their photos (which I was surprised at.) All in all, it was a pleasant reception despite the chilly wind.

We're Outta Here It was lunch time and the teachers and underclassmen all had the typical fare (no natto this time) though I heard a younger student complaining about it. I'm impressed with how consistently good school lunches are... do students not agree? Maybe it is a rule that Jr. High students must not like their lunch. (I mean, when I was in school I remember being fed things like "pigs in a blanket.") Anyway, the teachers hung around and sorta had a meeting then we left early, excited to go on the staff trip to the onsen in a nearby town. It took me forever to figure out why they were not eagerly giving me a lift: they were taking a different route home that would take them directly to Miyoshi (where all the teachers but me live) and it would be inconvenient for someone to drive me back to Sakugi from there. Luckily, the place we were going was on my English map AND they let me follow Inoue-sensei who has a big, white, unmistakable mini-van.

A Cute Little Village... With Three Parking Lots The drive up on infamous becomes-one-lane-at-random Route 375 was fun. I felt bad every time a car was stopped, waiting for us, because we were in a dozen-car entourage. If our lights had been on, we would have looked as if we were in a funeral procession (do they do the lights-on car procession thing in Japan?) One thing funny was when some truck was stopped in the middle of the road having its tire changed and the guy waving the flag had to suddenly contend with Traffic in the middle of nowhere. Anyway, the drive up through the deep countryside to Midori-cho was rather nice and we arrived quickly at our destination on the top of a hill: "Kagura-monzen Tohji-mura". Given its name, I thought we'd be seeing some kagura, but no, just a nice soak in the onsen. The atmosphere was very quaint. It was built up to look like an old-style Japanese village (except for nifty amenities like a washer/dryer and a Haagen Dazs vending machine) and was really cute. We even got to walk around in wooden slippers. I found out after we'd been assigned our rooms that I had gotten lucky. Only two women were staying overnight - me and Moriguchi-san (the female staff member I get along with the best). Yay! After retrieving our robes and towels from the closet, we walked to the hot spring. I had the outside (but private) onsen to myself again, though I really did not understand why. What was everyone else doing? I saw at least four or five other women in the shower area, but the outside is obviously the Good Place so why were they staying in the boring indoor one? The men seemed to agree with me since I heard a number of their disembodied voices from above while I was outside. Only once did someone join me; it was one of the part-time teachers, so I chatted with her for a bit. (Well, I THINK she's a part time teacher. She looked vaguely familiar. Maybe she's the art teacher! I hope so because I was talking pretty familiarly with her.) On the whole, though, I didn't mind being alone and soaking my muscles, still a bit sore from jogging yesterday. Anyway, the ryokan gave us a very thick, warm yukata over-robe thing to put over our regular yukata robe when we were outside, so we did not get cold. All this for less than half the price of the 'fancier' ryokan we stayed at last time.

Fish and Beer I walked in, and realized I was supposed to have brought my wallet, which was annoying because I was specifically watching Moriguchi earlier to make sure she did not take her wallet. Suddenly, it appeared from the deep pocket of her over-robe. Do'h. She temporarily paid for me. Then we picked a seat number and fate was on my side. I got to sit between Tomomi and Misawa. Woo hoo! Anyway, our typical fare was a lot nicer here than at the last ryokan for a couple reasons. Partially it was because we were at a table that was arranged in a square so we could see everyone and hear everyone (or we could have if the people in the room next door were not being so loud) and I think there were less of us here, too. It was much more pleasant than last time. The only food I didn't like was the flower soup. (?) Well, it was soup (it can be tea) that has a flower in it for taste. I can't drink it. It tastes like I'm drinking plastic or sucking on a flower petal. Moriguchi and I ordered a Chu-hi instead of beer. A Chu-hi is sorta of like a wine cooler, but not quite as sweet. You can buy them in cans at convenience stores but the restaurant had to do a little looking to find some for us. Anyway, I had a lovely time talking with Tomomi and drinking my two Chu-hi. It turns out he is into karaoke, too (and apparently can sing Queen because a Queen song is on the extremely popular hockey drama "Pride" right now.) He said, "Let's go to karaoke sometime." Cool! The more karaoke buddies, the better.

Where's the Party? Since I've been on my regiment of sleep (I've been almost consistently going to bed at 11) I've been in a much better mood and have had more energy. I've gotten a lot less kanji studying and reading done, though, which is unfortunate. Anyway, I'm sure Misawa-sensei was surprised when I was like, "Where's the Party?" after dinner. So we got ice cream and everyone brought their munchies up to the guys' room where we all hung out and proceeded to get drunker. (Well, not me, I just had one more can of Chu-hi and watched everyone else get drunker as I munched on the chocolate people had brought. Next time, I will remember to bring munchies too.) There were six guys and two girls all together (some of the people at dinner had left) so we sat around the table. Mimi o Sumeseba was on in the background. Tomomi said a lot to me. He said I was a good ALT (this is always nice to hear) but that I should always talk to everyone in English. He said that the staff room should be like an eikaiwa. He appreciated that I was trying to learn Japanese, but thought I should speak in English first and seemed very passionate about this (though was, of course, quite inebriated). He was so passionate, in fact, he had me go around and ask everyone (in English) what they did yesterday. I really felt like I was at eikaiwa, but I didn't mind. The good part was that this struck up all sorts of interesting conversations because it turns out a lot of them are really caught up in this doctor drama. The shared notes on characters and I think Moriguchi-san had missed some, so she was trying not to listen, but not trying that hard. I also found out that Matsubara-sensei plays pachinko a lot. Really, a math teacher ought to know better...

Saturday, Mar 13

IN A NUTSHELL: A Yummy Ryokan Breakfast?

What, No Beer? Today was the best breakfast I've ever had in a ryokan. I woke up resigned to the fact that I would be served fish, pickled vegetables, rice, and beer for breakfast. At 8am (and to think, we can decide on our own time for breakfast and someone CHOSE 8am) we walked across the cute little village in our wooden slippers to the old style restuarant across the cobblestone street. We were seated at one of those clever tables with the lower level for your feet in a room with a hearth in the middle. There was some fish already on the table (bleah) but then I was given a little pan sitting atop a personal mini-stove. On a plate, I was given two strips of raw bacon, an uncooked egg, and some bready pieces. So, basically, I could cook my own toast, bacon and eggs for breakfast! It was so fun! The guy sitting at the table across from me kept saying I was cooking it too long, but I kind of ignored him, especially since the others were cooking theirs equally long. It was delicious! The only thing that would have perfected it was a nice glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. Sadly, I don't think they do that here.

Sheesh Everyone was so worried that I couldn't make it back to Sakugi. Not only do I have two maps and had just driven here the previous day, it is not particularly hard to find. I actually led the way out until my turn off. No problem. (Well, almost no problem. For some reason, I had the insane urge to turn the wrong way at the first traffic light - the only one with no sign. I think my Irony was trying to pull one on me.) I noticed when I got back that there were students practicing soccer out on the field. I feel sorry for the teachers who probably had to miss out on the party because they had to be back to supervise.

Sunday, Mar 14

IN A NUTSHELL: The "Farewell Sakugi Village" Ceremony

Ack, Mornings The ceremony was in the morning. At first I thought I had to be there at 9am and I was thinking "Hey, don't ruin my WHOLE weekend of sleeping in" but then I found out I didn't have to be there until 10 when it actually started and I felt better since that is a Key Hour of sleep.

Moral of the Story: If You Sit Patiently For Two Hours And Listen To Speeches, You Get A Free Lunch I think I got the second to last parking spot, but I made it to the gym just in time. I picked a seat in the crowded auditorium by the Jr. High teachers (no Tomomi, though) who had driven all the way from Miyoshi. I glanced at the pamphlets, but could not really read them. The title seemed to suggest that Sakugi has been around 115 years! Impressive! Then the speeches started. See, I expected this ceremony to be somber, sad, sniffly, sentimental and other 's' words, but it was just the opposite: kind of boring and lifeless. At least I think it was. I didn't actually understand much and I have the feeling that, even if it had been in English, I would have spaced out pretty quickly into it anyway. After the first round of speeches, where I had more fun watching the cameramen/women try to be unobtrusive even as they walked on stage to get that perfect shot, was a certificate ceremony. They gave a LOT of certificates to a LOT of frail-looking men. I thought at first that these were the old mayors of Sakugi, but there sure were a lot of them! More clapping than bowing luckily. The second hour was devoted to one man with a very different kind of attitude. His speech was memorized, more energetic and he was a much better speaker. I had the impression that he was a professional, 'selling' the merge and making it seem like this all was a good move. He wasn't getting much of a reception. I might have misinterpreted, though, seeing as I was busy making personal notes in the pamphlet about random things. After it was over (just over two hours) they gave out take-home bentos. The distributed them extremely efficiently. The crowd moved no slower than usual (actually, it seemed to move faster. Maybe people were in a hurry to get fed.) I thought we would all be eating and drinking together, but no, we just took our free lunch home. Inside was a typical mix of fish, pickled vegetables, something egg, something meat, and rice. It wasn't too bad for a free lunch.

Monday, Mar 15

IN A NUTSHELL: Saint Patrick Who?

Because it is Impossible Not To Buy Cute Stickers I went to the 100-yen store hoping that they would have some St. Patties merchandise (because they inexplicably had massive amounts of Christmas merchandise) but no dice. Not a shamrock in sight. I know it is not a big holiday here, but there is a parade in Tokyo so it was not a completely impossible prospect. Instead, I bought cute stickers.

Drooling Over DeoDeo TVs I was drooling not so much over the high-tech televisions, but what was playing on them. One had a figure skating competition (which makes me want to get BS satellite TV once and for all) and the other had a DVD concert of this nifty Chinese band that is comprised of 12 girls playing traditional instruments in a cool way. I may have to check out more of "Joushi Juuni Gakubou" sometime. DeoDeo, however, did not have the adapter I wanted, but it was not a wasted trip since DeoDeo is in the same parking lot as Sungreen.

Tuesday, Mar 16

IN A NUTSHELL: Happy Birthday to Me

It Was Inevitable I got a question in my box today asking, "I heard you ate natto recently? What were your impressions?" I had to go look up the Japanese word for slime before answering, though I tried to keep it as positive as possible. Anyway, in other news, I noticed, suddenly, that the music teacher's desk next to me was totally cleaned out! I didn't even see her packing her stuff up. The last thing I said to her this morning was, "That's a really cute tarepanda key chain." She was surprised I knew who tarepanda was considering it has long gone out of fashion (yet Kitty-chan remains.) Is she being let go like Tomoko-san is?

Birthday Amusement I didn't mention my birthday, except to Tomomi-sensei, but somehow, it was really, really coincidentally brought up when the 8th graders remembered that Nakano-kun had a birthday today and started clapping. I didn't say a word, but then they asked Tomomi when his birthday was. Then they asked me and I had to say, "Well, actually, it's today." They were nicely shocked. (It's not like I haven't told them several times already, though.) Random side note 1: I was born on a Tuesday, too! Random side note 2: well, it really isn't my birthday because I'm in the wrong time zone by far.

No Kagura For Me I met two of my students' mother today. She came all the way over to the Jr. High to tell me about this weekend kagura extravaganza they are having... on the day I leave for Beijing. Oh, well. It was nice to meet a parent (though she seemed so young, not much older than me. I'm not old enough to have kids in Jr. High! Err, am I?) It is too bad about the kagura, though, because it has really grown on me.

I Love the Post Office I got lots of great packages today and the post office was kind enough to deliver them right to the school! The postal convenience of being the only forienger in a small town is worthy of note. It was very difficult not to open them right there at my desk.

Battleground Sakugi? Not one, not two, but three fighter planes flew overhead this evening. I hear them during school a lot, which is kind of disconcerting, but this is the first time I've heard them at night. Yikes. Speaking of inexplicable things, what is with the reappearance of all the autumn bugs? I thought they were, well, autumn bugs as in, they only come out in autumn.