update: Kit Kats - even more flavors!

That's right, I have discovered more flavors of Kit Kat, and I am under the impression that there are EVEN MORE out there for me to find.


I don't have pictures of the strawberry cheesecake and blueberry cheesecake flavors, but that's okay. There wasn't much to see of them (though, the boxes were kind of pretty). They were both white chocolate, but I thought that was appropriate given the whole "cheesecake" angle. They were okay, nothing spectacular.

Apple Kit Kats, however, are yummy! When you open the box, this delicious, crispy apple smell comes exploding out. The flavor is totally magnificent, and I've since bought a couple more boxes of them. I think they're my second favorite after the anko Kit Kats.

It's gotten out around the school that I have two Japanese obsessions: Tommy Lee Jones commercials and various flavors of Kit Kats. I'm not sure which of the two our students find the most amusing, but they do what they can to fuel the fires of my passion, at least in regards to the Kit Kits. One of Benni-sensei's students who took an Intensive week class with me brought me soy sauce-flavored Kit Kats as a Christmas present. She was kind of embarrassed about it - "Shoyo and chocolate? I think maybe it tastes bad together." - but I like them. The salty/sweet combination is actually pretty good. What I find hilarious is that she was out traveling, stopped at a rest station, saw these, and actually thought about me! What can I say, our students are completely awesome. I gave her brownies and eggnog in return.

Christmas Eve, Benni-sensei and I went shopping at Don Quijote's (that's how it's spelled, and it drives me crazy), and I found these: watermelon Kit Kats. Probably my third favorite flavor, they're way better than the plain melon flavor. I love them. And they smell awesome.

Just to prove that not all Kit Kat flavors are good flavors, here ya go. Black/brown sugar Kit Kats (Benni-sensei translated it as black sugar, Kozue-sensei said brown sugar. Naofumi-san chose not to comment, perhaps being too perplexed at the very idea of so many Kit Kat flavors. Or maybe he just knew better than to tie-break between Benni-sensei and Kozue-sensei.)

On Sunday, after our nabe party, Naofumi-san agreed to drive us to Don Quijote's, which we could not do ourselves because we had been drinking the wine that Benni-sensei got as a Christmas present from one of her students. This was highly amusing, but going to Don Quijote's is always highly amusing, and it turns out it's even more so when you're slightly buzzed. We bought several different flavors of Pringles, and then Kozue-sensei found these Kit Kats, and of course, I bought them.

Perhaps a more appropriate flavor label would be "molasses." It's what they smell like, and it's what they taste like. And they're not that great. They're not terribly nasty, but I consider them "last resort" Kit Kats. They're the Kit Kats I'd eat only if I didn't have any other chocolate to choose from. I'll probably have some of these left over six months from now.

Even so, I'm always thrilled to find new flavors, even if they aren't all that good. My plan is to keep on trying whatever I happen to find. I'm still on the lookout for those cherry-flavored ones that Sarah told me about. Maybe in the spring?

Kamakura/Tokyo: Day Two & Three

So, Day Two of our trip . . .

After getting up early at 7am (why do I never get to sleep in on my vacations when that's all I want to do on my days off?), we had a traditional Japanese breakfast prepared by the hostel owners. This included miso soup, a fried egg, apples, yogurt, and the ever-present no-meal-is-complete-without-it rice. It was yummy.

Daryn and I left the hostel (planning to meet up with Sarah later at the Kamakura train station) to do some more exploring. The first thing we did was visit the temple that was right next to our hostel. We had been told that there was a nearby temple that had a big statue of a golden Buddha, and we thought it might be this one.

But, no, we were wrong. I think this was a shrine instead of a temple (and yes, there is a difference, in that shrines are Shinto-based, while temples are Buddhist-based). Still, it was nice and quiet, and I'm sure Daryn got some really good pictures of it - she's good at that.

We had planned on going back to the Zeniarai Benten shrine (the money-washing shrine), but instead, we walked down to the beach (I didn't realize how much I missed seeing the water!). There was some serious wind blowing down on that beach, but that just made it all the more nostalgic for me.

Walking back up the street toward the train station, we were side-tracked by another temple, Hasedera. This is where we found the golden Buddha (which we were not supposed to take pics of), and it turned out to be a beautiful and very large temple built up on levels on a hill. It has what I believe would be a beautiful garden come spring. As it was, it was still quite lovely. There's something striking about a garden in winter, the stark branches, the barren ground. I've always liked winter settings.

We spent a good hour at Hasedera, exploring the garden and the little claustrophobic grotto that houses numerous statues of the Buddhist deity Kannon (also known as Benzaiten, a goddess of wealth and beauty). It was very peaceful and pleasant. By the time we finished, it was time to meet Sarah at the station and head to Tokyo, so we ended up not going to the Zeniarai shrine again. All for the best; otherwise, we wouldn't have been able to see Hasedera.

We met up with Sarah and headed to Tokyo. By this time, the weather had started to change. The morning had been clear and sunny; the afternoon faded into clouds and cooler temperatures. Rain threatened when we arrived at our stop in Tokyo. Managing the trains and subways wasn't too difficult; the important thing is to know where you want to go. Benni-sensei and several of my students commented that even Japanese people find the JR lines and subways confusing, even with practice. At least the trains are well-marked - the streets are nearly impossible to manage, mostly because there are very VERY few street signs and numbers. I think I could understand the trains well enough with time, but I highly doubt I'll ever figure out Japanese streets.

In Tokyo, we stayed at a backpackers' hotel, which was reasonable and comfortable. We even had our own private rooms. We checked in and headed back out to explore a bit. Tokyo was the first place I've eaten American-style fast-food. We had a late lunch at McDonalds (mmm, I've missed french fries) and then headed over to Harajuku.

It started to rain on the subway ride over, but while it was a cold rain, it wasn't a terrible downpour. While Harajuku had its amusing points, I must admit that I didn't think it had all that much to see, but that's because I'm not terribly interested in fashion or the youth culture, which is what Harajuku is famous for. Sunday afternoons are the best days to see the young people at Harajuku, who've formed their own cliques around the area. There are the Lolitas (and the gothic Lolitas), the punks, the rockabillies. We walked down Takeshita-dori (which is like a freaked-out version of St. George Street) and Omote-sando (which is often called the Tokyo Champs-Elysees because of the high-end shops). Even so, I'd like to go back some time to see Yoyogi Park and the Meiji Jingu shrine, which is considered Tokyo's grandest.

I did like Tokyo. As far as metropolises go, it's a fair sort. I'd never want to live there, but I'd certainly want to visit again. There's far too much that I still want to see.

We had dinner at an izakaya, which is by far my favorite way to have dinner. And then I pretty much slept through the karaoke. I really wish I'd been able to keep myself alert for it, but I was dead tired by that point and just could do it. As soon as we got back to the hotel, I went to bed and fell straight to sleep.

The next morning, we checked out and headed back out into the city. We had breakfast at McDonalds (mmm, the cinnamelts were quite yummy) and made our way over to Nakano, which was the entire reason for us coming to Tokyo in the first place. Sarah wanted to go to Nakano Broadway, which is mostly famous for catering to the otaku culture. Otaku are - on the most fundamental level - super-fans, mostly of anime and manga. There are literally dozens of manga shops, and almost every store seems to have something anime-related in it. I found a used cd store and bought four Asian Kung-Fu Generation cds for half-price. I was happy.

We ate lunch at Wendy's (more french fries) and then went back to Harajuku. At this point, I decided to take my leave because I really couldn't handle anymore shopping. So, I said goodbye to Daryn and Sarah and rode back to the main Tokyo terminal. I'm pretty sure I fell asleep on the shinkansen, because the ride seemed much shorter than on Sunday. I was back in Isesaki by 7pm, and after heading out to get something for dinner, I settled in at home to recover.

In closing, it was an awesome trip! I'm very glad I went, and I'm especially glad that i got see Daryn and Sarah. I already miss hanging out with them. Hopefully, we'll be able to plan another trip in the not-too-distant future. I'm also excited about exploring even more of Japan now that I've had this little taste of it.

Until the next adventure!

For more pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/album.php?aid=8572&id=1515469097
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/album.php?aid=8644&id=1515469097

Kamakura/Tokyo: Day One: "you know it's good to be back with my friends"

Last Sunday, I did my very first traveling in Japan, with my friends Daryn and Sarah. We spent the first night in Kamakura and the second night in Tokyo. Short recap: it was awesome.

Now, for the long recap:

Sunday morning, I got up early and walked 40 minutes to the Isesaki train station. I've ridden the train alone before, but only to Maebashi (which is 15 minutes away), so even going the 30 minutes to Takasaki was a big deal to me. In Takasaki, I took the Shinkansen (the bullet train) to Tokyo. The Shinkansen is awesome. It's a nice, smooth ride, very comfortable and with great views during the day. Most of what I saw was city, but it was still nice to see more of Japan. It also helps me appreciate living near the mountains; the Kanto plain looks kinda of boring.

In Tokyo, I successfully transferred to the JR line and made it to Kamakura without any problems. And there I met up with Sarah and Daryn.

Kamakura actually reminds me a little bit of St. Augustine. Not so much in content but in atmosphere. It's got that same vibe: very historical (even for Japan - there's even a period of Japanese history named after Kamakura, when it was the center of government for a brief time), lots of sights to visit, plenty of tourists - Japanese and gaijin - wandering around, narrow streets, and a beach. I am definitely going to visit there again, and I would love to be able to live there for a little while. It's just beautiful.

Plus, there are over a dozen different shrines and temples, including the Kotokuin Temple, in which resides the second largest Buddha in Japan:

I still haven't found any shrines or temples around Isesaki, so this was my first chance to visit one, and it was truly impressive.

There was no way we were going to see everything in Kamakura in such a short time, so we decided to do what we could. This included hiking along a trail in the dark to se where it went. I admit, I wasn't overly thrilled with this, mainly because I don't have the best night vision because my depth perception goes a little wonky in the dark. Fortunately, Daryn and Sarah were patient with me, and Daryn was super-helpful in getting me down a particularly tricky set of stairs that I couldn't see anything of.

I am still a little sore from the vacation (hiking through the woods is pretty strenuous, especially when you can't see where you're going), but it was definitely worth the hike. The place we stumbled upon was a beautiful example of a Shinto shrine, complete with animal guardians, torii gates, and a purefication trough. It was a little creepy in the dark, but it was well-lit with flood lights, so it wasn't too bad.

We left the shrine and continued on to the Zeniarai Benten shrine, which is famous for its well. You can wash your money in the well, which encourages your money to double itself. However, nobody was there, so we didn't get the chance to do that. Still, it was interesting to walk around and look at it, especially a cave with a massive amount of paper cranes hanging from the ceiling.

Then, because we were tired and it was nearing our curfew time, we headed back to the hostel to get some rest.

But, wait! You'll notice there's no mention of food, and that's pretty strange, isn't it? Well, I wouldn't want to disappoint.

First, we ate lunch at a little restaurant (Chinese, I think - I had noodles in a sweet and sour soup). This also included my first experience with a Japanese-style toilet. It wasn't so bad, just kind of difficult at first to stay balanced while squatting. I expect it gets easier with practice, but I prefer to stick with Western-style toilets for the immediate future.

For dessert, we had purple sweet potato ice cream, which looks and sounds disgusting but is oh so good. Kamakura is famous for this treat, as well it should be. YUMMY.

For dinner, we ate at an Indian place, which also marks the first time I've had Indian food. It was pretty good. I especially liked the nan.

And that's about it for Day One. The best part was seeing Daryn and Sarah again. It's easy to say that I've missed hanging out with other Americans/native English speakers, but I also missed them because they're awesome ladies and fun to be around. The trip would definitely not have been as much fun without them.

Will be posting Day Two asap!

more pix from Day One: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/album.php?aid=8565&id=1515469097

"so this is Christmas . . ."

Here's the thing about holidays: it doesn't matter where you are or who you're with, you have to decide to make something of the holiday. You can be far away from home and still be happy, or you can be with friends/family and still be depressed. It's all in how you deal.

This is the first Christmas I've spent thoroughly and completely away from my family. I keep waiting for some melancholic wave or something to hit me and dampen my spirits, but the fact is that I'm happy. And I have no reason not to be happy. I enjoy my job, I like where I live, I like the people I work with (students AND co-workers), and every day is a little adventure unto itself. Every day, I'm happy to wake up and be where I am.

Homesickness has never been something I've understood anyway. Maybe it's because I can easily let go of attachments, or maybe it's because I believe that everything in life is fleeting. Maybe it's because I've never felt an attachment to any one place before. When I think about where home is, I think of where I am right now. I am home, both in the verb and noun sense. I've never needed anything outside of myself to represent home. I miss my family and my friends, but not so much that I'm suffering from being so far from them. So long as I remember them and all the years past, I carry them with me, and therefore, they are never too far from me.

Even though it's Christmas and I'm working and far away from the people I've always spent Christmas with, I'm happy. Not just happy - also pleased. Where I'm at, what I'm doing, it all feels good to me. Maybe in a month or two, I'll actually be hit with some sort of melancholia, but for now, I'll just enjoy being happy.

Happy holidays, folks. Winter has come; it has always seemed the quietest part of the year to me. I'm looking forward to going to Takayama next week to do a little bit of solitary travel. I've always thought of the end of the year as a time to reflect on what's past and meditate on what may be waiting in the future. I have a lot to think about.

Merry Christmas!

(oh, and I'll post about the Kamakura/Tokyo trip soon too, probably in two or three posts)

Intensive Week, Schmentisive Week

Intensive Week is designed to allow our Sprint students a chance to make up any lessons they've missed in the past four months. Rather than giving regular lessons, we're supposed to use lesson plans from our supplemental materials. This is less to educate students and more to sell them stuff. The Tatsujin series (focused on Listening and Vocabulary) don't come cheap, but this is a perfect opportunity to show them off and dazzle the students with them. Too bad I have a pretty weak sell - though one student did ask me lots of questions about them and wondered if I thought they would help her. Considering she was asking about the Listening series, I emphatically replied yes, because . . . yeah, that's a weak spot for her.

Anyway, I have decided that I don't like Intensive Week and that I will prepare my own lesson plans for it from now on. The lessons from Head Office aren't terrible, they're just . . . ridiculous. The supplemental materials are not meant to be stretched out to 45 minutes (the Tatsujin series even states on the box "15 minutes per day"), and the amount of info given could cover about 2 hours of teaching, especially if the students are a little lower level. The warm-up exercises themselves could take up half an hour if the students aren't sure what's going on. See, the thing about Intensive Week is that Benni-sensei's students can take my classes and vice versa. So, I had a couple of mixed classes in which I had some fairly low-level students trying to keep up with more advanced speakers.

Actually, that was a little amusing. Naofumi in a class with five of Benni-sensei's Sprint 4/5 ladies? Funny. He's a little on the shy side, and he was a little overwhelmed at first, but he ended up being quite helpful. And Benni-sensei says that the ladies enjoyed themselves, so it wasn't a complete disaster. In fact, two of those students will be moving up to a Spring 6 class with me in the spring, so I was glad to have a little intro to them. They were just impressed that I knew their names.

But, really, the lesson plans were kind of useless to me. Plus, it didn't help that one of the suggested books is not in our library (Benni-sensei thinks that one of the former managers "borrowed it"), so I had to rush to make one up. And then I didn't even need it because the student - one of Benni-sensei's - just wanted to talk the entire time. Motosu-san is a very nice elderly gentleman who is a retired farmer. I spent most of the 45 minutes listening to him talk about his recent stay in the hospital, and trust me, you probably don't want to know why he was there. Let's just say it was educational for both of us, and you never know when catheters will suddenly come up in conversation.

I will be very glad to go back to the Sprint schedule next week. I just consider myself lucky that I only had four Intensive lessons - Benni-sensei had eight, and I'm sure there are teachers out there who have more than that. It's somewhat ironic that most of the training in Vancouver was geared towards teaching Sprint classes when I have a relatively small number of them. The majority of my classes are Active.

Still, another GEOS experience under the belt. Things can get back to normal for a little while. Best of all, winter vacation is only a week away!

three more Christmas party pics

And look! I'm in them!

I tried to avoid getting sucked into too many pics in front of the Christmas tree, mainly because I was the one making sure that everyone was staying out of trouble while Benni-sensei and Hitomi-san took the picture-taking. But even I couldn't avoid it all the time.

With Nene-chan.

With Rio-chan. Yes, she's dressed as Snow White. Her mother just shrugged and said she insisted. The girl loves her Disney.


For a brief while, we had the younger kids coloring quietly in my room. From left to right: Yoshiki-kun, his sister Saki-chan, and Yuzuki-chan.

Christmas parties are not for wimps.

Especially Christmas parties geared toward children.

In the end, I decided not to put too much effort into my plans for the kids' Christmas party for three reasons: 1. only 14 kids signed up and showed up; 2. they wouldn't have understood much anyway; and 3. Benni-sensei is a piss-poor planner and doesn't tell me anything when she does make a plan.

I like Benni-sensei, I really do. We just do things a little differently. When planning, I need some kind of direction. It's okay if I have to be flexible and divert and make up stuff as I go, but I need to start with something other than, "Okay, let's do this!" I have no problems putting things into action, but I need to have an idea of what the end result is supposed to be. I realize that not everyone works that way, but I do, and ignoring that fact would be kind of stupid because why would I purposefully work against my own nature?

I thought it was a Japanese thing at first (in that everybody is on the same wavelength and comes to a mutual decision together), but now I'm not so sure. Most of the time, it seems like Benni-sensei is running the show and nobody else has any idea what the hell she's doing.

But this isn't about Benni-sensei, this is about our Christmas party! It actually wasn't so bad, possibly because the 3 Jyukou boys weren't there - they typically spend most of their time beating each other up and having to be separated. As it was, the kids were pretty riled up anyway (I blame the full moon), and it was enough work trying to keep them all occupied.

Benni-sensei played "Jingle Bells" on the guitar, and the kids mostly sang along when asked (we'd even made little song books for them to read along). Then we had them write little notes to Santa Claus and put them in a little mailbox that Hitomi-san made. After that, we had them color paper ornaments for the tree we put on the wall in the lobby. This was followed by feeding time, and man, can those kids put away the food. Benni-sensei wanted me to give them a little Christmas lesson, but we decided that they weren't going to calm down enough to do that, so we played a vocabulary game in which they had to race to hit the correct picture. That entertained them well enough. We finished with the present exchange, and off they went. Not bad for two hours.

But, here's another thing I've noticed about Hitomi-san and Benni-sensei: they have no idea what these kids are up to most of the time. And like all children everywhere, the one thing they are consistently good at is making trouble. I noticed that Nene was messing around in the back storage room (which is crammed full of junk that's probably been back there for years), and then she ran off to do something else. So, I went and closed the door and turned around in time to see her leading six other kids down the hall. And I took her by the shoulders and turned her around and glared sternly at the rest of them until they all went back to the lobby. I do a lot of this kind of thing, even on regular class days - making sure that the kids are where they're supposed to be and doing what they're supposed to do. Benni-sensei can keep them entertained, I make sure they stay still for it. Not that Benni-sensei didn't make an effort, but it's one thing to ask them to stop running and another thing to cut them off and herd them back to the main group. I know what a complaint sounds like no matter what language it's in, but they also know that I'm not playing around.

I don't mind being the one who makes sure that nobody's getting into trouble. It gives me something to do other than stand around and wonder what everyone's talking about. And it reinforces to the kids the idea that I'm not some kind of pushover just because of a language barrier.

All in all, though, it was a good party. Everybody seemed to have a good time, and I certainly can't complaing about that.

They make a good picture, don't they? On the far left is Hitomi-san and her daughter (whose name is either Kokora or Kokona, I'm still not sure), and on the far right is Benni-sensei. Most of these students are mine.

One thing's certain, these kids can eat!

Ayuka-chan (my student) and Raito-chan (who will be Benni-sensei's student as of Monday).

Playing a vocabulary game with the kids. Rio won. Yeah, the 4 y/o beat a bunch of older kids, without hardly any help at all. I swear, she's like some kind of little genius.

Our Christmas tree on the wall. The kids helped decorate it.

a busy busy . . . BUSY week

I've been meaning to post all week, but December proves to be just as crazy in Japan as it is in the States. I had a pile of Challenge Kids tests to grade, contracts to check up on, baking to do, Intensive Week lessons to plan, coloring to do, and general all-around work stuff. Maybe it's because of the end of the year, and everything is wanting to be done before the new year arrives. I've noticed that a lot of my students have also been way busier than usual.

Surprisingly, I have had relatively few homesick moments. There have been a few, mostly when I think about all the baking that's done around Christmas (how I miss peanut butter balls and red velvet cake!), but these moments are usually fleeting and pass quickly. Just thinking about the happy memories is enough for me, keeping them in mind and not letting go of them. I've also been doing some thinking about all that's happened this past year, and it's amazing what changes a person can go through. Most of it was for the better.

On the plus side, I had the most excellent Friday ever. It was crazy busy (as usual), but everyone was in a really awesome mood. The kids were great, and most of them were really happy with their Challenge Kids test scores (which is only right, because all of them did fantastically well, and there were even a couple perfect scores). Plans for the kids' party are going well, even if we are going to have about half the number of students we had last time. But all of my favorite students are coming, so yay! (Yes, I have kid students that I like to have around - did I mention I'm becoming a pod person?) I have a new student in one of my Sprint classes, and he fit in well with the other students and seemed to enjoy himself. And now I am home baking cookies for the kids' Christmas party and considering making persimmon bread for tomorrow's nabe party.

Life? It's totally good.

Oh, and to all of the awesome people who work with my Mom: thank you for the Christmas card! I love it! And I'm very happy that you're enjoying my little piece of the internet here! I'll try to keep up with eevrything that's going on here! Thank you!

In closing, here's something that one of my students brought for me from her trip to Tokyo Disney. (sorry about the formatting, but I'm in a hurry and fixing it would require me to go and figure out how to do it) It's for the New Year, and it was filled with green tea truffles! Yummy! I'm now using the tin at home to hold my jewelry, wallet, and keys, to keep them a little organized. So nice!

Christmas comes to GEOS Isesaki

The lobby - that little window looks into the office.

Another shot of the lobby, looking out onto the street.

Our library (ha ha).

Our Christmas tree. A little Charlie Brown-esque, isn't it? Well, it's what we could find in the back storage room, so it's what we've got.

My Christmas wall.

Decorations for Christmas have been put up and enjoyed by all. They're hardly spectacular, but they're ours and we're proud of them. I actually really like my wall, and it was nice to put on some Christmas music and decorate it. I don't have a tree this year, so that kind of made up for it. Every time the kids color a new Christmas picture, I put it up on the wall for everyone to see. I let the kids pick where they want it to go - they seem to like that.

Our Christmas party for the kids is this coming weekend, and Benni-sensei asked me to come up with a mini-lesson idea to give to the kids. Putting a historical-purist like me in charge of Christmas is not a stupendous idea. I get hung up on details. Like the origins of the holiday. And the symbolism of it. And why we do the things we do when it comes to decorating. I have to remind myself to keep things simple because Christmas is really a rather vague concept to the Japanese, especially if they've never been exposed to an American Christmas.

(Which is why we have a menorah mixed in with all of those other Christmas coloring pictures, because it was easier to leave it in than to try to explain to Hitomi-san what Hanukkah is and why it's different from Christmas. I have nothing against Hanukkah, in fact I think it's disrespectful to it to lump it in with Christmas when it is most decidedly NOT Christmas. I'd like to include it, but I have only limited knowledge of it, and nobody's all that interested anyway.)

The problem is not avoiding talking about religion. You can talk about Christmas all you want without really touching upon the Christian aspect of it, which is what I plan on doing. These kids aren't Christian, and they don't care and aren't interested, and I'm not here to convert them. Nor am I trying to belittle the holiday, because I like it, and I have my own interpretations of it. My main goal is to be fair all around and make sure that the kids enjoy themselves and aren't overwhelmed with information.

So, my focus is on Santa Claus - he's a figure they all recognize and like, so that's a good start. I'm thinking I will create a template for them to write letters to him, and then next week, I will give them each a little something in their stockings (which I'm having them work on this week). Benni-sensei also wants me to do something having to do with Christmas trees, and I'm working on that. Maybe I'll make a big paper tree for the lobby and have them make ornaments. Or maybe I'll have them make their own individual trees. I like the big tree idea, but the problem is making the tree. Makes me wish I had some sort of artistic talent.

watashi wa eigo no sensei desu

Today I had my first official Japanese lesson with Benni-sensei. Up to this point, my Japanese education was limited to watching "as much TV as possible" and tracing hiragana to practice learning it. My Japanese handwriting sucks but at least I'm getting the hang of recognizing the kana.

I mentioned that I bought a Japanese textbook a few weeks ago, and this was our first chance to use it. My first lesson was on introductions - how to ask someone's name ("Namae wa nandesuka?") and how to respond ("Sara desu."), followed by how to ask about someone's job ("Shigoto wa nandesuka?") and how to respond ("Watashi wa eigo no sensei desu.") Also got an intro to meeting people ("hajimemashite" ~ "how do you do" and "doozo yoroshiku" ~ "it's nice to meet you"). It's not much, but it's more Japanese than I could understand and say this morning! It's a start.

Also, she's having me practice writing my name in katakana, which is both important and not overly easy for me. As I said, my Japanese handwriting sucks wholly and completely (at least, I think so) because it takes a certain finesse to make it look "right." Japanese writing is almost like a form of art, with precise strokes that blend together so nicely. My penmanship looks like geometry, which I would definitely NOT consider art, but maybe that's just me.

Anyway, after my lesson, Benni-sensei had me practice on Hitomi-san, which is incredibly fun because she's always thrilled, no matter what. But then, Japanese people tend to be impressed when non-natives put any kind of attempt into understanding/learning/practicing anything to do with Japanese culture. It's a nice change from Americans, who expect everyone to adapt and adopt as quickly as possible (this is, of course, a gross generalization, but it seems to me to be the attitude of the majority). It's like how Hitomi-san was so excited when she found out I liked Japanese food or how gleeful they can be when I try something new and like it. And they don't treat me with contempt if I don't understand or don't like it. Granted, they treat me a little like a silly gaijin, but that's what I am, so it's okay. It's way better than frowning and acting like I'm less than them.

But, yeah, I got mad praise for my pronunciation and my memorization, so I'm not a complete failure when it comes to Japanese. Actually, pronunciation is fairly straightforward, as it's a lot like Spanish, in that everything's pronounced pretty much as it's written. It's not tricky the way English is. As for memorization . . . yeah, that's to be expected too, because even I'll admit I've got a mind that retains way too much information. There's a reason I'm good at Trivial Pursuit. Hopefully that will continue to serve me well.

the dog and pony continue to perform well

So, in the end, my evaluation was along the lines of, "um . . . so, I don't really have any advice to give you because, really, you're doing everything right."

Sweet.

Benni-sensei apparently had no concept of an "observation," because she generally acted like the guy was there to nitpick the school to death. Whenever he was around, she found an excuse to not be in the same room. And she kept asking my why I needed someone to come and watch me. I think she was more bothered by it than I was, because I was just "whatever." It had to be done. On the plus side, she and Hitomi-san could NOT stop talking about my complete and utter awesomeness. Seriously, it was almost embarrassing. But nice to hear. I really like my co-workers - they're not always the most reliable people, but they mean well. We get along, and that's important.

All in all, a pretty good day, made even better by the knowledge that I won't have any kids' classes the week of the 21st. After the Christmas lesson, I say goodbye to the kids until January.

Not that I have a major problem with any of my kids . . . okay, not the older ones. But, I swear, one day, I'm going to take my little five-year old terrors and plant them in separate corners with their noses to the wall for the entire class. Just ONCE, I'd really appreciate it if they didn't act like they were just released from the bowels of hell. I am little more than a babysitter in this class, and I've pretty much adopted the same attitude with them as I did with my ninth-graders: if you sit down and don't gad about the room, I'll be happy. These boys have no concept of keeping their foul, vile, germ-ridden hands to themselves. I have to hide my whiteboard markers, and lately I've been locking my door with the hook latch because one of the little darlings went in and started drawing on the board with a highlighter. Brat. I can't wait until he gets into school and gets some manners pounded into him. I like him better when he's just woken up from a nap and he's practically comatose. He doesn't do any work, but at least he's not shrieking at the top of his lungs.

Alright, speaking of children, here's my mini-rant about my kids' classes. First, what the hell is up with organizing them by age? I have an 8y/o girl who is at a higher level than a 12y/o boy, but she's in the low class and he's in the high class? Okay . . . figure that one out.

Second, the book for the 3-5 y/o class is a piece of crap. It's organized oddly, the dialogue is funky and generally not easy for the students, and its teacher's guide is mostly useless. The book assumes that you have a full class and therefore need to spend a lot of time making sure that each child knows what hopscotch is. It also seems to be under the misapprehension of believing that toddlers have a long-enough attention span to be interested in listening to some creepy voices on a cd. My boys don't have that capability. And they're not stupid, so they get the idea of the lesson pretty quick. And if I'm getting bored of making them run around in circles to get to the corner with the correct picture, then they are too. Wait, I take that back, I never get tired of watching them run around in circles and collapse in an exhausted heap on the floor. It keeps them quiet for a few fleeting seconds.

The older kids' books are actually not so bad. The phonics are straightforward and advance at a good pace. The conversation is mostly natural, and the vocabulary is stuff that they like and should know. Honestly, I like my kids (and thus did sara-sensei become a pod person). They're usually pretty good sports about things, and they do try really hard. They all do really well with phonics and listening, but speaking is very weak for them. The only thing I can figure is that the previous teacher didn't have them doing a lot of comprehension work - just listening and repeating. I only have 2-3 kids who can respond to questions with full sentences, when about 8 of them should be able to do that. They know the words, but they don't know how to use the language. So, that's becoming a big focus for me - getting them to create simple sentences such as "I like" or "I don't like." Because they can answer if I ask "do you like?" and that means they can use the full sentence. Something to work on in the future.

But yeah, I kids' classes are mostly fun. They're lively, alert, and willing. Who knew it was possible that kids could be so cool?

Of course, none of them are teenagers yet, and that could be a whole different kettle of fish in the coming year.

cross-cultural teaching truths

It's probably not a good thing that, in so many cultures, teachers are always given a hard time. Dealing with kids - no matter what age - is not easy, even if you enjoy it. Japanese teachers work very long, very hard hours - just like American teachers! They probably don't get paid very well either.

I actually have a few students who teach English, which is why they are taking lessons from me, to improve their skills. They're terrible at keeping up with homework because, of course, they have plenty of work to do at home already. I usually don't assign much homework unless individuals request it, and my teachers are often the ones that look at me with pleading "please, don't ask me to do this!" eyes because they feel bad if they don't do the work.

Last week started off with a national "labor" holiday, which gave schools two days off to make a three-day school week. On Saturday, one of my teachers came in for her class, and I asked her how her week had been. "Hard!" she replied. "The long weekend was nice, but at work, it was a short week and very hard!"

When I was teaching in the States, I had a love/hate relationship with short weeks. On one hand, it was wonderful not to have to go to work. On the other hand, they were always the roughest weeks ever. It feels like the kids take all that energy and punkishness and save it to spend during the days that they ARE in school, thus doubling the amount of trouble they get into. I usually felt like I needed another three-day weekend just to make up for the four-day school week.

So, I replied, "Yeah, I always hated short weeks too."

And thus, we had a nice little chat about teaching in the public school system. At least she enjoys it more than I did. But she's a pretty awesome lady - about my age and one of my higher-level students. She never seems to mind when I start off on one of my tangents about where English comes from (our current unit is about learning new languages and how language is developed), and she's very good at trying to figure out definitions by analyzing a word's parts. She's one of those students that makes class more fun than just work.

Also on the subject of teaching and related duties, I was considering that this is my seventh week in Japan and thinking, "hmm, I'm surprised I haven't been contacted by anyone to set up an observation or a check-in or something." And thus, I am proved psychic, because today I got a phone call from our region office informing me that I will be observed tomorrow. "Just wanted to let you know so you aren't surprised when I show up!" he said. Uh, yeah, could I request more than 24 hours notice next time? Yeesh.

Not that I consider this a problem, because while Friday is my busiest day, it's also my least varied. I have three kids' classes and three Sprint 7 classes, and he'll only get to observe half of them because he'll have to leave early to catch his train. It's Kids Challenge week, which means that the kids will be taking their tests and not getting an actual lesson. (and that's a posting all in itself, because boy, do these guys take their tests seriously) So, I can't think that there will be much to observe. My first Sprint class is a one-person class, and she's a real sweetheart and very quick to learn. All I have to do is remember to follow the Sprint outline that was hammered into us at training.

Gee, that sounds familiar. It's the dog and pony show all over again. Not that I expected anything else, because this is teaching, after all, and teaching is all about showing off the dog and pony. Here's hoping that I know how to make it look good. At least this time I won't be worrying about keeping the kids in line . . . that was also three-quarters of the battle to begin with.

Japanese Food Journal: food that moves

No, Sara-sensei did not eat anything alive. Very likely, that's the only definite line Sara-sensei will draw when it comes to trying new foods (that, and anything involving celery, yuck yuck yuck).

When serving extremely hot foods (as in temperature, not spice), if you sprinkle bonito (that is, dried fish flakes) on top, the heat travels up into the bonito and makes them move. The result is a flowing motion on top of the food - it looks like the food has tiny tentacles that move of their own accord. It's rather wavy in effect.

I'm told that this can be achieved with numerous hot foods, and so far, I've seen it twice, on grilled Japanese eggplant and on takoyaki. I probably won't be making my own takoyaki any time soon, but I certainly would try my hand at Japanese eggplant dishes, and I'm equally certain that I'd randomly throw bonito flakes on things just to see if they dance. I'll try to get a video of it sometime, because it really has to be seen to be appreciated.

Also to note, I've become quite fond of the takoyaki stand near the school. It makes a good lunch on a cold day because it's exceedingly filling and exceedingly hot. Mmm, yummy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Takoyaki.jpg

sara-sensei and the futile battle to keep warm

As far as I'm concerned, it is officially winter. Doesn't matter that we still have about three weeks to go before the solstice, doesn't matter that it's going to get even colder as winter draws nearer. For me, winter is here: snow is on the mountains. Not a lot of it, but enough to be visible from Isesaki.




Last week, some wet weather came down from the mountains - I'm getting pretty decent at weather prediction, but I think it's common sense to see clouds enveloping the mountains and looming over the valley and figure that rain is coming. Except, up in the mountains, it's not rain, it's snow, as you can see in the pictures.

You have to remember where I'm from (ahem, Florida). Snow is a big deal for me. Waking up to 14 degrees in my room (that's 57 degrees in Fahrenheit) is a big deal for me. Riding my bike to work in a freezing Siberian wind is a bid deal for me. Staying warm has become a pretty important part of my life lately.

One of Benni-sensei's students, Kazuhiro (I think I've mentioned him before), suggested to us one day that we go to UniQlo and check out something called HeatTech. It's a very thin material, and it's made as both shirts and shorts, meant to be worn under regular clothes. It's designed to keep heat in the body, thus keeping body temperature up. It's very warm and very comfortable, and the XL size fits me nicely.

Can we say awesome? The fact that I can fit into Japanese clothing thrills me to no end, even if it is the largest size in the store. What's really great is that it really does an excellent job of keeping me warm. The heater in my room at school doesn't quite get the job done, and even wearing a long-sleeved shirt and suit jacket didn't help much in keeping warm. The HeatTech shirts have really helped with that. At home, I usually wear one under a t-shirt. My apartment heater works fine, but because I'm heating such a small space, it can get stuffy really fast, so I usually only turn it on in the mornings.

This means that, while riding around on my bike, I usually wear 4 layers: HeatTech shirt, blouse, suit jacket, and overcoat. And gloves. And leggings and tennis shoes. That's how cold it is. During the day, when the sun is shining, I usually leave the overcoat at work, but sunset is around 4:30pm, and it gets cold really quick after that. I am now enamored with vending machines that sell hot drinks, because they are HOT. I'm especially fond of hot green tea, and every once in a while, I'll treat myself to one of the sweet cream lattes from the school machine.

But, it's going to be a struggle for me to not freeze to death this winter, because it's not even winter yet. And everyone tells me that the wind will get worse and the weather will get colder. And then they cheerfully tell me that it's usually dry, so there's not much snow. This doesn't really make me feel better, because there's that whole "cold Siberian wind" thing that bothers me. I'm starting to believe that the overcoat is the second-most important thing I brought with me to Japan (the first being the laptop, of course, I'd be going stir-crazy without it).

But, yeah. FREEZING.