Today was the first of many normal days to come. I woke up and went to work while Ian stayed at home. Ian's thrilled about this idea. While it'll be good and great for him at first, I'm sure there will come a time when he's bored to tears. Today was perfect, though. He made me breakfast as I got ready, and we ate together before I left. I asked him to pick up the remaining stuff he needed to unpack and clean up a bit. He did! I was incredibly happy when I came home from work today, and the bed was made, everything was put away, and the dishes were done. In addition, after we went to the super market tonight, he made me dinner. Perfect!
Since today was my first day at the junior high, it was like having a first day of work all over again. I met new teachers and co-workers. Once again, everyone is VERY nice and welcoming! All of the students seemed interested to see the new American teacher. A group of girls came into the office mid-morning just to talk to me. I asked them simple questions like their names, favorite movie, favorite subject (one said English, woot!), etc. After my grand tour of the three story junior high, I sat at my desk all morning looking at textbooks. Some of the readings from the textbooks are....awkward to say the least. I'll show you one. This is taken from the first junior high English textbook. It's accompanied w/pictures, but I think you'll find just the words as funny/awkward/weird w/o the pictures:
One day a hungry lion slowly came out of the forest. He wanted some food.
He sat on the grass and looked around. He waited for a long time.
The lion saw a rabbit under a tree. He ran after the rabbit.
Just then, a deer ran in front of the lion. The lion wanted a big dinner, so he ran after the deer.
The deer ran away very quickly. The rabbit ran away, too. So the hungry lion got nothing.
Sometimes we are like this lion.
So wait....huh? If anyone would like to offer an explanation to that story, I'm willing to take it. Another story revolved around a tree in Hiroshima. The tree told a tale about the bombing and how a little girl and boy crawled under the tree after the bomb dropped and died there. Sweet, right? Other than reading creepy stories, my day was fun. This afternoon around 3:40, the school nurse told me that it was "break time" and took me to her office. All of the other ladies in the office came w/us and had tea time. We had little pieces of cake and grapes with our tea. I noticed that no one else ate the skin of the grapes. When I (kinda) asked why they didn't, they noticed that I had been eating the skin of the grapes and looked horrified. lol. Most of them didn't know much English, but we managed to communicate pretty well. They were very curious about me, my husband, life in America, etc. It was really fun to (kinda) discuss those things. The vice principal came in later, and it was very interesting to talk with him. He loves American sports. He doesn't speak a lot of English, but I heard key words like NBA, MLB, football, Dallas Cowboys, etc. He said that he went to Texas and Disneyworld 12 years ago. The school nurse got out an atlas, and he pointed out to everyone where those places are located. I showed them where Kentucky was along with major locations that they would know like NYC and LA.
On my way home, my supervisor passed me and stopped to let me in. I was nearly home, but she said "big bed" and pointed to the trunk. I wasn't really sure what this meant, but when we got home, she showed me what was in the trunk....a full size futon!!! I'm not sure if all of you are aware, but Ian and I have been sharing a twin bed for the past two nights. It's been.....cozy to say the least. Futons in Japan are not like futons in the States. It's basically like a futon mattress that goes on the floor. You have to pick it up and air it out everyday. We were soooooooooooo excited to have it! We would have made due with the twin bed, but it'll be nice to have the comfort of not rolling over and thumping the wall now. :) I had no idea that we were getting it. Have I mentioned that Japanese people are amazing??
Ian and I went to the super market tonight. Ian is soooooooooooooo much better than me at guessing what things are. He's a really good cook and knows what to look for. I can cook if I follow a recipe. However, I can't really follow American recipes here b/c a) Everything is metric. How many grams are in a teaspoon??? b) I can't find common ingredients. They might be at the super market. but since everything's in kanji, that doesn't mean I'll find it. :( Anyway, we loaded up two baskets. We probably spent close to $100 in groceries! I know that sounds like a lot, but we have to create a kitchen. We bought a lot of cooking staples like spices, oil, seasonings, etc. In addition, we felt like trying new things. We'd pick up something, question it, and say, "well, let's try it!" The only thing I have to be careful of is reading the label to make sure there isn't shellfish in anything. I've been lucky so far to not have an allergic reaction. "Kai" (shellfish) is one of the very few kanji I actually know. I keep a little card in my wallet that says "I have a shellfish allergy" in Japanese with the kanji and a frowning face beside it. Ha ha. I've whipped it out a couple of times to show people when I wasn't sure what was in something.
It's a little after midnight now, and I'm going to try out my new futon. Good night, dear readers!
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