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Is it a tie?
Monday, June
2, 2008
We can officially wear short sleeves and no tie starting June 1st
so I took them up on this offer and wore long sleeves with no tie and
the shirt unbuttoned at the top. I get to school and no one else is
wearing anything less than the usual long sleeves and a tie. ARGH. I
asked the English teacher and he said it was perfectly ok, but I still
feel like an idiot. Luckily they expect me to not understand the
complicated rules.
When I got to school I had planned to jog with the kids in
the morning, but there was a teacher’s meeting at 8:15 to present the
three new student teachers. One is English, the other two are other
subjects. They spend most of their time getting instructions from the
incumbent teachers rather than watching our classes. I would assume
they wouldn’t watch mine since I’m in a different situation, but it
seems like they would watch the English teacher’s classes.
I am really sick of this cold weather. I remember maybe
two or three sunny days, that were cool, during May. In June it’s
usually warm and starting to get hot. Then when it rains constantly
it’s uncomfortably muggy. Last year I remember two or three days where
I was so hot because I was wearing my green pullover thing that hides
the fact I’m not wearing a tie. I know there is going to come a time
when I kick myself for begging for warmer weather, but for now I am
sick of constantly being cold. I still sleep under my thick comforter
and wear a hoodie with warm pants. A few days I’ve had to turn on my
heater. I can’t leave my windows open at night yet.
I’m ready for the warm breeze in Thailand. I’m ready for
the light food that makes me lose weight even if I don’t exercise
(which I plan to do anyway if possible). I’m getting ready for the
intense 8 hour a day English teaching I will observe/do. Although I
get back on the 18th of August and go right into the summer
English Camp on the 19th. It’ll be fun I’m not worried,
plus the way we have it planned is that another two people and I are
the hosts, per se, and then everyone else runs their own little
activity. We should have it all planned by the time we leave in July.
Hmmm, on Saturday I had planned to run into town for a few
hours and workout and then have lunch with Paula and then do some
speaking/listening practice with a friend, but as it turned out I was
there until 8at night and running all over the place. I met Stephanie
and Megan (and Zinnia) at a coffee shop and gave Steph a CD of some
photos of Thailand and Baan Dada. Then when I didn’t hear from my
listening partner I asked Matt if he wanted to go to Jintei. He did
and we went and had some good food. We chatted about various books
we’ve read since we like similar authors. I got home around 9 and
slept 10-11 hours.
Then on Sunday Stephanie planned a little “chill at the
lake” day so she came out with a few friends and we sat by the lake
talking and snacking. It was fun even though the weather was a bit
cool. It was too bright to sit in the sun, but then too cool to sit in
the shade. We talked about trying to go camping a few more times
before Stephanie leaves. We should be able to even though I have to
save wicked money from the next paycheck for Thailand. I still have to
pay for the hotel which is around $450 as well as have some food
money. I can’t remember how much it costs to eat in Thailand, but I
know if I find some local restaurants I can literally eat for pennies.
I think the places in the hotel will be slightly pricey. Unfortunately
the monthly rental doesn’t come with a breakfast, but I should be able
to buy something cheap.
After 2nd period I walked home and drove to the
post office to pay my $72 car tax. Last year it was $400 since I had a
big car, now it’s much cheaper since I have a small yellow plate car.
First I went to the 7-11 last week since I asked several teachers if I
could pay there. When I tried to pay the clerk said “yes, absolutely,
you can definitely pay here”. But as it turned out I couldn’t since I
needed form 3A-5, but I had 3A-4 or something like that. So then today
I went to the post office after arguing about where I could really pay
it. When I got there I asked “can I pay this here”. “Yes, absolutely,
you can definitely pay here”. “But it’s for a small yellow plate car,
are you positive I can pay here?” “Yes, absolutely, you can definitely
pay here”. But as it turned out I couldn’t pay there either. So I
asked where else could I pay. They said a bank would be best, but
there are no banks in Konan. So the next option was the farm center
which is some special bank thing for farmers. I went there and sure
enough I could actually pay there, so I did, and now I’m back.
Today for lunch I am doing “The Ryan Show”. The kids that
do the Monday announcements have asked me since April and I kept
forgetting, but today we are listening to “Here comes the sun”, by the
Beatles. The challenge is to count how many times they say the word
“sun”, and the answer is 25. The reason it’s so high is there’s a part
near the end where they keep saying “sun, sun, sun here it comes”.
They repeat that 5 times. I think starting in September I’m going to
do a secret agent thing where I play the mission impossible music and
say “your mission, if you choose to accept is” and then something like
count the number of times blah blah. I’ll need to record that in
advance to make it sound better though.
Rain Delay.
Tuesday, June
3, 2008
Today and tomorrow were supposed to be the city wide sports challenge
thing for kids. It’s called Chuu-Tai-Ren which is short for Chuugakkou-Taiiku-Renmei
which means JHS Sports League, though it’s more of a city wide all
sports contest. Since about Sunday I noticed a hurricane was heading
this way and it would probably rain today, which it did. They decided
to cancel it for the day and postpone it until tomorrow. I don’t know
what will happen if it rains again. The funny thing is the second they
cancelled it, the rain started to slow down. I’m supposed to have 2
classes on Thursday, but there’s a chance there will be minimal
students if they win tomorrow.
I’ve been thinking heavily about pursuing a Masters in
Education. I’m pretty sure I’m going to be involved in some form of
education from here on out since it seems to be what I am good at and
something I enjoy. I’ve narrowed it down to a few options, but I just
don’t know. One is an MAEd in eLearning, one in TEFL, two in
Linguistics, and another just a MAEd. They all fall into the price
range I am willing to pay which is less than $15,000. I have an
aversion to paying more than 15K for an online program. That price is
about what I would expect for brick and mortar education, but
something delivered over the web has far less expenses and seems to be
pure profit. The one in eLearning is 15K, but there is a graduate
certificate option for 5K that can be continued into the full MAEd.
The TEFL one, as well as one of the Linguistic MAs, is also 15K
payable over 2 years so it comes out to be around $500 a month. The
other Linguistics MA is 12K or less from Australia with no final
dissertation. I’m going to see how the CELTA goes in Thailand. I might
be sick of learning English Pedagogies and not want to pursue it at
all.
The worst part about the rain delay today is that the kids
were all hyped up to go out and compete, but now they are stuck in the
classroom doing print outs all day. Boring standard print outs all
day. I mean it’s not even like they have regular classes, it’s from
one extreme to the other. It’s a usual day for me having minimal
classes and I have plenty to do, but for them it sucks.
Legal Again.
Wednesday,
June 4, 2008
My passport came today. The new ones are pretty cool. It has security
features out the wahzoo which is a good thing I’m sure. I imagine
American passports are pretty high on the counterfeit list, maybe next
to the $100 bill. Now the fun part begins. Dealing with the American
embassy was easy as one would expect, but now I have to transfer my
visa and re-entry permit over to the new one. It’s not going to be
fun. Well actually since Japan is a contradiction, it’s either going
to be simple or the end of the world. There’s never an in between
here, it’s one or the other. He’s either going to say “fill out this
form and wait 30 minutes (and pay $100)” or it’s going to be like I
was the first person to ever ask this in history.
I think I’m going to take the rest of the day off today
and start the long process. I guess I’ll have to contact the BoE about
renewing the visa since they have to sponsor that, but I should be
able to do the re-entry permit which is the most pressing now. No, I
guess my visa is pressing too since it expires in July as well.
Immigration would say “your re-entry permit is fine, but why are you
entering the country?” Argh.
Hmmm.
Thursday, June
5, 2008
I had a conversation session with that older lady who likes to speak
English. I don’t charge her because A) I don’t know how much to
charge, B) I feel stupid asking for money, and C) if
there is no money it’s an easy going casual thing. Yesterday it almost
got weird, but I might have diverted it. First her husband sits in
when we talk and he speaks ZERO English so much of the time is me
listening to him talk about fishing. That’s not too bad, but yesterday
she said two people were going to join us. I knew the two people and
was surprised that they speak English. She said they don’t and they
want me to teach them. Ah, now that gets into a whole different thing.
To teach people who speak zero English involves me preparing a lot of
stuff, which I don’t really have time to do. I do have free time, but
there are a dozen things I need to be working on and choose not to and
I don’t really want to do English teaching after school. I told her I
probably couldn’t teach them if they don’t speak any at all. I feel
bad since they are nice, but it’s just not something I want to do now.
I’ll sit and talk to her casually once a week though.
As expected the passport thing was one extreme, the
extreme of being extremely easy. I started this spiel in Japanese
about how it expired and I need to….and he interrupted in English and
said “you want us to transfer it over to the new one right”. It took 5
minutes and it was free. While I was waiting I chatted with some
Mongolian exchange student in the waiting area who was attending high
school somewhere. He was nice, but he said he loves America no less
than 10 times in the 5 minute conversation. Next week I have to spend
a day renewing my teaching license which seems to be the other
extreme. I need a dozen papers some copies others official stamps and
then a health check at which I have to pay $95 for a health
certificate, which is money I don’t really have now, but I will find
it. It is a small price to pay for a 3 year teaching license.
Today was a crazy day since the Chuu-Tai-Ren was rained
out on Tuesday. That caused the Tennis event to be yesterday and
today. Today there are three English classes and I covered them for
the tennis coach / English teacher. The third one was actually cut
because the students were cleaning the pool. The teacher said “what
class is next, you’d better hurry and not be late.” “It’s English.”
“Oh then you can be late, take your time.” By “be late” that means cut
the class entirely. So I don’t know what we are going to do. I have a
class 5th period which is when they expected to change it.
[later]
Then, as if that weren’t enough, around 1pm a group of 30
elementary school teachers showed up to tour the school. Where do they
have their initial meeting, in the English room of course. So we
couldn’t get in there until 5 minutes after class started. That would
be ok, but I was going to set up my computer in there for the student
teacher and then go teach my class. I ended up being really late, but
I had a casual game so it was all good.
There was this one funny thing that happened and is only funny because
I stopped maturing around age 12. When I was teaching one of the
classes for the tennis coach /English teacher we showed a video.
Usually the mouse disappears when the DVD starts, but occasionally it
doesn't and the teacher has to move it off the screen since it's
annoying. Well today it disappeared and then reappeared right on a
character's boob. Then students started giggling and I didn't catch on
since the video itself is giggle-worthy. I usually see things like
that, but I was so stressed about teaching his lesson I missed it.
Then I saw the mouse and moved it only because it was on the screen.
Then it reappeared a bit lower than the boob in another popular area
of the female anatomy. That's when I noticed it and the giggling. I
moved it but it reappeared later in a character's nose. It got to be
that we were waiting for the mouse to reappear and see where it would
be. Yea, I'm still 12.
Busy Day.
Monday, June
9, 2008
During first period the students had “morals” class. Here they get
into groups and discuss various things about life. Six of the seniors
practiced for the skit contest instead. I helped them and they did
rather well. They aren’t going to memorized the parts until we either
get accepted or rejected by the BoE. Koriyama can only send a few
groups to the big prefectural event in Fukushima city. Konan sent a
group when I first got here in 2005 and I assumed it was something we
could do every year. This year was supposed to be the year that
Koriyama had a semi-finals so the students could see who won rather
than who the BoE just chose for some reason. That didn’t happen which
is what I expected. Change comes slow in Japan.
Then second period I was the 3rd wheel since
the student teacher was going to lead the class and the JTE (Japanese
Teacher of English) was going to assist. I stood in the back and
watched. About 3 minutes into the class I heard a strange noise and
saw some people squirming around a bit. I didn’t know what was going
on. Then I saw a girl leaning against the wall and something on the
wall…and on her clothes….oh…she just hurled didn’t she. So I quickly
escort her out of the room and to the nurse’s office. Then I cleaned
up the mess rather than directing someone from the support staff to do
so. That seems so uppity to do that.
The girl was sitting in the one seat that made it so she
didn’t hit anyone else. Had she turned left or faced forward it would
have gone all over three or more other kids. Had she been sitting in
any other seat not near the back wall, it would have gone over more. I
think she turned to get up, but didn’t make it since it was projected
a long ways toward the door. Apparently whatever she ate wanted to get
out fast.
I always have a few second warning before I spew. Usually
I have longer than that I think, but it’s always at least a few
seconds. I don’t know if I am special or if other people ignore the
signs, but I’ve never (knock on wood) spewed in a direction I couldn’t
help. For me, my mouth waters a bit and I have a funny feeling inside
and then I usually cough-gag a few times. I’ve never just suddenly
hurled without warning. I’m sure I will now that I’ve jinxed it.
During a free period I worked on translating some greeting
cards I’ve received recently. Teachers send out cards in May giving
thanks to colleagues from their previous job. The cards are virtually
identical since there are so many fixed phrases in Japanese, but they
do vary slightly. I translated them for an upcoming project I am
working on as well as for my own use.
After school I jumped between helping the two groups who
are working on skits for the English skit contest. I also listened to
a meeting about the 1st years school trip tomorrow. The
meeting went as they all do. We were told when to meet, how long the
departure ceremony would take, the rules for riding the bus, the order
of events of the day, and finally there was as section where the three
other adults in the group could decide on something so we could all
feel like we had a part to play in the planning. I just said
“whatever” and let the other two teachers “decide” on the plan that
the leader suggested we decide on.
I had all these plans, but now there’s no time. It’s
already 5 and I am about to leave to go work out. I know I won’t feel
like working out tomorrow so I’m going to go tonight. Then Wednesday I
will have that whole medical check up for my teaching license renewal
and I don’t know what time that lets out. If there is time I might go
on Wednesday, but I doubt it since it is proper for me to come back to
school as soon as it is finished.
School Trip.
Tuesday, June
10, 2008
The trip was fun and I took a lot of photos. I’ll build a page later
and link to it. The trip was to Aizu, which is a very traditional part
of Fukushima. There were samurais and a castle and some good battles.
We went to a few places I had never been so it was fun for me.
Everyone knows Japan is a group based society, but they
take that concept to new levels. Our class group broke into smaller
hans (hahns – the word honcho means group leader in Japanese and is
actually spelled han – cho means leader). The smaller groups still
made sense in that the teacher would ask the group hanchos if all were
present and the hanchos planned and monitored various parts of the
trip. What I thought was a bit weird was each han chose their own
agenda. We arrived at one site and two groups stayed on the bus, with
no teacher, and just went on their own to another site. This would
never happen in a billion years in the US. Having 7th
graders go off on their own on a school trip in a different town,
especially a mixed group with no teachers.
It lasted all day and we all met up in the end to go to a
museum. I’m a fan of museums, but usually only when there is some
special exhibition. There wasn’t anything special at this one so I
zipped through it fast. This was the end of the day and we had already
walked about 5 miles at various other sites in the sun so being
indoors made everyone nearly pass out. The fact that it was semi
boring helped a bit as well.
Video.
Wednesday,
June 11, 2008
The two groups of three students filmed their skits for the audition
today. I thought this year was going to be different and the groups
would perform the skits in front of the other kids who were submitting
auditions, but nope it was the same as usual. The idea of the skit
contest is great, but the execution is somewhat strained. Two minutes
is just not enough time to have a logical conversation that includes
an intro, a conflict, and the resolution. Plus three people have to
participate so the conversation is unnatural and rushed. But it’s in
English and that’s good practice for the kids so whatever.
A foreign friend who works out at the gym and I were
watching a cute girl on the treadmill Monday. The difference between
he and I is that I imagine talking to her and he goes up and says
hello. Hmmm, I wonder why I am still single… He has some kind of swim
date with her (and a friend) tonight so let’s see how that goes.
There’s still another girl I am mentally dating at the gym, but I
won’t tell anyone who in case they do something stupid like go up and
talk to her. Or worse “Hey Ryan likes you. He likes you likes you. He
wants to kiss you. Smoochy smoochy….” That would be awesome. Awesome
as in humiliating.
I’m still debating starting a master’s degree in the fall.
I’ve narrowed it down to either Applied Linguistics or Japanese
Language and Society. They would both be by distance learning and they
cost about what I am willing to pay. I am interested in linguistics
and how languages work and I think that type of degree/knowledge would
be marketable in many areas. Then again, I have already put in
hundreds of hours toward learning Japanese and having a rigid
structure learning pathway would be great for acquiring a solid
knowledge level. Now I know scattered advanced things, but not some
simple things. I don’t know if I want to work directly for a Japanese
company after this, but having a degree in Japanese would show
commitment and look good. Many companies/fields have a need for
communicating with the Japanese. I’m also interested in some online
certificates, but those aren’t as involved as a master’s degree.
Tonight I am meeting Paula and Stephanie for dinner. Paula
is leaving the Koriyama Native Teacher job to work for a university.
She’s been wanting to teach adults for a while and I totally
understand that. Working in a public school with kids who rarely want
to learn English makes teaching difficult. I wonder what it would be
like to teach adults who want to learn. Perhaps I’ll find a job (with
my master’s degree) at a Thai University. Oh that would be nice, even
though I’d only be making $1,500 USD a month.
Today I’ve spent a bit of the morning checking every tiny
little nuance of the skit the kids recorded yesterday. The skit has to
be exactly precisely perfect to the atom. It’s typical of anything in
Japan, but it’s completely pointless and annoying. We’re going to have
to redo the videos because the kids didn’t say one small word during
the intro. One tiny pointless useless word that has nothing to do with
anything causes us to completely redo it.
That reminds me of when I was getting the postal money
order for the passport renewal and I had to write my address twice.
The guy said they have to be exactly precise. Then he made me lengthen
a few letters and dot a few i’s so they were exactly precisely the
same. The degree to which they demand uniformity is truly unreal. It
makes for highly advanced machinery, but also makes for annoyingly
complicated processes in daily life.
TGIF.
Friday, June
13, 2008
I’m sitting at my desk listening to the elementary vice principal
explain how to spell his name even though it’s rather common. In
Japanese there are multiple characters and readings for words so he
has to give examples of each character. Then he had to resort to
telling the other person on the phone how many strokes were in each
character. It’s such an efficient language….I do like how it is
phonetically consistent though. Once you learn the 46+ sounds you
never have to ask how to say something. In English letters have a name
and then several ways of pronouncing them. I find it nearly impossible
to teach phonics to Japanese kids because there are so many rules and
equally as many exceptions. The final kick is how the kids always
revert to the Japanese phonetic system and can never truly pronounce
English correctly. If someone ever develops a Common World language,
there needs to be as few exceptions as possible.
This week I had a school trip, an office day / license
renewal/ health check, a busy day of classes, and a day of two
standardized tests. I'm glad it is Friday. I would have a beer if I
weren’t really broke and watching every yen. I sat through the English
test which always makes me think of how lousy the Japanese tests are.
This English test is great. They speak clearly and repeat things
twice. The directions are in Japanese since why would the kids know
English test taking directions. Finally the words and grammar are on
the same level as the kids. Whereas the Japanese test is completely in
Japanese (even the very beginner level), they only play the listening
once, the guy speaking sounds like a drunk samurai with a busted jaw,
and they test us on archaic grammar that makes my teachers laugh (or
confuses them). I guess without such a silly test they couldn’t say
“Japanese is so difficult to learn”.
Here’s an example of the listening for the English test.
Remember to emphasize each word and read it clearly and slowly in a
clean voice.
A: John, what are you going to do tomorrow?
B: I’m going to go to Tokyo to buy a book.
A: Will you buy me a CD?
B: 1) ______________
A)
Yes I will.
B) Birds are pretty.
C) Can you ski?
D) Meka Leka Hi Meka Hiney Ho.
That seems pretty clear and easy to understand? They
repeat the dialogue twice and the answers are written in the booklet.
Now let’s see the Japanese test (written in English). Remember one
speaker has a busted jaw and might be drunk and they are speaking
faster than natural speed.
A: What is your favorite color?
B: It’s green, though it was blue when I was young. I also like
red, but not yellow.
A: So you say you don’t like blue, and you like yellow?
B: No, I said I didn’t like yellow, but I like red a little.
A: Aren’t traffic lights called blue in Japan? Do you feel blue
now?
B: I’m going to clean my blue car that blew away. I’m scared
and feel yellow.
A: Buildings are called green if they are environmentally
non-intrusive. I am not as old as my sister. She is younger than
someone else. I am younger than an old person. I like old movies and
blue young green tomatoes that are red and green.
1)
When did the person like blue?
WHAT? That’s way too much nonsense to hold in abeyance while I am
trying to listen for the answer. They constantly try to trick the
listener, but the English tests NEVER pick on the common problems of
Japanese students. It’s such a conspiracy and I hate the J-tests.
Saturday, but is it?
Saturday, June
14, 2008
I woke up around 6:30 and decided to sleep late. I got out of bed at
7:30. How sad is that? Around 8:45 there was a small earthquake. Then
around 11 I went into town to work out and do some other things. While
at the gym I saw the small earthquake wasn't so small. In Fukushima
and further north there was a lot of damage. Bridges fell, roads on
mountains slid away, there were mud slides everywhere. Wow, I guess
the mountains really cancel out the shockwaves in my area because it
simply wasn't that bad. When I went to pick up my camping chair
Stephanie said it was really bad in her 4th floor apartment.
Then after the gym I ate some ramen and ran an errand. I meant to go
by the bookstore coffee shop to study some, but I just forgot until I
was half way home. On the way I decided to study by the lake since I
had my books and chair, but it was too cold and too windy. I stayed
for about 2 minutes and came back.
While I was out I noticed the day didn't feel right. Saturdays have a
feeling. Mondays and Fridays have a feeling and other days do as well.
There's that "I'm not supposed to be here" feeling when you miss
work/school for a doctor's appointment. There's that happy feeling
when you are going to do something fun later in the day and you are
preparing now. There's that calm feeling after a storm or lots of
rain. Today had a strange feeling and I couldn't place it. Now it's
9pm on Saturday and it feels like 9pm on Saturday. I had dinner at the
7-11 because I still have a Quo Card which is a gift card I got for
doing an online survey. Now I'm just typing this and thinking about
doing laundry.
I'm still debating what kind of past time I want to take on next year.
I'm definitely going to crack down and get better at Japanese. I would
be embarrassed to live here for 6+ years and not be closer to fluent.
My problem now is that I can communicate most any idea I need to and I
always speak English. I'm leaning heavily toward the master of applied
linguistics since I am interested in language and it seems to be broad
enough to have many applications after this. It will help if I
continue teaching ESL. It will help if I go back to the US. It will
help if I try to get a job at a university or community college. I'm
probably going to pursue a graduate certificate in eLearning rather
than a whole degree. I was thinking about getting a master's in
Japanese, but I'll probably just study hard and pass the Japanese
Language test level 2 rather than go for a $12,000 Master's degree.
I've been thinking about completely redesigning my online games I made
for the kids. I'm going to make the English test practice part more
like the English test they take. First there are 15 questions, then
some sentence order questions, then some reading questions, and maybe
some listening. I'm also going to redo the games site and have a
section for each grade of the elementary school to use. Sometimes
after school there are 1st graders in the computer room playing with
stupid paint programs so I want to make some things where they can
have fun with English letters in games that have no real challenge.
Maybe something simple just to give them exposure to the alphabet. I
always have an order in mind and then I keep adding games to it and
the order gets all messed up.
Ehh.
Monday, June
16, 2008
It’s been an average day. I had one class with the 7th
graders and I made a little phonics board game. I think it worked like
I planned. I saw some of the upper level kids helping the lower level
ones. The kids always find little loopholes in my activities that I
have to go back and fix, but eventually the games get to be pretty
good. Before and after that I have been sending faxes to the BoE about
the upcoming English camp as well as my summer plans in Thailand and
renewing my teaching visa. Today there is some visiting dignitary
professor giving demonstrations about how to teach social studies.
Since rank is so important, all the teachers are scurrying around
writing down every little thing he says.
During lunch I did “The Ryan Show” where I played 8 Days a
Week by the Beatles and had the kids count how many times they heard
“Love”. The answer is 21. Later I will do a listening game where the
key word is only said once or twice. After lunch I printed out an
activity and then poured coffee all over it and let it soak in the
sun. That gave it an old antique look which is what I was going for.
That was the effect for which I was going. Anyway, it looks nice. This
Friday I have a meeting about the summer English camp and then I have
to get more forms from the BoE and the immigration office about
renewing my visa. Then I should be all set.
I’m leaning heavily toward the Masters in Applied
Linguistics since it seems to have the most opportunities for jobs I
would like after this. I found a link for some Linguistics Society and
it had a list of jobs for people with an MAAL and there were many that
interested me. I will start checking into that around September. I’m
also going to try to work on a graduate certificate in distance
learning as well. I’ll just study Japanese on my own time rather than
trying for a masters in that.
Something odd has happened about 10 times today. It
actually happens fairly regularly, but it’s odd every time. I’ll see
some kid and go up and say something and I am completely ignored. I’ll
say it again and tap on his/her shoulder, but I’m just completely
ignored. Then I’ll say it again a few times and still I’m ignored. So
I either walk away confused or I make sure I get his/her attention. It
happens occasionally and I never know if I did something to offend
them or if it’s just another example of all the walls of separation in
Japan.
Those Pesky Thoughts…
Tuesday, June
17, 2008
I had a class with one of the English teachers. I stood there most of
the time as he would say things and have the class repeat it.
Occasionally he would remember me standing there and have me repeat
it. Overall I am grossly underused. I’m not mad at anyone since that’s
how things are in Japan. I’ve only had a few teachers that were eager
for help. Most feel they can do it on their own and having a native
speaker there is embarrassing and unnecessary. I really like him as a
teacher and we usually have great classes, but he is Japanese and that
is part of the culture so occasionally I am forgotten.
So I started having those thoughts about moving on and
finding another job where I am needed more and used more. There are
several reasons I want to stay such as great benefits, great salary,
and I just comfortable with my life here. Even with all my cultural
annoyances I have a great life and a really (too) relaxed job. I’m
paid far more than I deserve to be and I don’t want to voluntarily
give that up. There’s also the few elementary school kids who ask if I
will be around forever since they really like me as a teacher. Then I
start to think of the things that annoy me such as being under worked,
living in a small country town away from everything, everything being
so expensive, and the alien abductions with probings.
I’m definitely going to stay one more year and I am
considering a second. If I start a Master’s degree (do I capitalize
that?) then staying would be better. I’d love to leave Japan debt free
which is possible in two years. At one time I thought of staying for
3-5 more years to see y current 6th graders graduate JHS,
but that seems highly unlikely, especially since we don’t get raises
or any bonus. There are jobs that pay more and work you more and jobs
that pay less and work you more. Some of the lower paying jobs are in
climates that would rock such as Thailand. One job that pays
considerably more is Dubai, but I think that is a bit too close to
other areas of the world that don’t like Americans.
I had a class with the 5th graders. Moments
before the class the teacher told me they had to eat lunch early since
they are leaving early today so it would be great if I cut the class
15 minutes short. Sure no problem, I haven’t planned anything for the
class. Well not much. Well not TOO much. Well, ok I can drop this
whole activity I spent hours on. It made me realize I am starting to
see a pattern with my classes. On Monday I had a class with the 7th
graders and I always have their class on Friday. I realized that there
was a special guest teacher at the school and by giving me a class
with them all the other teachers were free to watch the special class.
I’ve also noticed my classes are scheduled when there are eye exams or
health checks.
Stop it…with the pen already
Thursday, June
19, 2008
I have several annoying habits and I am aware of them all. Sometimes I
can catch myself doing them and quit, but I usually start right back
up again moments later. I never realized how annoying they were until
one of the new teachers revealed his annoying habit. He clicks a pen
on and off about 5,000 times a minute. He has one pen that he clicks
slower, but it’s louder and is equally annoying. The pen he is using
now is quieter so to compensate for less annoyingness he clicks it at
light speed. Sometimes it’s dominating the teacher’s room, but people
are so polite here they won’t say anything about it. I’m going to do
research to see if anyone else has noticed it.
Yesterday I went to the site of the August English camp
and walked around to draw a map for one outdoor activity we have
planned. I ended up finding a few things I didn’t know were there. One
was a ropes course on the small mountain and another was a cave that
someone had bricked up. It seemed really small like I’d have to squat
to move around in it so I imagine it would be dangerous. A more famous
cave in the side of the mountain is in Fukushima city where the big
mountain in the middle of town has an old airplane factory inside of
it. Another such place, one that you can actually visit and go inside,
is near Utsunomiya in a town called
Oya.
Back to Square One.
Monday, June
23, 2008
Thursday was a day that made me want to leave this job that day. I had
a bad class and then another pretty crappy class. They were bad
because there is no consequence for your actions if you are a JHS
student. I had a class that could have been planned better I’ll admit,
but then a few of the students just acted like idiots. They would yell
out any answer that was not even remotely close. “What is the verb
here?....7….No that’s a number”. Then they reverted to chatting. There
is nothing I can do and it’s annoying. If I had to decide my future on
Thursday I would have decided to leave that day.
Then today, Monday, I had a class with the elementary 3rd
graders. It went great and they were really into it. I first played a
review game like Jeopardy using that lockout buzzer I bought recently.
That part was a little rough and I don’t think I’m going to keep using
it much in class. It always ends up being more of a novelty than a
useful item. Students see how fast they can smack the buttons and buzz
in just to see their team’s light shine. But after all that I played a
game where kids run around asking “what’s your name” and then they
answer “I’m ___”. That went over well as did the questioning part of
the Jeopardy game itself.
I’m going to keep a running tab of how I feel each day, as
in whether or not I want to renew. That will help me decide about
staying an additional year after this one. I’m getting tired of the
way things never improve (like my salary), but on the flip side it’s a
great job and there are a lot of perks.
Friday we had a meeting for all the Koriyama JETs and
elementary school teachers. It was good to get some new lesson ideas
and talk about the August English Camp that I am overseeing with two
other people. It was not fun to have none of the other teachers who
are volunteering offer to lead one activity. People are always eager
to participate (could it be because we get paid a little extra), but
not so eager to plan or help plan things. There are three of us in
charge of it and we are going to be doing a lot, but the other three
people haven’t shown much interest yet. Maybe they will soon, but I am
leaving in three weeks and I arrive back the day before the camp.
Productive.
Tuesday, June
24, 2008
Man I was productive yesterday. I got so much done even though half of
it was me writing emails to send later. I made some stuff for the
English Camp in August and wrote several emails and sent them when I
got home. I did some limited internet research since anything remotely
useful is blocked by the filtered proxy. Even Japanese websites for
teaching English are blocked. Remember the theory for surviving in
Japan, think of what makes sense and seems logical and then think of
the opposite. That’s what will happen. It has caused me to predict how
things would run in about 80% of the cases.
Here’s a humorous conversation I had with a student that
sums up the general Japanese belief system I think.
Him:
Ryan sensei, how do you say my name in English?
Me: It’s the same as in Japanese. You don’t change your name in
English.
Him: So in English my name would be pronounced the same?
Me: Yup, there’s no change.
Him:
Wow that’s amazing.
Me: Just like in Japan, your name would be pronounced Tanaka
(not real name).
Him: So in English your name is Lian?
Me: No, foreigners have to change their names since Japanese
can’t pronounce foreign names.
Him: My name wouldn’t change at all?
Me: Well we might not say it exactly as you say it, but you
wouldn’t have to change it.
Him: (Turning to his friends) That’s funny, they don’t
pronounce our names like we do. (Back to me) You know our names are
very important to us. Maybe you should try to pronounce them
correctly.
Me: That’s funny.
Him: Why?
Me: You say names are important and should be pronounced
correctly, but you completely change my name. You can’t even remotely
pronounce my name correctly.
Him: Your name is Lian.
Me: Nope. My name is Ryan. R-R-R-R. You can’t say that, but I
don’t make fun of you or say “you should try hard”.
Him: Well that’s different, you should try hard to pronounce
Japanese names since they are important to us.
Me: Ha ha. Perhaps one day I will learn to understand the
beautiful Japanese culture. I am merely a lowly peasant now.
Him: Hang in there. See ya.
The only working theory that “works” is that they see
Japan as higher than the rest of the world. There are countless other
examples of this such as old men that make fun of Americans for
bending over a bowl to eat soup like a dog, or sleeping in a bed like
a dog. Also, examples like you always call Japanese people by their
name + -san in Japan or around the world. You never treat them like
the local culture, it has to be their higher culture.
Oh, sorry for the vent. There are little things that
happen occasionally and sometimes they hit when I’m not in a mood to
laugh them off. It’s a constant barrage usually and you do overflow
and have to vent. Then the next day something really great happens and
it balances it out. I don’t have a really great example now, but they
always balance out.
Parking - Games.
Wednesday,
June 25, 2008
I had a class with the 3rd graders in the elementary
school. It was the second this week since we haven’t had any classes
since school started. On Monday I taught “what’s your name” and today
I briefly reviewed and then taught “how’s the weather”. They are
pretty slick at both structures now. For today’s game I chose to make
snakes and ladders thinking this would be simple and great for
repetition. I made a board with about 60 spaces and put pics of the 5
weather examples I was teaching. I drew some ladders and some snakes
as well as arrows showing exactly where to go. I drew diagrams showing
a stick figure climb the ladders and then sliding down the snakes. It
was rock solid. Then when we played the kids they moved randomly
around the board seeking out ladders and avoiding the snakes (since
they are scary). They still managed to say the structure several
times, but it was amazing how they slaughtered the idea.
Yesterday at the gym I noticed two interesting cultural
points. By “interesting” I really mean annoying. The first was when I
was on the treadmill. I can either stare at the wall or look out the
window and watch people park their cars. That can be amazingly
interesting when you are on a treadmill. The thing about parking in
Japan is you always back into spaces. No matter where you are, you
back into spaces. That’s what they are taught in driving school and
that’s what they do. This is fine 99.98% of the time, but this parking
lot has one space that fits into that .02 percentile. The reason is
that the lot is small and there is not enough space. Here’s a diagram.
As you can see, the spots on the back wall are perfect for
backing into as well as all but spot 1. That spot makes zero sense to
back into. It would be alright to back in if the exit were directly
beside it. You have to spend 10 minutes trying to move your car around
to get out if you backed in when you pull out. If they were to just
pull in and turn so you are in straight, you could fly right out of
the exit when they leave. But they don’t and they won’t. The amazing
thing was that I willed someone to move his car after he pulled in. I
was staring at him and thinking deeply “why did you park like that?
You should turn the car around so it would be easier to leave. Change
it now.” As he walked away from the car he stopped and looked at his
car and walked back to change it. I did that with my amazing mind.
Then as I was leaving I saw another “interesting” cultural
thing that I can only explain by saying it must be rude to wait in
Asia. That is my working theory for so many things and I can’t find
any other rational (ha ha ha) explanation. There was someone who was
doing the same thing as mentioned before. He backed into the space
right by the exit (of a different lot) and was moving all around to
get out. As he was doing so a car started to pull into the parking lot
from the street, then another behind that one. But he couldn’t wait,
that would be ride. If he were to have stopped for, no kidding, 30
seconds maybe even 10 seconds. The car could have passed him and
pulled into the lot. But he couldn’t wait and I know he wasn’t in a
hurry because he sat in his car for about 5 minutes before leaving. He
kept moving around trying to get out and then he tried to squeeze by
the incoming car which was impossible. In the end the incoming car
(and the one behind it blocking the road) had to actually back out of
the lot and completely stop traffic going both ways so this guy could
get out. That has happened so many times I can’t even count. If people
would just stop and not move for 10-30 seconds the issue would be
resolved, but they cannot wait.
In Thailand and Cambodia drivers would pass anyone who was
going slightly slower than them. On numerous occasions I told drivers
I was in no hurry and they could drive casually, but never once did
that happen. Once we pulled into the other lane into oncoming traffic
and the worst thing I remember was pulling onto the curb to pass
someone. The bus to the orphanage drives like a demon from hell and
passes cars ON HILLS AROUND TURNS. The only reason I don’t freak out
is because we are in the bigger vehicle and they do this all the time
so they must know something I don’t.
Some smaller examples include when paying at a register,
the second you get your change you are shoved out of the way and the
next person moves up. When teachers are anywhere in the school and
someone calls or comes by that teacher runs like an Olympic runner to
get to the office. There is even a polite phrase in Japanese that
means “I’m sorry I made you wait” and it is said for anything and any
reason.
3 Classes.
Monday, June
30, 2008
I have 3 classes this week, well 3 that require planning. I just go to
the others and don’t plan or prepare anything. Nor do I even really
participate, which makes sense because they are only teaching English
and what do I know about that subject. I had one of the 3 today which
was with the 7th graders (or 1st year JHS). We
reviewed what is the subject of a sentence and what is the Be-verb
versus the regular verb. I tried to use some verbs they haven’t
officially learned yet which was a mistake. They compartmentalize
their thinking so the concept of “self discovery” or “figuring
something out on your own” doesn’t happen that much. I gave them a
sentence with “I play soccer” which they have learned and they did
fine. They marked the subject and verb. Then I wrote “I eat sushi”.
They know “I” and they can read “sushi”, but they were all blank and
had no idea what to do. They kept saying they couldn’t read “eat” and
had no idea what it was even in context. It was frustrating and made
me put a mark in the category of wanting to teach somewhere else.
The two other classes I have this week are Thursday, which
is the day of the farewell party for the BoE. That should be pretty
fun since it will be the last time I see many of the AETs. I leave the
next week and I’m sure I will be too busy to get into town much. I
plan to drink and stay the night with someone rather than get a hotel
room. I think this year it’s actually at a place where we don’t have
to sit on the floor. The BoE always prefers a floor place and
justifies it with things like “well it’s your last party in Japan so
let’s do it Japanese style one more time” even though they know 90% of
all foreigners hate it. The other 9% act like they like it so they can
feel more Japanese. They’ll also say things like “oh I love nattou”
and “I prefer to read things in Japanese, it’s just more natural to
me”. Then about 1% actually do prefer sitting on the floor. I never
sit on the floor unless I am playing with a child or a dog.
This weekend I didn’t do much. I bought some protein which
was $40, but I am hoping that will curb my appetite and I should be
able to eat less. I went to the gym both days and had good work outs.
I really felt my triceps burn on Sunday. Sadly today is the last day I
can go until September since I signed up for the discounted rate of
$10 a month rather than $70 since I won’t be there. It goes by
calendar months so I can’t go during July or August. It’s only a
problem this week since I wouldn’t go next week. I’ll be busy from the
18th of August to the 24th and then I’ll be
restarting school from the 25th to the 29th so
that will be alright. Then in September I plan to set some major goals
like paying down one loan to 10K, beefing up my Japanese, and making
some muscular goals.
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