IN A NUTSHELL: Wacky Wednesday

My Day Never Pretended To Be Easy... When I woke up this morning, my planned schedule was as follows:

8:15 to 10:30 - Go to the Bunka Center and work on tonight's English Conversation activities

10:30 to 1:00 - Go to the Nursery School (including lunch)

1:00 to 3:00 - Go to the Junior High and work on tomorrow's lessons (no classes today)

3:00 to 6:00 - Drive to Kimita for a meeting of ALTs to discuss teaching ideas

7:00 to 8:00 - My English Conversation class

Free time? As if! So, as you can see, I really do not have a spare hour ANYWHERE. Although this is a usual Wednesday (other than the Kimita meeting), I have a lot to get done. I HAVE to do my English Conversation stuff in the morning because there is no other time before tonight and I have to do the lesson plans today because my classes tomorrow are during 1st, 2nd, and 3rd period. This is the first time I've ever had three classes back to back. I rarely have classes first thing in the morning either. On top of that, I have to write my page for "Melissa's World" which is due this week I'm sure and I have not even started.

And so the wackiness begins... I figured that since I did not really have any classes today and since the high temperature today was supposed to be only 22 (71), I would dress down a bit. I put on a nice turtleneck and wore my capris. Not long after I walk in, my supervisor tells me the mayor is coming at 9am and wants to talk to me! No idea what about. Of course it is the day I dress the most casual I've ever dressed, but on top of that, I just don't have the time! I kind of hurried doing my Conversation class activity and it was just not coming out right. Erg. So the mayor comes in not long after 9am (at least he called first) and explains his situation.

Sakugi: A Major Tourism Spot? I swore I heard the mayor wrong. Did he actually say people from all over the world were coming to Sakugi? Did he say people from places like Africa and Cuba were just stopping by the canoe park today? And no one mentioned this before? Anyway, whether I understood him or not, the point was that he wanted me to help him write a welcome speech in English. Sure! I don't mind at all doing stuff like this (because it makes me feel all useful and helpful and stuff) but I sure wished it was not conflicting with my mostly-finished, but crappy lesson plan. Anyway, it was a very short speech. He wrote it in Japanese and I spent a little while trying to make something polite-sounding, but not too complicated in English. It ended up a little cheesy ("we are honored to have guests from all around the world") but workable. As I started to help him with the pronunciation, we were asked to please use the guest room. We were obviously making a racket? Anyway, so I went through the speech with him. A little while later, Kato served the mayor coffee and me green tea (I think I said I liked tea better once), then shortly after that, Takata-san came in and joined us. ANYWAY, so the whole time, I'm thinking, "Why don't I just come with you? I know Sakugi and I can speak English! What better person to introduce our foreign visitors?!" I started to say something along the lines that I could help and they took it up pretty fast. Maybe they were thinking the same thing. Before I realize it, I am being asked to come along at 2pm and stay until I have to leave for the Kimita meeting (about 3:15). Whoa, okay.

Unique Language Barrier So I have about twenty minutes left after the mayor leaves to work on my lesson (and I am toying with the idea of going home and changing into something nicer before meeting the mysterious foreign visitors). I had just sat down again when I hear the words "English teacher" coming from the reception desk. Uh oh. So, of course, I turn and Arikawa-san (?) asks me to come over and help this fellow. The catch: the fellow is deaf! So, the nice (deaf) older man presents me with an email his granddaughter in America wrote to him (who apparently only speaks English) and the email he intended to write back printed out. I fixed the few mistakes he had and tried to explain. Because he seemed to understand Arikawa-san, I thought maybe he was just hard of hearing. But, no. He even said in English, "Cannot hear." Anyway, we did wind up communicating, but by that time, I was five minutes late to the nursery school.

Putting My Figurative Foot Down I was actually in a playing mood today. I played tag (in Japan, that would be 'Oni' - demon) with the kids for awhile. Because I was involved in the playing I also was feeling intolerant of the other things. When the kids hit me to get my attention, I usually ignore it, but this time, I grabbed and held them close and said very seriously, "please stop" or "bad" in Japanese. (It sounds better in Japanese, trust me.) I think I actually scared one kid (about 3 years old and the worst of the hitters) because he completely stopped afterward. For some reason, four or five kids kept poking or grabbing me in the breasts. This really, REALLY irked me. I really can't imagine nursery school kids in the States hitting me or poking me in inappropriate places, then again, I do not think I've spent any significant time at a daycare in the States, so I can't make a fair judgment. I know that if I ever hit my parents when I was a kid, I got punished big time, though. Anyway, I told them to stop. Then that girl (the one who is so amazed that I have no babies) did it again. I said I was leaving. ("Kaerimasu.") I walked out of the area and into the office to get my things, half serious. If they did not show any sign of stopping, I was seriously considering leaving. The only thing I was honestly worried about was what I would do about lunch. (Yes, I'm too focused on the food.) They all came after me quite quickly. The girl apologized. (They even said that I couldn't leave because we were having yummy spaghetti today for lunch. I did not react to this.) We agreed that I would stay if they did not do it again. And to their credit, they did not (well, once lightly and accidentally, but it was quickly, quickly apologized for). Oddly, they all were really, really nice to me after that and quite huggy and clingy and cute. They all wanted to sit with me at lunch (which is not unusual but today they were really serious about it). So I guess that worked out better than it could have been. But I really don't get it. I was wearing a really, really loose T-shirt with a conservative neckline. Nothing tight or obvious. Why did little kids even notice? Is it because their parents make comments? Or is it just like another body part? (I've gotten pokes and comments that my thighs looked like mochi. Rude, I guess, but I didn't feel all that violated.) Anyway, so I guess we hope that this all makes a difference in future visits.

I'll Do That in My Spare Time After walking back to the Jr. High (boy, the weather seems hot) I very quickly did my lesson plans for the next day. I thought I had time, so I added a bit of clip art, but when I turned around, 20 minutes went away and it was already 1:40. I printed it out (figuring I'd make copies tomorrow) on the slow, slow printer, then made ready to leave. On my way out, I explained to Moriguchi-san what I was doing. ("Um, there's people from all over the world at the Sakugi Canoe Park. No, really. I'm going to, um, say hello and talk with them and stuff. The mayor asked me to.") Okay, it did not come out that bad, but still, how they heck do I explain this? Anyway, she accepted it, but then Tomomi-sensei called me over and started telling me about tomorrow's lesson plan. I listened and nearly fainted when he said, "If you have time, could you think of an activity for the 1st years' class?" I stared dumbfounded for a second. I was like, "I'll give it a try, but I after the canoe thing, I'm going to a meeting, and then and I have English Conversation class." After I said that, he told me not to worry about it, that we could do a Simon Says type thing since the topic was commands. I'm hoping this will inspire him to tell me what he wants farther in advance! Even if I was doing my usual schedule, I would still have had two hours at most to work on it. If I was an experienced lesson planner, this wouldn't be a problem, but I'm not.

The Quick Change So it is now just about 2pm, and I really, really did not want to be late. But it is also now 31 degrees (88) outside! I am DYING in this turtleneck. Stupid forecasters. Anyway, so I stopped home and threw on a light, white blouse, then ran back out the door.

I Don't Even Both Rehearsing For A Speech in English I arrived, parked, and shortly later, my eyes focused on another foreigner in the area coming out of the bus. (My gaijin-dar is well honed after two months surrounded by Japanese.) I met the mayor at the reception desk and wondered if the reception desk people knew who I was or thought I was a guest. Anyway, it turned out I made it on time because they started 10 minutes late. We walked upstairs and into a room and, lo and behold, there were 12 foreigners sitting at tables! There was a Japanese woman translating everything said into accented English. Before the mayor rose to make his speech, they asked me to come up. So I walked up and introduce myself. ("This is exciting for me because I'm usually the only one in Sakugi not from Japan") Okay, so I made it up on the spot and because I had a feeling that English was not necessarily their native language, I found myself talking in teacher-English, with lots of unnecessary pauses and overdoing the gestures. I've been in front of kids too long. I think it worked out fine, though, and I was pleased with the feeling in the room. The mayor made the speech I gave him. He could not pronounce "honored" right, but he was cute and they all laughed when he admitted in Japanese that he had been practicing all morning and the woman translated it. During the course of the short lecture, I realized what their purpose was! They were coming to learn about the tourism trade and how to attract tourists with the available resources.

Hanging Out With Gaijin I hung out with the group while they were shown around the canoe facility. Then they got on a bus. I knew they theoretically were going to be back in time for me to leave in half an hour, but it is still scary to get on a bus when I'm not sure where it is going. I wavered, but the mayor, who knew I had to leave at 3, told me it would be fine, so I got on! We drove about two blocks to the cottages overlooking the canoe park. It was my first time to see them. They had apparently been just completed this April and were modern-day representations of traditional-style houses (wood floor instead of dirt and a stove instead of relying on the central hearth). Pretty nifty. The guests were mostly my age or a bit older, I would guess. I talked to a woman from Cuba and a man from Cameroon, Africa, both speaking very strongly-accented English. I wondered how well they understood the translator, who also had an accent. I found out they were headed to an onsen in Kimita next and said I was jealous and noted that I was also headed to Kimita this evening. The mayor told me not to get on the bus again, so I wished everyone luck and walked back down to my car realizing, on the way, that I had left my pocketbook in the original conference room. Luckily, this was not a problem. After I got it, the mayor bought me a really yummy juice and I took off to Kimita.

The Bihoku JET Meeting This actually turned out pretty good. Ben arranged for all the JETs to meet in Bihoku and get paid for it as if it was a business trip. We had tea, cookies, and chips and talked about games and lesson ideas. I came out of it with at least two great activity ideas and one PHENOMENAL phonics idea which involved using word-ending groups like "-ain" and "-all" instead of focusing on words that start with a, b, c and so on. Cool, cool. I talked to Kimita Ben (since he was having dinner with the same 'people from all over the world' after our meeting) and he told me that the people were all from underdeveloped countries and looking at ways to attract tourists to places that would 'otherwise have nothing interesting.'

Almost Done... I actually had a half hour to spare! So I made dinner. Then I went to my conversation class. A new face today, that's always nice. I think my lesson was a bit too boring (I never realized how hard it is to explain the usage of "if") but they seemed to enjoy hearing "If I had a million dollars" at the end and learning the jokes in the song. One woman even understood the art joke ("A Picasso or a Garfunkel") after the quickest explanation. Cool!

IN A NUTSHELL: Drained

Too Much To Do, No Energy To Do It I was so wiped today, I can't believe my back-to-back morning classes went okay. Even Tomomi-sensei noticed I was tired. Simon Says is a bit easy for 7th graders, but I think they had fun anyway. Afterwards, I really wanted to work on my Melissa's Plaza (Tamura-san has not asked for it yet, but it is that time of month), but I could not get up the energy to do anything. It was all I could do not to fall asleep at my desk. I got almost eight hours sleep, but that did not seem to make a difference in my State of Tiredness.

Halloween Corner By sheer force of will, I stumbled down the hallway and tore down my old Melissa's Corner (with a very clever staple remover built into the staple) and put up my Halloween stuff for the new Melissa's Corner. I had tons of color printouts of people in costume (It is amazing how many people post their Halloween pictures on the web. These people have no idea Japanese Junior High students are seeing them.) and some clip art of witches and jack-o-lanterns. I even put up an orange balloon and a blow-up bat. I had the 3rd-years serenading me, playing koto in the background. It was a group song and so, so beautiful. When I, and they, were finished, I practiced koto, too. I learned a new, complex, but pretty version of Sakura, Sakura. I want to learn to play this version!

Sugar was the Simple Answer I ate some chocolate. Then, for the first time of the day, at 9pm, I had energy! Ah, so this is the problem. I'm addicted to sugar and haven't had enough. I don't need enough sleep at night, I need enough sugar during the day. That's why I was so tired all day. Not caffeine, sugar. Oh dear. This is not helping with the whole "Let's Be Healthy and Not Get Diabetes" plan...

IN A NUTSHELL: Just When I Think I Won't Have Anything to Write About

Hell's Angels, Japan Sect So after picking up my new mold-free, slightly shrunk, but super-clean sweater, I went shopping. This is normally a very usual, boring activity. Instead, today, there was a whole legion of motorcycles parked by the front door. Fifty at LEAST. The air was filled with the sound of engines revving and the store was filled with Harley-Davidson-jacket sporting groups of men. Shopping. These guys were obviously travel worn: they all had big bundles of sleeping rolls and other things attached to their bikes and had the look of men who had not showered in a week or two. They had stubbled chins, wore leather pouches on their dirty jeans (sometimes leather pants) but politely moved aside if I said 'excuse me' ("shitsurei shimasu"). Japanese biker gangs just don't quite have the same scary effect (that could be lack of height) though I wondered what the little old ladies and children thought. No one had any obvious reaction, but it was hard to tell. I think people were staring (I know I was, but mostly because I was trying to read what it said on the back of one of the guy's jackets.) Anyway, that definitely made my shopping experience a bit more dramatic.

On Top of That I ran into one of my English Conversation students as well as one of my elementary girls (and her embarrassed-looking dad) at the store. It's the first time I've ever run into people I knew there, JETs or Japanese. I should have asked what they thought of the new additions to Sungreen.

I Cannot Remain Brand Loyal I ran out of Chapstick-brand chapstick. This is serious stuff. So I bought... JAPANESE chapstick. Will it be the same? Will I survive? Stay tuned...

Kagaya! After dropping off my non-Chapstick chapstick and food (more food than I had ever bought before) at the car, I returned out of curiosity, to the building next to the dry cleaners where there was an art exhibit. The paintings on the outside were of an American artist and weren't bad, but when I walked inside, I saw Kagaya paintings! Live and in person! Five of them were on display. I couldn't believe it! A woman there plugged my phone into this weird thing sticking out of the wall and put me through to an online site full of paintings of various artists. It wanted me to pay to download (very silly concept since I have a computer at home and can just go save the image if I want to for free.) Anyway, there was a man sitting next to two of Kagaya's paintings and I thought for one crazy moment that it might be Kagaya himself. The woman said no artists were there, though. He was doing a transaction with another lady so I think he was buying a Kagaya painting. The one I looked at was 430,000 yen (about $4000). Whoa. Especially weird since I think his paintings are partially computer-generated, so that makes his painting essentially a printout anyway... Anyway, cool coincidence!

IN A NUTSHELL: Overdoing it a Little?

What I Do For My Kids I spent far too long today cutting out pictures of animals that I had blown up on the copier last Monday and then cutting out color construction paper to put them on to make giant puzzles. I found three glue sticks, two of which ran out almost immediately, so I'm just going to hold off and buy some. Anyway, although this is kind of fun, it is really far too much time to take for one fifteen-minute activity. I'm going to color in these cows and ducks, too. I guess I'll call it getting in touch with my child side and not worry about it. Anyway, had fun eating this strange chocolatey stuff I found in the peanut-butter row. I thought for a moment it might be like nutella, but it was more like hot fudge, except cooled. Nutella would have been cooler, but chocolate is chocolate.

Imotep! The Mummy was on tonight! Ah, I love the weekend bilinguals. Brendan Fraser was nice to watch, too. Those beetles scared me more this time around, though. Probably because I could imagine them in my house. Although I have not had a bug incident in awhile (knock on tatami) I always expect another one. And I wish there weren't so many bugs living on the outside walls of my house either. Makes me nervous.

Monday, Oct 13, 2003

Tuesday, Oct 14, 2003

IN A NUTSHELL: They Found Me!

Bubble Tests? Classes were cancelled today because the students had to study for these school-wide exams on Thursday and Friday. Somehow, I still found plenty to do. Tomomi-sensei added a class tomorrow on 1st period so I get to rearrange my Wednesday schedule to teach the 7th graders about Days of the Week. I spent awhile today trying to come up with a clever alliterate rhymes in both English (like Moon on Monday) and Japanese (like Sugoi Sunday), but in the end, Tomomi-sensei did not really understand what I was getting at and preferred to do the silly, simple chant I did practically on the spot with the 8th graders last week which was basically chanting the days in order, getting higher-pitched until Wednesday, then lower-pitched, then stomping to each syllable on Saturday. (I decided, mid-chant, to start removing days of the week as we repeated it. That made it kind of like a game which I think worked better.)

Why Do You Have These At Your Desk Again? I showed Misawa-sensei, as requested, a brief advertisement of my planned 'simulation Halloween' for the culture festival a week from Sunday. He loved it, gave me a couple language fixes, and then offered me some costumes to use. He had them in a bag, at his desk, just sitting right there. He had masks, swords, wigs, all sorts of good stuff! Combined with the nifty costume pieces I inherited, it should make for a fun day! I'm actually quite excited and just hope the kids and guests will be in an adventurous enough mood to put on costumes. Granted that everyone will probably be dressed in something fancy since all the grades are doing some kind of stage show, maybe it will not be such a big deal. Even if it is, they have to be tempted by free candy!

It Finally Happened I knew it would happen someday, but I had grown so comfortable in my daily routine, I had completely forgotten. Then the doorbell rang this afternoon. It was NHK. I am anonymous no longer...

NHK: Like PBS, With Hired Henchmen. Err, Salesmen. For the record, I know that it is not a legal requirement to donate to public television, but they way these people work, it may as well be. I remember debating for quite awhile with the representative when this happened in Tokyo (and a: my Japanese was fairly bad and b: I did not know the deal with NHK) and I did not feel like going through that again. Anyway, I earlier decided that I really had no objection to donating since I watch a lot of NHK. NHK is cool! The shows are bilingual if possible (even the news sometimes) and have no advertisements. I really wish the representatives were not so darn persistent and un-Japanese, though. Anyway, I invited the man in a suit (who smelled kinda funny) to come in because I did not want to talk to him with the door open and have bugs flying in droves toward the entranceway light. He started his schpeil, showed me the English translation and was prepared to charge me about $45 for two months. I kind of gaped at the price, except for the kind of part. Then I realized, looking at the English chart, that he was charging me the price if I had 'satellite TV.' I told him I did not have it. He pointed out that I had a satellite dish and then asked me, of all things, to look at my remote control. I went to get it. My remote control actually has channel buttons for satellite stations (called "BS 5", "BS 7", "BS 9", and "BS 11"). Instead of trying to convince him that I honestly did not have them (and was not, um, BSing him), I dragged this fellow inside my house (down the Hallway of Doom) and had him turn on my TV so he could see for himself. This was very convincing. After saying "I see, I see" at the snowy screen, he charged me about half the price (which is still highway robbery if you ask me) and then asked for cash now for the first two months. If this were America, I'd have said, "yeah, right, in your dreams" but this is not the land of corporate schemes (just giant monopolies) so I eventually gave in. Actually, the main reason I gave in was that I had heard that NHK would try to charge me for the whole time I had lived there, which I was fully prepared to argue for. But he said it was for October and November and the form I had filled out was for December and January. All I can say is, it better be! If they try to nail me for August and September, they will get an earful. Tonight marks the first time since I came here, I was decidedly not polite to a Japanese person.