When one answers the phone they say "Moshi Moshi," and then they start talking ridiculously fast. I mean, really fast, I can't catch any words what-so-ever. If they aren't talking, but just listening, they'll say "Hai, Hai," "Ah, ah" and "un, un," a lot with vigorous nodding of the head or bowing. And if there is reason, due to the conversation, for thanks, they say "arigatou gozaimasu~" with a long "u" sound at the end. Even men seem to say the "u" which is considered very feminine. And they'll say it over and over again. Sometimes when I'm listening to peoples conversations on the phone I feel like someone turned on a tape recorder and it's on repeat. When such conversations go on for about ten minutes, you start to go a little crazy.
Phone calls are usually short, to the point, and include bowing even though the other person obviously can't see them.
I'm thinking that the super speed talk is due to the fact that phone calls are expensive. Minute plans aren't available like in the states. Softbank is free for in-network calls between 6:00am and 9:00pm. During off hours they charge you per minute. Land lines and outside networks also cost a lot of money, charging every 30 seconds. In fact, it costs more to call a landline than a cell phone. One number I called for a post office (English Version) Charged 80 yen per twenty seconds. (I hung up rather quickly.)
Who likes talking on the phone anyways?
October 21, 2009
October 19, 2009
Religious.
There's a saying I heard that I have found to be quite true about the Japanese.
This is because of their lifestyle. I sorta knew about this before, but on my trip to Kamakura with Yamase-San, (One of my friends from church) I learned a lot more. Here's some info on religion in Japan.
There are two major religions in Japan: Shinto and Buddhist. They are often mixed together and mistaken from one another. Shinto is the belief in many spirits or gods within nature. Buddhist is the belief in Nirvana. (I mean, it's more complicated than that, but there's some differences for ya.)
A shrine is Shinto. A shrine is distinguished by its bright red paint. One does not actually enter a shrine. Praying is done outside while looking in at the statue of the god you are praying to or in front of a gong which you ring afterwards. This picture is of a small shrine in Inokashira Park by Kichijoji.
A temple is Buddhist. Temples are built with wood and not painted. You can enter a temple, and they usually house a Buddha. This picture if of the Todaiji Temple in Nara, which is the largest wooden structure in the world.
They believe that when the artist makes a statue, they put a spirit into it. The people then pray to that statue- thus tat spirit for the well-being of whatever that spirit is over. Whether it be money, safe pregnancy, love, wisdom, livestock, sake, etc.
When a child is born, they are taken to a shrine to be blessed for a good and prosperous life.
Many Japanese people are married the Christian way, in their white dresses in chapels. I'm not sure why this is - I guess I'll have to look it up sometimes. They are also married at shrines. I think they might actually do both the traditional and Christian wedding.
When a person dies, they are buried the Buddhist way.
On New Years Eve, everyone is Buddhist. On that night, people gather at shrines and temples to hear the 108 gongs, representing the 108 Buddhist sins from the previous years being forgotten. Everyone then eats New Years food like soba, mochi, and yokan.
Another note on Shinto beliefs, I was surprised to learn that sake is considered a purifier along with salt. Sake can be used as a cleanser, but they believe that drinking it purifies the spirit. Many shrines have buildings that are for storing barrels of donated sake.
I think it's sorta strange how most people in Japan aren't one religion, but two. Wouldn't that mean that they aren't dedicated to one, thus not very religious? I'm not sure. When I asked this question to Yamase, she did say their are some very strict and dedicated Buddhist and Shinto-ists, but for the most part, not really. It's more like an important and endearing part of their traditional culture rather than a matter of believing.
But then, maybe I'm wrong. I've still got a lot to learn about this country!
"They are born Shinto, married Christian, and die Buddhist."
This is because of their lifestyle. I sorta knew about this before, but on my trip to Kamakura with Yamase-San, (One of my friends from church) I learned a lot more. Here's some info on religion in Japan.
There are two major religions in Japan: Shinto and Buddhist. They are often mixed together and mistaken from one another. Shinto is the belief in many spirits or gods within nature. Buddhist is the belief in Nirvana. (I mean, it's more complicated than that, but there's some differences for ya.)
A shrine is Shinto. A shrine is distinguished by its bright red paint. One does not actually enter a shrine. Praying is done outside while looking in at the statue of the god you are praying to or in front of a gong which you ring afterwards. This picture is of a small shrine in Inokashira Park by Kichijoji.
A temple is Buddhist. Temples are built with wood and not painted. You can enter a temple, and they usually house a Buddha. This picture if of the Todaiji Temple in Nara, which is the largest wooden structure in the world.They believe that when the artist makes a statue, they put a spirit into it. The people then pray to that statue- thus tat spirit for the well-being of whatever that spirit is over. Whether it be money, safe pregnancy, love, wisdom, livestock, sake, etc.
When a child is born, they are taken to a shrine to be blessed for a good and prosperous life.
Many Japanese people are married the Christian way, in their white dresses in chapels. I'm not sure why this is - I guess I'll have to look it up sometimes. They are also married at shrines. I think they might actually do both the traditional and Christian wedding.
When a person dies, they are buried the Buddhist way.
On New Years Eve, everyone is Buddhist. On that night, people gather at shrines and temples to hear the 108 gongs, representing the 108 Buddhist sins from the previous years being forgotten. Everyone then eats New Years food like soba, mochi, and yokan.
Another note on Shinto beliefs, I was surprised to learn that sake is considered a purifier along with salt. Sake can be used as a cleanser, but they believe that drinking it purifies the spirit. Many shrines have buildings that are for storing barrels of donated sake.I think it's sorta strange how most people in Japan aren't one religion, but two. Wouldn't that mean that they aren't dedicated to one, thus not very religious? I'm not sure. When I asked this question to Yamase, she did say their are some very strict and dedicated Buddhist and Shinto-ists, but for the most part, not really. It's more like an important and endearing part of their traditional culture rather than a matter of believing.
But then, maybe I'm wrong. I've still got a lot to learn about this country!
Trains 電車
There are a lot of train lines in Tokyo, the most popular being the Yamanote Line, which circles central Tokyo. The main companies are, Seibu, JR (Japan Rail), and KEIO. According to Wikipedia, there are 528 station in Tokyo alone, not counting Chiba and Yokohama (which are conglomerates of Tokyo.) If you include these cities/conglomerates, I'd say there are close to 1,000 stations. Wow. Tokyo is only about 800 km. (500 miles.) Pretty small.
Most lines are color coordinated. Chuo is bright orange while the local Sobu is yellow. The Yamanote is green. A lot of lines have jingles their own jingles that play when the train stops at a station. The JR does this, but I'm not sure if KEIO or other companies do. I think I've got the Chuo jingle engrained into my brain for time and all eternity now. It's the line I take everyday to work and whenever I go into central Tokyo.
There are usually a lot of express trains that skip the smaller stations. These are usually very crowded. The more popular lines like Chuo actually have TVs in them that display advertisements, and ones that display the train route, train info, weather, etc. Train interiors are splattered with hundreds of posters on the walls and hanging from the ceilings.
The train stops are displayed in the japanese writing styles: kanji, hiragana, katakana, along with English. The announcer, which is a recording, says the stops in Japanese and then in English. It's interesting that sometimes the English version pronounces the names of places significantly different than the Japanese version.
The driver will make announcements too. I find it amusing that most of the time they sound like they're speaking through their noses. They are almost always men. I've only heard on driver here that was a woman so far.
Recently, a new anime/manga (I'm not sure which) came out that is called ミラクル トレインMiracle Train. The manga's main characters are based of stations on the Yamanote Line. This includes Roppongi, Shinjuku, Shiodome, and others. (But not Harajuku or Ikebukuro. What a shame.)
I have no idea what it's about, but judging by the fact that all the characters look like hot anime guys (more like anime guys trying to look hot and failing miserably), I'm going to guess it's lame and shallow - and just trying to get girls money.
The idea of personifying places or things has been done before. One manga called Hetalia Access Powers is the countries of the world during WWII as people. It's super popular, and I heard it's pretty interesting. (I've yet to read it though.) I guess because Hetalia was such a hit that Miracle Train is trying to buy into that sorta genre. >_0
Most lines are color coordinated. Chuo is bright orange while the local Sobu is yellow. The Yamanote is green. A lot of lines have jingles their own jingles that play when the train stops at a station. The JR does this, but I'm not sure if KEIO or other companies do. I think I've got the Chuo jingle engrained into my brain for time and all eternity now. It's the line I take everyday to work and whenever I go into central Tokyo.
There are usually a lot of express trains that skip the smaller stations. These are usually very crowded. The more popular lines like Chuo actually have TVs in them that display advertisements, and ones that display the train route, train info, weather, etc. Train interiors are splattered with hundreds of posters on the walls and hanging from the ceilings.
The train stops are displayed in the japanese writing styles: kanji, hiragana, katakana, along with English. The announcer, which is a recording, says the stops in Japanese and then in English. It's interesting that sometimes the English version pronounces the names of places significantly different than the Japanese version.
The driver will make announcements too. I find it amusing that most of the time they sound like they're speaking through their noses. They are almost always men. I've only heard on driver here that was a woman so far.
Recently, a new anime/manga (I'm not sure which) came out that is called ミラクル トレインMiracle Train. The manga's main characters are based of stations on the Yamanote Line. This includes Roppongi, Shinjuku, Shiodome, and others. (But not Harajuku or Ikebukuro. What a shame.)
I have no idea what it's about, but judging by the fact that all the characters look like hot anime guys (more like anime guys trying to look hot and failing miserably), I'm going to guess it's lame and shallow - and just trying to get girls money.
The idea of personifying places or things has been done before. One manga called Hetalia Access Powers is the countries of the world during WWII as people. It's super popular, and I heard it's pretty interesting. (I've yet to read it though.) I guess because Hetalia was such a hit that Miracle Train is trying to buy into that sorta genre. >_0
October 14, 2009
Typhoon!
So a while ago, Typhoon Melor passed by Tokyo. Many people were worried that it would be the worst one in ten years, which was pretty frightening to me I still had to go to school. I was a bit annoyed because many ALTs didn't have to go because their school go canceled.
I got up and left about 20 minutes early in case things went wrong. It was pouring rain by the bucket loads, but luckily, no wind. Trains were a bit late, full of glum people that had to go to work despite the weather. There were at least 25 listed lines that had stopped or been delayed due to the typhoon. (This was about 7:00 in the morning.)
By the time I reached Rokakoen, my last station, the rain had petered out and a torrent of wind awoke! It was amazing and full of intense energy. It blew the clouds to the side and the sun began to shine through the clearest blue sky I have ever seen in Japan. The clouds were moving ridiculously fast. Layers and layers of them, large and small.
The wind lasted a long time, pounding against the windows, making in hard to hear the students talking sometimes. But the sun kept on shining, warming up the cold rainy air. After a while, the sun started heating up like an oven, and wearing four shirts and two jackets suddenly wasn't a very good idea (Though very necessary on the way to school.) After a week of glum, rainy, cold weather, I was ready for the sun again!
After school ended, I went to club and when I left the wind had stopped for the most part and the glorious sun bathed everything it touched in gold. The sky was so clear and the world was sparkling. The wind had blown away all the pollution that had been in Tokyo for so long. It somehow made me feel so much cleaner.
Thanks Hurrican Melor!
I got up and left about 20 minutes early in case things went wrong. It was pouring rain by the bucket loads, but luckily, no wind. Trains were a bit late, full of glum people that had to go to work despite the weather. There were at least 25 listed lines that had stopped or been delayed due to the typhoon. (This was about 7:00 in the morning.)
By the time I reached Rokakoen, my last station, the rain had petered out and a torrent of wind awoke! It was amazing and full of intense energy. It blew the clouds to the side and the sun began to shine through the clearest blue sky I have ever seen in Japan. The clouds were moving ridiculously fast. Layers and layers of them, large and small.
The wind lasted a long time, pounding against the windows, making in hard to hear the students talking sometimes. But the sun kept on shining, warming up the cold rainy air. After a while, the sun started heating up like an oven, and wearing four shirts and two jackets suddenly wasn't a very good idea (Though very necessary on the way to school.) After a week of glum, rainy, cold weather, I was ready for the sun again!
After school ended, I went to club and when I left the wind had stopped for the most part and the glorious sun bathed everything it touched in gold. The sky was so clear and the world was sparkling. The wind had blown away all the pollution that had been in Tokyo for so long. It somehow made me feel so much cleaner.
Thanks Hurrican Melor!
September 27, 2009
Omiyage - おみやげ
Omiyage is the tradition of giving souvenirs to friends, family, and coworkers when one goes on a trip. Omiyage can mean any kind of souvenir, but most of the time, it refers to tiny, nicely packaged sweets. These sweets refer to small mochi - pounded sweet rice - with sweet beans in the middle, buns with sweet potato or beans, or maybe ridiculously small portions of bread, cream puffs, or possibly yokan (sweet bean paste). Sometimes they're not sweet at all, things like dried fish, octopus, or squid.
Shops in tourist areas are dedicated solely to selling boxes of prepackaged delicacies - with maybe a wall of cell phone straps on the side. Aisles of boxes stacked on top of each other, usually with beautiful colors and kanji. On the top there's almost always a "preview" of what's inside these beautifully wrapped boxes of sweets. They show an open box so you can see how many omiyage are in a box and how and if they're packaged individually. There's a display of a whole omiyage, and if there's a secret inside, there's one cut in half so the filling can be viewed.
Boxes can hold anywhere from 6 to 30 Omiyage - and most can be relatively cheap to outrageously expensive. For 550 yen I bought a box of 20 cream puff omiyage, and a box of 12 manju with white bean paste filling for 650 yen to give to my fellow teachers. For such a small act, it really boosts your reputation in the work place.
Especially if you're a gaijin. (foreigner.)
Omiyage I've received:
Omiyage I gave: (from Tojimbo)
Shops in tourist areas are dedicated solely to selling boxes of prepackaged delicacies - with maybe a wall of cell phone straps on the side. Aisles of boxes stacked on top of each other, usually with beautiful colors and kanji. On the top there's almost always a "preview" of what's inside these beautifully wrapped boxes of sweets. They show an open box so you can see how many omiyage are in a box and how and if they're packaged individually. There's a display of a whole omiyage, and if there's a secret inside, there's one cut in half so the filling can be viewed.
Boxes can hold anywhere from 6 to 30 Omiyage - and most can be relatively cheap to outrageously expensive. For 550 yen I bought a box of 20 cream puff omiyage, and a box of 12 manju with white bean paste filling for 650 yen to give to my fellow teachers. For such a small act, it really boosts your reputation in the work place.
Especially if you're a gaijin. (foreigner.)
Omiyage I've received:
Omiyage I gave: (from Tojimbo)
September 26, 2009
Trip Down Memory Lane
Silver week, one of the longer National Holidays in Japan is in the month of September. This year, it was from September 19th to the 23rd. I took this as a chance to go visit my host parents in Nagoya for the first time in two years. Here's how it went in basic detail:
I left Saturday morning and traveled to Nagoya by bus. It was a six hour drive, which is considerably longer than taking the Shinkansen, but more than 50% cheaper. Due to it being silver week, the traffic was pretty bad. But we made it to our destination just fine.
Nagoya was a lot of fun. Being with my old host parents wasn't weird at all. I met up with my host dad at the gate of the Meitetsu. The gate being a tall skinny manikin like woman, with her legs spread apart so you can walk through them. Doing so will supposedly bring you good luck.
I discovered that my Japanese isn't as bad as I thought it was, and I managed to have full conversations with my mom and dad, entirely in Japanese. Of course, I had to use some major hand motions and use words that weren't exactly right, but got the idea across. But still! Pretty cool! The host parents were pretty impressed and when they discovered that I was learning kanji, they were really excited and bought me workbooks. The books are for 1st graders learning their first kanji. Awesome - but very difficult. So now I've got homework I gotta focus on now.
We took a road trip to a bunch of places all over central Japan.
Our 
first destination was Tojimbo とうじんぼう. It is a place on the coast with a lot of sheer rock faces. It's supposed to be one of the most beautiful parts of the coast on the Japan Sea - and I believe it. The waves were crashing up against the walls with amazing power. Sometimes I forget what an amazing force nature is. (please click on the images for a better look...)
After that we went to Eiheiji 永平寺 . Eiheiji is one of the largest temples with 7 - 8 wings, all wood built. When we entered the temple, we had to take off our shoes and carry them with us until we exited. The temple is built on a hill, so there were a lot of steps that weren't exactly flat and kinda slippery. I thought that made if more unique and more of an adventure.
We spent a night in a Ryokan, a traditional Japanese house that was build around a hot spring. Mom and I went to the Onsen/hot spring. In Japan, before you enter an Onsen, you wash yourself and then enter the hot spring in the nude. Its all public. Most Onsen are split in half so men and women are separate. It was a new and interesting experience and not as awkward as I thought it would be. Of course, we were pretty lucky in the fact that we were the only ones there.
At the Ryokan we were treated to a very traditional dinner. We sat around a fire pit in a tatami matted room where the hosts roasted our food over a fire. We had everything from sashimi, whole fish on a stick, bamboo, expensive mushrooms, eggplant, shrimp, crab, and deer meat. I think the deer meat was my favorite... It was a lot of food and I felt so stuffed afterwards!
The next day we went to Gokayama 五箇山, a mountainous area with small traditional Japanese villages. All the houses were traditionally built with no nails. There were rice paddies and beautiful terraces. It was nice and peaceful compared to the crowded places of Eiheiji and Tojimbo.
We then went to a famous paper making area. I made some paper there at the experience houses. It was interesting to see how it worked in person. There was a lot of different kinds of paper on display there. I fell in love, it was all so beautiful. They had a lot of origami paper for really cheap so I got some along with a wall scroll pring. (They are now on my wall. Yay!)
We went back to Mihama after that, where my host parents live. The next day we went to the pottery district near the house and I bought some beautiful dishes there. Hopefully they'll make it back to America in one piece. I also went and visited my host school. Because it was holiday, not many people were there, but I met three of my old school mates, Sayako, Tao, and Hitomi. Sayako was one of my closest friends, and her English is still as hilarious as ever. Hitomi was more beautiful than I remember her, and I almost didn't recognize her!
I also got to hear the wadaiko drums again. Even though they were only doing basic practicing, it almost made me cry because I missed them so much. It was a great walk down memory lane.
I think that about covers most of the big stuff while I was there. Just a lot of fun, and I got to practice my Japanese a ton! So now I'm all pumped to talk to all my school teachers and ward members in Japanese.
Oh, and one side adventure that's just to amazing not to mention: on the bus ride there, the woman I sat next to actually spoke very good English. She lived in Alberta Canada for two years studying English at University. Turns out, she's a editor at a very large manga publishing company called Shogakukan. She saw my sketches and was pretty impressed at my skill. She really wants to meet up with me again and maybe she'll take me to her work so I can see what it's like! So cool! I'm not sure I'd want to become a manga-ka (professional manga artist), but it was great to make a new friend.
Anyways, life is good. Back to work. The jr high exams are next week so I only work two days at the school, and then the rest of the days at the office.
I'll try to update this more often, just with little tidbits of information or activities I do. Doing long posts just isn't going to work with my schedule!
I left Saturday morning and traveled to Nagoya by bus. It was a six hour drive, which is considerably longer than taking the Shinkansen, but more than 50% cheaper. Due to it being silver week, the traffic was pretty bad. But we made it to our destination just fine.
Nagoya was a lot of fun. Being with my old host parents wasn't weird at all. I met up with my host dad at the gate of the Meitetsu. The gate being a tall skinny manikin like woman, with her legs spread apart so you can walk through them. Doing so will supposedly bring you good luck.
I discovered that my Japanese isn't as bad as I thought it was, and I managed to have full conversations with my mom and dad, entirely in Japanese. Of course, I had to use some major hand motions and use words that weren't exactly right, but got the idea across. But still! Pretty cool! The host parents were pretty impressed and when they discovered that I was learning kanji, they were really excited and bought me workbooks. The books are for 1st graders learning their first kanji. Awesome - but very difficult. So now I've got homework I gotta focus on now.
We took a road trip to a bunch of places all over central Japan.
Our 
first destination was Tojimbo とうじんぼう. It is a place on the coast with a lot of sheer rock faces. It's supposed to be one of the most beautiful parts of the coast on the Japan Sea - and I believe it. The waves were crashing up against the walls with amazing power. Sometimes I forget what an amazing force nature is. (please click on the images for a better look...)
After that we went to Eiheiji 永平寺 . Eiheiji is one of the largest temples with 7 - 8 wings, all wood built. When we entered the temple, we had to take off our shoes and carry them with us until we exited. The temple is built on a hill, so there were a lot of steps that weren't exactly flat and kinda slippery. I thought that made if more unique and more of an adventure.
We spent a night in a Ryokan, a traditional Japanese house that was build around a hot spring. Mom and I went to the Onsen/hot spring. In Japan, before you enter an Onsen, you wash yourself and then enter the hot spring in the nude. Its all public. Most Onsen are split in half so men and women are separate. It was a new and interesting experience and not as awkward as I thought it would be. Of course, we were pretty lucky in the fact that we were the only ones there.At the Ryokan we were treated to a very traditional dinner. We sat around a fire pit in a tatami matted room where the hosts roasted our food over a fire. We had everything from sashimi, whole fish on a stick, bamboo, expensive mushrooms, eggplant, shrimp, crab, and deer meat. I think the deer meat was my favorite... It was a lot of food and I felt so stuffed afterwards!
The next day we went to Gokayama 五箇山, a mountainous area with small traditional Japanese villages. All the houses were traditionally built with no nails. There were rice paddies and beautiful terraces. It was nice and peaceful compared to the crowded places of Eiheiji and Tojimbo.We then went to a famous paper making area. I made some paper there at the experience houses. It was interesting to see how it worked in person. There was a lot of different kinds of paper on display there. I fell in love, it was all so beautiful. They had a lot of origami paper for really cheap so I got some along with a wall scroll pring. (They are now on my wall. Yay!)
We went back to Mihama after that, where my host parents live. The next day we went to the pottery district near the house and I bought some beautiful dishes there. Hopefully they'll make it back to America in one piece. I also went and visited my host school. Because it was holiday, not many people were there, but I met three of my old school mates, Sayako, Tao, and Hitomi. Sayako was one of my closest friends, and her English is still as hilarious as ever. Hitomi was more beautiful than I remember her, and I almost didn't recognize her!I also got to hear the wadaiko drums again. Even though they were only doing basic practicing, it almost made me cry because I missed them so much. It was a great walk down memory lane.
I think that about covers most of the big stuff while I was there. Just a lot of fun, and I got to practice my Japanese a ton! So now I'm all pumped to talk to all my school teachers and ward members in Japanese.
Oh, and one side adventure that's just to amazing not to mention: on the bus ride there, the woman I sat next to actually spoke very good English. She lived in Alberta Canada for two years studying English at University. Turns out, she's a editor at a very large manga publishing company called Shogakukan. She saw my sketches and was pretty impressed at my skill. She really wants to meet up with me again and maybe she'll take me to her work so I can see what it's like! So cool! I'm not sure I'd want to become a manga-ka (professional manga artist), but it was great to make a new friend.
Anyways, life is good. Back to work. The jr high exams are next week so I only work two days at the school, and then the rest of the days at the office.
I'll try to update this more often, just with little tidbits of information or activities I do. Doing long posts just isn't going to work with my schedule!
August 26, 2009
First Day of School
I think I've come to realize that updating this blog every other day probably won't happen as my schedule is rather full and exhausting. All free time goes to mindless lounging.
I woke up this morning a bit panicked. It was my first day teaching!
My alarm went off at 6:00am, and I was out the door around 6:30 - extra early so I could get to school early and make a good impression. But fate wasn't exactly with me. I took my local train to Kokubunji, which I then transferred to the Chuo line to Kichijoji, which transferred to the Keio line to Meidaimae, which I then transferred agian to go to Rokakoen.
But what I didn't realize was on my way to Rokakoen, was that I had boarded a non-local train.
Now there are like three or four different kind of trains:
Local: Goes to every station.
Rapid: Goes to every two or three stations (depending on how popular the station is, you see.)
Special Rapid: Goes about every four to six stations.
Commuter Rapid: Hits only the big stations, sometimes as far as ten to fifteen stations apart.
Yup. That's right, I got on a Commuter Rapid. I overshot Rokakoen about 7 stations. A half hour later, I was on the right track and made it through the Jr. High School's gates. I missed the teacher's meeting at 8:15 all together and barely made it there in time to start my first class. I didn't get to talk with the English teachers beforehand. We'll just say I was a bit frazzled. (ha ha.)
The teachers seemed pretty forgiving and said that no ALT in the history of ALTs had ever gotten to Roka on their first day on time due to the whole Rapid or getting lost mix up. (The school is in the middle of nowhere.) But I still felt terrible about it. And the idea of getting to school taking about an hour and a half one way is a bit miserable. I've never had to commute over fifteen minutes to get anywhere on a regular basis.
But enough about travel! The real fun was in the classes!
Even though I was really nervous, my first class turned out well. I'd forgotten how little Jr. High students were, and they were all very very cute. Even in one hour, I could tell there was such a variance in personalities - some were spacey, some where high energetic and genki, and some were just preteens. It also seemed like there was always one super super shy child in every class. Hopefully, by the end of my four months, some of them will be able to talk to me without being scared stiff. I had the realization that most of the kids were probably going through some of the worst years of their lives. No one ever wants to relive Jr high or puberty over again.
There are three English teachers in the school, all middle-aged women who were very kind, and nice to me. I felt like the balance between me and the teacher was really good. I wasn't just standing up at the front of class reading sentences. I walked around, helping students fill out sheets, answering questiosn. Sometimes when they asked if I like animals, I brought out pictures of the farm and of my dog Eli sporting some cool sunglasses. (Best picture ever, they loved it.)
I already have a love for the students I've met so far. I really hope I can get to know their names and that they'll grow to like me as time goes on. I really do want to help them in any way possible - I hope I can.
The day ended at 3:30, I was exhausted! I headed out and got home around 6:30. I got some laundry done and made rice for dinner. It's now 8:30, and I'm more than ready to go to bed.
Good night!
I woke up this morning a bit panicked. It was my first day teaching!
My alarm went off at 6:00am, and I was out the door around 6:30 - extra early so I could get to school early and make a good impression. But fate wasn't exactly with me. I took my local train to Kokubunji, which I then transferred to the Chuo line to Kichijoji, which transferred to the Keio line to Meidaimae, which I then transferred agian to go to Rokakoen.
But what I didn't realize was on my way to Rokakoen, was that I had boarded a non-local train.
Now there are like three or four different kind of trains:
Local: Goes to every station.
Rapid: Goes to every two or three stations (depending on how popular the station is, you see.)
Special Rapid: Goes about every four to six stations.
Commuter Rapid: Hits only the big stations, sometimes as far as ten to fifteen stations apart.
Yup. That's right, I got on a Commuter Rapid. I overshot Rokakoen about 7 stations. A half hour later, I was on the right track and made it through the Jr. High School's gates. I missed the teacher's meeting at 8:15 all together and barely made it there in time to start my first class. I didn't get to talk with the English teachers beforehand. We'll just say I was a bit frazzled. (ha ha.)
The teachers seemed pretty forgiving and said that no ALT in the history of ALTs had ever gotten to Roka on their first day on time due to the whole Rapid or getting lost mix up. (The school is in the middle of nowhere.) But I still felt terrible about it. And the idea of getting to school taking about an hour and a half one way is a bit miserable. I've never had to commute over fifteen minutes to get anywhere on a regular basis.
But enough about travel! The real fun was in the classes!
Even though I was really nervous, my first class turned out well. I'd forgotten how little Jr. High students were, and they were all very very cute. Even in one hour, I could tell there was such a variance in personalities - some were spacey, some where high energetic and genki, and some were just preteens. It also seemed like there was always one super super shy child in every class. Hopefully, by the end of my four months, some of them will be able to talk to me without being scared stiff. I had the realization that most of the kids were probably going through some of the worst years of their lives. No one ever wants to relive Jr high or puberty over again.
There are three English teachers in the school, all middle-aged women who were very kind, and nice to me. I felt like the balance between me and the teacher was really good. I wasn't just standing up at the front of class reading sentences. I walked around, helping students fill out sheets, answering questiosn. Sometimes when they asked if I like animals, I brought out pictures of the farm and of my dog Eli sporting some cool sunglasses. (Best picture ever, they loved it.)
I already have a love for the students I've met so far. I really hope I can get to know their names and that they'll grow to like me as time goes on. I really do want to help them in any way possible - I hope I can.
The day ended at 3:30, I was exhausted! I headed out and got home around 6:30. I got some laundry done and made rice for dinner. It's now 8:30, and I'm more than ready to go to bed.
Good night!
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