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New Beginnings.
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
I slept on a futon on the floor last night with only a blanket and my
computer and a few small things for cleaning. Then this morning around
7:15 I started loading everything and cleaning one last time. Of
course I forgot a few things like an open window or some nightlights
after I mop the floor, but it worked out ok. Actually the whole plan
seemed to work out almost exactly as I planned. I made about 12 trips
with my little Pajero and Chloe made one trip that was equal to about
two of mine. Then yesterday I rented a big van as shown in the March
31st update. Now I am almost completely (98%) out of the
teacher’s house and I can’t wait to start living again.
I can’t believe I can walk to so much stuff in Koriyama.
There are dozens of restaurants and convenience stores and so many
other things around the new place. It’s such a relief and a new
beginning. I plan to start eating right and exercising at the park and
riding a bike and basically getting my act together. The combination
of planning English Camp, moving, 3rd term, and Konan’s
cold snowy winter means I didn’t exercise at all during Feb or March.
I am the fattest I have ever been. I wanted to go to the gym tonight,
but I will be having a pre-birthday dinner with Kathy and some of her
cohorts.
Today the new teachers came and we welcomed them with open
arms. There are only a few this year since we lose one teacher each
year as the numbers go down. That’s actually good for the teacher’s
room in that we have less desks (tongue twister) and more walking
room. Plus they moved one of the computers around so it is where a
desk was last year and not blocking the path.
There’s a new male teacher in the elementary school and he
has the class that has the wild boy. The boy that throws the wildest
tantrums I have ever seen in Japan. He should really be kicked out and
sent to another school, but you can’t do that in Japan. Honestly I
wonder what you would have to do to get kicked out. I seriously think
it would be some crime that got you sent to jail since anything less
wouldn’t matter. If parents want their child to be in school that
child will be in school even if he or she is a trouble maker or a
special needs student. Some parents don’t want to be singled out as
having a special needs child so they ignore that fact and send their
child to the regular school. I have had some students that didn’t
speak at all or wandered the halls in a daze and clearly needed to be
somewhere else.
Today is all meetings and boring stuff. Actually all this
week is the same, but I have
 tomorrow
and Friday off. I will be unpacking and moving things around. I’ll
actually have power and water (though I technically already have
water). Gas should come on Thursday at 10:30 when the gas man comes
by. I’m hoping my water heater is electric so I can use it tonight and
take a shower. I’ve got so much to buy for the place since it didn’t
come with lights or curtains or some other things. Some are
necessities some are just me making the place nice. I’m going to buy a
lot from the 2nd hand store and some from a discount home
store. I bought and hung some 70s green curtains since they were the
cheapest. They look alright in a retro way, but I might replace them
after a while. I need some rugs as well for the other rooms.
I can’t decide if I will get a bed or sleep on the floor.
I am leaning toward a bed since I don’t sleep well on the floor. I
wouldn’t mind sleeping on the floor if it weren’t on the floor. If it
were raised a bit so I didn’t have to flop around when trying to get
up. The closet space is unreal. I have two full sized ones and one
half sized closet. They have a shelf waist high and then one about
head high and they are so nice. I’ve been shoving everything in them
to get it out of the way, but this week I will start going through it
all to see if I can put things in other places.
Detached.
Monday, April 06, 2009
I feel so detached from the school now. I think it’s because I no
longer have my NT classes and only assist with the JTE. I really feel
like I am being pushed out or pushed to the point that I quit. Rather
than quit I wouldn’t mind teaching only elementary school since that’s
fun and JHS gets boring. There’s grammar and reading comprehension,
but in ES it’s games and basic English.
Today was the welcome ceremony for the new ES first
graders and the new JHS 7th graders. I didn’t attend one
ceremony, instead I took pictures of the new students coming into the
school. Mostly it was of the new 7th graders wearing their
school uniforms. The new ES 1st graders seem cute so I will
talk to them later.
Some of the kids ignore me which I hate. It’s rude and
discriminating I think. They would never ignore a regular Japanese
teacher, but I don’t count. I told one kid who is now a 4th
grader that they will have English every week and she frowned. I said
“oh I thought you liked English” and she said “yes, I love it”. Well
then why would she frown….but aren’t Japanese people are so polite.
After the entrance ceremony they took group photos. I didn’t even hang
around for this since I didn’t want a redo of last year. They lined up
all the students, parents, and anyone absolutely anyone related to the
grade, except for me. I was attached to that grade last year, but they
went down the list and read the names and made sure those people were
there. I was looking at the same list waiting for my name and when it
came to my name, which was last, the person stopped before saying it
and said “well that’s everyone isn’t it. Everyone related to the
grade? Everyone, yes it is everyone.” I was standing there alone and
it was really obvious and somewhat embarrassing since some kids were
looking at me wondering why I wasn’t in the photo. Yea, not going
through that again.
Two confusing things have happened recently. First, I
wrote a long update and saved it on Saturday morning sometime. Now
it’s magically gone. I will check my computer when I get home, but I’m
sure I saved it to this portable drive. Second I set my alarm clock
last night and it didn’t go off this morning. I’m sure I set it since
I adjusted the time back to 6:15am, but it simply didn’t go off.
Luckily I have sleep apnea and I can’t sleep late so I woke up around
6:20 and checked the clock.
A Japanese friend is planning the yearly camping trip for
Golden Week. I was planning to buy a new tent, but I am no longer
spending money on stuff like that. I am going to take $2-300 on payday
that I would normally spend on nonsense and put it in savings since I
am tired of being broke all the time. I am hardcore dead broke now.
I’ve wiped out my savings and I am most likely going to have to borrow
money to get through the next two weeks. I have always been broke as
far back as I can remember except in college with I took a school loan
and lived like a king for a year. Now I am paying it back slowly and
it’s killing me. I wish I could go back in time and beat my own ass. I
didn’t need the money and it was stupid. It’s amazing how I start a
paragraph with a topic and veer away from it completely.
Not having internet at home is killing me. It’s not that I
am addicted to it, which I would say I am a little, but it’s more so
because most of my hobbies are related to the internet and I enjoy the
instantaneous connectedness I get from the internet. I know it’s
making me stupid in a way, but I enjoy looking up things right away
and getting answers. I enjoy sending emails when I want to and not
having to go 10 minutes to the internet café. It’s supposed to be
turned on Friday or Thursday so I can wait a few more days.
I’ve been unusually sad recently. It’s a combination of
several small things that have built up into a mass of melancholy on
the verge of gloom and depression. I would say the big factors are no
money so I have to stay inside mostly, losing my NT classes, general
feeling of being pushed out at school, and some other things not worth
mentioning. I’m just sad and can’t remember what makes me happy. I’m
going to try exercising everyday and see if that helps.
I’m going to try to make the most of losing my NT classes.
I’m going to try to see the silver lining and the bright side of the
situation. It could be a blessing in disguise since I was having
trouble with some lesson plans for my classes and it would be ok to
have only 30 minutes per class to plan something as well as a teacher
in the room to shut them up. That’s IF that’s how it works. The way it
was explained to me (at the party while drinking beer) was that the
JTE will be teaching 4 classes a week, I will have NO classes of my
own in the JHS, but I could assist in the planning of the 4th
class. I’m not sure what that really means so I will have to wait and
see. In the taxi on the ride home from the party I managed to get
pulled into the car with the principal, lead teacher, and JHS 7th
grade homeroom teacher. The principal, whom I know from the BoE asked
a few times why I was down and I just said I was tired. I didn’t want
to burden them with my demoted worries.
It’s 12:45 and we are doing this stupid thing where we
can’t start eating until some specific time. I think the principal
will come in and say good job or something, but we are all just
sitting and staring at our boxed lunches until some point. It’s
imperative people start and stop things at the same time. There’s even
a chime that goes off at 6am, noon, and 6pm to tell people when to
wake up and then eat. There is no personal choice here, we are one.
All your base are belong to us.
We were waiting on a group photo of all the teachers. It
was absolutely absurd too. I brought my fancy Nikon camera with remote
control, but for some reason it was better to use a school camera
which was 3mp and had a stupid timer. It took about 5 minutes to set
it up which seemed like 30 minutes. Then the teacher had to keep
running back to set the timer and adjust it. It was just dumb and I
was in a bad mood and didn’t smile. I really hope I feel better soon
and that this change doesn’t end up being a demotion or the beginning
of the end. I’m going to see how it goes and I might talk to the BoE
in the fall if it doesn’t get better. I would try to get moved to an
ES teacher rather than being an NT. Basically they don’t need an NT
here and this is their way of telling me.
I just received a copy of the base schedule for the year
and it has my NT classes on it. So I am trying to find the English
teacher to see what the deal is (to see what is the deal). He is
either going to say “oh that’s the old one and it doesn’t count. You
have no classes and nothing to do” or perhaps he or I grossly
misunderstood something and the schedule is normal. I don’t think it’s
too old since it has both of us teaching the 4th grade, so
we will see.
[Later]
Nope, it’s actually WORSE than I thought before. WOW.
#$%&-ing WOW. I was actually trying to make the most of the situation
and look at the bright side of things, but no this is a total kick in
the balls. He has 4 classes a week, 3 are solely his and I am NOT
supposed to go to them. I am not supposed to go to the 3 of the 4
English classes per week. The 4th class, which was my NT
class, is the only class I am supposed to go to per week for each
grade. I was thinking that they would be like my supervised NT classes
which would be insulting enough, but now they are regular English
classes and they are the only ones I can go to. Well I guess I am now
paid to pursue my own interests and plan a 4th grade class
once a week and plan an ES 1-3 class once a month. I was actually in a
great mood for the 15 minutes that I misunderstood the schedule. Now
I’m in an even worse mood than before.
I wonder if this is a back fire from my original plan.
When I requested I only come to Konan twice a week the goal was to
have 3 NT classes, 3 classes with the 4-5-6th graders, and
occasionally a class with the 1-3 graders. All that in two days would
make me really busy which is what I wanted / want. But that isn’t the
goal in Japan. Efficiency is irrelevant. Now I have NO classes alone.
I guess it’s because I am a bad teacher. I mean even with the low
numbers if I were a great / good teacher they would have kept my
classes somehow, so apparently I am no good. Well that’s good to know.
Better, a bit.
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
I planned to go walking/jogging in the park, but it got too dark since
I did a few things after getting home. I really didn’t want to go to
the gym, but I have to if I plan to lose weight. I am the fattest I
have ever been. While there I saw Matt who cheered me up since he’s a
genuinely nice guy, plus the endorphins helped as well. I also ran
into the “silverback” as I call him. This big muscular guy who is
really nice and all the other guys somewhat cower when he is around.
He was squatting with 250 KILOGRAMS on the bar. A Kilo is 2.2 pounds
so yea that’s a lot of weight.
I asked him if he would mind making a weekly weight
training schedule which I knew he wouldn’t mind. He seemed to be
excited about it and said he will have it Wednesday. I’m going to try
to go Mon-Wed-Fri and do cardio in the park on Tues and Thurs. My
dinner last night was almost perfect, but I found two cookies that
either needed to be eaten or thrown out and why waste food. Tonight I
am going to Angela’s party and will have only a Caesar salad partially
because it’s big and tasty and partially because otherwise I would
have a big pizza. I should be able to walk in the park before the
celebration of life.
When I got home I found a pizza flyer in my door. It’s
been so long since I ordered a pizza to my place for dinner. I expect
to do it once or twice since large pizzas are not large, but they cost
about $30 sometimes as much as $40 for ONE. When I was home for
December, my family (3 people) ate plenty with leftovers for $25.
Japan can be so absurd sometimes. Some things are really cheap and
affordable, other things like pizzas and tires can be absurdly too
expensive. That made me happy for a bit to think about how I am now
close enough to everything to order delivery food.
What then got me down again was thinking about my NT
situation mainly because the only logical (Japanese logic) answer I
can come up with is the JTE (Japanese teacher of English) hijacked my
classes and HE told me I couldn’t come to his. There is NO reason why
a native English speaker shouldn’t go to his English classes. It’s one
thing to say I don’t have to come, but to say DON’T come, that makes
no sense. Except when I remember the Japanese can be terribly arrogant
when it comes to pride and specifically teaching English. It’s
arrogance on an epic scale the likes of which I can barely comprehend.
I have had people correct my native English. Teachers that can’t speak
English properly, who don’t have a doctorate in linguistics, who never
lived abroad….they correct my pronunciation. Hey I have an idea go in
that room and practice the difference between L and R and then some TH
work and then call me. One in particular I remember was when a teacher
told me to pronounce “else” as “LL-T-s” whereas I foolishly say “L-ssss”.
There’s no hard T in that word. That is just wrong, but she made a
point of correcting me in front of several other teachers merely to
show how well she could speak English. I could never imagine
correcting a Japanese person’s pronunciation. I would get laughed at
I’m sure.
So why would the principal and VP say “he shouldn’t go to
your classes except on this one day. The day that used to be HIS
class, which is now your class, that is the only day he should go”. It
would make more sense for them to want me in the classroom all the
time. It would only be HIM that would want to teach alone and no have
any interruptions. That’s the only rational reason I can find for this
plan. He doesn’t like my little tid bits of info, even though I time
them to fit in his breaks and ask if I can say something. This truly
doesn’t make a shred of sense.
But adding to that is the fact that students are now
moving the previously moved English room to the 3rd floor
library. We just moved all the books and shelves out of the library
into the hallway and I have no idea what they are going to do with
them. Honestly, the only thing that makes any sense here is my theory
of how you think of what is logical, rational, and makes the most
sense and then you think of the opposite. Sadly that’s about how 90%
of things work in Japan.
It’s really strange to me how things were really getting
better and I was looking forward to the future. Then suddenly without
warning things took a massive nosedive around April 1st. It
is partially due to the culture here. Japanese people are
non-confrontational and deal with this by doing several things. One of
which is not causing a confrontation until the last possible minute. I
think that’s what was done here since there is no way this was a
sudden change. They have been planning it for a while and didn’t want
to mention it until the last minute, which is what they did. Another
tactic is to not mention something at all and hope the target figures
it out which is what happened with the senior school trip a few years
ago. He kept saying “we don’t know if you can go or not yet” and then
he would turn around and meet with the travel agent who most assuredly
asked him how many seats should be booked on the flight. Well did you
include one for me or not? That would be confrontational to say “no
you cannot go”. It would be easier (though it seems deceptive to me)
to just not say anything and hope the target (me) figures it out,
which I did.
I’m honestly not entirely mad that they dropped my
classes, I know that NTs are injected into the school and when the
student numbers are low it becomes a problem. I’m more mad at A) how
they did the typical Japanese not tell you til the last minute bit and
B) how they could have had several opportunities to tell me if there
were problems with my NT classes. That could have been done in a
variety of ways. I would have agreed with them if they had told me
there were some problems or if I had to clear my lessons through the
JTE or VP or something. But instead we were just driving along
normally and then BAM there are no wheels on the car and only I am
surprised. Everyone else seems to know. Though I am curious why the
schedule still shows my NT classes rather than showing them as regular
English classes. I’m considering asking the VP why I was demoted at
some point.
Sorry if all this is whiny, but I really write this thing
for me. It lets me air out my thoughts and slow down my thinking so I
can formulate reasons as to why things happen. It’s also a
documentation of my life. I’ll try to get back to normal soon, but
this soul crushing turn of events pretty much dominates everything
now.
[Later]
Nothing is going right for me these days. I don’t know
what I did to have karma turn on me like this. I had 4 spare tires
from my old Legacy car which was my first in Japan and two before this
one. I got rid of it on a whim since I misunderstood something about
taxes. All in all it was a costly mistake. Anyway, I took the tires to
the local mechanic shop thinking they could use them being mechanics
and all. I went in and explained the situation and said “if you want
them I will give them to you, I don’t need them at all.” The owner
said they had no need for them either. I tried to say “if you don’t
want them I am simply going to throw them away” meaning if you have
even the slightest need for them or could possibly sell them or trade
them for something, please take them. But instead, I think I said
“well then throw them away, just throw them away”. He took the tires
and I thought he would use them or something, but he barked at some
underling to come over and take them. I watched them toss the tires in
a garbage bin. I think I offended him by saying you throw them away. I
was trying to be nice…
Looking Better, but...
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
I went to a lovely dinner party last night with Angela and 9 other
people since it was her birthday. It was at Italian Dining which is
about a 5 minute walk from my new place. I planned on having only a
salad, but I was ravished and had a salad and a small pizza. Talking
with everyone made me feel better since I draw energy from others.
That’s mainly what made me sad all the time in Konan was that there
was no one to talk to and I felt like I was intruding when I invited
myself into other’s lives in Koriyama.
I’m at school now trying to find the vice principal alone
so I can ask why I was demoted or basically have no classes. I still
can’t figure out why my NT classes can’t be at least supervised. That
way if it was about him not having enough classes to justify his
salary he could count them as his and I would assist, but they simply
dropped mine altogether and said that I could attend HIS classes as an
assistant, but only one class a week. The class that was my time slot.
That simply makes zero sense whatsoever. It would be much different if
they dropped my classes and said I could go to all of his as an
assistant, but telling me to NOT go to his other 3 per grade seriously
makes zero sense.
I’m going to play it semi-Japanese and follow the food
chain up until I get a decent answer. I’ll go to the BoE if I have to,
but that might get someone in trouble and I’d rather not do that. If
it stays like this I might even suggest I come to Konan once a week or
5-6 times a month, like twice every other week and once during the
others. Sitting in the teacher’s room will be rough until August when
I change to twice a week, but when you teach English in Japan what you
really do is appear to teach English and waste as much time as
possible.
The good news of the day is I should be getting internet
at home tomorrow. They haven’t called to say it wasn’t going to happen
so I am expecting it when I get home from Ohse tomorrow. I expect to
sit there since it’s a bit early for full classes, but maybe they have
a few. For us a big thing is the ES connected is like an oil tanker.
It takes a while to get it up and going. The first years have to be
trained in everything and don’t even eat in the lunch room for a
while.
Tonight I should be getting my custom workout schedule
from the Silverback at the gym. I asked him if he would mind making me
a plan like his and he said he would be happy to. To make a plan be
happy he would. I meant to go jogging last night but some workman came
over to fix the sliding doors in my apartment and got there late and
stayed until 6:15 and Angela’s party was at 6:30. I got there on time,
but everyone else was late as expected. Actually Angela and I were
waiting about 10 minutes and people eventually strolled in.
Finally Got The Answer.
Friday, April 10, 2009
I was fuming all week about my demotion and was ignoring everyone. I
clarified a few times about my job and each time the situation seemed
worse to me. Finally today I decided to ask the VP point blank why I
was demoted. I had the whole speech worked out in my head and just
waited for him to be alone. Then I decided to clarify it one more time
with the JTE who until recently was a good friend.
This time he explained it slightly different and I asked
probative questions so I could fully grasp it. I had misunderstood the
situation and, although it still has a mild suckage value, it’s not as
bad as I thought. The Japanese Ministry of Education required several
subjects to add classes and English had no choice but to takeover my
classes. I will still go to those and partially plan them or solely
plan them occasionally. The other three classes per week are planned
by the JTE, but he DOES want me to go to them. Last time he wasn’t
clear about that and I got mad and stopped listening. He and I will
both plan the 5-6th grades and I will do the 1-4 grades
alone, though he will stop by the 4th grade occasionally to
explain tough things in Japanese.
So this is still a mild demotion since I no longer have
autonomy over my classes, but honestly they were starting to get
disorganized and basically suck. It’s far better than I thought and I
have renewed my energy toward the school and classes, but it is
slightly depressing in some ways. I can stop pouting and start
planning.
Tonight there is a party in town and I plan to go and
drink. My diet allows one 24 hour period of free eating. If you
constantly reduce your diet to the bare minimum your body adjusts the
metabolic rate. Whereas if you eat whatever you want one day and then
go back to the strict diet, you actually start to lose weight. As long
as you don’t eat 10,000 calories on the free day and then never work
it back off.
Yesterday I went to Ohse and they have a great plan for
the year for me. Every week I will go to both classes of the 3rd
years (seniors) and then both classes of either the 1st or
2nd years. So that’s 4 classes every week which is great.
Unlike yesterday which was no classes. Time just stopped in the
afternoon. Once I did some stuff and thought “oh man it’s gotta be
around 4 by now, that stuff took over an hour”, but when I looked at
the clock it was 2:55. Just then a friend Matt emailed my phone and
said “it’s not even 4 yet”. He too was in the same boat as I (were we
actually in boats). The 3rd years will have elective
classes every week and I will team teach with the young Ito sensei. We
already made a rough plan for next week and it sounds fun. We don’t
use the textbook since it is mainly a communication class.
I’m in a much better mood now although still broke until
payday.
Hanami.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
I went to Kaiseizan park on Saturday to look at the Sakura cherry
blossoms. It's a huge thing in Japan and the park was packed all
weekend. There are booths
set up around the temple and the park is full of people sitting
under the trees drinking sake. Matt organized a birthday group, but
ended up merging with Ben's bigger group. Ben has been here for 15+
years and was actually born in Japan and raised here and in the
Phillipines. This was his 15th or so hanami and he said thousands of
people had sat on his hanami tatami mats. Hana means flower
and mi is part of the word miru which means to see or
look.
Today I had Indian food with Matt for lunch and then we went by Hard
Off and he bought a desk and I took his old one. He was tired of
sitting on the floor to use his computer and I was tired of sitting in
a chair. Hard Off, what a great name. It actually means hard
things like desks, snowboards, guitars that are marked off or
discounted. Still it was a good laugh when I first saw it. The other
store is book off, which you can figure out and makes more sense even
though I always want to start running when I hear the name.
Planned Fire Drill.
Monday, April 13, 2009
We had a planned fire drill which was absurd. I understand that it has
to be planned and the teachers should k now
so it’s not a huge interruption, but it’s so planned that it’s nearly
scripted. It’s on the schedule and all the kids know so at the end of
first period they all took their outside shoes to the door in
preparation. You have to change shoes when you go outside even if it
is an emergency. Then when it was time to start an announcement was
made, “we are now about to have a fire drill, please make your final
preparations.” Then the drill went off and people walked out to a
designated area as a group. Then some firemen spoke about various
things and other teachers talked about general safety. The last thing
they did was stand up to leave, but they didn’t stand up correctly the
first two times so they had to sit back down in the dirt and do it
again a 3rd time. How someone stands up is the absolute
last thing I would care about during an emergency drill.
As much as I never want a real fire to occur I am curious
as to what they would do. I asked one teacher why it was so scripted
and he said “well if we didn’t tell them in advance they might panic
and become confused”. So basically when there is a real fire, if we
don’t know in advance then everyone will panic and become confused?
It’s so weird sometimes being in a culture where everything is planned
and scripted and nothing is left to free will.
I just had a class with the 3rd graders in the
elementary school. Last year they were a bit loud and active in class,
but they got a new male teacher that I heard was strict. Nope, no
strict at all. That was a truly annoyingly loud class. They literally
talked right through all my explanations. I had to say “be quiet”
dozens of times. They were completely ignoring me and it was really a
headache. Since there are no consequences in Japan there’s not much I
can do. I thought about making more stickers and passing them out to
the quiet kids, but in Japan you have to give everyone in the group
the same amount regardless of how they behave.
Butt Fixation.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Japanese people are fixated with the butt, more specifically the butt
hole. It is perfectly acceptable to stick your fingers in someone
else’s butt. Granted that is a guy thing it’s still annoying (since I
am a guy). Kids come up constantly and poke me in the butt sometimes
painfully hard. When I say stop or no or don’t or anything they just
laugh, because A) there are no consequences in Japan and B) fingers in
butts are perfectly acceptable. Teachers see it and say nothing
(sometimes they laugh). I even see it on TV on game shows and other
things, though that is not as common. I thought it was
only kids, but I have seen teens and adults do it in certain
situations.
What I find more annoying and painful is when they hit me
in the front. I have seriously considered wearing an athletic cup, but
I fear someone would hit it and feel it and then it would be a game.
I’d love to have one with spikes or something that would mildly hurt
them so either A) the kids would put 2 and 2 together and stop doing
it or B) I would get in trouble and say “it hurts, I want it to stop,
please tell them to stop doing it” since whenever I tell a teacher
he/she just laughs (because that stuff is perfectly ok here).
I saw 2 really stupid near-accidents recently. They were
both because Japanese people CANNOT wait when driving (not even for a
few seconds) and because people pass on turns, in tunnels, and over
hills. The first one was when I left yesterday and was behind a school
bus. It’s actually a regular bus packed with kids. We stopped by the
post office in front of a bridge. I waited for the bus to start going
again since it would only be a few seconds (and because I am capable
of waiting). The car behind me slowed and then started inching in that
way that was like “oh my GOD we are stopped, OH GOD WHY, why are we
stopped, OH DEAR GOD, I am a shark and if I stop moving I will die, OH
GOD”. Then he passed me and the bus. He got about half way around the
bus when a car came over the bridge and he had to back up and get out
of the way.
Then today on the way to school we were zipping along in a
group of 4 cars and a bigger truck behind me. We were already moving
fairly fast, but the truck had somewhere to be. The approaching curve
was not relevant. He passed all 4 fairly-fast moving cars, but near
the 1st one a car came around the corner. The truck ran off
the road a bit and the car slammed on the brakes. As we drove by I saw
both parties bowing to each other.
Both drivers were apologizing to each other.
A) Why was the right of way driver not screaming and yelling?
B) Why was he apologizing to the idiot passing driver?
One reason is logic is reversed here. I constantly use my
theory of “think of how a situation should run smoothly and logically
with no problems. Now think of the opposite of that.” That is exactly
how things go here most of the time. Sometimes I disagree with
something, but understand why it’s done that way. Most of the time,
some situation will make not only zero sense, but actually less than
zero. I mean you could easily think of a dozens ways that would work
better than doing it that way.
One example is parking. Japanese people do what they are
told and they are told to back into every space (if they go to driving
school which most do). I’d say 90% of the time this is fine and works
better when leaving, but occasionally backing in takes longer before
and after and is really stupid. One example is the parking lot at the
gym. Space #1 points directly out, but people constantly pull in and
wiggle around in the narrow tight lot to back into this space and then
wiggle around to back out. When I see that spot is open I back into
the whole parking lot and pull straight into the spot and then when I
leave, I back up a little and pull right out. My way takes 10 seconds,
the better Japanese way takes a few minutes. Space #2 would be easiest
to back into the whole lot and straight into that, but people still
pull into the lot and work their way around until they back into the
space and then pull straight out. There is ZERO reason to back into
space #1.
Here is the perfect example. The lot is one way
going clockwise (if you were looking down on it).
This car drove around from the right, stopped, backed into the spot
and is now facing the wrong way.
Look at the arrow to the left on the ground, the car has to turn
itself all the way around to get out.
Had it just pulled straight in, it could back up a little and zoom
right out.
(This is city hall not the gym).
This week I have 5 classes at Konan and 4 at Ohse. I
almost have more in one day than 4 days at Konan. I still like this
school, but it will be nice to drive all the way out here only twice a
week starting in August. People would be fired in the US, Canada,
Australia, New Zealand, England, etc. if they had employees and told
them “there’s nothing to do this week so come in and sit and do
nothing.” It’s not even that I want to be home, I actually want to be
working. Either here or at some other school or anywhere, but most
everyone who teaches English in Japan has this problem too. We are
here for appearance more than actual usage.
Anything but class.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Yet another thing annoying about the school system in
Japan is how apparently anything can get in the way of classes. It
seems as though actually teaching in the classroom is at the bottom of
the priority list. At Ohse our classes were interrupted because they
had mini health checks. I asked why they didn’t just have a self study
period and do them all then, but I was told THAT would be disruptive.
How is half the class leaving mid-lesson not disruptive? Today at
Konan they are having IQ tests and that is interrupting classes as
well. Students can miss class for a sports event, but it’s horrible to
miss a sporting event for anything academic.
Getting Dissed Gets Annoying.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Saturday I had nothing to do so I went to the station and
had McDonald’s for lunch and then Starbucks Grande Caramel Frappucino
for a snack afterwards. While at McD’s I ran into a guy that I barely
knew, but he remembered me. His name is Kyle and he was the 2nd
JET to come to Koriyama, back in 1988. WOW man that’s 20 years ago. He
still lives here working in Tokyo and commuting everyday, ouch. We
chatted a bit and he invited me to a party after he had some workshop
to attend in the afternoon. He called around 6 that night and said
they would be meeting at a place in town at 7. I went along and had a
great time. The bar has some pricey, but tasty dark Belgium beer. Kyle
is older than me, but remembered a lot of things from my childhood. I
was mentioning some quiz I took on Facebook about childhood cartoons.
After drinks a few of us went to a 2nd party
for James “Fidget” Berry. He went to a restaurant and
then we joined up for the after-party karaoke. My preferred Karaoke
group is about 4-5 people of similar age and culture. We had several
varying ages, different styles, and some Japanese people. It was still
fun, but the songs varied greatly, some people were left out often,
and the vibe went up and down. I remember when I first got here and
would go out with a group and we would play several anthem style songs
where everyone was singing along full volume. Both ways of Karaoke are
full since it’s a social event, but I prefer when the vibe stays high.
We also didn’t get the drink set since some people weren’t drinking so
the 2 beers I had were a bit pricey.
After that I walked home which was about 2 kilometers. I
realized it’s not as far as I thought it would be and I should walk
more. I think I am going to start walking completely around the
outside of the park since that would be longer than walking around the
inside. I’m getting a bike tomorrow since I plan to bike everywhere
and not drive except for school stuff. Biking around should help me
get in shape a bit more than driving everywhere. Other people bike and
don’t drive so why can’t I?
If there is a task that needs to be done and there happens
to be a person in the group that can do that task perfectly and
flawlessly, he/she may or may not be assigned to do it and possibly
not even consulted. One example is we have a prefecture-wide famous
soccer coach teaching volleyball because the soccer team was taught by
someone else. The other person would sit by the goal and have a smoke
and tell the kids to run around kicking the ball. We lost every game
last year….Whereas the volleyball team won most of theirs and went to
the regional championship. Another example is I can draw things on the
computer very well using a variety of programs and yet the teacher who
sits beside me is creating something using Microsoft PAINT. Which
really sucks for most everything much less drawing a logo, but this is
HIS job, not mine. So he will do it and not ask anyone for help.
That’s not even what I was talking about in the title of
this part. I teach a class with the 3rd graders in the
elementary school every week apparently. Last year it was about 10
times a year (on paper) and I went 5-7 times. The teacher seemed a bit
more strict than this new one. I just went to the class 3rd
period and it drove me crazy. I mentioned this last week and it was
even worse this week. The kids just talk to each other until I scream
shut up. Some kids just get up and walk around the classroom while I
am explaining. I hate how there is no consequence for anything in
Japan. Do what you want, there’s no punishment.
The funny thing is they would be quiet for something that
was not English related. If the principal were talking about
something, oh you’d better believe they would sit quietly or someone
would tell them to shut up. THAT is rude, but talking during a
foreigner’s class or walking around or being disruptive in any way,
that’s ok. He’s not Japanese, he’s lower than us. Man it is really
hard living here sometimes. I still enjoy it 51% of the time, but it’s
constantly testing. I couldn’t imagine having a foreign teacher in the
US who was brought over to teach Japanese and allowing kids to talk
constantly during his/her class. I guess some people are more equal
than others here in Japan.
Sunday
there was a city wide tennis match so I went to see Ohse and Konan
play.
I had to pee, but here is the bathroom directly behind the girls. You
can easily see in
since there are no doors. No way was I going to pee in front of all my
girl students.
Perhaps, it was for the better.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
I covered for a teacher who is on the school trip today. I
had two classes actually, but the first one was with the 2nd
years which is what I want to rant about. The JHS 2nd years
are nice and decent kids, but they don’t take me or my classes
seriously. I didn’t fully realize that until today. Last year we did
some educational activities and sometimes watched movies in class for
listening practice (or so I thought). So today when I walked into the
class they saw me and everyone started saying things like “Oh it’s
Ryan, what movie will we watch, yea no work, we can play.” I mean
there were so many kids saying that stuff that I realized they see me
as the fun teacher in a “we don’t have to do anything” way. I told
them no more movies this year and they couldn’t believe it. Then they
started say “asobenai” which means “we can’t play”. Perhaps it was
better that I lost my classes since they didn’t respect me as a
teacher.
I feel like it’s Monday since I had yesterday off. We had a monthly
meeting at this hotel that the city bought and changed into yet
another government building. It’s a nice building and directly beside
city hall, but it seems odd when we keep hearing things like “the city
can’t do ____ because there is no money…..we might have to do some lay
offs because there is no money”. So the meeting was good overall
because we get together and talk about general things for an hour or
so, people make announcements and then we break into groups and talk
about specific things for JHS and ES. I sat with the ES group and got
some good ideas for upcoming classes. After that some of us went to
lunch at the Indian place and then I hung around with Matt, Kelly, and
Marc at Viva Home (home goods place). I finally made it home around 9
or so since I did laundry, took stuff to the dry cleaners, ran some
errands and then picked up Matt for dinner at the station. There was
an earthquake while we were in a tall building, which was fun.
Photo: Narrow roads in Japan. I barely fit through some of them.
This week I have 4 classes over 3 days at Konan and 4
classes on one day at Ohse. Hmmm. I did tell the BoE about my wish for
when I change schools in August. I’ll be getting two new ones and they
had told me I would be at Konan 3 days a week, Ohse 1 day, and two
other schools on the 2 other days. Most likely it would have been one
school twice a week for three weeks and then the other school twice a
week for one week. Konan just doesn’t need me here 3-4 days a week.
Even if I taught every single class at the school, that would be 9
classes total which could be 4 one day and 5 the other on a two day
cycle.
The classes at Ohse are going to be two intro classes with
the new first years and then some kind
of class with the 2nd years. I think it’s some kind of
category game. There’s a category behind a student and the others in
the group have to give hints so the student says the name of the
category. If the category is “Colors” students would name colors until
the student said “colors”. It literally takes no preparation and
requires several components. Students have to think of what the
category means and then things in that category and the say them, then
the “it” person has to listen to the words, think of what they are and
what kind of category they are in. It usually takes the whole class
and everyone enjoys it. Photo: My space is to the right but
I can't get there since people park anywhere. You know if I had a
party and people blocked spaces, the BoE would be getting a call. But
it's ok if others do it. I simply parked behind them so they had to
knock on my door and say "could you move your car so I can get out YOU
are blocking ME".
Butt Bruise.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Friday night I bought a bike from Sports Authority. I opted for one
that was about $200. That’s a bit more than I wanted to pay, but
anything cheaper ends up being a pathetic granny bike. I wanted
something nice with gears that looked decent. The brand I chose was
HUMMER, not because of the name, but because it was the best looking
bike for $200. Then I bought a lock which was $10, a seat cushion
which was $10, and then I had to register the bike with the police
which was another $5. It took an hour to buy the bike do to all the
paperwork. Japan LOVES paperwork and there is never a shortage of it.
Having it take an hour made me late for Sarah’s Horror
Movie Night. She cooked a scrumpious lasagna dinner and then we
chatted for an hour. There were about 7 people there and showed our
favorite YouTube videos. Dan showed a great one called Cleveland which
was a funny spoof tourism video. It was two guys singing things like
“Come down and look at our two buildings, this train take jobs out of
Cleveland, here is where there used to be industry, this is West 67th
street….a great place to see if you’re a douche bag”. It was well done
and funny. Then there was the dreaded Dog Police video (ARGH) and some
other ones.
Then we went to Dan’s mini-theater and watched Descent
which was a decent low budget horror flick. Some parts were well done
and had genuine scary moments while other parts were just standard “oh
fight scenes are always good, let’s drag this one out”. Great idea, no
one has ever done that before. The very ending was odd too, but
overall it was decent and I enjoyed the whole evening. After that I
road home with Lydia and realized that if you don’t ride a bike for
about 4 years you develop a nasty butt bruise. I guess I need to ride
a little each day to wear it in.
PTA.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Last night I went home and then to Jintei which is a
scump-dilly-icious place. They serve this chicken dish wrapped around
cheese. The chicken is wrapped not the whole dish. I shouldn’t have
gone since I need to save money, but I wanted to go and have a beer
after my class yesterday. I had one class today with the ES 2nd
graders. They are much better than the 3rd graders. Today’s
lesson was ok at first, but then I tried to play a game that was above
them. I had to quit it halfway through and change to something else.
Overall the class was ok and it was just a review anyway.
Last night when I got to the place I thought I was the
first so I waited since they used to open at 5:30 and I got there at
5:15. Then some guy pulled up and walked straight in and sat down
where I wanted to sit. I was furious at him for a while and then
realized I was the moron who just sat down and didn’t even try the
door. There was no closed sign so I should have tried to open it.
After that I was mad at myself, but it all worked out. I like the bar
seat because there is only room for 2 people. When he seats me at a
table and some group of 4 come in they glare at the single alone moron
taking up a 4 person table. I end up eating too fast and not enjoying
it. This time I ate slowly and there were two other tables open until
I was finished eating.
After that I went back and played more World of Warcraft.
I had nothing else to do and didn’t need to plan for today (or so I
thought) and I needed to get my character up a few levels. I am at
level 64 out of 80. You get to 20 really quick then it slows down. I’m
barely advancing now and it’s getting repetitive sometimes. When I get
to 80 the game will change drastically for me. I might even run around
killing the lower level enemies just to be a jerk. I get randomly
killed often by the enemy so I might return the favor.
I think I am going camping next week from Sunday to
Tuesday or something. I haven’t heard anything from the girl
organizing it so I don’t know. It’s that usual place I go most every
Golden Week since I have moved to Koriyama. Well this is my 4th
year and it will be my 3rd time I think.
I read online that the White House allowed a jet to fly
low in New York and specifically told certain people not to inform the
governor and residents. That has got to be the flat out dumbest thing
I have ever heard. It’s on the verge of a conspiracy. I mean why on
earth would you A) DO THAT, B) not tell absolutely everyone in the
city and C) pick NY to fly a low plane. Seriously, I can’t even
imagine a dumber combination of stupidity than that. It’s almost as if
they wanted to test people’s reactions to a plane. I seriously can’t
even think of an analogy to relate that to. It is sheer ignorance and
suspicious.
2005-2007
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