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Jinx
Wednesday, August 1st, 2007
It's already August and I am still sleeping under my comforter. It
gets chilly at night and rains nearly everyday. I'm sure it will be a
heat-wave now that I have jinxed it, but at least that would be more
like summer. If it would just stop raining in the morning that would
be fine since I could jog then rather than at night.
Time flew by today, I mean hyper-speed. I was working on this book
project and I looked up when I heard some teacher saying my lunch was
getting cold. Then I looked up again later as the person in charge for
the day was closing the windows. Wow, seriously the fastest I have
ever been through.
More Ryan Syndrome
Thursday, August 2nd, 2007
I had another bout of Ryan Syndrome today. When I got to school I sat
down and opened up a web browser and went to the same site I have been
using for translating all week. I noticed it wasn’t coming up and
thought it was a slow network day or something. I tried some other
sites and they all came up hyper-fast. Ok, fair enough this site does
get a lot of traffic, maybe it’s down. So then I used another site
until it went down. Argh. There are plenty of sites I can use for
this, but none are as easy to use as the first one, which is still
down. So I started using others until they all systematically went
down. Again, any other website in the world was fine except those that
I needed. Needed, not just wanted to look at or use, but needed for
some purpose.
I decide to push through it and do other computer related things until
the web starts working again. I did some things in MS Excel and worked
on some things in MS Word. Soon I noticed my computer was going a bit
slow and then I couldn’t print. I decided to reboot since maybe the
memory is all tied up with some of these files. I rebooted (rebat?)
about 5 times total over the course of three hours until my computer
came to a near halt. I asked the tech teacher about it and he had no
idea. He had never seen anything like this. My computer just stopped
running.
I have no idea what caused it all. I call these things Ryan Syndrome
because they defy all logic. It’s normal to have obstacles, but when
these blockades seem to adjust every time you make a change you start
getting curious.
Oh here’s an unrelated funny story. I was jogging last night and
walked past this rice farmer doing something rice farming related. I
had my headphones on and was jamming out to the tunes. When I walked
by him again later he said something and I stopped the music. “jo knee
ka she” he said. I asked him to repeat it a few times and really
didn’t understand him. Finally he sang, in decent English “I feu into
a ba-ning ling a faya, I wen don don don and frames glue haya”. Oh
wow, that’s Johnny Cash. Apparently he listened to it as well and I
had been singing outloud. The odd thing was that I had been singing it
from across the way when no one was around, but apparently the sound
bounced off the water and echoed all the way over to him. [end
irrelevant story]
During lunch, or shortly before, I went to the post office to get the
refund for the car tax. I wasn’t sure if I could get the money right
then or if there was a waiting period. I took the form and my name
stamp and ventured out. When I gave the younger guy the form he read
it and had no idea what to do with it. Fair enough, I doubt they send
out many of those forms and even when they do it very well could have
been the first one that post office had ever seen. He handed it to
someone who explained it was only a notice explaining I would receive
another form that I should bring in to get the money.
That is very Japanese, sending out a form explaining they will send
out another form. It reminded me of when I went to the World’s Fair in
Nagoya a few years back and stood in line for a while to get a ticket
that explained I should come back and wait in a second line to get a
ticket to get in. It wasn’t like come back to get the ticket and wait
in line, it said come back at this time and get in this line. It was a
ticket that allowed me to line up again in a line that would give me a
ticket if they had enough. I don’t entirely mind that I can’t get the
car tax refund now, but I do want it before the 21st which
is when I will send money back. I’ll send an extra $300 back for the
plane ticket along with any money I receive from doing the Koriyama
English Camp. I also didn’t mind it because I have grown to expect it.
Call me cynical, but I call it experience.
Lazy Friday
Friday, August 3rd, 2007
Today was so slow. I mean I got here and the translation site was up
so I worked on that project for a while, but then after lunch I just
lost motivation and started wandering around. I think it’s because I
only drank one cup of green tea today and then had something called
mugi-cha, which seems to be some form of wheat tea. It was good and
had a cool refreshing summer taste to it, but I don’t think it has the
caffeine that the “ceremonial” green tea has. I’m tempted to take
vacation time and go home, but I have even less to do there.
I must have made some wicked mistake with money this check since I am
down to like $100 for two weeks. It’s doable, but I will have to be
thrifty and have no fun. I fully expect there to be some awesome party
or trip or something and I won’t be able to go. I have made a
commitment to not make any promises about spending money from my next
check. This past check I had a few things I had to pay and apparently
over budgeted. Next check I am going to just send some back and not
spend anything extra. I’m hoping I get the car tax back in time so I
can send a big payment back and get the plane ticket out of the way.
Another Week
Monday, August 6th, 2007
It’s sunny and semi warm, though not nearly what it was last year or
the year before. Students are outside running practicing for the
upcoming city wide relay race. One girl got over heated and is lying
by the door to the teacher’s room. Other students and a few teachers
are gathered around her partially to help partially because they don’t
know what to do. The overheated girl is cry-whimpering-heaving.
There’s not really a word for it. I don’t know how much pain she is
in, but her response doesn’t seem right for being over heated. She was
making sounds like I would expect someone would if they lost a limb in
some bizarre accident. As best I remember, when I have been over
heated in the past, though perhaps not as bad, I just felt like hell,
but nothing worth crying over. Especially the way she is crying.
Hangovers are really just extreme dehydration. The bad thing about
that is if you every die of thirst it will feel like a demonic
hangover. When I have a bad hangover, technically when I HAD bad
hangovers since I don’t get drunk anymore, they felt horrible, but I
just wanted it to stop hurting. I never wanted to cry or sound like I
was shot. I would take a photo if it were for that fact that it would
just be rude, but there are about 20 people around her now. She is
rolling back and forth and making this strange exorcist type noise. I
can’t even describe it, but it just doesn’t sound appropriate. It got
louder and louder and then softer. The loudest part was like “your
family was just killed and you have no money and terminal cancer”. I
don’t want to get dehydrated just to see what she is feeling, but I
really don’t understand the crying part.
They decided to take her to the hospital so the logical thing was to
pull a car up to the door and load her in (she is on a stretcher). One
small point that they might have missed was that the car had been
sitting in the warm sun for a few hours and was rather toasty inside.
So they pull up and people start to load her into the hot car and out
comes the most God awful sound I’ve ever heard. It was like putting a
cheetah into a meat grinder. It was a squeal-cry-whimper-wheeze-growl
all rolled into one. They nixed that idea and then called the
ambulance. However, this is a one light town as well as a one
ambulance town and when they called it was already in Koriyama so it
took a while to drive back.
I learned a few things when the ambulance pulled up. Honestly, they
didn’t entirely surprise me. First it pulled up and the driver and
other ambulatory guy jumped out and bowed to the highest ranking
person at the scene, which was the principal. Then they gave their
names and said a few standard greetings. Second they loaded her into
the back and shut the door. Finally, they brought out some paperwork
and filled it out while she was in the back waiting. I would say the
paperwork took about 5 minutes, but then I got bored and went inside
and didn’t hear the ambulance leave for another 5-10 minutes. I don’t
know if they would have done all that ceremonial stalling if it was
someone having a heart attack or something urgent, but it was
interesting.
Tough
Tuesday, August 7th, 2007
She’s all better now, though she can’t run for a week or more. No
telling what caused it. I guess it would be severe overheating since
the kids seem to drink some wheat tea rather than water and when they
do drink water it’s from the uber-small cups I know as Dixie cups. The
kind you get at the dentist with just enough to rinse and spit. “Ok
let’s take a break and drink two swallows of water and then get back
to running in the heat in dark clothes.”
It really sucks for some kids in club activities, especially the
volleyball girls. They get here at 8am each morning and run outside in
the heat and then practice volleyball until around 5 every night.
Granted they are in great shape I’m sure, but man that some sucky
summer vacation. I didn’t even go near the school during my summer
vacations except when I had to go for summer school once.
The elementary kids are also coming in everyday to practice for a
concert in October. I’ve mentioned that before, the music sounds like
MASH and Jurassic Park. First they do warm up exercises like sit ups
and stuff and then go to their private instrument sections to practice
until lunch. Finally they practice as a group from lunch to 2 or 3 I
think and then leave for the day. After lunch it gets a bit lonely
here as it’s just the teachers and a few kids who are being babysat.
That sounds strange, babysat.
The second form came for the car refund. I’m probably going to take it
today and just try to save the money. I should be able to since I
found out 7-11s in Japan that have ATMs now take foreign visa and ATM
cards. I was able to get money from my visa card even though I’d
rather not use it. The point is I can now access money easier which
may not be good. I should be able to make it two more weeks with what
I have, just no big trips. Anyway, I plan to get the money later today
and save it and then send it back on the 21st.
I’m still hoping to pay off debt number 2 by this year along with
buying the plane ticket and saving money for the trip. Then next year
I want to make a huge dent in my totally unnecessary federal loan as
well as have a fair bit saved in the bank. I’d be happy with a few
thousand at this point and paying the loan down 5-10K. I could pay it
off if I didn’t go anywhere next summer, but as I have found this
summer, that really sucks. I thought about Thailand for a month, but
it’s really hot in the summer and there are more chances of malaria
around the orphanage.
Although what I am actually thinking/planning for debt number two is
to pay it off down to like $1 or so and then forget about it for a
while. The way it that company handles loans is it takes the money you
send in and projects the payoff date in the future. As it is now I
have sent extra for several months and my next due date is May of
2008. But each month they report to the credit places that I am paying
off the loan as planned. So I think I am getting bonus points for
paying it off, even though I merely sent a lot ahead. The way they get
you is interest keeps accruing. But if the principal balance is $1 the
interest would be pennies per month. They might just close the account
on me, but I think it would be good to try.
My credit is getting better and better each month, but what I need is
to reopen a few older credit cards with the higher balances. It seems
American credit reporting agencies prefer a few cards with decent
limits. I have one credit card with a low limit now, but they seem to
prefer three total. Man am I so bored that I am talking about my
credit.
Hump Day
Wednesday, August 8th, 2007
Last night I went into town for no real reason other than to not be in
Konan. I’m glad there is nothing to do here since I save so much
money, or accidentally by cars, but I do need an escape every so
often. I had sushi and then went to my new favorite discount store
called Trial. I passed it for the longest time first wondering what it
was, and secondly thinking it was something like a trial sized store.
Then I went in and found it was like a run down K-mart or Wal-Mart. I
bought a few things, one of which was a bag of peanuts that cost $2,
but at the Smile Mart in my town, they sell the same bag for $4.50.
Ouch-a-roni.
Today I am doing the usual stuff, though I did buy some Amazon Shorts
last night and I am reading them today. They are downloadable short
stories or how to bits. They were only 50 cents each so I bought a
few.
I did a funny, slightly mean, thing earlier. Two of my favorite girls
were practicing the French horn upstairs. I went into the classroom in
which they were practicing and noticed they were across the room
looking out the window. Near the door was an electric piano which they
were using for a click track. I hid behind it and reached over and
pressed the “up tempo” button once. It only slightly sped up the
tempo. After about 5 minutes of casually doing this one of the girls
said “this is way too fast, I don’t remember it being that fast”. When
I heard her stand and move her chair I gave it one last hurrah and hit
the button about 50 times so it sounded like one solid buzz almost.
They laughed and said “it’s probably Ryan”. I don’t mind being known
as the jokester.
I did take the form to the post office yesterday to get the car tax
refund. There was no waiting period, which was a pleasant surprise, so
now I have the money. Once I received the second form I knew it would
be a breeze since it was the equivalent of a money order. Although
there was a brief scare when I handed both forms to the young guy. He
read them and said “oh these say you need another form”. I nearly
exploded, but then he said “never mind THIS is the other form.” I
think I am going to use that money to pay off two months of
school/lunch fees that have accrued. That way I can still send that
money back with the next paycheck since I won’t have to take it out
and pay.
Something I thought of last night, and checked into with no result,
was paying my school loan right here in Japan. Citibank owns the loan
and there are branches in Tokyo. I’m trying to see if I can either
make payments AT a branch in Tokyo or better yet, wire the money to
them. It would really rock if I could since I lose a bit of money in
the transfer process, though I would probably still lose some the new
way.
In the morning sometime, I asked the vice principal if I could move a
wooden standalone closet into the vacant apartment next to mine. I
explained with a photo that it was too big for my apartment, but not
big enough for me to fit clothes and such in since I am a bit larger
than what it was designed for. He called the board of education and
they called someone else. It’s been several hours and there is still
no word. They are having a meeting about it later. I didn’t ask to
burn or smash it, just move it into a vacant apartment.
I have honestly heard more thunder and lightening in the past week
than I have heard my entire time in Japan. There are rarely
thunderstorms and when they happen during class the kids always scream
in horror. I remember being at the night school when we had a storm
and kids were running around hysterical and crying. I don’t really
know why, but I guess American kids might do the same during an
earthquake since in Atlanta those were rare/non-existent. There was a
storm, I wanna say, Monday or Sunday where it sounded like someone
fired a shotgun outside my window. It literally knocked me on the
floor. Today it just rumbled all day and I’ve seen everything in
between during the past week.
Checkers
Friday, August 8th, 2007
Last night I drove into Koriyama and had dinner with Paula who just
got back from an eventful week in Kobe studying Japanese. Her
Taiwanese roommate was whacky and the school chose to teach no kanji
since everyone else in the class was Asian and already knew the
characters. She spent a week at the school rather than two and then
traveled for the second week.
First we went to the station and I printed some photos of kids I took
last week. I took them casually with my phone, but then the girls kept
asking where the prints were. Apparently I promised to print them out,
which seems like something I would say. So I printed those out and
then we went to this place called Milky Way. If you have been reading
this since I was a Fukushima JET, you will be familiar with that place
as I went there frequently with Michelle. They have a great salad bar
and nice portions.
Something humorous, to me at least, that happened there was regarding
water. I usually order the drink bar along with the salad bar, but
this time I decided to get water. One would think that means a big
glass of water, but it’s just the small glass that comes when we first
sit down. It was a hot day so I was drinking a fair bit. Eventually I
asked the lady if she could just leave the pitcher on the table since
we were tired of summoning her every 5 minutes to refill our shot
glasses. She gave us a look that would have been equal to us asking
“will you serve us naked from now on.” I was, foolishly, expecting
either yes or no, but this was one of those cultural differences where
we had asked for the unimaginable. Then we heard her go back to the
kitchen area and tell another waitress about the foreigners who had
the audacity, the sheer nerve to ask her to leave the water pitcher on
the table.
Finally we left and I mentioned I needed some paint and a few other
home supply things from a store. Paula suggested a place I had never
heard of which was on the way. We went there and I fell in love. It
was like a K-Mart or a Wal-Mart or a Target. A big two story place
with all sorts of stuff. Nothing in particular, just general store
stuff like a Wal-Mart would have. It was great. I walked around for
about 20 minutes and then decided to leave since I knew I wanted to
stay for hours just looking at everything. I’ll go back on some
Saturday morning and just wander aimlessly.
Next week is a vacation week so I will sit at home doing nothing all
week. I don’t have enough money to really travel so I’ll just loiter
and wish I had a fast forward button on life. I think we might plan a
BBQ by the lake one day. Not sure when since we would want to invite
the new people, but they have stuff to do most weekends and weekdays
until school starts. Then the next week, which is from the 20th,
is the second English Camp. I don’t know anything about this one.
I played Japanese checkers today. At first I thought it was a silly
game since you can move the pieces as far as you want in any
non-diagonal direction. The object is to trap your opponent’s piece
between two of yours. I did this quickly and foolishly thought it
would be like that the whole time. My opponent, an elementary second
grade girl, was fierce and unrelenting. In the end I won, but just
barely. I might play the game with the kids more often since I always
see them playing and have never understood what they were doing.
Apart from that, nothing much going for a while so I am going to take
a break from this journal for a week or two. The next entry will be
around late August for the speech contest in Koriyama.
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At a recent
street festival someone dressed as a Transformer and it was
pretty wicked. It was totally RAD.
It was a distant photo with
my cell phone. |
At English
Camp I noticed some tracks on the hill behind the place.
Apparently there is a hill with a track where you can ride a
skateboard down. RAD again. |
When the 8th
graders went bowling (teachers, students, and parents), we were
told to return our shoes to the Shoeser. It's a clever, though
meaningless, name. |
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English Toilet
Monday, August 27, 2007
The official
first day of school. All the kids are back as are the teachers and
there’s a buzz of excitement in the air. I was feeling the buzz as
well and started chatting with the kids. Even the kids that usually
ignore me (thinking it’s funny) were chatty today. Then I noticed
several teachers lined up at the lead teacher’s desk. Oh, I had better
get in line as well since I too have to get the schedule changed. I’m
going with the English teacher to the speech contest on Thursday.
Me: I
need to have this class moved since I won’t be here on Thursday.
Him: Oh I see, no problem. Where will you be?
Me: I will be going to the English toilet.
Him: What’s that?
Me: It happens every year. The English toilet.
Him: Where is this English toilet?
Me: I think it’s at the Citizen’s Hall in Koriyama.
Him: We probably have one here as well you know.
Me: Oh we have one today, but I’m going to the one in Koriyama
on Thursday.
Him: Why are you going all the way to Koriyama to go to the
bathroom.
Me: I go every year.
Him: You go to an English toilet in Koriyama every year?
Me: Yes.
Him: That seems really strange.
Me: I’m going with Kimura sensei.
Him: Really?
Me: And two students, Yuri and Yuki (girls).
Him: You are going all the way to Koriyama on Thursday with
Kimura sensei and two students to go to
the bathroom?
Me: Yes.
Him: That doesn’t make any…wait…they won’t be here on Thursday,
they are going to…oh idiot…(him or me is unclear – most likely me)
Him: BenRO is speech contest. BenJO is toilet.
Me: Oh I think I have heard that word only once.
Him: You might want to practice it.
Me: Benro. Benro. Benro.
Today there
is a practice for the chorus and the two speech contest girls so
that’s what I thought he meant. I think I have heard benjo used for
toilet once in my whole time of learning Japanese, but even still the
sound stuck easier than BenRO. Partially because the R sound is
pronounced like L so it’s BenLo. [update] After looking it up, it’s
actually BenRON.
Just Not You.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
I’ve come to notice something over the years about myself. I can’t
narrow it down precisely to any one explanation, but I can give
several examples. You know how some kids get picked last in junior
high school when teams are being chosen? Oh no, that’s not my problem
at all. I’m the one who doesn’t get picked at all. The two team
captains just say “ok we’re finished” and the coach doesn’t even
notice. When I ask about why I wasn’t picked the response is usually
something like “oh Ryan stop complaining, everyone gets a chance and
it’s just not your turn now”. That would be fine, but I wasn’t
complaining and I never got a chance.
A few other examples include when I meet a nice girl and just make
casual small talk with her and then later word gets back to me that I
was making her uncomfortable and I should back off. To the best of my
knowledge I was merely being polite and had no ulterior motives. I say
“to the best of my knowledge”, because maybe I have some disease where
I unknowingly say things like “So where are you from (I want to stick
my hands down your pants) oh Oregon, wow that’s a nice place (I punch
helpless dogs) I’ve been there once.” That’s the only thing I can
think of because otherwise there was nothing to make someone
uncomfortable. That has happened dozens of times and it’s probably the
reason I am single now. I end up concentrating so hard on making sure
I don't say anything wrong, that I probably sound like an idiot.
Here’s an actual real documented example. When I went to Sapporo to
study Japanese in the summer of 2005 I sent in my application form and
money on time. I get there and find that my “dorm” for the next two
weeks is IN the lobby of some hotel. I had a bed and a small, rather
small, paper curtain blocking my mattress on the floor. When I say
“blocking” I really mean “not blocking, and drawing attention to.”
When people would come in they would see this thing in the way, in the
middle of the lobby, and look behind it and there I was. I didn’t get
any sleep since I would wake up when I heard the door open. I think I
have a picture of it. Not only did they put only me in this absurd
location, they assumed it would be ok for the whole time. It was only
when I complained that they put me in the cool boy’s dorm. Everyone
else had great accommodation from the start, but only I had this
absurd Kafkaesque situation.
There have been several other situations where I would sign up or
apply for something just like everyone else and then I would stand out
for some reason. Maybe they didn’t have enough copies of something,
just one short, or I get the special situation room that has no window
or door or something, or everyone lives in one block but I get placed
in some remote location. It’s no conspiracy, it’s some bad karma
energy I give off.
The reason I am mentioning this now is because I tried to plan a trip
to a restaurant for this Saturday with a few people. I and one other
person were planning it. Let me explain how all the conversations went
regarding the planning.
Me: Hey, me and Person-X are
planning a trip to Place-X this Saturday.
Other: Oh cool, yea I’m totally in, and my friend (someone).
Me: Hey, me and Person-X, Person-A, and Person-B are going to
Place-X on Saturday.
Other: Awesome, yea I have been wanting to go there.
This goes on and on until about 10 people are happily confirmed. I
even re-confirm a few days later and everyone is still gung-ho about
it.
Me: Person-X had to drop out,
but everyone else is still in.
Other: Oh really, hmmm, actually I think I had better not go
since I have to (something).
Me: Oh I see, ok have fun. [no
sense in whining about it]
Other: Oh, Person-X is out. That’s cool, actually I think I
have plans already too.
And the numbers dwindle down to just me. Again I am not whining about
it, it’s somewhat common. I don’t expect or at least try not to expect
it and possibly project any negative feelings, but once I see the
pattern form then I realize it’s happening again.
It’s really strange, it’s like I just don’t have the ability to hold
anyone’s attention. When I give speeches, even in classes with kids
who are supposed to listen, I either spend half the time saying “be
quiet” or I just get over it and ignore the chatter. This happens with
most everyone for as long as I can remember. I’m not whining about
this even though I’m sure it will seem that way, I’m just curiously
confused about why this happens. Many times it could be written off as
coincidence, but it’s a long repeating pattern now and I have hundreds
of examples. Most of which are absurd and barely believable.
8th ain’t so
bad
Friday, August 31st, 2007
Yesterday morning I went to the 5th grade room to get a
little notebook from one of my favorite kids. I exchange notebooks
with some of the elementary school kids. It’s all in Japanese, but
sometimes I get them to write some things in English. Like “Dear
so-and-so” or “From so-and-so”. This girl had given me hers weeks ago
and then I hadn’t seen her due to summer vacation. When I asked her
for it yesterday, she gave me a little note that was so sad. It said
“Ryan, I am so sorry, I have searched all over my house for it, but I
can’t find it. I am really sorry, I think I lost it again. I enjoy
writing it and will buy my own this time because I lost it again”.
I buy the notebooks at 3 for $1 from a local store so I would happily
buy her another one, but then I remembered she gave it to me before
the break. So I should have it, but I have searched and didn’t find
it. Then I remembered I think I put it in a special pocket of my bag.
It was a pocket I thought would be so obvious I would never forget.
When I checked, it was there. I wrote her a long note and apologized
and explained it all, but I still had to give it to her today. I
decided to give it to her and apologize in my own way.
When I got to school I went straight to the 5th grade class
and she saw me. She came over to me and started to apologize again. I
asked her if she wanted to play a really fun game. She said ok
hesitantly. I told her to close her eyes and stick out her hands. When
she did I put the notebook in her hand and told her to open her eyes.
When she did I started saying “look you have the notebook, it’s magic,
wow you didn’t lose it, wow, magic”. She smiled and read it and was
happy. She’s a big reason why I want to stay for a while. She’s like a
puppy dog because she is always happy to see me and makes me happy
when I see her.
So anyway, yesterday was the JHS speech contest for Koriyama city. It
was long and boring as usual, but good to see kids I knew from
previous English Camps. In the end we won 8th place in both
categories, which was far better than I expected. I figured we would
get in the top 8th in the recitation and not place at all
in the origination. There was always the possibility of complete
nonsense scores which happens frequently at these contests. There was
some scoring issue with who won the Origination part and when I talked
to a judge afterwards it was as I expected. This judge person said the
foreign judges and the Japanese judges disagreed and since there were
(and always are) a majority of Japanese judges (at an English speech
contest), the majority won.
I stumbled across something by accident when I was a judge years ago.
There were three judges at one contest. Myself, and two Japanese
English teachers. I mentioned we should have another judge since there
were four categories and each judge could listen for a certain thing.
I also suggested since it was an English speech contest, maybe it
could be another foreigner. The chief judge said “if we have another
foreigner, then we’d have to have another Japanese judge since that
would be 2 and 2 and there must always be one more Japanese judge”.
When he said that, several people in the room stopped and stared and I
just played it off and moved on. I realized he wasn’t supposed to have
told the token foreigner that it was all for looks and the balance of
power could never actually balance.
When I was a judge, I felt that the Japanese judges used all sorts of
nonsense to judge. Things that were progressively less and less
relevant. Sometimes they masked it and other times they flat out said
it. Sometimes, like in this contest yesterday, an absolutely average
nothing special speaker would win. When I was a judge I would never
understand why and the reasons would always be nonsense.
Judge:
His intonation was very good.
Me: Uhhh, yea it was in the parts where he didn’t stop and make
mistakes or forget his lines.
Judge: We can’t judge them on mistakes, only general
performance.
Me: Oh, then I think this student should get higher marks.
Judge: Oh no she made too many mistakes.
Me: Uhhh, but….
I always felt that sometimes the results were being steered toward
someone. Most of the time it was vague enough so that no one could
really say anything. When I was just watching a contest and there were
5 people I thought would win then maybe they would all place high just
not in the order I thought. So I felt both satisfied and not at the
same time. But it was always vague and close to what I expected.
As a judge you feel compelled to stand by the group’s decision even
though it was always an odd battle in the end. I would think someone
should win. The majority (Japanese judges) would think some average
random person should win. One time, with the judge above who said
things he shouldn’t, I wouldn’t let up on why they picked some idiot
who clearly didn’t deserve to be in the top 8, much less win. Finally
he got mad at me and said “this school won last year and it would look
bad if they won again. They also have a new English teacher and it
would look strange if she won since she is young”.
The final straw was the following year when there was some mystery
bonus score that we were allowed to give. It was like we added up the
criteria points and then we added in this bonus. That in itself was
ok, but then the results came out and it was the absolute worst kid as
the winner. I asked about the scoring and found out, from Mr.
Talk-Too-Much, that the people who counted the scores (NOT judges)
were allowed to add in points for someone they thought should win.
Apparently they added in something like 25 points and this kid won. It
was so obviously opposite that everyone gasped when they announced it
and even the kid didn’t believe it. He messed up his speech several
times when he gave it again in the victory circle.
It's not some new
word, it's supposed to be Trophy.
I think the way a speech contest should be run is double blind. Maybe
that’s not the right phrase, but it’s cool to say. Anyway, students
should wear a standard outfit. Let’s say a black skirt/pants and a
white shirt. No names should be used and no school names should be
shown or mentioned. If possible the judges should come from a
completely separate area or even different prefecture. Here’s the big part, for
an English speech contest the judges should all be native speakers. I
would never in a million years want to see English speakers judging a
Japanese contest. No matter how fluent we are we could never get the
native insight and pick up little things like intonation or emphasis.
At the very absolute least there should be a majority of native
speakers of the language of the contest. The fact of the matter is,
native speakers and speakers who learned a language as a secondary
one, judge differently based on different things. [post note] If you
do a Google search for “Japanese Speech Contest”, you will find all
the contests around the world are judged by Japanese teachers or
consulate members either entirely or at least in the majority.
Other than that, I have no classes today since they have tests. I
could have had some elementary classes, but I would have had to
requested them and then prepared some stuff and I knew I would be too
busy this week. I plan to sit down with some elementary school teacher
friends and ask them what they do for various activities. I need to
get some new ideas in my repertoire so I can teach better.
Last night I walked home around 7pm since we got back from the speech
contest late. It was nice weather and I wished I could bottle that
feeling and have it again later. I walked with a student and we
chatted casually. The air was cool and clean and I felt good after a
long day of working hard, and even more so because we won 8th
place.
Tonight I have a meeting in Koriyama over dinner to talk about Native
Teacher stuff. We have observed classes starting every month in the
fall. I think mine are in November. All the other Native Teachers will
come to my school and watch a lesson and then we will all go to
another school and watch another NT lesson. It should be good to get
feedback and new ideas.
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