Amazing Day

Yesturday I had the most amazing day! Paul and I went to the house of Yamada sensei, a teacher at his visiting school. Yamada sensei is an amazing Go player. (Go is a really challenging game, like chess, with black and white pieces. You are supposed to win the most territory. It was created in China a long time ago and is popular in Japan like chess is in the states and other western countries).

So we went to his house to play go with him. First we ate at an amazing sushi place. The sushi comes around on a conveyer belt and each plate is $1 to $4 and you can just pick any sushi you want as it comes around. Cheap and delicious!

So then we went to his house. It's a beautiful house in the city of Obama just south of Kaminaka where I live. It's not huge, but very nice and clean. He has a wife, and a daughter my age who goes to university. She invited her friend over and there were 6 of us. First Yamada sensei played go with Paul and I AT THE SAME TIME. I mean, two games at once. And he beat both of us, despite helping both of us immensely! He really is amazing. After a few rounds of Go we played another Japanese boardgame called Shogi with the daughter and her friend. We were at their house for HOURS, sipping tea and playing games. It was so much fun. None of them spoke much English but we found ways to communicate.

After that Paul and I stopped at a Pachinko parlor on the way up. We decided it was worth a try. It's sorta like a casino, except they are ALL OVER the place. There were 3 in between Yamada sensei's place and mine. They are big bright buildings that are often surprising to see next to rice fields. Needless to say I don't know if I understand why the Japanese (or anyone really) sees a huge appeal in them. It was cool to try but, really, I'd rather go to an arcade or something. You don't really have much control over the game and so it's really just like like any slot machine.

Well, that about sums it up. About to go and take my first pottery class! More later.

-Lisa

At Work

Well whataya know? I CAN log into my blog at work! Don't expect this to happen too much though!

I haven't been able to talk to anyone for awhile now since my computer broke and is being repaired. And the school internet blocks email sights... but the blog site is not blocked.

Of course, now from this address all the controls on the blog are in Japanese.

So I have a free period right now and have completely exhausted studying Japanese. I am studying every wednesday right here at school with a friend of my superviser's. I am really lucky. She is really nice, and although I am her first student, she is a very good, smart teacher. I am learning a lot. But right now my head is going to explode!

Two days ago some students were taking a test. Afterward, they correct their own work with red pens. As I was standing behind one student, I noticed he didn't have a lot of the answers right. He was holding the red pen but not correcting his work. His other hand hovered over his pencil, but he knew I was stading behind him. The other students were finishing up, and I could tell he was waiting for me to leave so he could "fix" his answers. So naturally I stayed put. Finally he can't wait any longer and he quickly grabs the pencil and starts to cheat, right there in front of me! So quickly say, quietly but sternly, "Sumimasen! Aka!" (Excuse me! Red!) He was so shocked that I noticed he was cheating (because I'm obviously blind) and also that I spoke to him in Japanese. I was really funny.

Needless to say, JAPANESE KIDS ARE NOT BETTER BEHAVED THAN AMERICAN ONES. Sure they may be thinner, and look nicer in their smart uniforms, but when you break it down kids are kids. There are cultural differences, but they are still children.

Monkeys!!

I saw 4 monkeys today!! They are all over the place on the drive to my visiting school. They are so cute! Although when I asked the children if they like monkeys to my surprise they said no. Then I found out it's 'cause they steal food haha. So I said "Bad Monkeys!" I got a laugh.

I love my visiting school. I get to hang out with elementary students as well as Junior High students and since it's smaller I feel like I can have a more personal relationsip with my students. It's difficult for me to learn Japanese names and I don't think I'll ever know all 300 at my regular school. But I can easily remember the 30 names of children at the visiting school. Classes are fun and relaxed. I love both my schools but Misaki (my visiting school) is a nice mid-week change of pace. I get to leave earlier too (4:30pm) and so I get home around the same time or earlier than usual even though the drive is a little farther.

Hope you all in the west are sleeping well as I type this. The people in my building are all going out to dinner tonight! So I will get to meet everyone! Better bring my dictionary and phrase book and hope that I can join in the conversation!

Lisa

PS: Isn't my new plant cool? It's green and kinda glows purple!! I've never seen anything like it.

So much has happened!

First of all, I have started teaching!! So far I really like it. I teach mostly with Yoshimoto sensei and Naito sensei. My first week of classes went well. I really enjoyed them. I had to do my self introduction to the students. I would speak, showing pictures of my family and Boston, and they would have to fill in a worksheet about me to test their comprehension, and then they'd have time to ask me questions. I got some funny questions. The funniest was "Where you in Tsuruga (a nearby city) with your boyfriend 2 days ago?" I was so shocked! See, since there are almost no foreigners here, if a student sees me she can pick me out very easily from the crowd. So obviously she saw me and Paul! Then almost immediately after a wise kid asks "What do you do with your boyfriend." So I answered "I go to Tsuruga." Then he asked "What is your boyfriend's name?" and I said he didn't have a name and pretended to cry. The Japanese teacher got a kick out my my answer! (As well and the students). So I guess Paul and I will have to cover for each other all year. ;-)

The school is different than American schools. First of all, there is cleaning time every day and the students will clean the school! I help them out in the teacher's room. They sweep the floor and then run these wet rags on it to wash it! No mops or anything! I eat school lunch. I think if I had chosen not to eat it, I would be the only one not doing so. It's really good! You usually get rice, soup, some salad thing that usually has fish in it, and another course that is fish or meat. We got a little dessert the 1st two days, but haven't since... :-/ I think my predeccessor didn't eat it because she was a vegetarian, and it's not so vegetarian friendly, but it's great for me. No preparation and it's cheap. I think it's only 200-300 Yen ($2-$3).

The first day of school I had to get up on stage and introduce myself in English and Japanese!! How intimidating! Luckily my superviser helped me compose the Japanese part.

On wednesdays I go to a different school which is a bit farther. It's out on a peninsula and it's an absulutely georgeous drive!! I feel like every wednesday will be vacation. The school is really relaxed and small. All the classes are 3-5 students. I really like the English teacher. He is very jolly and makes lots of jokes. We were walking down from one of the classes and stop at a group of pictures that the elementary students had just made. He starts cracking up! I'm looking at the pictures... and though they are cute, don't see the joke. I asked "what's funny?" He starts pointing at pictures saying "That's you, that's you there, that's you again...." Then I notice that "Lisa sensei" is written in Japanese under a good portion of the pictures. How cute!!

The Drive to the Wednesday School:


It is so nice to finally have a car. Everything ended up working out and I am really happy. I like my car a lot. It is a bit old but looks nice and seems to be running fine with the new battery. I just got the tires changed and man are Japanese mechanics efficient. But anyway, it's a no-fuss, service-oriented attitude which I really like. And now I can grocery shop and I bought things for my apartment and it is slowly feeling more like home.

I have been taking calligraphy classes with Paul, Jo, Roisin, Leanne, and Mauren. Japanese calligraphy is completely different than western calligraphy. You use a brush, and it's all about getting the stroke right. At least so far. We learned only 3 or 4 strokes so far, it takes awhile to perfect them. The teacher will often take us out afterward to eat or last week she took us to the festival in Tsuruga.

Jo and Mauren doing calligraphy:


The festival was cool. All these food carts are on the street and some game carts too. (Like, throw the ball into a hole and win a prize type games). The food is great! All sorts of types.

Tsuruga Festival:




Yesturday I went to Kyoto! Naito-sensei (my superviser) and I were at a student's house helping her with her speach contest essay after school. Her older sister, who is a senior in high school, speaks excellent English and loves showing foreigners her country invited me to come with her Sunday! So we just went to Kyoto! Her mother took us. We drove to a train station and then rode the train. Her mother didn't go in the temples since she had seen them so many times, but walked around and looked at shops with us. They are such a nice family!! I had a lot of fun. Not to mention, Kyoto is the coolest city ever. There is something for everyone. First of all, there are plenty of modern streets and shops if you are looking for the excitement of Tokyo. There are also many temples and when you enter them they are surrounded by nature and it is easy to forget that you are in the city. There is also the old section of Kyoto with cute little shops and TONS of free samples of candies and tea. It was amazing!

Kyoto's old streets with a temple in the background:



Anyway, I've written so much! I think that's it for now!

Bye,
Lisa