Halloween in Japan part I

Hello, everyone!  It’s been one heck of a weekend filled with candy, costumes, and general Halloween madness.  A lot of people have asked me if Japan celebrates Halloween to which I respond…kind of.  It’s comparable to how Americans celebrate Cinco de Mayo (even though that’s pretty much a made up holiday…).  We know about it, and whenever it’s May 5th, perhaps we look at the calendar and think, today is Cinco de Mayo.  After that thought, we go about our day just like normal.  That’s similar to how the Japanese celebrate Halloween.  They know that it’s an American holiday and some of the traditions behind it, but they don’t really celebrate it.  With that being said, I did see Japanese people celebrating it this weekend.  At both parties I went to, there were Japanese friends there, and on our way through Kumamoto City today, we saw what appeared to be kids dressed up in costumes and trick-or-treating at one of the department stores.  I’m very excited for tomorrow because Ian and I are going to have trick-or-treaters come here!  Students have asked me about it at school, so I know that they know and are excited about it. 

Our Halloween weekend began on Thursday.  I did two of four of my Halloween lessons on Thursday.  I got to dress up as a witch for class, which was amazing.  I wore normal clothes to school and changed right before class.  When I walked into the teacher’s room in my costume and and broom, everyone laughed.  The reaction was even better in the hallway and classroom.  Students just stared at me in the hallway, and whenever I walked into class, there was an unison  “WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA???????”  It was funny.  My Halloween lesson consisted of a dialogue between my English teacher and I discussing the main points of Halloween.  After that, I gave out a Halloween word search, and the first two students finished won Halloween prizes.  Yay!

When I got home Thursday night, Ian showed me our wonderful mail collection for the day…..two packages from home!  We are so blessed to have wonderful friends.  Kim sent us a package and told us about it, so we were expecting it.  However, David and Lucy also sent us a package, and it was a complete surprise.  It just so happened that they both arrived on the same day.  It was a magical moment to have two big boxes of Halloween candy, stickers, decorations, cake mix, plates, and napkins to go through.  Thanks again, guys!

Unfortunately, it was Thursday.  I hate, hate, hate Thursday because I have my Thursday night class.  I’ve mentioned it before, but it’s mostly elementary kids, so keeping them entertained for an hour and a half is tough work.  I DREAD Thursday night.  We started Halloween lessons the week before, and last Thursday I had two activities for them.  The first one was pretty successful, and the second one I really don’t even want to think about.  The first project was demonstrating was a jack-o-lantern is and allowing them to make “jack-o-lanterns” with oranges.  They got to draw faces on the oranges, add sequins and pipe cleaners, and whatever else.  It was really cute, and for the most part they did a really good job!  One of my students even gave me his orange.  I felt so special!    The second activity was making costumes.  We brought a bundle of newspapers and pictures of mummies, ghosts, cats, bats, etc and told them that they had to make costumes from newspapers.  At first, it started off okay, but then, being the hyperactive sixth graders that they are, they went crazy.  They started shredding the newspapers, making baseball bats and balls and playing, rolling swords and hitting each other with them, etc.  It took us a whole fifteen minutes to clean up the mess.  I’m pretty sure that the kids somehow managed to make the newspaper multiply.  We walked out with so much more newspaper (or so it seemed!) than what we walked in with.  I often wonder what the kids tell their parents about that class.  I’m sure the parents ask the kids what they did in class, and what do the kids tell their parents?  What do the parents think of me?  I’m very excited about this week because Thursday is a national holiday and therefore a day off of work, meaning that I don’t have night class that day.  Yay!

I’m 11:40PM now, and I’m going to bed.  I’ll write more tomorrow.  It’s been a very long (but fun!) and sleepless weekend!

Probably one of the most disturbing stories you’ll ever read….

This is one of the short stories found in the 3rd grade (which is really 9th grade) textbook.  It’s sooooooooo strange.  However, I’ve been told that a lot of people recite it at speech competitions.  My English teacher wanted me to type it and make copies this morning, so I thought, why not copy and paste it into my blog so that all of you could read it?!?  Please, read and enjoy (or be shocked, scared, confused, etc).

 

A big, old tree stands by a road near the city of Hiroshima. Through the years, it has seen many things.

One summer night the tree heard a lullaby. A mother was singing to her little girl under the tree. They looked happy, and the song sounded sweet. But the tree remembered something sad.

“Yes, it was some sixty years ago. I heard a lullaby that night, too.”

On the morning of that day, a big bomb fell on the city of Hiroshima. Many people lost their lives, and many others were injured. They had burns all over their bodies. I was very sad when I saw those people.

It was a very hot day. Some of the people fell down near me. I said to them, “Come and rest in my shade. You’ll be all right soon.”

Night came. Some people were already dead. I heard a weak voice. It was a lullaby. A young girl was singing to a little boy.

“Mommy! Mommy!” the boy cried.

“Don’t cry,” the girl said. “Mommy is here.” Then she began to sing again.

She was very weak, but she tried to be a mother to the poor little boy. She held him in her arms like a real mother.

“Mommy,” the boy was still crying.

“Be a good boy,” said the girl. “You’ll be all right.” She held the boy more tightly and began to sing again.

After a while the boy stopped crying and quietly died. But the little mother did not stop singing. It was a sad lullaby. The girl’s voice became weaker and weaker.

Morning came and the sun rose, but the girl never moved again.

Another wonderful weekend!

This past weekend was another activity filled yet wonderful weekend.  On Friday night, we invited several friends over for a pizza party.  We’ve been wanting to do it for a while, and Friday night worked for everyone.  We wanted to have it at someone else’s place since ours is so small, but it seemed like everyone else couldn’t.  We weren’t sure exactly how many people were coming, so fitting multiple people in our house was going to be……interesting.  I didn’t get home until 5:45 since I had to stay and help with English competition practice.  As soon as I walked in the door, Ian asked me to go to the super market to pick up a few things he had forgotten.  He was busy making the dough and had run out of time.  I didn’t even have time to change.  Once I got back, he said that I needed to go to the train station and pick up one of our friends.  Whenever I got back, I had to go back to the super market because one of our friends was lost and waiting in the parking lot for me to show her the way.  I had to return AGAIN to the super to pick up pineapple for one of our pizza toppings, came back, and we were out of cheese, so back AGAIN I went to the super.  I’m pretty sure those cashiers thought I was crazy, lol. 

The actual party itself was fun. We all had a great time.  I don’t know how many little individual pizzas we made in addition to the garlic cheese bread and nearly five liters of coke we went through.    It was a good night.  We stayed up looooooooooong after our bedtime.  Three of our friends decided to spend the night, and we were up until 4AM talking, laughing, and discussing things.  It was a really, really good party.  In addition, we learned that if we want good American pizza, all we have to do is make it. 

Since we went to bed so late on Friday, I did NOT want to wake up on Saturday.  It was very difficult to do so.  I’m not a morning person, and anyone that knows me well enough knows that.  I’m fine if I wake on my own terms, ie no alarms, but if I wake up for one reason or another or don’t have the right amount of sleep, world watch out!    I think my friends quickly realized this.  I didn’t bite anyone’s head off, but I did lay and bed and growl as people woke up and got noisy. 

Everyone left around 10AM, and that gave us a little time to lay around before meeting back up with the gang in Hitoyoshi at 3:15.  I wanted to talk to people back home on skype, but no one was online!  Usually, the weekends are the only time that I get to talk to multiple people, so it was a little disappointing.  We were able to talk to one friend, which made me very happy.  The rest of the morning and early afternoon was spent very sluggishly.  We were both exhausted from the night before. 

Every year at this time, Yatsushiro (a big city in Kumamoto) has a huge fireworks display. It’s rumored to be the biggest one on Kyushu (my island) and possibly all of Japan.  We picked up one friend and met several others in Hitoyoshi around 3PM.  We knew it would be stupid to drive since the traffic would be horrific, so we took the train.  It was a pretty fun ride there.  We all love hanging out with each other, so we talked and laughed and carried on.  Once we arrived at the Yatsushiro station, we were incredibly glad that we had ridden the train.  People were EVERY WHERE.  It was quite ridiculous.  We were afraid that our return train might be full, so we bought our tickets just in case.  There were attendants directing us and handing out maps about which way to go.  We all had to use the bathroom, so we waited in line for a good twenty minutes before following the crowds toward the fireworks.  Up and down the streets, there were stands full of delicious carny food, Japanese style.  While things looked very appetizing, we wanted to make our way to the park where the fireworks would take place before buying everything we could get our hands on.  Although a walk from the station to the park would probably only take ten minutes on a normal day, it probably took us thirty since the crowds were so thick.  We had to cross a bridge across the river to get to the park, and the bridge was still open to vehicular traffic, so there were tons of people, including us, trying to cross on the sidewalk.  I will say this for the Japanese—they are remarkably organized and patient.  All along our route, attendants were stationed to mark the way.  Plus, despite the enormous crowd, no one was pushing or shoving or trying to beat everyone else. 

At the park, we indulged ourselves in carny food.  Ian got tako, which are little fried octopus balls, I got an ear of corn that was probably about a foot long, and we both got crepes and bubble tea.  There were tons of stands selling noodles, fried chicken, tempura, squid, octopus, crepes, chocolate bananas, fried calzones, etc, etc, etc.  I wanted one of everything (well, minus the seafood)!  When we actually made our way to a good spot in the park, the fireworks were amazing.  I saw fireworks that I’ve NEVER seen in the States.  There were ones that exploded into smiley faces, waterfalls, flowers, and hearts.  In the States, all the good fireworks are saved for the very end, and the finale is good.  In Yatsushiro, it was like the finale ALL THE TIME.    Each company sponsored a five(ish) minute display, and each was bigger and more beautiful than the last.  Think of whatever fireworks you see at the Fourth of July and multiply that by 100.  I promise to upload pictures to facebook soon.

Whenever the display was over, we made a bee line for the exit.  Once again, the crowds were ridiculous, but also once again, there was no pushing, shoving, or people acting like idiots.  Actually, we were the ones acting like idiots.  We had to hold onto one another to not lose anyone, and Ian was our fearless leader.  He was VERY good at moving through the crowd with a train of six other people behind him.  Half the time, we weren’t in a straight line, but more of a constantly changing ameba shaped blob, which we endearingly called “blob formation.”  We arrived at the train station and feared that we would be packed in tightly into our train cars.  We watched train attendants on trains heading toward the city shove more and more people on board.  Whenever it was our train approaching the tracks, we lined up quickly and got ready to hop on board as fast as humanly possible.  However, our little two car train rolled into the station, and only about ten people got on.  We were so concerned about even GETTING ON the train, yet we were almost the only people in our car, lol.  Sometimes there are benefits of living in the middle of no where.   

Sunday morning was a blissful morning of sleeping in.  I was hoping to catch people at home on skype, but alas, no one was online again.  We talked to Kim again, which was nice.  I made a horrendous breakfast of burned pancakes.  They were terrible.  I guess I didn’t save the delicious pancake recipe that I had found, so I tried a new one.  The batter was extremely thin, it burned too quickly, and the unburned pancakes tasted like nothing.  EPIC FAIL. 

Sunday afternoon we rode with Krista to Hitoyoshi to meet other friends at Baskin Robbins for ice cream.  Krista recently got pet turtles and wanted to stop at a pet store.  They had different pets there, and while she shopped, Ian and I enjoyed watching the other animals.  Ian feel in love with the ferrets and has been bothering me ever since about getting a ferret.  I don’t want a pet here, but Ian does.  I don’t have anything against pets, but a) our house is ridiculously small as is, b) not sure if we’re even allowed pets, c) ferrets creep me out……they look like something you would find squashed along the side of the road, and d) right now we’re living free and easy……if we want to take a weekend trip somewhere, we can.  With a ferret (or any animal!) we’d have to think about it before hopping off anywhere.  What happens when we come home next summer for a few weeks?  Who’s going to take take of it then?  I told Ian that we could get a pet whenever we get back to the States, but I’m really not comfortable having one here.  That hasn’t stopped him from nagging me about it.  For example, if I ask him to turn off a light he’s not using, he’ll say, “Sure….if we can get a ferret.”  If I ask him to help me with my computer, he’ll say, “Okay….if we can get a ferret.”  Ugh. 

I could go on and on into further details about our Sunday activities, but I think I’ll stop here.  This blog is already rather lengthy, and if you’ve made it to this point, I commend you. 

Sick day :(

Despite the title, I do have wonderful stories about this weekend to tell, but first I want to tell about my horrible day today.  Last night, we went with a friend to a restaurant called Pizza Pino thinking that it would be a (what else?) pizza restaurant.  However, there were only two pizzas on the entire menu.  I wanted to try Japanese pizza (it’s VERY different), so I ordered one.  What I wasn’t expecting to see on my pizza was shrimp, which is a fairly common topping here.  I didn’t even think to ask for no shrimp!  Luckily, the shrimp was only on three pieces, so I just didn’t eat those pieces.  I didn’t even touch them.  Whenever we got home, I carried on a normal night and went to bed.  I remember waking up sometime last night and thinking that my stomach was a little upset.  It wasn’t to the point of being sick but more along the lines of being uncomfortable. 

When I woke up this morning, I had……….problems.  I felt like crap, and I had three…….problems even before I left the house.  I could have called in and taken a sick day, but today was the day that I was giving my Halloween lessons for the 3rd graders, so my participation in class was crucial.  I drove to work, and when I got to work, I had another….problem.  I had one free period before class, and one of my English teachers came over to me and asked if I was okay.  I told her that my stomach hurt.  The school nurse was handing out green peppers from the vice principal’s garden, and she, too, asked if I was okay.  I told her the same thing, and she said I looked very pale.  I went back to the bathroom two more times before class began, and one of those times I met the school nurse on the way out.  She gave me a very concerned look and gestured throwing up.  I told her that no I hadn’t but didn’t go into details about my sickness. 

I went to the first class and suffered through.  There are ten minute breaks between classes, and it was back to the bathroom.  I think my English teacher was looking for me, and I ran into my other English teacher on the way out of the bathroom.  She said it was time for class, so I grabbed my book and went.  She asked me if I had thrown up, and I said, “No.  I …….um……..er……..um……” to which she responded, “I see.  I think I understand.”  Awkward.    Not even halfway through the class period, my English teacher left the classroom.  The students were doing group work, so they probably didn’t even notice, but I did.  He was only gone a few minutes, and when he returned, he walked me down to the nurse’s room.  They told me I could rest there.  For the remainder of the class period, I laid down on a bed.  Everyone kept asking if I needed to go to the hospital.  (They don’t have doctors’ offices here.  Everyone goes to the hospital regardless of how large or small your condition is.)  I said no.  I think they thought that I was afraid to go due to the cost.  They tried to reassure me that going to the doctor in Japan was very cheap and that I could get some medicine.  I wasn’t sure how to explain that I was pretty sure I ate shrimp and that’s what was causing this.  I knew what my condition was, and the only medicine for me was time and a toilet.    They told me to just go home and rest, so by noon, I was back at home.

I’m feeling MUCH better now.  I think whatever it was has passed, thank God!  I felt really back about leaving my English teacher high and dry this afternoon with the Halloween lesson.  I was really excited about it!  I’m not sure if I’ll get to do it sometime later or not at all now. 

Just another week in Japan

How and why, oh why do I get so far behind?? To be fair, it’s been a very busy week. The English competition for my area is on October 31^st, and I’ve been staying after school EVERY day to help the students practice. For example, on Thursday I was at work from 8:30-5:45 then had my night class from 7-8:30. Ugh. It has NOT been a fun week, and I’m extremely ready for this competition to be over!

Not a lot of exciting things happen during the week. Now that I’m settled into the routine, things aren’t as new and exciting. One thing that was different was that on Monday we had an earthquake drill at school. This was a little unlike the earthquake drills in Kentucky. My English teacher told me about it and said that I could come with her and grab a book. The book was used to protect the head from falling objects in the event of a real earthquake. However, most books here are paperback, so I’m not really sure that the paperback book would really help in the event of a real earthquake. We had to go to the nurse’s room and make sure that there were no students in there. After that, we stood by the stairway to direct students out of the building. Everyone had to go out onto the sports field and line up. Since it was practice for a real emergency, no one changed from their indoor to outdoor shoes, which is very weird. It was awkward to be out on the field in my slippers. Since it’s Japan, of course speeches had to be made. First, one teacher made a speech about…..something. Then the principal and another teacher. I’m assuming that it was about earthquake readiness. I thought I heard “Tohoku” in the speeches, which is the area where the big earthquake in Japan was.

On Tuesdays, I always go to my BOE and nursery schools in the morning. While I was at the BOE, my co-worker with the best English approached me and started asking about beer. I wasn’t sure what she was saying, but then she asked about a gift on October 5^th. Immediately, it dawned on me. In a previous blog, I said how one night whenever we came home, there was a bag of goodies on our doorstep. There was beer, Coke, snacks, a newspaper, and a note written in kanji. We had someone translate the letter for us, and he said that it said thank you a lot, and it was from the people at the barbershop near the school. This completely confused me, but whatever. HOWEVER, my co-worker was telling me that it was a mistake. We weren’t supposed to get that. It was for a neighbor. I thought that everyone knew which house was the foreigner’s, but apparently not! Anyway, my co-worker asked for the beer back (in an extremely Japanese way) and I assume gave it back to whoever left it there. I had to go to my nursery schools, stop by my house, briefly tell Ian the funny story, grab the beer, and bring it back to the BOE. When I walked in, the none of the co-workers that were there at the time were currently there, so my supervisor gave me an extremely awkward look when I showed up with a six pack cradled in my arm, lol. I had a really fun time trying to explain that! Oh, Japan and your language that I can’t speak!

Wednesdays are my elementary days. It’s very weird how I used to dread Wednesdays, (because I NEVER know what’s going to happen at the elementary school) but now it’s my favorite day of the week. I love those kids! I had to teach 1^st grade, and I hadn’t taught it yet. I didn’t get a chance to talk to the 1^st grade teacher last week since I had to go to my health check-up, so honestly, I had NO idea what was going on for class. I had packed my scrapbook just in case there was a *surprise!* “introduce yourself” lesson. As it turns out, I did have to give an “introduce yourself” lesson. I showed my scrapbook, and it all worked out. After that, the teacher had all of the students go around the classroom and say “My name is _________.” It was adorable. However, after that, the teacher told me to teach about Halloween. I had absolutely NOTHING about Halloween on me. It was ridiculous. Trying to explain ANYTHING in ENGLISH to 1^st graders is not easy. Finally, I gave up and started drawing pictures of bats, cats, witches, etc on the board. I made up a symbol for each. For example, a bat was flapping your arms like a bird. The kids seemed to have fun for that, so it’s whatever. When life gives you lemons…..

I ate lunch with the 1^st graders on Wednesday, and I felt like a big, fat American. I had to sit at a 1^st grader desk. I couldn’t even get my own legs under the desk, and I was sitting in tiny, little seats, so I had to sit turned to the side. It was ridiculous. I love to see “Engrish” shirts here. “Engrish” is really, really bad English. A lot of things here are printed in “Engrish” and just don’t make sense. One of the 1^st grade boys had on an “Engrish” shirt. It had a picture of a huge excavator on it, and said “EXCAVATOR” in big, manly letters. Below that was very feminine writing that said “chicka-chicka, bam-bam”. During lunch, I taught the rock on horns. They had no idea what they were doing, and it was adorable. At recess, I played tag with some girls. Since I’m constantly either it or being chased to be it, I run at full speed a lot. I learned the other day that there are no “time outs” in Japan. Even whenever I took a potty break, the girls waited for me right outside the bathroom to tag me. They also cheated. I’d tag them, and then they’d claim that I didn’t tag them. Little did they know that I could cheat just as easily as them. I continued to play after we were inside. During cleaning time, I snuck up on them and tagged them and ran out of the room before they could realize what had happened.

Wednesday night, we had singing practice in Hitoyoshi again. The group is mostly older people. They asked us to introduce ourselves again, so we wrote our names on the board and what town each of us lived in. When Ian and I introduced ourselves, I said that I was the Yunomae ALT, and Ian was my husband. Everyone started clapping for us, lol. Overwhelmingly, most ALTs are single. In Japanese culture, if you aren’t married by 25, it’s a no-no. Therefore, they were very excited that we were already married! They also asked about our middle names. The Japanese don’t do middle names, so they were curious how we got them. I told them that my middle name is my mother’s middle name. They also asked me about my maiden name and what American women do about that. I said that I changed my name, and then we explained that some women choose to hyphenate their names. I love internationalizing like that. I love sharing our culture and traditions and hearing about theirs. Really, it’s a win-win for both sides.

a weekend of adventure!

Saturday-

Oh, Saturday! So much adventure in such a little time. I didn’t have time to skype on Saturday morning because we went WHITE WATER RAFTING! I did miss skyping since that’s really the only time I can talk to a lot of people, but we had fun regardless. One of our friends drove us to the place, which is right outside of Hitoyoshi and about an hour from our house. We heard that the place, Land Earth, does a little bit of everything—rafting, kayaking, canoeing, and even in the winter, snowboarding. It was a ton of fun!!

We met some other married JETs. They live in Kumamoto City, but it was great to have other married people around! This is their second year in the program, so they knew a bit more than me, and it was good to get advice. The guy is the actual ALT, and the wife is his plus one. Since they live in the city, it was MUCH easier for her to find work, and she did. I wish it would be easy for Ian to find a job, but we’re way the heck out here, and there’s not really a lot around. Anyway, I know many of you are thinking why we would decide to river raft in the middle of October. Yes, the water was COLD. However, the company provided wet suits. That was my first time in a wet suit. They really are quite effective! We also had to wear life jackets and helmets. I’ve never been rafting before, so I’m not going to lie. When they were going over directions and what to do if the boat tips, etc, I was a little worried. Instructions were given in Japanese, so you can understand how that might have been a problem. :S

The river wasn’t very dangerous since it’s not rainy season. They said that during rainy season, the river almost reaches the road, which is veeeeery far up the river bed. Some of my friends were saying that THAT is the time to raft the river. Since the river was so low, there were only a few rapids, so the guides MADE it fun. Whenever we first paddled into the water, everyone starting splashing everyone else. I was the only person that brought goggles because I didn’t want my contacts to mess up, so despite the fact that I looked like a big goober, I was happy to have them. Everyone else complained about how much the water stung their faces. When we got a little farther down the river, they roped all of the rafts together and blew a whistle. Once that happened, it was every man for himself. The goal of the game was to knock other people into the river. Once I got knocked in, I stayed in. I saw other people get in only to get knocked back out. No thanks. Plus, whenever I hit the water, it was so cold that it took my breath away, so I had a moment of panic when I couldn’t breathe. The guides would also try to pull people in the river. Whenever we were back in our rafts, they would hook their paddles onto our lifejackets and pull people in.

Going over the actual rapids was really fun. Every raft would roll over the rapids, and then we would paddle back up on the non-rapid side of the river and do it again. The second time, the guide would try to intentionally flip us. I think our raft only flipped once because we were a bunch on morons that didn’t understand simple instructions, so he couldn’t flip us since we weren’t paddling the way he wanted us to.

The rafting trip took about two hours, and after that, we were bused back to Land Earth. The guides let us stay for a BBQ. Japanese BBQs are always very interesting. They’re called BBQs, but it’s basically grilling. Basically, everyone sits around a charcoal pit and grills meats and veggies. Everyone fights over the first meats and veggies to come off the grill, but there’s always more than enough to go around. One thing that they grill that I find weird but good is cabbage. You wait until the edges are a little crispy, and it’s delicious. It was raining outside during our BBQ, but we were on a front porch. It wasn’t until the roof started leaking and we had to take our BBQ inside that it sucked. Luckily, some of the guides climbed up on the roof and put tarps down to stop the leaking. We stayed for a long time eating and drinking, but when it was time to go home, we decided to stop in Hitoyoshi to play a couple of games of pool before driving back. After all of the excitement from the day, you better believe I slept well that night!

Sunday-

I said in a previous blog that Ian had promised me to go hiking on Sunday. He made good on his promise. We invited some of our friends to join us, so we had quite a nice little group. I had to pick up one friend at the train station, and then we met at another friend’s house. We had two options for hiking: Ichifusa or hike to the source of the Kuma River (the same river that we rafted). None of us had hiked to the source of the river, so we decided that it would be fun. We had no idea what we’d find….if the path was difficult, how long it was, etc. It took about an hour to drive there. It was a beautiful drive. There were lots of waterfalls coming down off of the mountains. It was also very cool the farther up we drove. We could tell that it was more of a fall season the higher up we went. Leaves blew across the road, and the trees had a slight tint to the leaves. The road was a little sketchy in parts. We had to avoid rocks, and once we accidentally ran over one only to hear it ca-chunk, ca-chunk, ca-chunk under the car. Oops. :S

The hike up the mountain started relatively smooth. It wasn’t until we got to a fork that pointed difficult one way, easy the other way that the trail began to get a little tough. We took the “easy” trail, but it was far from easy. There were places where we had to crawl, where the path was no wider than the width of my forearm, where the path was washed out, where we had to slide on our butts, etc. We had to cross streams and wide, rocky, and dry creek beds. It was a little scary at points, but we did it! The source of the great Kuma River is a tiny little spring flowing out of the mountain. The water there was EXTREMEMLY cold. We all kind of wanted to drink it, but we were all a little nervous about drinking from an unknown water source. We did have lunch beside the spring. It was a wonderful little place to have a picnic lunch. There were some Japanese hikers, so whenever we left, we talked to them. They asked who we were and what we were doing there. Lol. I’m sure it’s very rare to see so many foreigners in such a remote place.

After the hike, we decided to go to the onsen (hot spring) in Yunomae. I’ve heard that it’s a really nice one, but I’ve never been there. Remember, at the onsens you have to strip down to your birthday suit and THEN get in the water. I was nervous about seeing students or co-workers there. The hot water felt amazing after a long day of hiking. There were two small pools inside and one big one outside. We started off inside but then moved to the outside one. It was like sitting in a hot tub. There was one end of the pool that sent electricity into the water. I know what you’re thinking. Water + Electricity = bad news. I don’t know how they do it, but the current is very low. It feels like tingling shooting through your body. It’s feels like whenever your foot or hand goes to sleep….except all over. It’s weird.

After the onsen, we went to a Chinese restaurant in the neighboring village, Mizukami. There were ten of us, so the owners let us have the big room. Having the Japanese version of Chinese food was different. I had this stir-fry dish called “mother and child”. The reason it was called that is because it has both egg and chicken in it, mother and child. The portions were huge, and I cleaned my plate. Some friends had to go home, but we went to another friend’s house to watch a movie. Unfortunately, I was exhausted. I fell asleep watching the movie. It was a very busy weekend, but I had a blast. After going so long without hanging out with people, that was very welcomed. I love Ian, but it was nice to be able to talk to someone in English other than him!

Friday

Friday-

I did NOT want to wake up on Friday morning.  Maybe it was because I knew it would be a very busy (but fun) weekend.  Plus, it’s starting to get chilly in the morning, so you never want to leave a nice warm bed.  AND it was raining.  That was three strikes against getting up, but I still did.  I also woke up remembering this really funny dream.  I dreamed that Ian’s family lived in cardinal pointe apartments in Paducah, which was the hard ghetto.  I’ve heard that those apartments are jank, but this ghetto was complete with people doing crack, hookers, and Eminem.  I know it sounds really serious, but the tone of the dream was actually comical. 

I have a pretty funny story from class.  On Friday, we played hangman in class.  Here they play hangman with one word at a time.  I drew blanks for a words like so: __ __ __ __ __ __ __.  Once the students guessed letters, I wrote them on the board so they wouldn’t guess them again.  Everything was going normal, and students were guessing letters like normal.  Someone guessed “s”, and then someone else guessed “e”.  Another student guessed “x”.  It wasn’t until I wrote the “x” on the board that I realized what those little hooligans had spelled.  S-E-X.  They were giggling like crazy.  I’m not sure what color of red I turned, and I wasn’t sure how to react to it.  I noticed that my English teachers weren’t acknowledging it, so I continued on like it was nothing.  Stupid pubescent junior high schoolers.

As soon as I got off of work Friday afternoon, we had to go to Hitoyoshi.  We somehow got suckered into participating in a singing festival.  I asked around and found out that a couple of other ALTs in the area were also doing it.  Ironically, it’s all the first years.  It’s as if the second years knew how to say no or what exactly it was and stayed away, lol.  We drove down early so that we could have dinner with our friends before the practice.  We went back to the Indian restaurant, and the food was just as amazing as it was before.  Delicious!!  After that, the practice wasn’t too far away, so we walked there.  It was raining a little, and we weren’t 100% sure where we were going, but we found it shortly.  There were six of us there, and I’m soooooooooooo happy that some of them could speak Japanese.  As it turned out, we were supposed to explain the meaning of the song.  There’s no way Ian or I could have done that because most of the people there couldn’t speak English.  The song was “Dreaming of Home and Mother.”  It’s a really old song and has some old English like tis, twas, sweet’st, etc, so it was hard to explain.  We had to sing it several times.  I kept thinking what the heck am I doing here….I don’t know Japanese OR music!!!

After we finished up with singing practice, we decided to go out for ice cream.  There’s a Baskin Robbins in Hitoyoshi, so we all piled into two cars and went.  It was a reeeally good idea.  I had a scoop of pumpkin pudding and cola ice cream.  Both were perfect.  Ian and I haven’t been out with friends in a while, so it was extremely fun to just sit around and catch up with everyone.  We actually stayed out in the parking lot and talked for a while.  I wanted to leave so that we could get home, but I was having too good of a time, so we didn’t get home until 11:30ish. 

Bringing Halloween to Japan

Wednesday-

Oh, Wednesday! I had my health check-up on Wednesday. Every employer in Japan is required to give their employees a free check-up every year. I went to school like normal on Wednesday and had three classes in the morning. I had two classes of second graders, in which I got to talk about Halloween. I forgot to bring my Halloween decorations to class. I had a cape and witch hat that I was going to wear, but I left them at home. Regardless, I read my story that I wrote, complete with gestures and print outs. The kids really seemed to like it, and it was fun!

I didn’t get to eat lunch with the kids or play at recess since I had to go to my health check-up. I met my supervisor and two other ladies at the BOE. We drove to Taragi to go to the hospital. The check-up thing was pretty cool and efficient. There were different stations set up. There was a main waiting room that we waited in until our name was called. The first thing was to meet with the doctor, who looked in my throat, eyes, and pushed on my stomach…..I guess to make sure my organs were in the right place. He could speak a little English and asked where I was from. I told him America. He asked where in America. I said Kentucky. It’s always easy for people to understand Kentucky since KFC is the number two most popular international fast food chain in Japan!

I felt a little bit like a child because I had to be directed from one place to another and told what to do. I had my height and weight measured, had urine and stool sample tests, blood pressure taken, blood work done, chest X-ray, EKG, hearing, and vision tests done. All of this was for FREE. I love universal health care! We all know how much that would have cost in the States!!

Everything was good and great until the blood work. It’s no secret. I don’t like blood or needles, and I will pass out nine out of ten times. I was prepared. I had it accurately translated on my phone to say “I do not like needles or blood. I may faint.” I showed my supervisor, and she said “Oooohhh.” When the nurse called my name, I wasn’t stupid. I didn’t look at the needle or blood, and I was okay almost until the end. I started getting hot, my hearing was getting dim, and my vision was going. I leaned on the table, and nurse asked if I was okay (in Japanese, of course). I pulled out my phone and showed her the translation. She suddenly had a look of panic in her eye, slapped a bandaid on my arm, and whisked me away to the next room where I could lay down. I felt bad because she was a very petite woman, and I was putting about 90% of my body weight on her. I never completely lost consciousness but came pretty close. She left me alone for a few minutes and returned with the doctor. He said “You not like doctors?” I told him that I didn’t like blood and needles. They let me lay down for a little while until I felt normal enough to stand on my own two feet. Walking back into the waiting room was embarrassing. Everyone stared at the foreigner. Blarg.

The last station was to go back to the doctor and hear the results of each test. Everything came back normal for me. The doctor was a really great guy because he had printed out information about Kentucky. He was reciting facts about Kentucky, that the capital is Frankfort, the largest city is Louisville, the population is 4 million, etc. He had a map printed out and asked me where I was from. I showed him Paducah.

We didn’t get back to Yunomae until 4:00PM, so I only had forty-five more minutes of work. By the time I got back to the school and settled in, it was time to leave!

Thursday-

Thursday was another normal day like Tuesday. My supervisor text me and asked me to bring my passport to the BOE so she could copy it. I asked my vice principal if I could go during the break time, and he let me. I rarely drive to school, so I had to walk home (seven minutes). Ian drove me to the BOE, and on the way home the most disgusting thing happened. We were following a truck down our little side road, and the truck narrowly missed hitting a snake. Ugh. That was the first snake I’ve seen here. It was huge, and of course, Ian swerved TO HIT it. I screamed. I thoroughly hate snakes. My dad always told me that they’re good because they eat mice and other critters. I like my mom’s ideas about snakes better. She always says that the only good snake is a dead snake. I’m not sure what happened to it, but when I walked back to school, it wasn’t smashed on the road. Ian thought it was funny to hiss at me and try to scare me the rest of the day. I kept telling myself that there aren’t that many snakes here, and the only reason we saw that one is because people have been harvesting the rice paddies. They probably disturbed its habitat, and it was looking for a new home.

I’m going to try something for Halloween. I’m not sure how well it’s going to work out. We live in a little neighborhood in the middle of a rice paddy. There are about fourteen houses. I thought that we could be the cool foreigners and bring Halloween to Japan. I want to allow the neighborhood kids to trick-or-treat at our house. I would like to open it to the whole town, but I don’t want to spend 1,000 yen on candy to give away, lol. There’s a decent amount of kids in our neighborhood, and I think they would enjoy it. The difficult part is explaining what exactly I’m doing. Halloween isn’t really celebrated here, so people aren’t very familiar with trick-or-treating. I’m in the process of creating flyers. I’ve been using google translate for help, but I have to be VERY careful to translate properly. I have to translate it to Japanese, copy and paste the Japanese, and translate it back to English to make sure that it’s a smooth translation. Once I have the flyers printed, I’ll put them in each neighbor’s mailbox (no, it’s not a federal crime here), and hopefully we’ll have trick-or-treaters for Halloween!

Thursdays are always my least favorite day. I really don’t like my night class. Yesterday, I had to stay after school, so I got home at 5:15 and left to walk to class at 6:30. Ian and I decided that the class really wouldn’t be so bad if two boys were gone. They are the trouble makers and instigators of the hyper-ness. I tried playing Pictionary last night. That lost their interest reeeeeeally quickly. They just started running around the room and stacking up the seat cushions. We moved onto a running game in which a vocabulary word was called and one member from each team had to run to the board and smack it. The first person to do so won. That also lost their interest very quickly. I thought running would be good, but instead they wanted to sit down or throw coke bottles at one another. I seriously dislike those boys. We had a break time, and I brought snack crackers. The lady in the class brought persimmons. They were really big, but very sweet. After break, we played spoons. I taught them this game last week, but this week it went much better. They actually didn’t want to stop playing. I told Ian that maybe next week, we should just play cards, and MAYBE that will keep their interest. I know that in two weeks I’ll have a Halloween lesson for them, so we’ll paint oranges (pumpkins aren’t really over here), make masks out of paper plates, bob for apples, etc. Hopefully that will gain their interest a little more!

I don’t mind being the fool.

Monday-

As I previously said, we had plans to hike Ichifusa on Monday.  We were going to make it to the top!  I woke up, and it was a beautiful morning.  I made some breakfast and woke up Ian.  He whined and complained about being sore from the sports festival the previous day and said that he wouldn’t hike.  To say that I was disappointed would be an understatement.  I was a little peeved because we didn’t hike on Saturday since we said we’d go on Monday.  He wasn’t willing to give, so I made him PROMISE that we hike this Sunday.  Come hell or high water, we’re going to the top on Sunday. 

Instead of hiking, we decided to go to Hitoyoshi.  We didn’t really have specific plans there.  Ian suggested that we start off our day at the electronics store trying out the massage chairs.  It was actually a really good idea, and we got a free massage out of it!  Some of the chairs were REALLY impressive.  They had control panels and everything.  We ran into one of our friends randomly there and talked for a bit.  After that, we went to the Walmart store.  I never thought I would be so crazy about it, but now that we have a bit of yard, I’m excited to plant things!  It’s too bad that it’s fall and things will be dead in a few weeks.  That doesn’t stop me from looking at seeds and plants and planning what we’re going to put in the front bed.  We bought a bento (boxed lunch) at the Walmart store and decided to have a picnic lunch in the park.  There’s a really cool park in Hitoyoshi that is on an island in the middle of the river.  We went there and had a feast of fried chicken balls, fried rice, dumplings, and sweet bread.  When we had finished stuffing our faces, we walked down to the river.  Someone had built a castle area in the sand, so Ian decided to continue building.  I waded in the river for a little while, but it was too cold!  The cold water makes me nervous about rafting the river on Saturday!  After our park time, we went to the 100 yen store, which is basically the dollar store.  I love going there.  Not only can you get some deals, but it has really cool stuff there.  Maybe it’s because it’s Japan and everything is new and different, but it seems like the 100 yen stores here are much cooler than the dollar stores in the States.

Once we got back to Yunomae, I spent the rest of the night dreading going back to work on Tuesday.  I don’t care how much you love or hate your job, no one wants to go back after a three day weekend!

Tuesday-

Tuesday was relatively uneventful.  I’m getting much more comfortable talking to students, and they are becoming more courageous by approaching me.  I’ve found that a good way to get in with them is to act silly.  I told Ian that I don’t mind making a fool of myself for the students.  (However, whenever I make a fool of myself because I don’t understand what’s going on, that’s different.)  For example, when I was walking down the hall, everyone in 3-1 class looked at me and said hello.  I stopped what I was doing and started dancing for them, then mummy walking, and whatever else to get a laugh.  It worked! 

I had to stay after school again and help the students with their pronunciation.  I hate the work-after-work part, but it’s a really great way to get to know the students.  They’ll ask me things that they’d probably be too embarrassed to ask in class or during the break time.  Today, they asked me what my favorite thing about Ian was and what my favorite season was.  That topic led to a discussion about snow and the proper way to throw a snowball. 

Ian and I decided to start a healthy lifestyle diet.  It’s the same plan that Ian did while I was in Spain, and he really slimmed down and beefed up during those three months.  It’s not a diet because we think we’re fat, but since being here we’ve noticed a loss in muscle tone.  I never really had much to begin with outside of the legs, and Ian always makes fun of me about that.  Ian’s lost muscle tone since he’s mostly stationary now.  I ALWAYS ask him to walk with me, but for one reason or another, he never wants to go.  Therefore, we made a compromise.  We would start a high protein diet so that we would gain muscle.  This diet consists of a high protein breakfast, healthy morning snack, high protein lunch, healthy afternoon snack, and high protein dinner.  Every other day, we work on gaining muscle mass like Ian wants.  On the off days, we walk like I want to.  Compromise.

We never really know what’s going on….

Hey, gang! Here’s what’s been happening since I last wrote:

Friday-

After school on Friday, I had to stay and help kids practice for an English competition that’s coming up on the 31^st. The competition is going to be scary. Ha, ha. Get it? Scary….the 31^st…Halloween. Anyway, I have two kids that I have to help practice. They memorized a couple of dialogues from the book and recite them. I have to help them after school with proper pronunciation. One kid is amazing. She already has her dialogue memorized and speaks very well. There are just a few things that she needs to work on…..like putting enthusiasm into her words. The other kid has difficulties with the “th” sound in the word “thirsty.” Japanese doesn’t have that sound, so it’s hard for him to form it. It’s similar to how Americans have difficulties rolling R’s in Spanish. We don’t have that sound in English, so it’s hard to do. He also gets the “l” and “r” sounds mixed up. That’s really common. One of my English teachers speaks good English, but she still sometimes mixes up the sounds. Japanese doesn’t have the “l” or “r” sounds, so that’s another one that is difficult for them to learn.

Saturday-

I had a three day weekend since Monday was a national holiday. (No, Japan does NOT celebrate Columbus Day. It was Health and Sports Day in Japan.) We had a plan for our three day weekend: Saturday-lazy day, Sunday-sports festival, Monday-hike Mt. Ichifusa and REACH THE TOP!! I greatly enjoy sleeping in on Saturdays. It’s usually the only day a week that I can. The past couple of weekends we’ve had sports festivals on Sundays, and before those began, we went to Mass or had something else to do. Saturday morning is a good time to skype people at home, but it’s a double edged sword. I love to talk to people, but usually we catch one person after another after another, and before we know it, it’s 1:00 PM, and the day is halfway over! Usually at least one of our weekend mornings is spent this way.

We’ve talked about it before, but I’m not sure what made us do serious research about it on Saturday, but we’re tossing around the notion of moving to Alaska after Japan. As I told my mother, we’re still young and dumb and not quite ready to settle down and have kids or buy a house, so why not? We heard that teachers get paid well in Alaska, and it seems to be true! The benefits aren’t as great at the JET Program, but they are still very enticing.  I could get my teaching certificate basically for free, so whenever we move back to Paducah (eventually), I’ll be able to get a much better teaching job in which I’ll actually have a decent salary and benefits.  I’d have to stay in Alaska for at least two years.  Here’s the game plan now (of course it’s subject to change): stay in Japan for another year and then apply to the Alaskan program.  Whenever I went to college, I never thought I wanted to teach.  Whenever I started teaching, I said I would never teach outside of college.  I didn’t want to deal with the drama, parental complaints, etc, but being here and teaching at the junior high has definitely made it seem possible.  Granted, I know that attitude toward education and the educational system is different in both countries, but I’m seriously considering it!  Those of you that can’t visit us in Japan, consider visiting us in Alaska in a few years. 

After we researched that, we decided to go for a little walk around town.  We ended up at the hardware store beside our super market.  We bought a lawn mower! …….and by that, I mean we bought a scythe.  Our back yard is no more than a small plot, but as previously mentioned, it was out of control.  The grass and weeds were probably thigh-high in places.  Ian enjoyed his new toy.  It was sharp and easily cut.  He said the only way it could be better is if it had some fire capabilities.  Oh, Ian!  He did a good job cutting the yard and front flower bed.  Next spring, I really want to plant some flowers there.  There are some rocks in the bed.  We think that at one time, someone put gravel down, so it will require a little work, but we’re willing to do it.  We want to make this place look cute…..not the huge eye sore that it’s been!

Sunday-

On Sunday, we had ANOTHER sports festival.  This one was for the whole town, and we were asked to participate.  We were assigned to the green team.  Refer to the pictures on facebook.  It was a pretty good time.  When our team leader called our names, we never knew what event we were competing in until we were on the field.  Most events involved running, but there were a few, such as tug-a-war.  I was assigned to that event and had absolutely no idea what I was doing until I walked out onto the field and saw everyone picking up the rope.  When the whistle blew, I didn’t know if we had won or lost, but Ian said that we won.  Yay! 

We enjoyed playing with the kids on our team.  The younger kids didn’t participate, but they provided us with entertainment.  They would come over to us and want us to tickle their feet or ribs.  I love playing with the little kids!  Lunch during the festival was from 12-1 and basically a big picnic.  We were invited to eat with one of the families on our team.  Even though we packed our own lunch, they asked us to eat with them.  The wife had even brought some apple pie-like things, and we got to eat apple pie with chopsticks! 

The biggest event of the day was one of the last ones.  Six teams competed, and it was a 20 person relay.  They called our names to participate, so we went to the line up.  One of the guys was distributing numbers.  He showed us the numbers, and I said, “oh, 1-20.”  He heard me say 20, and just like that I became number 20 for the relay……as in the last person to run…..as in the anchor…..as in the most important person in the relay.  Ian unknowingly chose 1…..as in the second most important person in the relay.  And just like that, the foreigners took up the two most important running spots.  No pressure, right?  I looked for other people with 20 pinned on their shirt.  All of them were guys….very athletic looking guys.    The mayor was one of them.  When he saw that I was also 20, he said “Melissa!!” and pointed at his number and then at mine.  People from the other teams asked people on our team who the anchor was, and they pointed at me.  The other teams had a kind of “ohhhhh” expression on their faces.  I’ve never run a serious relay before, but luckily our team wasn’t in last place when I got the baton.  I ran as fast as I could, and Ian said I was pretty quick, but I was overtaken by one of my junior high schoolers.  100 meters is a lot farther than it sounds!  Whenever I crossed the finish line, I honestly had no idea what I placed.  Ian said that there were three other people behind me, so I wasn’t last, and that’s all that mattered to me! 

Before we left the sports festival, we were invited to a drinking party for the green team on Sunday night.  We had enough time to go home and get cleaned up before someone knocked on our door to pick us up.  The drinking party wasn’t too far away, so we walked.  This was our 4th enkai and much different than the others.  The people were mostly strangers to us, so everyone was curious about us.  It was a segregated party.  The women had to sit on one side and the guys on another.  After the initial eating, people mingled around, so it didn’t matter anymore.  I went to the guys side to sit with Ian.  The guys’ side was much more fun.  I’m not sure why, but I noticed shortly after that most of the women left.  During these parties, a SIGNIFICANT amount of alcohol is consumed.  They kept offering alcohol.  Everyone that I work with knows that I don’t drink, but these guys didn’t, and I didn’t want to seem rude.  When the alcohol got passed around, I’d tip the glass back to my lips, making it look like I was drinking without actually drinking.  The Japanese do not have alcoholic tolerance, so conversations get pretty wild pretty quickly.  Before we knew it, we were being challenged to arm wrestling.  The guy that I arm wrestled had arms the size of my head, but somehow I managed to beat him……pretty sure he let me win that one.    Ian found a buddy to play tennis with.  The guy originally sat down beside me and asked if I play tennis.  I said no but told him that Ian does.  One thing led to another, and all of the sudden, Ian is volunteered to join the guy’s tennis club. 

We really have to find out how to say no to people!  In addition to that, we think we also volunteered to run a race in December.  We’re not 100% sure about that, but that’s what Ian thought he heard.  Other things that we have unknowingly signed up for: the past 2 sports festivals, a singing competition in November (in addition to the 4 practices before that), etc.  Our schedules are quickly becoming booked!

I’m going to stop it here.  Stay tuned for the rest!           

The week of Brittany part III

Thursday-

Brittany decided that she would leave on Thursday since we had to go to Kumamoto. We had planned this about a month ago before we knew that she would be here this week. We had to go to Kumamoto to get our re-entry visas so that if we leave Japan, we can come back. Without a re-entry visa, if you leave Japan, your work visa is null and void. We told Brittany that she could stay, but she said that she had a couple of errands to run in Hiroshima before she leaves the country on Saturday. My supervisor was taking us to Kumamoto because she had a conference she had to attend, and Brittany said she’d take the train. We didn’t officially say goodbye in Yunomae because we planned to meet again in Kumamoto. The plan was for us to call her when we were finished or for her to call us when she arrived, whichever happened first.

My supervisor gave me a map of exactly where I needed to go and where to meet her later in the day. She dropped us off at the building we needed to go to. We had to go to the immigration office, which was weird. I’ve never been an immigrant before. J We had a paper to fill out, go downstairs and pay for a stamp, take it back to the immigration office and were finished. It was a fairly simple process with minimal bumbling around. We met another American in the office, Sebastian from Massachusetts. He wasn’t with the JET Program but taught in a private school in Kumamoto. He talked to him for a bit before heading out into the city to find Brittany.

Thank God for google maps. It has served us well as a GPS. When we’re in the car or on foot, we use it to get around. I could not even imagine trying to find some of these places without google maps! We used it to get to the train station. We had called Brittany when we left the immigration office to tell her that we were on our way to meet her, but she didn’t answer. We got to the station around the time that we thought her train would arrive, but she never came out. We called and text her several times, but nothing happened. She never answered. We began to wonder what could have happened. Did she miss her train? Did she lose her phone? Where was she??? Ian and I waited and waited and waited for her. We took shifts waiting outside the station for her and going inside to look around for her. Nothing happened. We weren’t sure when to give up. Since we didn’t get to say goodbye, we didn’t want to leave her, but we also knew that it was useless to wait and wait and wait for nothing to happen. We drown our sorrows in a delicious sweet treat at Mr. Donut beside the station before moving onto the Daiso (dollar store). I love going to the Daiso. Everything is cheap, and you can find some pretty cool and handy things there.

It was getting time to head back, and I persuaded Ian to walk to where we needed to meet my supervisor. The train price had jumped from the 220 yen we had paid to get there to 1100 yen because it was rush hour. Google maps told us that it would be a little over an hour to walk there. I enjoy walking, and I feel like it allows you to find cool places and explore a little easier than driving or riding to places. One of the best things about our walk was holding hands. I know this seems odd, but it tickled me pink. Any form of PDA in Japan is frowned upon. Holding hands is becoming more acceptable, but in the conservation countryside of Yunomae where everyone knows us, we don’t do it. However, in the large bustling city of Kumamoto where we’re just another foreigner, we could hold hands without worrying about it! It felt good. J We received a facebook message from Brittany during our walk saying that she had left her phone at our house. When she arrived in Kumamoto, she looked around the station, but since we hadn’t made any plans to meet anywhere definite, she wasn’t sure what to do and hopped on the next train to Hiroshima. There, she had internet access and was able to message us. It sucked not being able to see her one last time or saying goodbye, but I told Ian that we should just be thankful of the time we were able to spend with her. Our walk turned out to get us there just in time. We had to be back by 4:30, and we arrive at 4:27. I was getting very worried because we got lost for a few minutes, but luckily Ian is a great navigator and was able to get us back on track!

On the ride home, we were both sleepy and nodded off in the back seat as my supervisor drove us home. Despite the fact that I had to take a vacation day to go get my re-entry permit, I still had to teach my Thursday night class. We got back to Yunomae around 6:15, and class started at 7:00. It was just enough time to go home and eat quickly before class. We found a great surprise sitting on our stoop when we got home! Someone left us a grocery sack with a two liter of coke (they know me so well!), six pack of beer, snacks, and a newspaper. There was a note in it, but of course it was written in kanji. :S Therefore, we’re not sure who it’s from, but we appreciated it!!! J

Ian didn’t come with me to class last night, so I was on my own. When I pulled up in the parking lot, there was some guy getting out of his car. This is very abnormal because generally, there is no one in the parking lot. He approached me saying….something. I said sorry but that I don’t speak Japanese. He showed me a name tag of some sort and a camera and said something like “class interview.” He stayed the whole time, taking pictures of class and writing things down in his notepad. Hopefully they were good things! J During the break time, he asked the students questions. I feel like class went pretty well last night. It wasn’t the best class, but it also wasn’t as out-of-control as it is sometimes as well. We started off with a review of animals and played duck, duck, goose…..except it was koala, koala, rabbit, panda, panda, mosquito, and bee, bee, tiger for reviewing. After that, we played a relay race game in which I would call out an animal, and they would have to leap frog over each other to get the flashcard of the animal. That got slightly out of hand. :S Then, it was break time. I brought a roll of cookies that I bought at the Daiso, and those kids lined up like little baby birds with their hands out, basically saying “Gimme!!” lol. After break, we reviewed the concepts of “Do you like?” and “Do you play?” and played a scavenger hunt game with those concepts. Finally, at the end of class, I taught them how to play spoons. Except, we didn’t have enough clean spoons to bring to class, so I packed chopsticks. Lol. Explaining the concept of spoons was a bit difficult, but I think once everyone got into the swing of it, they liked it.

Today so far has been a bit boring…..hence me blogging so much! I don’t have any classes today because it was test day. I asked my English teacher if I could do anything, but she said to “wait a minute.” I’ve been waiting for three hours. J I have plenty of busy work to occupy my time, like planning what to do at the nursery school next week, planning my Thursday night class, begin to print and cut out my November English board, figure out what to do for my intro to Halloween lesson at the elementary school next week, and write a few letters to send home. *Sigh* It’s so difficult to get paid so much to have days like this. :D

The week of Brittany part II

Tuesday-

Tuesday morning, I had to go to my nursery schools. I love those kids. They are precious! It doesn’t matter if they do something wrong because they are still adorable. Before I go to my nursery schools, I always go to the BOE for about fifteen minutes. I’m not sure why I have to do this because it is exactly enough time to get nothing accomplished.

Every employer in Japan is required to give their employees a free health check up every year. My supervisor explained that mine would be on October 12^th. I had to fill out paperwork on Tuesday, and she had to translate it for me. Some of it was basic stuff you would fill out in the States like family history, how many times you exercise per week, if you smoke, etc. I got pretty close and personal with my supervisor because she had to ask me when my last period began and ended. In addition, she had to explain to me how to take a urine and stool sample. I have to have both for my check up. I’ve never taken either, so she had to explain how to collect each…specimen. We use google translate to communicate to one another, so whenever she gave me the stool sample container, it translated to “for shit.” That made me giggle. Another funny question was about pregnancy. Whenever you use google translate, it translates as you type. Whenever she was typing out the “are you currently pregnant?” question, I said no before she even finished typing it because I saw “pregnant.” We both laughed at that.

I was able to take Brittany with me to school on Tuesday. I didn’t have any afternoon classes because the English teachers had to go to Hitoyoshi for something, so we hung around the office. After I introduced her to everyone, she helped me complete some flashcards. I showed her my desk, walked around the school, and showed her my English board. She was my featured foreigner for this month. J It was so funny to watch the students’ reactions to Brittany. It was like they were seeing double. Two foreigners at one school blew their minds. At lunch time, we ate with the 3^rd graders (really 9^th graders in the States). It was a lot of fun. Brittany said that she didn’t have that experience at her school. She said that she always ate lunch in the teacher’s room. I enjoy eating with the students. They don’t always talk to me, but it’s interesting to try! After lunch, we found some girls to hang out with. They were very curious about Brittany, so they asked her questions, but after that, we played Old Maid, which is “Baba nuki” in Japanese. When the break time was over, everyone seemed generally disappointed and asked if we could play again tomorrow. I told them that on Wednesdays I go to the elementary school, Thursday I would be in Kumamoto, but we could play again on Friday. Brittany stayed the afternoon with me. She said that it was very interesting for her to get a different perspective on the JET Program.

That night, we continued to play catch-up on Brittany’s TV/movie watching. Brittany and I watched the three episodes of Vampire Diaries from this season. It was ridiculously fun to do that with her because she is the person who first got me hooked on Vampire Diaries. We both have an unhealthy obsession with the show, so Ian made fun of us as we squealed with delight. J Ian made dinner that night, and one of our friends joined us. We introduced her and Brittany to Tosh.o. They were both rolling after a few episodes.

Wednesday-

I went to the elementary school on Wednesday. I never know what kind of day it’s going to be at the elementary school. Wednesday was a pretty good day at the elementary school. I had three classes. In my class of 4^th graders, I had to do a mini-lesson on Halloween. My teacher brought in two Halloween books and wanted me to read them to the class. One was Arthur and the other was about trick-or-treating. That was my favorite part of the day. I got really into reading them and acting out the character’s lines, so the kids thought it was really funny. The books were basic elementary Halloween books. At lunch I accidentally went to the wrong class room. I have assigned rooms to eat lunch in, and I was supposed to eat in class 2-1, but I went to 2-2. Oops. I didn’t realize it until after we started eating, and another teacher came in. From their tones, I could tell that they were talking about me, and I gathered that I was in the wrong place. L The kids loved it, though. During break time, they always want me to play with them. It was raining, so we couldn’t go outside like normal. I taught them the hand slap game “bisquick” that I played in elementary school last week, and now it’s all the rage. Girls stood in line wanting to do it with me. I even saw some of the boys doing the motions by themselves. I finally had the good idea of doing it in a circle so that everyone could participate. They also wanted to play the “history game.” I had no idea what this was, but I agreed to play it! When I saw them arranging chairs in a circle with the seats facing outward, I realized that it was musical chairs. I was one of the last three still standing, but the kids had an advantage on me in the fact that they are shorter and therefore closer to the chairs than me. I lost.

Ian took Brittany to Hitoyoshi that day to show her around and do some shopping. When I got home, Ian told me he bought his Halloween costume. I think I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again. Ian decided that he wanted to go as a pimp for Halloween this year. I winced as he showed me his costume. It was good….very good. Pictures will follow. That night, we had big, fat American night. I made fried chicken, biscuits, mashed potatoes, gravy, and chocolate chip cookies. Yum. We also continued our TV/movie watching streak. We completed two seasons of Tosh.o and watched Bridesmaids.

Once again, I’ll end it here to not make it so long. Stay tuned for part III. J

The week of Brittany :)

Alright, alright, alright. I know. It’s been a while. I have a legitimate excuse. Brittany Fiscus is visiting us this week, so instead of writing this at night, we’ve been hanging out with her.  For those of you that don’t know Brittany, she’s the one who got us interested in the JET Program.  She’s been here for two years in the Nagasaki prefecture. She completed her JET contract August 1^st and has been walking around the island of Shikoku for the past month on a religious pilgrimage. She promised to visit us before she left Japan, and here she is! On Friday, she will leave for Hiroshima, and from there she will take a ferry to Korea and Russia, trans-Siberian railroad across Russia, visit multiple places in Europe before taking a boat from Italy to Miami, and Greyhound it back to her native Jacksonville, Arkansas. I told her that she is far more courageous than I to do all of that!! Anyway, on to catching up.

Random story-

I forgot to tell this story. The other day, one of my English teachers asked me to print out pictures and place a name and verb on them. The grammatical concept to learn was “does.” For example, “Mark does like judo.” I made six cards:

-Ami/ plays volleyball -Akemi/do kendo -Tom/like his bicycle

-Melissa/like Japan -Mike/eat ice cream -Nobu/drink milk

I’m not sure if I misunderstood or my English teacher switched it, but instead of having the grammatical concept of DOES, we went over the concept of DOESN’T in class that day. My flashcards wouldn’t have been an issue EXCEPT for the “Melissa/like Japan” one. “Melissa DOES like Japan” suddenly was switched to “Melissa DOESN’T like Japan.” That was the very last one we did, and the students looked horrified when we got to that one. There was a huge pause right after I said it, and I had to explain very quickly that I DO LIKE Japan. Yay for awkward embarrassing moments in class!

Sunday-

Ian and I had another sports festival on Sunday. This time it was at the nursery school. I was mistaken which nursery school it was, so we actually went to the wrong one and were a bit late. Whoops. We thought that last week it was adorable to watch the elementary school’s sports day, but it was even CUTER to watch the nursery school’s sports day. The parents joined in a lot of the events, and no kid was too small to participate! If the kid couldn’t walk, the parent would carry him or her across the finish line. Ian and I even got to participate in one event. They volunteered us to do a race. We had to crawl under a net, jump over a limbo pole, walk on tin car stilts, fish for a prize, and sprint across the finish line. I don’t want to brag, but I won. ;) I also got some quality playing with kids time. The younger kids absolutely adore me and I them. They want to chase me, pull on me, high five me, show me what they can do, etc. Precious. J When we were leaving, we got invited to ANOTHER sports festival next weekend. We think this one is for adults, so it will be interesting to go to this one.

Brittany had called us and told us she was on the way. Originally, we planned for her to take the train to Hitoyoshi and pick her up there, but she said that her train wouldn’t leave Kumamoto until 9:30 PM, putting her in Hitoyoshi a little after 11. Ian and I agreed that even though Kumamoto is a 2-3 car ride, we would pick her up there. We were both very excited to see her, so we made the drive. We got there around 8PM, shortly after her train arrived. Whenever we pulled up to the station, I shouted “Brittany Fiscus!” I ran out of the car, and it was a wonderful reunion!! Ian and I were incredibly excited to see her! None of us had had supper yet, so we decided to go to the ninja restaurant. I think I’ve mentioned it before, but it’s a really cool ninja themed restaurant in Kumamoto. The servers were dressed like ninjas, and the food was wonderful! We stopped for ice cream before heading back to Yunomae. It was VERY late when we returned, but Brittany was finally able to get a shower. She said that she hadn’t bathed in 18 days. :S I think I finally went to bed around 1:30AM.

Monday-

I picked the wrong day at work to be sleepy. I knew that Monday was going to be a demonstration day. That means that teachers come in and watch you perform, and after class, there’s a big meeting to discuss your teaching style. I wasn’t too nervous about that…I’ve had observations before in the States. I knew it was going to be a weird day as soon as I stepped foot on campus. I noticed that there were no cars in the parking lot. There are usually about 10 of the teacher’s cars in the parking lot. When I walked in, students were cleaning. Normal cleaning time is in the afternoon. All of the teachers were dressed up. Mostly, teachers wear sweats or at least casual nice clothes, but on Monday, it was mostly business attire. I had on my cute little pink ruffle blouse and white Capri pants. Yep, the foreigner stood out more than usual. When I reached my desk, I noticed that there was an unusual schedule there. When I asked my English teacher about it, she said that today’s schedule was different because of the demonstration.

I proceeded about my day like normal, trying not to look too tired. After lunch, there is a break time. Normally, I wander around the hallways looking for students to hang out with/talk to/teach English games to/learn Japanese from. However, I noticed all of the teachers staying in the teacher’s room. When in Japan and you do not know what to do, you take the lead of people that do! All of the teachers had to line up against the wall as higher ups from the BOE and elsewhere filed in the teacher’s room. There was about 20 new people in there, all dressed in business attire. It was at that moment that I understood why all the teachers had dressed up and why there were no cars in the parking lot. J Everyone had to go around the room and introduce him or herself and what subject he or she taught…in Japanese, of course. I got VERY nervous after I saw everyone. I thought ALL of them were going to be observing. I asked one of my English teachers, and she said that it would just be one person sitting in the room, and others would come and go. When we were in the classroom, I was very nervous at first, but I got used to it, so it was just like a normal day. After the class, we had a meeting to discuss our performance. Both English teachers, the guy observing, and myself were at the meeting….also conducted in Japanese. The guy could speak English and told me that I had good pronunciation and a positive, bright attitude for class. Yay! After the meeting, he was less formal and talked to me about America. He was a really cool guy.

On Monday afternoon, I walked home with a few elementary boys. When we were close enough to the housing complex, I asked them if they wanted to race. I swear I would have won had I not had a big backpack bouncing on my back. I came in third of four. Ian and Brittany were sitting on the couch in the middle of Thor when I walked in. Monday night was dedicated to catching Brittany up on American movies. Ian downloaded several movies from Itunes recently, and after Thor, we watched Transformers 3 and started Constantine. It was a big, fat lazy American night. We loved it. So that this doesn’t get too long, I’ll stop here and break this into two blogs.

I know that this is an aside, but I felt like it is worth mentioning. When I was in third grade, I don’t know why, but most of the girls in my class made flags. We’d find pictures of international flags and use a full sheet of paper to color them. I know we made fat stacks of flag papers and said that we would make a quilt out of it! I remembered that the other day and thought about how it foreshadowed my current life as a world traveler. J

What a difference 10 years makes

I was thinking about this, and my, oh, my what a difference ten years will make.  A lot of my friends are starting to do big kid things: get married, become pregnant, get full time jobs, etc.  Growing up is weird.  Ten years ago I was fifteen and in high school.  I knew I would go to college, but I wasn’t exactly sure what the next step was.  This blog is a little more personal and a little less about Japan, so if that’s not your cup of tea, whatever.

If you would have told me ten years ago that:

-not making the cheerleading squad was not a big dang deal, I would have told you that you were wrong.  I was disappointed with myself about this for a really long time.  As it turns out, not making the cheerleading squad has actually zero importance in the real world. 

-I would marry Ian Reed, I would have said, “WHAT????  You mean the kid who’s in detention every week?”  Sure, Ian and I were friends in high school, but NEVER in a million years would I have guessed that we would date for six years after high school before marrying in 2010.  Best. Decision. Ever.

-I would still be working off and on at the Parlor for the next eight years, I would have rolled my eyes and sighed.  It was a great way to make money during high school and college, but once I graduated, I felt weird still working there.  People that I knew kept asking what I was doing there, and I’d have to tell them that I’m teaching during the day, waitressing at night.  I made some really great friends with my co-workers, but holy crap, the restaurant industry is not where I want to be for the rest of my life!

-I would change sets of friends multiple times, I would have asked why.  It seems like it’s always been very hard for me to keep best friends.  I don’t know if it’s me, natural growth and change, or what, but I’ve made and lost best friends several times since high school.  I feel like I’m currently in the best situation I’ve every been in friend-wise.  I love my friends and despite living on the other side of the world, I still regularly talk to them via skype or facebook.

-I wouldn’t become a famous writer, I wouldn’t believe you.  In high school, I thought it would be so easy to write and make money.  HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!  As it turns out, it’s really, really, really, really difficult to actually make money from writing.  Since I enjoy creature comforts like eating and NOT living in a cardboard box, the whole writing thing didn’t exactly pan out.

-I would get a useless bachelor’s degree followed my an even more useless master’s degree, I would have asked why would I be that stupid??  My first day of English 099 at Murray State University, Professor Johnson said that English majors could do ANYTHING with their degrees and that employers were looking for creative thinkers.  As it turns out, that’s a load of crap.  English could quite possibly be the most unemployable degree ever (maybe a tie with history).  I thought that I was doing what I loved, and that’s all that mattered, but it turns out that a paycheck also matters.  It also turns out that employers don’t really care if you can analyze the heck out of Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily,” write a 20 page research paper on the the use of imagery in Poe’s works, or write short stories.

-I would use that useless degree to go into teaching, I would have laughed until I cried.  In high school, I wasn’t exactly sure what my career was going to be, but I knew one thing……I DIDN’T WANT TO TEACH.  I didn’t want to deal with all of the crap that I saw teachers putting up with.  It’s weird how things work out, isn’t it?

-I would spend countless hours texting, facebooking, emailing, etc, I would have denied it.  All throughout high school and into my college years, my parents had dial-up internet at home.  Fast internet was something that I lived without, so why would I ever want to spend hours waiting for someone’s profile page to load?  As far as cell phones go, I never thought I’d have one.  I didn’t get one until I went off to college, and gradually stepped up from a dippy little nokia to my current Iphone.  I <3 my Iphone. 

-I would fall in love with being abroad and traveling, I would have said, “huh?”  In high school, I had no plans to go abroad.  Even at the beginning of college when I heard about study abroad opportunities, I never thought I would take advantage of them.  I suddenly became quite a study abroad junkie.    I always said that I had no interest in going to Mexico, but where’s the first place I studied abroad?  Mexico.  I said I had no interest in Spain, yet that’s where I went next.  I had no interest in Japan, but where am I currently living?  JAPAN!  Through each of these programs, I learned how to be independent and adapt to circumstances that would NEVER happen to me had I stayed in the States.  Plus, I made really good friends through these programs, and I’ve seen really amazing things.

-I would no longer be the shy kid, I would have said, “yeah, right.”  In high school, I was ridiculously shy.  I still don’t enjoy being the center of attention, but at least I’m not the loner kid in the back of class!  Studying abroad and teaching REALLY helped me come out of my shell.  Public speaking used to terrify me, and depending on the crowd/situation I do still get a little nervous, but it’s no where near the depth of terror I had in high school.  

-I would live in Japan, I would have said “WHAT???  NO WAY!!!”  Never in a million years would I have guessed that I would live abroad………especially somewhere where I don’t speak the native language, lol!  In addition, I never thought I’d live this far away from home.  I love my family, and I have a wonderful family, so why would I ever leave?  I don’t have any regrets!  This so far has been one heck of an adventure, and I can’t wait to see what’s in store!!

If you would have told me that all of this would happen to me ten years ago, I would have been shocked and amazed.  It’s weird how things that you never think would happen do indeed happen.  It makes me wonder where I’ll be in another ten years………..

to be continued……