Part-time movie critic

I always talk about movies with my favorite secretary. It's a good way for her to practice English- she takes notes in English about the movie she watched, and then we discuss it in English! She always asks me to make recommendations, so I've complied a few rather long lists of movie titles for her. We even went to the video store together and she wrote down the names of movies that I pointed out to her! The last time I rented some videos I got a bunch of coupons for movie rentals. When I went to give her half of my coupons (she rents a lot more movies than I do!) she showed me a big booklet of movie titles and summaries that she got yesterday at the video store. She had amassed so many points from renting videos that she got this book for free! Anyways, she asked me to go through the book and point out my video recommendations. So, I spent one period today going through this book and post-it noting my video recommendations (with some comments about each movie). This book is so helpful because most movies have a different title in Japan, so if I recommend a movie, it is sometimes impossible to find it if the title is different or not directly translated. Today we found so many movies that I had previously recommended that had different titles. Maybe I could start a part-time business doing movie consulting... : ) After talking with my friend about so many movies, I really realize that I have seen so many!

A new level of boredom

For some reason, I have been expectionally bored at work this week. Today I stumped to a new low. I had just finished skimming the English newspaper for about the tenth time; there was nothing left to read. I had done a bunch of prep work for my next adult class (in 2 weeks!) and finished a poster I made about ice cream. I was just looking around at my teachers as they were bustling about and talking to each other, and I thought I would decide what animal each one of them looks like. Have you ever played this game? I am convinced that every person resembles an animal to some degree. It's actually a pretty fun game to play in a big group- it's pretty interesting what animals people look like, and how the characteristics of that animal are resembled in different people. Anyways, what I found out was that in my office there is a frog, a weasel, a porcipine, a sheep (that sounds strange...), a young lion (definately not a cub, more like a teenage lion), a bear, a giraffe, and a bird. It's quite a zoo : )

If you want to imagine how bored I am, try to think about the most boring job you've ever had, and multiple it by 10. That's me. I supposed I should appreciate it because someday I'll probably have a job that keeps me too busy and I'll longingly remember this job and wish I'd appreciated it more.

Cloudy with a chance of meatballs...(I wish...)

I haven't had too many big food cravings while living in Japan, but lately my mind has been dwelling on all the glorious foods at home that I am all of the sudden missing! The best example...I'm reading "Angels and Demons" right now, and the story is set in Rome. There are many piazza's in Rome. Whenever I read this word, I get a hunger cramp. I want pizza!!! Also, this morning I was craving a toasted tuna melt with cheddar cheese dripping all over it- alas, I had cold salmon, a big hot dog, and two very white pieces of bread awaiting me at lunchtime. I've also been craving this Mexican burrito from the Mexican restaurant at Crossroads that my dad and I ate about everyday when I was in 8th grade. Oh, what I would give for a soft tortilla, refried beans, hot cheese, and lots of tomato sauce...!!! Soon, soon...for now I can enjoy delicious Japanese food that I will most likely dearly miss when I come home. It will be interesting to try Japanese restaurants after eating "the real thing" for so long over here. Hopefully I will find some good stuff, or else learn how to cook it while I'm here. I think the former choice is a bit more realistic...:) Today, try and appreciate the delicious "American" food you eat!

On top of the mountain...

Yesterday I went for a hike with my buddy Melissa. There weren't many people on the trails, but at the top of the mountain (well, hill really :) a family was resting and eating snacks. As soon as we said hello, (well, "konnichi wa," to be more accurate) in true Japanese style they offered us all of the snacks they were eating. So, after all of our climbing, we were rewarded with some rice crackers and green tea candies. We chatted for a bit and they took a few pictures of us. Only in Japan would I get snacks and pictures with strangers at the end of a hike :)

Musings...

I've been blogging in my head all week, now I'm finally gonna get it down!

During some of my classes at the beginning of the week, a shrill whistle was distracting most of the students. The first time I saw the first-year boys PE class, I didn't know whether to be shocked or awed. The new PE teacher was doing all sorts of military formations with the boys. He would blow the whistle, and one boy would raise his hand and the rest would uniformly line up around him. He would blow the whistle again and the boys would disperse into equally formed lines. It was super-intense! I could never imagine seventh-grade boys in America having that sort of discipline! There would be some lawsuit about harsh treatment or something...anyways, as shocked as I was, I was also pretty impressed at the control that the teacher had over the students!

I went to the first-year English classes for the first time this year. You would have thought I was quite a celebrity the way their faces lit up when I entered their class! I did a really brief introduction, and then we had a "shitsumon (question) time." Of course I got the "what's your favorite food?" "what do you like about Japan?" and "what's your favorite singer?" (All in Japanese, of course!) But I also got some interesting questions (as translated by my teacher), such as "what do you think about Bush?" what do you think about the Koizumi administration?" "what can you do?" (this was a question in the textbook that a student just found and repeated...I wasn't sure how to answer, so I just said, "I can do many things!") "do you think Mr. Arai (their English teacher) is cool?" "do you have a boyfriend?" "do you have any children?" "who is your favorite samurai?" One little girl raised her hand to ask a question, and when I called on her she, without saying a word, walked up to the board and drew a cartoon character, pointed at it, and looked at me. I basically took her question to be, "what do you think of this cartoon character?" Who needs language to communicate?! : ) Some of the students did adorably try to speak English, either straight from the textbook or that they had learned in elementary school or cram school. It was kind of sad to see the first-year students enthusiasm, and realize that within a month or two, they will become silent and embarrased to speak English. They are fresh from elementary school, and are still basically children. With a combination of puberty and the strictness of Japanese school, soon the students will become much more subdued and hesitant in class.

I'm not sure if I was awake, or if I was woken (is that a word?) by the earthquake this morning (I don't even know what time it was, maybe 2:30am??) Or should I say earthquakes...there have been so many small earthquakes throughout the day. I know I've lived in Japan for awhile because the earthquakes don't even phase me anymore. I usually don't even stop what I'm doing because the earthquakes are usually so shallow and so long. But this morning, and then this evening, a few hours ago, I did go and stand under the door between my kitchen and room. The only thing I really do when an earthquake hits is to make sure the cupboards in my kitchen are closed. I heard on the news that there have been lots of earthquakes in this area, and there are more to come. I'm just glad I won't be at school so that I don't have to do some big earthquake drill!

This morning at school I arrived to find all the teachers standing and lecturing 4 boys in the teachers room. I couldn't sit down because no one else was, so I just stood there until the lecturing ending. After it was all over, I asked my new confidant (the young cute teacher :)) what had happened. I couldn't understand the details, but basically the boys had not followed a traffic signal on their bikes the previous day. Someone had probably reported it to the school (because the students wear school uniforms, everyone knows what school they go to) and then they got in trouble with the teachers. In fact, there was a student meeting after the lecture, probably to tell all the students what happened and to warm them to follow traffic rules (I had a first-year class to go to, so I didn't attend the meeting). Again, I can't imagine an American teacher lecturing their student for not following traffic rules, unless there was some serious accident. Tateyama is very countryside, so the road the boys crossed was probably only 3 meters wide. Just another example of the high-level of involvement of Japanese teachers in their students lives.

This week was full of half-days because teachers were doing home visits. Home visits! Reminds me of the pioneer days...The purpose of the visits is for teachers to know where their students live in case they have to drive them home (I think it's illegal in America for teachers to drive students home?) and to meet their parents. Teachers have such a big job in Japan! I thought they were just having parent-teacher conferences, but I was confused why all the teachers were leaving school. Then I realized they were going to students' homes!

In my third-year classes, my teacher has started the habit of asking me to sit and read the newspaper when he is explaining grammar in Japanese. While I'm very thankful that he understands how boring it is to just stand and pretending to be "teaching" when you have no idea what's going on, it does feel a little weird to be sitting in front of the class just browsing the newspaper and not paying attention to the lesson at all! But it certainly is more interesting for me!

Can I help you?

Today as I was walking home from school, I saw my neighbor, a very frail older woman, walking home with two heavy grocery bags. Every few steps she would put the bags down and take a break. I carefully practiced my "can I help you?" phrase in Japanese so that I could politely ask her if I could help her carry her bags home. I think she is a little bit afraid of me, so I wanted to make sure I asked her in a very non-threatening way. When I caught up with her I asked her if I could please ask her, she refused. I asked her a few more times, but, realizing that I was probably making her really uncomfortable, I gave up and walked past her. I understand why she might be wary of me, and I suspect that she may have refused help from any young Japanese person, or anyone she didn't know well, but it was still so frustrating not being able to help her, and realizing that if I insisted on helping her, she would have been even more uncomfortable. I can't say things like, "My back is strong!" or "You shouldn't have to carry these by yourself," or "we're going to the same place, it's no trouble at all!" in Japanese, so I just have to accept the fact that there are many things I can't do in Japan. It certainly makes you appreciate being able to speak the same language as the people in your community.

What's my name?

I think I've mentioned it before, but my students have this new fascination with calling me all sorts of different names, Amanda being the most prevalent (but it has branched into other names). It is quite fascinating. At first, just hte rowdy boys would call me Amanda, but now some of the girls quietly call me Amanda to see my reaction. Even one of my favorite teachers called me Amanda one morning! (He had heard his soccer boys talking about my new name at soccer practice the day before. Other names I've recently acquired...Rebecca (no idea), Regret (I think it is a famous cartoon character), Albus Dumbledore (by a boy who I always talk about Harry Potter with), and today, my new favorite, today I was called Matthew Perry (the American Captain that was influential in "modernizing" Japan after the country was re-opened to foreign trade). At first, I couldn't understand what the students were calling me. I thought they were just saying "Eri," which is the Japanese pronounciation of my name. But I realized they were saying something different when they kept talking about "Black Ships." Finally, one student cracked open her social studies textbook and then I realized they were talking about Matthew Perry. I'm not sure if they understood the implications of calling me Perry....maybe they just thought it was funny or something....who knows? With a language and culture barrier, the students are such a mystery to me sometimes! I remember what it was like to be a junior high school student, but I feel like I was so different than my students. On other note, becoming closer to them has some drawbacks. Now that class has resumed, the students keep yelling out "Amanda" during class- I feel like such a distraction to my teacher! Also, since the boys are more comfortable with me, they more comfortable talking about and demonstrating those things that most junior high school boys are interested...I think it's a little more acceptable here (some of the things they do in front of teachers are shocking!), so it's sometimes hard for me to keep composure and not start laughing or look horrified at them! They are quite entertaining, though!

Volleyball

I have been trying to go to volleyball practice at least once a week, mostly just to try and connect with students outside of class. At one school, practice is totally laid back and I have the chance to talk with students a bit. At my larger, primary school, practice is what I imagine boot-camp to be like. It's really intense- I am often afraid to talk with students because I'm afraid they'll get in trouble for not paying attention. The old head coach (who recently moved schools) seriously scared me. He would give the girls this horrendous evil-eye if they made one mistake during practice. The other coach is pretty intense, but not as scary as the head coach. I have befriended her outside of volleyball club, and she is really nice, and doesn't intimidate me during practice (but if I were a student I would be super-intimidated!) The new teacher (the cute one :)) was assigned to replace the scary head volleyball coach. He told me that he didn't really want to be the volleyball coach, but that he had to fill this spot. He played baseball in college, and is interested in being a baseball coach. I talked to him about his first few days of practice, but when I asked him today told me he didn't go to practice yesterday. I was confused until he found in the dictionary the phrase, "I was fired." Apparently, he wasn't intense enough! I think he probably chatted with the girls and just kind of let them play around, and the other coach got mad and said he shouldn't be a volleyball coach! But I'm happy for him because he got moved to the baseball team. Anyways, today at practice I saw the evilest side of the volleyball coach. During a drill, she said the girls weren't yelling loud enough (counting off number of steps taken). She would make some girls do the same drill 10 times, even though they were yelling at the top of their lungs. She must have been in a bad mood because her behavior seemed a bit out of line to me. Anyways, I was last in line, and needless to say, when it was my turn I was pretty nervous that I would make a mistake. Thankfully I was able to do the drill without too many mistakes. But then I felt terrible because the coach lectured the girls even more that I could do the drill and I don't even speak Japanese (during the drill, each player yells out in Japanese). But, a highlight of practice was that I actually got to scrimmage with the girls, which is only the second time I've been able to since I started coming to practice.

Today was the first day the first-year students joined sports practice. They were so cute! It was a little sad watching them start learning the drills because they are going to be doing them every single day for the next three years. Watching the beginning of the loss of childhood is kind of depressing.

Earning my Keep

Today was a full day of testing, which means that I had absolutely nothing to do. Absolutely nothing! I spent the morning reading the paper, trying to study Japanese, and writing in my journal. When I had had enough of that, I went down to the main office to see if I could be of any use. They put me to work copying and counting papers for the nurse. Yesterday I did the same thing and the office staff was joking about how I have come so far just to copy and sort papers. After the copying and sorting was done, the nurse asked me to help her count and sort the urine sample cups. So, there I was, practically knee-deep (ok, slightly exaggerated) in small, yellow urine sample tubes. Every year they collect and test a sample from the students. The label that goes around the sample tube was titled "Pee-Pole." I asked the nurse if she knew what "pee" was- she speaks English pretty well. She didn't know, so I explained it to her- she laughed at the funny name..."Pee-Pole." The office staff always asks to make sure I'm not busy, and I think they feel bad that I am doing such mindless jobs, but it makes me happy to feel like I'm making a tangible contribution to the school.

So, the boys are going crazy calling me Amanda-san. I still can't figure it out! Today at lunch, some of the girls were asking the boys what they were talking about when they kept calling me Amanda. They started drawing pictures of "Amanda" and her laser-beam eyes. This character has the kanji "kill" on her forehead, like she's killing people with her laser-beam eyes! This might disturb me if the boys didn't like me or were afraid of me, but I don't think that's the case...I'm baffled (as are the other teachers!) But, it's fun because it means that so many students (boys, in this case) are talking to me! Sometimes in English! Today, this little boy who has never even so much as looked at me said, "Hello Ellie!" really loud when I walked into the classroom. Made my day...:)

It has been raining so hard here! Today I wore rain pants and a rain coat over my clothes on the walk to school. One of my English teachers said it's really strange weather this time of the year. I love it because it's so warm! But it has been cramping my tennis style...and it's sad because the cherry blossoms are going away in this awful weather!

School Days

The new term has just started, and it's like I'm at a different school (or I'm a different person!) With a new set of teachers, I'm no longer the newest face around. I can really tell the students are so much more comfortable with me (the primary students I work with have just become second year students, so they are no longer the little people on the totem pole!) Also, classes haven't started yet, so there has been a lot of opportunities to just hang out with students. I think my attitude has changed a lot, too. The winter was cold and boring. But now the weather is getting better (I survived the long winter!) and I feel continually more adjusted to my role/position at school. I'm no longer worried so much about what I'm supposed to be doing, because I realized that I really have so much freedom, and can do whatever I want. And I've become a lot more outspoken with students, which has in turn made them a lot more outspoken with me. During the meeting where I made my schedule for spring term, for the first time I became really sad thinking about leaving. I only have a few more months to spend with the students, and that time is split between two schools! Time has truly gone by fast! Oh, it probably also doesn't hurt that a new teacher, who just happens to sit next to me, is a fairly attractive guy my age :) He's student-teaching so he's pretty bored, like me :) We have spent so much time talking that I'm afraid he's gonna get in trouble with the other teachers! I have so much freedom, but I'm not really sure what he's supposed to be doing... We heavily rely on his cell phone dictionary and a pad of paper to communicate, but we can usually eventually understand each other. It's nice, too, because he is different from the other Japanese teachers. He is really honest (maybe only with me, because I am not a Japanese teacher) about being tired or bored. Most of the teachers at school would never admit they were tired, and are always running around like they are so busy. Anyways, so it's nice to be honest with him. Today we had a long discussion about why school lunch is so nasty...it was his first day of school lunch since he was a junior high school student.

In other news, all the second year boys started calling me Amanda yesterday. I have no idea why! I asked many teachers if there is some famous television character named Amanda, but they all said they didn't know about anyone named Amanda. It's fun, though, because it means that a lot of boys who don't usually talk to me are now shouting "Amanda-san" whenever I walk by. The little boy that started it also told me I have laser-beam eyes (he drew a nice picture of my blue, laser-beam eyes). I asked him why he thinks I have laser-beam eyes, and I think it is just because my eyes are blue.

More stories of my new love for students...:) There is a student named Nonoka who always used to practically shudder away from me when I tried to speak with her. It was so awkward for me, because she used to look at me like I was going to attack her! BUT, now she comes up and talks to me! I love talking with her compared to all other students, because I can remember the look on her face when I tried to talk to her before. I have to say, it's a great feeling! Today, another student who is pretty shy and is always hanging out on the outside of the circle, can into the teachers room to ask me if I was coming to volleyball practice! Students are always coming in to the room to ask teachers questions, but they never come and ask to talk to me. It just made my day when she asked me if I was coming (which fortunately, I was!) I'm really going to miss some of these kids when I leave!

Nagano...And I'm finished!!!

I just got back from my fourth weekend excursion in a row...I went to Nagano to visit a friend and her family. I'm taking a brief break from traveling, but I think I'll be ready to go again soon (no definate plans yet, though!) Going to Nagano made me feel like a real Japanese person. I just jumped on the shinkansen (bullet train) like it was no big deal. I used to equate riding the shinkansen with riding on an airplane (the price is about the same). I thought you should get to the train station a few hours early, buy your ticket in advance, and watch what you eat before you get on the train (I get sick on airplanes!) But I bought my shinkansen ticket only minutes before I went from Tokyo to Nagano. And I love the shinkansen (mostly because I really hate flying!) I was warmly greeted by my friend, Yuka, and her mom. We drove back to her house, which is in the mountains, up a slightly treacherous, curvy road! Her house is really big compared to most Japanese houses, mostly because it is only one of ten houses on this mountain! On Saturday we went to an onsen (public bath), walked around in the rain, visited a few museums, had some awesome pumpkin and sweet potato ice cream, and hung out with her dad. On Sunday we went to Yuka's church. She told me it would be all day, and it really was! 9-5:30! I think the denomination is called Bretheren...I'm not exactly sure. Many people in her church spoke English, and there were a few foreigners that I spent most of the afternoon visiting with. The weather was pretty cloudy on Saturday, but on Sunday I had a beautiful view of the Nagano mountains. It made me realize how much I miss my sweet Washington mountains! Tateyama, my city, is SO flat!!! On Monday morning Yuka and I woke up at 4:30 and caught a 6:00am Shinkansen back to Tokyo. I didn't end up getting back to Tateyama until 11:00, where I went straight to school! It was a fast trip, but I am so glad that I have these opportunities to visit my friend's hometowns, because they are usually all in Tokyo for school. But now, it is time for a rest! I have been on a train or bus for at least 8 hours every weekend for the past month! But, I gotta do it now, because when I'm back in Washington, I can't easily say, "I'm gonna go to Hiroshima this weekend!"

O-hanami

In Japan, as soon as the famed sakura (cherry blossoms) come out, it's o-hanami time! From what I gather, o-hanami is a flower-watching party/picnic/drinking party. Today I went to the famous park and castle in Tateyama and saw SO many people having picnics under the cherry blossoms. There were some individuals, some small groups, and some groups up to 30 or 40 people. The air was thick with laughter and alcohol. A rather large group of older flower-watchers had started an impromptu concert of sorts- each member would take a turn singing an old Japanese ballad. O-hanami is a kind of festival, so some vendors have appeared in the park in true Japanese matsuri (festival) style. I went back in the evening to have dinner with a friend and partially participate in this Japanese event. It was rather dangerous because a group of pretty intoxicated men were playing baseball near us- needless to say, their aim was less than stellar, and came close to hitting us a few times! They then decided to try to ride a small motorbike around the park until the police came and stopped them. It was quite entertaining, and so Japanese! I'm looking forward to enjoying the cherry blossoms as much as I can, because I hear they're pretty short-lived. Tomorrow I'm off for another day of watching the flowers- this time with my camera!

Shizuoka

I'm back from my third weekend getaway in a row! I went to Shizuoka prefecture to my old roommate's vacation condo. It was so relaxing! I didn't really know what to expect and was ready for more hard-core sight-seeing, but it ended up being a very relaxing weekend. The condo was in true Japanese style- small and furnitureless except for a table and a few chairs. We slept on foutons and mostly sat at the table or out on the small verandah. We spent a lot of time in the condo's onsen (bath/hot tub/hot springs) just relaxing. There was a massage room with all kinds of massage chairs- we also spent a lot of time there! We walked around town a bit on Saturday afternoon- Let me back up...On Friday night, we had to take about a 3 hour local train to get to Izu-Inatori. My roommate had checked the train schedule, but we ended up missing the last train, so we were stuck. It was not a fun situation to be in, and I never want to miss the last train again! We needed to take a taxi, which was going to be super super expensive (thankfully we could get about 20 minutes from the condo). Another traveler was stuck too, so we shared a taxi with him (and his little dog- who was exiled to the trunk of the taxi, much to my disbelief!) and he was super nice and paid for most of the taxi. My roommate was certain that he was some kind of secretly rich man... maybe just really nice! So, everything worked out and we finally made it to the condo at about 12:30pm. Back to Saturday- we walked to a winery that makes mikan (small oranges) wine and saw some beautiful sakura (cherry blossoms) in bloom. It was pretty cloudy so we couldn't see the ocean too well, but it was still a beautiful view. The rest of the time we just vegged, pulled out an old nintendo, made curry (I almost sliced off the tip of my finger! It was gross!), and watched "Lord of the Rings" dubbed in Japanese. My friend from school, Nancy (she is studying Japanese in Tokyo) and I had a fun time explaining the whole "Lord of the Rings" series to my roommate, who had never seen any of the movies before. (Nancy and I are both big fans!) On Sunday the power went out about 30 minutes before we left, which was another adventure in itself. We took the "Resort" train back, but since it was raining pretty hard, we couldn't see much of the ocean. It took me over 6 hours (4 train changes) to get back to Tateyama. Thankfully, I was with Nancy and Junko (my old roommate) for half, and then I met a really friendly Canadian, his wife, and his adorable half-Japanese baby on the train, so I had lots of good conversation while I slowly made my way home!