We're in Cameron Highlands now. I've been taking notes on things that have happened to us so that I can go back and write about them later. Hopefully I won't forget too much.
Tonight will be the half-way point of our trip, around 10:30pm. It's hard to believe that it has only been 8 days so far. It feels like many, many more. We're always doing exciting stuff during each day, so maybe that is why it feels so long to me.
There are lots of German speakers here at our guesthouse. Our guesthouse is quite nice and relaxed. We met two other JETs here. There are in Chiba-ken, which is the prefecture to the east of Tokyo. They just left this afternoon and are headed to Penang, just like us. We might see them again in Penang. Who knows?
Things are really cheap in Malaysia. I keep getting root beer floats, because I am obsessive about it. I have had four so far. Since they don't have root beer in Cameron Highlands, I am having banana splits instead. I have had one each day, for a total of 3. They cost about a dollar here, so I can stuff my face. I need to eat lots of calories because we are walking so much every day.
After Penang we have decided to head to Pankor Island, which is further south on the peninsula. After a couple days there we'll head to Malacca, and finally back to Singapore. It looks like we'll spend about 2 nights in each place, with the exception of Singapore, which will probably just be our final night instead.
Today we went on a tour of Cameron Highlands from 9-2. We went to a strawberry farm, butterfly garden, rose garden, bee farm, tea factory, and a buddhist temple. It was a busy day, to say the least. Paul and I were supposed to go for a jungle walk this afternoon, but we have decided to relax and use internet instead. At 5 we're watching Legally Blonde in the movie room here.
I'm having a lot of fun and Paul and I haven't driven each other crazy yet. We now have clean clothes too. The laundry washed and dried all our clothes for $1.50 each. It's hard to beat that when you're travelling.
Sunday, December 29, 2002
Monday, December 23, 2002
Sunday we spent mostly walking around Singapore. First we walked to Fort Canning, an old fort which now is a park in the middle of downtown. The park is fairly uninteresting, but it was high up. Unfortunately we didn't find a good place to lookout over the city. There were just too many trees. We walked down a shopping district and Paul bought a 128MB compact flash card for his new digital camera. We found it for less at another store later, so that was too bad. After we walked for awhile, we turned around and went towards the big river. The river has many low bridges, so Paul concluded that it must be used mostly for tourism now. There were many different riverboat tour operators, more than we thought were sustainable. I guess they must be making money though. Singapore is a mix of old and new buildings. Even the new buildings don't really seem to match at times.
It started raining on us, so took refuge in the many shopping centers. A lot of them were linked up together with underground walkways, so we covered a great distance without getting wet. We bought umbrellas in the process.
Okay, more later. We're leaving soon.
It started raining on us, so took refuge in the many shopping centers. A lot of them were linked up together with underground walkways, so we covered a great distance without getting wet. We bought umbrellas in the process.
Okay, more later. We're leaving soon.
I'm now in Kuala Lampur and it is pouring here. A thunderstorm just sort of spontaneously began. I did bring my umbrella, and luckily we are a short walk from the hotel. However, it seems pretty nuts outside. Luckily internet is $1.50 an hour, so we can stay here for awhile if we need to.
I met up with Paul without any problems. Before he arrived I found a group of JETs from Fukui, a nearby prefecture. One girl, Kristy, I had met in Washington, D.C. so I recognized her and she introduced her friends. They were all going home. I also ran into two JETs from Toyama city. They were going to Thailand, like many other JETs have done.
No complications on the airplane, except a lot of turbulance, so we couldn't use the toilet for the first two hours. Once we landed in Singapore, we marched through customs without any problems, since there were absolutely no customs agents anywhere to be found. We secured a cab to our hotel, since it was 11:00pm, and we didn't want to fool with public transportation. Our cab driver passed hundreds of cars on the short drive into the city. He was fearless, tailgating everyone and swerving from lane to lane. I was more afraid in the cab ride than in the airplane ride. We arrived at our hotel in very little time.
The hotel clerk was particularly unfriendly, but we got checked in and went to our room. It had some cockroaches, along with old mouse droppings and cigarette ashes behind the toilet. However, the beds were clean and we had an interesting view Sunday night when thousands of Indian residents filled the park near the hotel, standing around and talking. We went to bed Saturday night as soon as we were in the room.
I met up with Paul without any problems. Before he arrived I found a group of JETs from Fukui, a nearby prefecture. One girl, Kristy, I had met in Washington, D.C. so I recognized her and she introduced her friends. They were all going home. I also ran into two JETs from Toyama city. They were going to Thailand, like many other JETs have done.
No complications on the airplane, except a lot of turbulance, so we couldn't use the toilet for the first two hours. Once we landed in Singapore, we marched through customs without any problems, since there were absolutely no customs agents anywhere to be found. We secured a cab to our hotel, since it was 11:00pm, and we didn't want to fool with public transportation. Our cab driver passed hundreds of cars on the short drive into the city. He was fearless, tailgating everyone and swerving from lane to lane. I was more afraid in the cab ride than in the airplane ride. We arrived at our hotel in very little time.
The hotel clerk was particularly unfriendly, but we got checked in and went to our room. It had some cockroaches, along with old mouse droppings and cigarette ashes behind the toilet. However, the beds were clean and we had an interesting view Sunday night when thousands of Indian residents filled the park near the hotel, standing around and talking. We went to bed Saturday night as soon as we were in the room.
Friday, December 20, 2002
Today, I did calligraphy for the first time ever. In Japan they don't just do it with one of those dinky little pens. Instead they make big vertical banners sometimes. I made a big banner that said something about silvery snowy mountain tops. It's a reference to the snow-capped mountain ridges of Mt. Tateyama, which are easily seen from the city. Then I wrote my name in katakana and the symbols for January 1. It's a kind of New Year's greeting banner. All the kids do them and they hang them up inside the school hallways and classrooms. They did different ones at my elementary schools too. I didn't do too badly, considering it was my first time. I made one without any practice and it sucked. Then I got tips and pointers, and my second one ended up much better. The teachers seemed moderately impressed, but they were probably being polite. I haven't painted anything in years.
A couple of the kids I know better have asked me for my home address to send me a New Year's card (Japanese tradition), but I don't really want to give it out to anyone. I'm a little afraid of having visitors at my home when I don't want them. I told them to send it to the school, but I think they probably won't do that.
A couple of the kids I know better have asked me for my home address to send me a New Year's card (Japanese tradition), but I don't really want to give it out to anyone. I'm a little afraid of having visitors at my home when I don't want them. I told them to send it to the school, but I think they probably won't do that.
Well, today is my last full day in Japan for this year. Tomorrow I'll be off to Singapore with Paul. Sarah is on her way to Nagoya airport right now. She's going home for Christmas. She's going to bring back a wireless router and card for me from America, so I'll have internet when she comes back.
Victoria and her parents will be staying in Japan and travelling around somewhere, probably to the warmer southern island of Kyushu, where Nagasaki is.
I'm excited about my trip and I am having a little trouble believing that I'll be there soon. I haven't seen Paul (or anyone in my family) in three months, so I'm excited about that too.
Have a merry Christmas and a happy New Year, okay?
Victoria and her parents will be staying in Japan and travelling around somewhere, probably to the warmer southern island of Kyushu, where Nagasaki is.
I'm excited about my trip and I am having a little trouble believing that I'll be there soon. I haven't seen Paul (or anyone in my family) in three months, so I'm excited about that too.
Have a merry Christmas and a happy New Year, okay?
Thursday, December 19, 2002
So about the last English dinner thing. Basically, to refresh your memory, about once a month a group of city hall officials get together and take four of us English-speakers out to dinner to practice English and just be nice people. The director of the TCA (Toyama Cosmopolitan Association) tends to organize it. He's the much-heralded Takemaru-san. Anyway, our last one was at the end of November, and we ate at the quite expensive ANA hotel in a private banquet room. The deputy mayor of Toyama came for the first time. He was busy during the other two dinners. His English wasn't as good as some of the other people, but he was interested in trying. Everyone else at the dinner gave him super-respect. I was lucky enough to be seated next to him (Victoria was on the other side of him). However, since his English wasn't that good, I think it made the conversation a little more boring for him. There were two tables. I ended up at the table with the best English speakers, who are some of the more respected men in the group. They tend to come every time, while some of the members only come to one or two dinners. They all wanted to sit at the table with the deputy mayor, so they weren't spaced out like they normally are. This meant poor Sarah had all the worst English speakers.
I made a joke with the deputy mayor, but he missed that it was a joke. I told him I taught at an elementary school nearby, and he mentioned that he went there. I asked him in Japanese, "Last year?" and he said, "Oh no, over 50 years ago." One of the other men was translating into English for me. After a minute he asked me if I was joking, and I said yes. The deputy mayor gave a big laugh. I don't think many people make jokes to such a respected man.
After the dinner we played bingo for prizes. The first prize went to a Japanese guy at my table. It was an $80 gift certificate to the hotel's restaurant. It was quite a nice prize, and probably donated by the hotel since the deputy mayor was visiting. Then Nadia, a JET, won monopoly, and Sarah won movie tickets (perfect for her). Victoria didn't win anything, so someone gave her their prize, a Christmas picture book with Christmas songs. In the end, I was the only foreigner without a present. The Japanese people at the table kept talking and then finally the guy who won first prize gave me the prize. I really didn't want it. I still feel bad about having it. He won the prize and was quite excited about it. If he wanted to give it to me, I wouldn't have minded. However, he really didn't want to. He even told me he felt like he had to give it to me when he passed it to me. He said all the other people wanted him to. Takemaru-san told me he will look at Nakada-san (the man who gave me the prize) in a better light now that he gave me the prize. However, I felt horrible about it, so I have to figure out someway to include him with it. I thought maybe I should invite him to eat dinner and he can get some one-on-one English conversation experience. That might be nice for him, and some of the prize money would go back to him. I wouldn't feel so bad, but the prize I was given was so valuable when compared to the others.
Anyway, that was the third and last of the dinners for the year. I think there will be another in January. Afterwards we went to karaoke for an hour and a half. It was fun. Some of the Japanese men are incredible. Takemaru-san is really good. He says he used to be better, but smoking has destroyed his voice. He still sounds great.
I made a joke with the deputy mayor, but he missed that it was a joke. I told him I taught at an elementary school nearby, and he mentioned that he went there. I asked him in Japanese, "Last year?" and he said, "Oh no, over 50 years ago." One of the other men was translating into English for me. After a minute he asked me if I was joking, and I said yes. The deputy mayor gave a big laugh. I don't think many people make jokes to such a respected man.
After the dinner we played bingo for prizes. The first prize went to a Japanese guy at my table. It was an $80 gift certificate to the hotel's restaurant. It was quite a nice prize, and probably donated by the hotel since the deputy mayor was visiting. Then Nadia, a JET, won monopoly, and Sarah won movie tickets (perfect for her). Victoria didn't win anything, so someone gave her their prize, a Christmas picture book with Christmas songs. In the end, I was the only foreigner without a present. The Japanese people at the table kept talking and then finally the guy who won first prize gave me the prize. I really didn't want it. I still feel bad about having it. He won the prize and was quite excited about it. If he wanted to give it to me, I wouldn't have minded. However, he really didn't want to. He even told me he felt like he had to give it to me when he passed it to me. He said all the other people wanted him to. Takemaru-san told me he will look at Nakada-san (the man who gave me the prize) in a better light now that he gave me the prize. However, I felt horrible about it, so I have to figure out someway to include him with it. I thought maybe I should invite him to eat dinner and he can get some one-on-one English conversation experience. That might be nice for him, and some of the prize money would go back to him. I wouldn't feel so bad, but the prize I was given was so valuable when compared to the others.
Anyway, that was the third and last of the dinners for the year. I think there will be another in January. Afterwards we went to karaoke for an hour and a half. It was fun. Some of the Japanese men are incredible. Takemaru-san is really good. He says he used to be better, but smoking has destroyed his voice. He still sounds great.
I met Victoria's parents this weekend. They seemed nice enough. Her dad has a toothache, which isn't so great, since he probably won't get it taken care of here in Japan, and they'll be here for three weeks or so. We went out to eat last Friday, but we had some trouble finding a place to eat. We tried to go out at 8, and that's when most of the restaurants are full in Japan. So we went to a couple of restaurants that were full until we finally found an Italian restaurant near the station. The food wasn't too bad, and I could read a lot of the katakana menu, which is always a nice achievement. I think everyone was glad to get some food, since it was so late and everyone was hungry. Victoria's dad seemed to be fascinated by language. He kept on repeating various Japanese words in funny voices. His fascination didn't stop with Japanese though. I think he found Sarah's and my accents quite amusing. He kept talking in a strange American-esque accent.
On Sunday, Victoria, her parents, and I went to a Christmas party at the Toyama Cosmopolitan Association. Their director, Takemaru-san is a great guy, and he organizes the really expensive dinners that we get taken out to. Speaking of which, I don't think I told you about the last one. Anyway, I also take my Japanese lessons at the TCA, so I am practically family there. Anyway, this Christmas party had a diverse crowd, with lots of Chinese and Koreans there. We sang some song in Japanese, played a game where we got gifts (I got a hand towel), and made traditional Japanese New Year's decorations (lavendar and little trinkets). They served a big lunch as well. After the first party, there was a karaoke party at another place (also with the TCA). However, it didn't start for an hour, so I suggested we go visit Toyama castle. The castle park is right next to the TCA, so it is very convenient. Takemaru-san called up the director of the castle museum and got us free admission. He took us through the castle and showed us everything. The castle is not really interesting. The museum has lots of old maps of Toyama and Japan, which were interesting. The rivers in the city used to flow in different areas than they do now.
The castle was built in 1954, and is made of concrete and steel. It doesn't even look like the old castle. I thought the castle was bombed during the war, since this is what happened to many castles in other cities. However, the castle actually burned down about a hundred years ago. I think the park was vacant during the war. The castle has a decent view though. Anyway, Takemaru-san was a good guide and we got in free, so that was nice.
Someone just handed me a traditional Japanese desert, which they described as grass surrounded by red bean paste. They're trying to find a better way to explain grass, since I asked if it is what cows eat. It tastes okay, but is quite chewy. Okay, they just said it was mugwort. They had to use the computer dictionary program to come up with that one (no surprise, since I don't know what that is). I'll probably eat it so I don't look rude, but it isn't the best Japanese food I've had. It's quite messy too. This week one teacher in the office has been distributing desserts to all the teachers for whatever reason. It's been nice though. They are doing parent-teacher-student conferences in the afternoon, so maybe this is a way to enjoy something nice after that.
Anyway, we eventually made it to the karaoke party, which turned out to be a competition with prizes. I have a problem singing karaoke because I can only hit notes at a pretty low octave. Must be all that bass playing in high school. So if I sing a song, it is best if it has a low voice. I need to start singing Barry White or something. :)
I sang Elvis's "Blue Christmas," but I didn't sing very well. I had quite a hard time hearing myself singing, so it was difficult. The winner was another JET, Jennifer Teeter. She also comes to the English dinners. Her voice is amazing, so she won quite easily. One of her JET friends, Janet, came also and got third place. Second place when to another women. I think the prizes were bookstore gift certificates. At the end, everyone tried to convince Victoria's parents to sing, but they absolutely refused to. They were curious why the Japanese wanted to hear them sing so badly, since they think their own voices are not very good. I think it really comes down to wanting everyone to have a good time. They figure that if you aren't singing at karaoke, then you aren't having a good time. The great thing about Japanese people is that if you suck, they will still encourage you to try karaoke. I've never seen anyone laugh (unless there said a joke) at someone's singing and they always applaud, even if you are the worst singer ever. It's really a friendly and supportive atmosphere.
After the karaoke thing, we went to Victoria's place and her mother made dinner. It was quite delicious, especially considering the meager spices that us JETs tend to have. I did the dishes, which caused Victoria's mom lots of consternation for reasons I wasn't clear on. I guess she thought I'd never done dishes before and was doing a poor job or something.
I don't really know if her parents like me or not. I'd like for them to like me, but if they don't then that's okay too. It's strange: when I was in high school, parents seemed quite happy that I was going out with their daughter. Somehow, after college that seems to have changed. All the parents I've met have been distant or fairly guarded when meeting me, never really eager to find out more about me or establish a strong relationship. I wonder why it's changed. I guess the parents have their reasons, which I imagine stem more out of concern for their daughters' well-being than any true dislike for me. Maybe they should be worried: after all, I've got quite a status as a girl-corrupting rebel. One of my high school clubs actually had to develop the slogan "Sex, drugs, and rock n' roll: hide your daughters" because of my reputation of corruption. Okay, so that club was quiz bowl and it was big joke, but I'm sure subliminally they were referring to me. We actually had to go to the principal's office because one of the teachers said our t-shirts promoted rape. We weren't in big trouble, we just agreed to not wear them to school anymore. The shirts were quite funny though, since a bunch of straight-laced nerd types were wearing them. Maybe I used to come off as more of a studious guy with high ambitions than I do now. I guess that might affect parents' opinions. Or perhaps it's just a "Meet the Parents" sort of effect, where no one is really good enough for their daughter. I didn't set their yard on fire though or desecrate anyone's ashes (yet). Hmmm, I'll have to remember this someday when I have kids, especially if I have a daughter. I'll remember to be more excited about post-college boyfriends. In some ways that makes more sense, because you are more likely to end up related to a college or post-college boyfriend than a high school one.
On Sunday, Victoria, her parents, and I went to a Christmas party at the Toyama Cosmopolitan Association. Their director, Takemaru-san is a great guy, and he organizes the really expensive dinners that we get taken out to. Speaking of which, I don't think I told you about the last one. Anyway, I also take my Japanese lessons at the TCA, so I am practically family there. Anyway, this Christmas party had a diverse crowd, with lots of Chinese and Koreans there. We sang some song in Japanese, played a game where we got gifts (I got a hand towel), and made traditional Japanese New Year's decorations (lavendar and little trinkets). They served a big lunch as well. After the first party, there was a karaoke party at another place (also with the TCA). However, it didn't start for an hour, so I suggested we go visit Toyama castle. The castle park is right next to the TCA, so it is very convenient. Takemaru-san called up the director of the castle museum and got us free admission. He took us through the castle and showed us everything. The castle is not really interesting. The museum has lots of old maps of Toyama and Japan, which were interesting. The rivers in the city used to flow in different areas than they do now.
The castle was built in 1954, and is made of concrete and steel. It doesn't even look like the old castle. I thought the castle was bombed during the war, since this is what happened to many castles in other cities. However, the castle actually burned down about a hundred years ago. I think the park was vacant during the war. The castle has a decent view though. Anyway, Takemaru-san was a good guide and we got in free, so that was nice.
Someone just handed me a traditional Japanese desert, which they described as grass surrounded by red bean paste. They're trying to find a better way to explain grass, since I asked if it is what cows eat. It tastes okay, but is quite chewy. Okay, they just said it was mugwort. They had to use the computer dictionary program to come up with that one (no surprise, since I don't know what that is). I'll probably eat it so I don't look rude, but it isn't the best Japanese food I've had. It's quite messy too. This week one teacher in the office has been distributing desserts to all the teachers for whatever reason. It's been nice though. They are doing parent-teacher-student conferences in the afternoon, so maybe this is a way to enjoy something nice after that.
Anyway, we eventually made it to the karaoke party, which turned out to be a competition with prizes. I have a problem singing karaoke because I can only hit notes at a pretty low octave. Must be all that bass playing in high school. So if I sing a song, it is best if it has a low voice. I need to start singing Barry White or something. :)
I sang Elvis's "Blue Christmas," but I didn't sing very well. I had quite a hard time hearing myself singing, so it was difficult. The winner was another JET, Jennifer Teeter. She also comes to the English dinners. Her voice is amazing, so she won quite easily. One of her JET friends, Janet, came also and got third place. Second place when to another women. I think the prizes were bookstore gift certificates. At the end, everyone tried to convince Victoria's parents to sing, but they absolutely refused to. They were curious why the Japanese wanted to hear them sing so badly, since they think their own voices are not very good. I think it really comes down to wanting everyone to have a good time. They figure that if you aren't singing at karaoke, then you aren't having a good time. The great thing about Japanese people is that if you suck, they will still encourage you to try karaoke. I've never seen anyone laugh (unless there said a joke) at someone's singing and they always applaud, even if you are the worst singer ever. It's really a friendly and supportive atmosphere.
After the karaoke thing, we went to Victoria's place and her mother made dinner. It was quite delicious, especially considering the meager spices that us JETs tend to have. I did the dishes, which caused Victoria's mom lots of consternation for reasons I wasn't clear on. I guess she thought I'd never done dishes before and was doing a poor job or something.
I don't really know if her parents like me or not. I'd like for them to like me, but if they don't then that's okay too. It's strange: when I was in high school, parents seemed quite happy that I was going out with their daughter. Somehow, after college that seems to have changed. All the parents I've met have been distant or fairly guarded when meeting me, never really eager to find out more about me or establish a strong relationship. I wonder why it's changed. I guess the parents have their reasons, which I imagine stem more out of concern for their daughters' well-being than any true dislike for me. Maybe they should be worried: after all, I've got quite a status as a girl-corrupting rebel. One of my high school clubs actually had to develop the slogan "Sex, drugs, and rock n' roll: hide your daughters" because of my reputation of corruption. Okay, so that club was quiz bowl and it was big joke, but I'm sure subliminally they were referring to me. We actually had to go to the principal's office because one of the teachers said our t-shirts promoted rape. We weren't in big trouble, we just agreed to not wear them to school anymore. The shirts were quite funny though, since a bunch of straight-laced nerd types were wearing them. Maybe I used to come off as more of a studious guy with high ambitions than I do now. I guess that might affect parents' opinions. Or perhaps it's just a "Meet the Parents" sort of effect, where no one is really good enough for their daughter. I didn't set their yard on fire though or desecrate anyone's ashes (yet). Hmmm, I'll have to remember this someday when I have kids, especially if I have a daughter. I'll remember to be more excited about post-college boyfriends. In some ways that makes more sense, because you are more likely to end up related to a college or post-college boyfriend than a high school one.
Remember that conversation I had with a teacher about the VCRs not working when it snows? Well, apparently this actually happened to Sarah at her school. She tried to show the Christmas video the other day and it just didn't work. Apparently the VCR said something about too much moisture. I guess there really is a difference during the winter. I think there is the same amount of moisture, but maybe it condenses more on things. I've noticed that my door frame and window are quite wet all the time because of this same condensation. Anyway, I didn't have any problems showing the video, except for when we couldn't get a TV/VCR.
Well, today was another boring day at work. Classes are quite limited this week, and some of the older students have tests too. I was looking at the schedule for after the holiday, and it seems like the oldest students have exams (mostly high school entrance exams) at a rate of at least one per week throughout February and March. In mid-March they learn where they will go to high school. The system is different than in America. Here, you go to elementary school and junior high school based on where you live. However, you go to a high school based on your ability. It might not be located anywhere close to you. However, there isn't a bus system, so I don't know how students who live on the other side of Toyama could go to a school on this side. Basically this means there are good high schools and not so good high schools. Some of the JETs who work at lower-level high schools tell me it is really frustrating, since many of their students are going into technical colleges after graduation instead of advanced universities. These students often don't have any need or desire to learn English. So they are often loud and rude in classes. All students are required to take English as part of a national curriculum, regardless of their future plans.
It looks like the closing ceremony for the school year is March 24. After that there is a short vacation of 1-2 weeks and school will resume again. I don't know how much of the vacation counts as a holiday for me, and how much I have to take vacation days for. I have four weeks of vacation during the year. I'll be spending 6 days on this vacation, and I hope to have 10 days for when my family comes to visit in July. Odds are that there won't be school in July, but I will still have to show up for work. It's kind of a stupid system, since they are paying the teachers to just sit there. I think the Japanese teachers have some special vacation days they can spend only during the summer. I've heard it is sometimes possible to take a couple days of unpaid leave if you need it for the summer. I don't know if that's true though.
So it looks like I'll have 4 days I can spend on vacation during the spring break. I wouldn't mind travelling somewhere then, but I've also heard that it is the most popular time for Japanese people to travel during. Apparently Okinawa is insane during that time period.
It looks like the closing ceremony for the school year is March 24. After that there is a short vacation of 1-2 weeks and school will resume again. I don't know how much of the vacation counts as a holiday for me, and how much I have to take vacation days for. I have four weeks of vacation during the year. I'll be spending 6 days on this vacation, and I hope to have 10 days for when my family comes to visit in July. Odds are that there won't be school in July, but I will still have to show up for work. It's kind of a stupid system, since they are paying the teachers to just sit there. I think the Japanese teachers have some special vacation days they can spend only during the summer. I've heard it is sometimes possible to take a couple days of unpaid leave if you need it for the summer. I don't know if that's true though.
So it looks like I'll have 4 days I can spend on vacation during the spring break. I wouldn't mind travelling somewhere then, but I've also heard that it is the most popular time for Japanese people to travel during. Apparently Okinawa is insane during that time period.
Tuesday, December 17, 2002
I just wanted to comment quickly on the snow here. First of all, there is a lot of it. Secondly, they have a unique snow removal system.
On some of the smaller streets and sidewalks they have underground pipes that spray warm water onto the snow. The result is no snow, but lots of water. Recently I bought rubber boots (a little small, but $8) just to keep my feet dry from the giant puddles of water, especially where the sidewalk meets the street.
I figure that Toyama must be unique with this massive water-spraying system for several reasons. One, you need a lot of water to do this. Obviously you can't be worried about a drought. In Toyama that is never a problem. Second, you need to have enough snow to make it worthwhile. For small amounts of snow, the benefit wouldn't exceed the cost. Third, you need a high temperature with your snow. If the temperature goes much below freezing, you might have a lot of frozen and cracked pipes on your hands. Toyama gets a lot of snow mostly because of the mountains and precipitation levels, not because it is really cold.
Anyway, I thought you might find that interesting. It does make walking a little worse however, since you tend to get sprayed by water sometimes.
On some of the smaller streets and sidewalks they have underground pipes that spray warm water onto the snow. The result is no snow, but lots of water. Recently I bought rubber boots (a little small, but $8) just to keep my feet dry from the giant puddles of water, especially where the sidewalk meets the street.
I figure that Toyama must be unique with this massive water-spraying system for several reasons. One, you need a lot of water to do this. Obviously you can't be worried about a drought. In Toyama that is never a problem. Second, you need to have enough snow to make it worthwhile. For small amounts of snow, the benefit wouldn't exceed the cost. Third, you need a high temperature with your snow. If the temperature goes much below freezing, you might have a lot of frozen and cracked pipes on your hands. Toyama gets a lot of snow mostly because of the mountains and precipitation levels, not because it is really cold.
Anyway, I thought you might find that interesting. It does make walking a little worse however, since you tend to get sprayed by water sometimes.
Wednesday, December 11, 2002
Today my class got pushed to tomorrow, so I don't actually have any classes today. I do have English club however. It is at 3:00 instead of 4, which is actually better for me. I have to walk to Japanese lessons tonight, so I will need extra time to get there. I haven't figured out what to do for English club, but that's okay. I may continue some Christmas activities that I was doing last week. We learned some Christmas words and started playing a game, but it didn't last a long time. Often I get the impression that many of the girls in English club have no desire to be there. They certainly don't want to practice speaking English. Actually, there are about 10 members in English club. I think about half of them have a pretty high level of English. The other people seem to be in the club because they have nothing better to do, or because their friends are in the club. About 5 of the girls are willing to speak, but normally only 2 or 3 of them actually show up to any given meeting. However, the 5 girls who hate speaking with a passion ALWAYS come to every single meeting. I just don't understand how they can be so quiet. They aren't quiet when they talk in Japanese. It's really annoying when I am trying to teach them some new words so we can play a game, but only 2 of the girls will repeat the words to practice. It just sounds really quiet when we're doing things like that.
A couple weeks ago we had a meeting and only the quiet girls and 1 talkative girl were there. We were supposed to be playing a game where you try to guess your identity, which is written on your back. However, the point was to practice saying job words which we had just learned. Immediately the quiet girls became incredibly loud, but speaking only Japanese. They didn't even try to say anything in English, which I believe is the whole point of English club. So I got really upset and basically said, if you don't want to try to speak English, then don't come to English club anymore. It's not worth my time and energy to create extra lessons if they are just going to be ignored. I don't think it really helped much as far as making them talkative. But hopefully they won't talk in Japanese so much.
A couple weeks ago we had a meeting and only the quiet girls and 1 talkative girl were there. We were supposed to be playing a game where you try to guess your identity, which is written on your back. However, the point was to practice saying job words which we had just learned. Immediately the quiet girls became incredibly loud, but speaking only Japanese. They didn't even try to say anything in English, which I believe is the whole point of English club. So I got really upset and basically said, if you don't want to try to speak English, then don't come to English club anymore. It's not worth my time and energy to create extra lessons if they are just going to be ignored. I don't think it really helped much as far as making them talkative. But hopefully they won't talk in Japanese so much.
Okay, I just had a fairly strange conversation with one of my teachers about using a VCR in class. The teacher told me that we can't use a VCR during tomorrow's class because it is snowing outside. She says that you can't use VCRs if it is too moist. However, I don't think it's really any more moist now than it has been at any other time in Toyama. It's just that it is snow instead of rain. I told her I didn't want to use the VCR outside or something. She said that in Japan things don't work if it is snowing outside. Strange....
I did finally get her to agree that if I took the VCR into the teacher's room tomorrow and let it heat up, that this might be an acceptable solution. Also, I said I would make a back-up plan just in case that fails, for whatever reason. It was snowing yesterday and I managed to play the video for all my classes then, so I don't really know why it wouldn't work.
I find that Japanese people have an attitude about things that is often similar to this. They like to say "that's just the way it is," then not deal with something. Hopefully I haven't written about this yet, but here is another example, one of the ALTs here got a car recently. He decided he wanted to drive to school. His vice principal said that he is not able to because of city hall regulations. So he talked to the supervisor at city hall, and he was told that he can't drive to school because of the rules. Apparently the JET program says the supervisors can't give JETs extra money for transportation. So to get around this rule, our city hall made a rule saying that every day all the JETs report to city hall and then go to their schools from city hall on official business trips, which means they can pay us back for transportation costs. However, there is another rule that says you can't take a personal car on a business trip. When they discussed the situation with the JET, it was like there had always been these rules and that the rules couldn't be modified at all. However, they obviously created this one rule about the business trips (which is a complete fabrication of course) just to get around some other rule. So they should be able to create another rule to get around the no personal car rule, right? Anyway, I think this JET finally decided to find a parking place near his work and park there and walk to work every day. That's apparently not against the rules.
So anyway, it's been snowing here a lot. Tokyo got hit by a snowstorm a couple days ago, and it seems to have moved to Toyama. We have over a foot of snow, and it's still falling. The snowstorm is quite a shock. It really got cold and wet quite quickly. The Japanese teachers all have rubber boots, which I desperately need. I need to go to the store and see if I can find a size 30. I wear size 30 bowling shoes, and that's a pretty good fit. For anyone with larger feet than 12/13 U.S., you'll need to bring your own bowling shoes in Japan. I've thought about just buying a pair of shoes, because bowling is quite popular in Japan, and a little expensive. So far I've played 4 times, and gotten 104, 105, 106, and 92 as my scores. On Sunday Victoria and I went bowling with a bunch of high school students from Elita's English club. It was fun, but they didn't practice their English as much as I hoped they would. I was looking forward to talkative students, however her high schoolers were just like my junior high school kids.
I did finally get her to agree that if I took the VCR into the teacher's room tomorrow and let it heat up, that this might be an acceptable solution. Also, I said I would make a back-up plan just in case that fails, for whatever reason. It was snowing yesterday and I managed to play the video for all my classes then, so I don't really know why it wouldn't work.
I find that Japanese people have an attitude about things that is often similar to this. They like to say "that's just the way it is," then not deal with something. Hopefully I haven't written about this yet, but here is another example, one of the ALTs here got a car recently. He decided he wanted to drive to school. His vice principal said that he is not able to because of city hall regulations. So he talked to the supervisor at city hall, and he was told that he can't drive to school because of the rules. Apparently the JET program says the supervisors can't give JETs extra money for transportation. So to get around this rule, our city hall made a rule saying that every day all the JETs report to city hall and then go to their schools from city hall on official business trips, which means they can pay us back for transportation costs. However, there is another rule that says you can't take a personal car on a business trip. When they discussed the situation with the JET, it was like there had always been these rules and that the rules couldn't be modified at all. However, they obviously created this one rule about the business trips (which is a complete fabrication of course) just to get around some other rule. So they should be able to create another rule to get around the no personal car rule, right? Anyway, I think this JET finally decided to find a parking place near his work and park there and walk to work every day. That's apparently not against the rules.
So anyway, it's been snowing here a lot. Tokyo got hit by a snowstorm a couple days ago, and it seems to have moved to Toyama. We have over a foot of snow, and it's still falling. The snowstorm is quite a shock. It really got cold and wet quite quickly. The Japanese teachers all have rubber boots, which I desperately need. I need to go to the store and see if I can find a size 30. I wear size 30 bowling shoes, and that's a pretty good fit. For anyone with larger feet than 12/13 U.S., you'll need to bring your own bowling shoes in Japan. I've thought about just buying a pair of shoes, because bowling is quite popular in Japan, and a little expensive. So far I've played 4 times, and gotten 104, 105, 106, and 92 as my scores. On Sunday Victoria and I went bowling with a bunch of high school students from Elita's English club. It was fun, but they didn't practice their English as much as I hoped they would. I was looking forward to talkative students, however her high schoolers were just like my junior high school kids.
Tuesday, December 10, 2002
We just got our first snow today. I went outside this morning to quite a snow flurry. The ground has a thick layer of snow on it now. However, it just stopped snowing and it looks like it might rain later on today. It's possible there won't be any snow left in a day or so. For once I might actually be happy to see the rain here. My parents sent me some shoes for Christmas which are better than my running shoes. My running shoes have a mesh top so they are not so good for the snow. Hopefully I can waterproof the shoes my parents sent me. I don't mind the snow, but walking around in it isn't that great. I need to get an umbrella too. Everyone uses umbrellas here because the snow is quite wet, and you are protected better with an umbrella. I can get one for about 80 cents at a cheap store, so I might as well. I think this is the only time that it will snow until I go away for Christmas.
Last night Elita got her ADSL modem. It only took a minute to set up, then we were chugging away on the internet. She has an old Win95 computer with 16MB of RAM, so it was not as fast as it would have been with my computer. I found a website where you can download old browsers, so we got a bunch of different browsers to see which works best for her computer.
Today I have four lessons. They are my last second year student lessons until February. One of the classes was supposed to be fourth period, but it got moved to third period because a teacher is absent today. They don't have substitute teachers. Instead they just rearrange the schedule. However, this may mean that you are not prepared to teach a class and then you find out you have to. The Japanese teachers are generally told about schedule changes, or they read about the changes off a board. However, the schedule is written in kanji, so it is too difficult for me to read. One of my teachers is particularly bad about warning me when there is a schedule change. He just comes in the office and tells me its time to teach. Normally I tell him the schedule says we are teaching during a different period, and he runs off to see what is correct. He's almost always correct, but never bothers to inform me ahead of time about the change.
Last night Elita got her ADSL modem. It only took a minute to set up, then we were chugging away on the internet. She has an old Win95 computer with 16MB of RAM, so it was not as fast as it would have been with my computer. I found a website where you can download old browsers, so we got a bunch of different browsers to see which works best for her computer.
Today I have four lessons. They are my last second year student lessons until February. One of the classes was supposed to be fourth period, but it got moved to third period because a teacher is absent today. They don't have substitute teachers. Instead they just rearrange the schedule. However, this may mean that you are not prepared to teach a class and then you find out you have to. The Japanese teachers are generally told about schedule changes, or they read about the changes off a board. However, the schedule is written in kanji, so it is too difficult for me to read. One of my teachers is particularly bad about warning me when there is a schedule change. He just comes in the office and tells me its time to teach. Normally I tell him the schedule says we are teaching during a different period, and he runs off to see what is correct. He's almost always correct, but never bothers to inform me ahead of time about the change.
Monday, December 09, 2002
Okay, I haven't had much time to post recently. I apologize. Luckily, most of my readers in North Carolina didn't have electricity, so it really didn't make much of a difference, I imagine. Hope everyone has power back now, but I guess you're not reading this unless you do.
No snow or ice here yet, just more rain. Tonight they predict snow though. I am thinking about making a run to buy lots of cheap cereal for the winter. Cereal is only 80 cents at the foreign food store, which is insanely cheap. I'm afraid I won't be able to use my bike much once it starts snowing, so I need to get things now from far away stores.
Last week I had a two day conference on Tuesday and Wednesday. Monday I sat around and did lots of lesson planning, but not much else besides that. Since the conference, I've been busy doing lessons. I'm trying to cram a couple more lessons in before winter vacation, so I am teaching 3-4 each day.
Sarah, Victoria, and I made a video about Christmas. I got to dress up as Santa Claus. Victoria was a sleeping girl. Sarah used to be a film major, so she did the camera work and editing. We found out one of the girls in Sunshine (an apartment building where about 15 JETs live, including Sarah and Victoria) had a digital camera, so we borrowed it and used it for awhile. Sarah's film instincts took over, and it quickly became the largest film project JETs have ever embarked upon. Not really, but it did take awhile. We spent one evening filming, then Sarah spent another two editing. It came out pretty well though. I was very happy with the results. I was surprised, but some classes of students didn't seem to notice that I was Santa Claus, which I thought was pretty obvious. I've also had the students practicing listening to "Blue Christmas" by Elvis. Many of them didn't know who Elvis was, which surprised me. I don't think anyone knew the song, which didn't surprise me that much. They do know many Christmas carols, often with Japanese lyrics instead. However, this one is a little more obscure. I chose it because it has fairly easy words. It was a little difficult for many of the 2nd year students. I think I might see how the third years do with it.
I'm going to force all my classes, except the youngest to watch the video we made. It's good stuff and worth 5-10 minutes of class activities. Plus it teaches about English-speaker Christmas culture. In Japan they mostly eat Christmas cake and maybe give small gifts.
Victoria's parents are in Japan now. They will be here for a little over three weeks. They'll spend some time in Tokyo then head over to Toyama. Victoria and I watched "Meet the Parents" in preparation for my meeting her parents (no, we're not getting married). Anyway, her parents are going to be living with her and so that will certainly make things more interesting. I guess I'll have to cook for four from now on. Victoria has me all scared. She says they're proper British nobles, so I can't go around licking my plate like a dog after eating like I normally do. I don't think I can cope. Luckily I head off to Singapore and Malaysia with my brother in another 12 days (who's counting?), so I can lick my plate all I want to there (except in Singapore where that is punishable by a $100 fine). You'll have to forgive my goofiness today. I'm in a rather strange mood. At lunch I taught some boys how to do the "Brian dance" with me while I whistled Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
I rented a snowboard and boots for the next 4 months. Now I just have to actually go figure out how to do it. It was about $110, so I think that is a pretty good deal. I wish I could try skiing too, but I don't really want to rent two different sets of equipment. I would've waited until January, but I was worried that boots my size might be gone by then. They had three pairs that were my size, so I got the one that fit the best. I've never done winter sports besides skating. Oh yeah, there was that time Gabriel and I slid down an olympic ski jump landing hill. That was a pretty awesome winter sport actually. I don't think it's an official sport though. There are tons of places around here to ski, and Nagano is quite close, so it is an even better place to ski.
No snow or ice here yet, just more rain. Tonight they predict snow though. I am thinking about making a run to buy lots of cheap cereal for the winter. Cereal is only 80 cents at the foreign food store, which is insanely cheap. I'm afraid I won't be able to use my bike much once it starts snowing, so I need to get things now from far away stores.
Last week I had a two day conference on Tuesday and Wednesday. Monday I sat around and did lots of lesson planning, but not much else besides that. Since the conference, I've been busy doing lessons. I'm trying to cram a couple more lessons in before winter vacation, so I am teaching 3-4 each day.
Sarah, Victoria, and I made a video about Christmas. I got to dress up as Santa Claus. Victoria was a sleeping girl. Sarah used to be a film major, so she did the camera work and editing. We found out one of the girls in Sunshine (an apartment building where about 15 JETs live, including Sarah and Victoria) had a digital camera, so we borrowed it and used it for awhile. Sarah's film instincts took over, and it quickly became the largest film project JETs have ever embarked upon. Not really, but it did take awhile. We spent one evening filming, then Sarah spent another two editing. It came out pretty well though. I was very happy with the results. I was surprised, but some classes of students didn't seem to notice that I was Santa Claus, which I thought was pretty obvious. I've also had the students practicing listening to "Blue Christmas" by Elvis. Many of them didn't know who Elvis was, which surprised me. I don't think anyone knew the song, which didn't surprise me that much. They do know many Christmas carols, often with Japanese lyrics instead. However, this one is a little more obscure. I chose it because it has fairly easy words. It was a little difficult for many of the 2nd year students. I think I might see how the third years do with it.
I'm going to force all my classes, except the youngest to watch the video we made. It's good stuff and worth 5-10 minutes of class activities. Plus it teaches about English-speaker Christmas culture. In Japan they mostly eat Christmas cake and maybe give small gifts.
Victoria's parents are in Japan now. They will be here for a little over three weeks. They'll spend some time in Tokyo then head over to Toyama. Victoria and I watched "Meet the Parents" in preparation for my meeting her parents (no, we're not getting married). Anyway, her parents are going to be living with her and so that will certainly make things more interesting. I guess I'll have to cook for four from now on. Victoria has me all scared. She says they're proper British nobles, so I can't go around licking my plate like a dog after eating like I normally do. I don't think I can cope. Luckily I head off to Singapore and Malaysia with my brother in another 12 days (who's counting?), so I can lick my plate all I want to there (except in Singapore where that is punishable by a $100 fine). You'll have to forgive my goofiness today. I'm in a rather strange mood. At lunch I taught some boys how to do the "Brian dance" with me while I whistled Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
I rented a snowboard and boots for the next 4 months. Now I just have to actually go figure out how to do it. It was about $110, so I think that is a pretty good deal. I wish I could try skiing too, but I don't really want to rent two different sets of equipment. I would've waited until January, but I was worried that boots my size might be gone by then. They had three pairs that were my size, so I got the one that fit the best. I've never done winter sports besides skating. Oh yeah, there was that time Gabriel and I slid down an olympic ski jump landing hill. That was a pretty awesome winter sport actually. I don't think it's an official sport though. There are tons of places around here to ski, and Nagano is quite close, so it is an even better place to ski.
Wednesday, November 27, 2002
Kyoto Monday - it's finally here!
On Monday we woke up late (surprise, surprise) a little after noon. I was antsy to get moving but we were a little slow for my tastes. I mapped out a plan to go to some more temples in Eastern Kyoto. Sunday we were in Northeast Kyoto, so this time we were in Southeast Kyoto. There are a couple famous temples in roughly the same area, so we decided to see all the Eastern Kyoto attractions. We decided to eat breakfast on the road somewhere.
We took the subway to Sanju Keihan (downtown area from Sunday and center of town) and then took the Keihan train line south to Shichiju Keihan (7th Keihan station). Once we got out we spied a couple different coffee shops with breakfast, so we headed to one. Sarah was quite perceptive and noticed there was a lunch set for about $5 that included yogurt, a sandwich, and a drink. We all ended up getting it. I got a ham and cheese panini, and it was quite good. While in this cafe I was having flashbacks of being in New York with Gabriel, Nissim, or Carmen eating breakfast at a cafe. We were on the second story of the cafe, so we had a view of the street below and could watch people going by. Unfortunately this was Japan, so we didn't see many interesting people walking by.
Our first temple was up the street from the cafe, and we arrived there in no time. It is called Sanjusangendo. "Sanjusan" means 33. In the main temple building there are 33 spaces between the support pillars, hence the name of the temple. The main building is incredibly long and narrow for a temple (200 meters long?). The temple grounds are rather boring and devoid of life. The grounds are surrounded by a wall. Here's a gate in the wall (with Victoria on the right). I did get some humor out of this giant bell with a sign on it indicating that people shouldn't hit it. It looked so fun too.
Sanjusangendo is famous for its 1001 statues of Buddha. The temple is wooden, yet has survived about 750 years in its current incarnation. Originally it was built in the 1100s, but it burned down. Some of the statues were saved from the fire, and others were recarved afterwards. The statues are all gold colored and each one is slightly different. In front of the 1001 statues are statues of guardian kings from Hinduism and Buddhism. Here's a site with lots of info on Sanjusangendo. Really, there are a lot of statues. Taking pictures was forbidden, so I took a picture of the brochure instead. It is not that good of a picture, but it should give you an idea of what the hall looked like. The solitary statue is a giant Buddha statue (the 1001st statue) and it is very big. The statues on the right are the Buddhas with the guardian kings below them. It is truly an impressive sight. Apparently the rafters and ceiling were all painted and decorated originally too, but they have faded over time.
Victoria and Sarah both bought little fortune telling things in the gift shop. Victoria's fortune said she would be "Most fortunate," which made us wonder if anyone got the least fortunate choice that was supposed to be a possibility. Sarah did a different one, I think about a protector god or something like that.
We walked from Sanjusangendo to our next destination, the much more crowded Kiyomizudera. On the way there, we walked up a shopping street and got a picture of a geisha girl in training (with Kiyomizudera in background) coming down the street. There is a Japanese word, but I can't be bothered to look it up right now. There aren't many geisha left in Japan apparently (100-200?), and most of them are in Kyoto. It is quite expensive to pay one in a fancy restaurant (impossible actually), so we were lucky to see not one, but two. The second one was close to the temple, so I took another picture of her, several actually.. We arrived there kind of late because of our late start, so the sun was setting. Kiyomizudera was quite affordable (2 or 3 dollars) compared to some of the temples, and it was probably the most impressive. We had a gorgeous view of the sunset and Kyoto. Unfortunately, my camera doesn't do sunsets well. But before the sunset, the light was orange on some of the buildings, creating some nice shots (tower, buildings). We walked around the complex some. Sarah, Victoria, and I all enjoyed it, but it was crowded with people wanting to see the sunset. I got a good look at the temple tower with the sunset. For more information about the temple, please look here.
Afterwards we took a busier route away from the temple. Actually, it was so busy we got separated (okay, I stopped to buy omiyage and missed them at the next store). We reunited using our keitai (cell phones) and headed back towards Sanju Keihan. There was no train nearby, but we weren't that far away, so we just walked. We wanted to walk through the geisha entertainment district, but we missed the turn. It was really difficult to tell where it was from our map. We saw a temple on a main street that was all lit up and I got this cool shot of it.
We had some time to kill before Will was supposed to call us. He was supposed to be getting off work around 6. Alex, unfortunately wouldn't get off until after our train left for Toyama (9:15). Will didn't call us, so we found a place to eat. It was some Italian restaurant. The food was cheap, and of okay quality. Will met up with us at the restaurant, and we all headed back to his apartment to get our luggage. We headed to the train station on the subway. Victoria and Sarah were worried about missing our train, but I wasn't. This is a little strange since I am probably the most schedule-oriented and anal of the three of us. We arrived at the station with enough time to get some coffee to go at Starbucks and take the escalators up in the train station. The train station is built like a big V. In the bottom of the V are the train platforms. Escalators go up both sides of the train station and there are stores and restaurants all along the escalators. We took about 10 escalators up and could see quite a lot from the top. It was really nice. Sarah and Victoria started to panic about time once we got to the top and headed down without going to look at the view (which was great). We made it there with 5 minutes or so to spare. We were on the closest track, so it was very easy to get there.
The train ride home was uneventful, except that we were in a smoking car and sitting in non-adjacent seats. We all ended up moving together as people got off the train at different cities, but we didn't think about moving to a non-smoking car (we're stupid, okay?). As more people left the air quality improved. Unfortunately, Sarah was feeling bad most of the afternoon, and being in the smoky train didn't help. Almost as soon as we left the Kyoto area, we rain into pouring rain (it had been raining all weekend in Toyama and was dry in Kyoto) which was still going on when we arrived in Toyama. Nothing like a midnight bike ride home in the rain to say "Welcome home!"
On Monday we woke up late (surprise, surprise) a little after noon. I was antsy to get moving but we were a little slow for my tastes. I mapped out a plan to go to some more temples in Eastern Kyoto. Sunday we were in Northeast Kyoto, so this time we were in Southeast Kyoto. There are a couple famous temples in roughly the same area, so we decided to see all the Eastern Kyoto attractions. We decided to eat breakfast on the road somewhere.
We took the subway to Sanju Keihan (downtown area from Sunday and center of town) and then took the Keihan train line south to Shichiju Keihan (7th Keihan station). Once we got out we spied a couple different coffee shops with breakfast, so we headed to one. Sarah was quite perceptive and noticed there was a lunch set for about $5 that included yogurt, a sandwich, and a drink. We all ended up getting it. I got a ham and cheese panini, and it was quite good. While in this cafe I was having flashbacks of being in New York with Gabriel, Nissim, or Carmen eating breakfast at a cafe. We were on the second story of the cafe, so we had a view of the street below and could watch people going by. Unfortunately this was Japan, so we didn't see many interesting people walking by.
Our first temple was up the street from the cafe, and we arrived there in no time. It is called Sanjusangendo. "Sanjusan" means 33. In the main temple building there are 33 spaces between the support pillars, hence the name of the temple. The main building is incredibly long and narrow for a temple (200 meters long?). The temple grounds are rather boring and devoid of life. The grounds are surrounded by a wall. Here's a gate in the wall (with Victoria on the right). I did get some humor out of this giant bell with a sign on it indicating that people shouldn't hit it. It looked so fun too.
Sanjusangendo is famous for its 1001 statues of Buddha. The temple is wooden, yet has survived about 750 years in its current incarnation. Originally it was built in the 1100s, but it burned down. Some of the statues were saved from the fire, and others were recarved afterwards. The statues are all gold colored and each one is slightly different. In front of the 1001 statues are statues of guardian kings from Hinduism and Buddhism. Here's a site with lots of info on Sanjusangendo. Really, there are a lot of statues. Taking pictures was forbidden, so I took a picture of the brochure instead. It is not that good of a picture, but it should give you an idea of what the hall looked like. The solitary statue is a giant Buddha statue (the 1001st statue) and it is very big. The statues on the right are the Buddhas with the guardian kings below them. It is truly an impressive sight. Apparently the rafters and ceiling were all painted and decorated originally too, but they have faded over time.
Victoria and Sarah both bought little fortune telling things in the gift shop. Victoria's fortune said she would be "Most fortunate," which made us wonder if anyone got the least fortunate choice that was supposed to be a possibility. Sarah did a different one, I think about a protector god or something like that.
We walked from Sanjusangendo to our next destination, the much more crowded Kiyomizudera. On the way there, we walked up a shopping street and got a picture of a geisha girl in training (with Kiyomizudera in background) coming down the street. There is a Japanese word, but I can't be bothered to look it up right now. There aren't many geisha left in Japan apparently (100-200?), and most of them are in Kyoto. It is quite expensive to pay one in a fancy restaurant (impossible actually), so we were lucky to see not one, but two. The second one was close to the temple, so I took another picture of her, several actually.. We arrived there kind of late because of our late start, so the sun was setting. Kiyomizudera was quite affordable (2 or 3 dollars) compared to some of the temples, and it was probably the most impressive. We had a gorgeous view of the sunset and Kyoto. Unfortunately, my camera doesn't do sunsets well. But before the sunset, the light was orange on some of the buildings, creating some nice shots (tower, buildings). We walked around the complex some. Sarah, Victoria, and I all enjoyed it, but it was crowded with people wanting to see the sunset. I got a good look at the temple tower with the sunset. For more information about the temple, please look here.
Afterwards we took a busier route away from the temple. Actually, it was so busy we got separated (okay, I stopped to buy omiyage and missed them at the next store). We reunited using our keitai (cell phones) and headed back towards Sanju Keihan. There was no train nearby, but we weren't that far away, so we just walked. We wanted to walk through the geisha entertainment district, but we missed the turn. It was really difficult to tell where it was from our map. We saw a temple on a main street that was all lit up and I got this cool shot of it.
We had some time to kill before Will was supposed to call us. He was supposed to be getting off work around 6. Alex, unfortunately wouldn't get off until after our train left for Toyama (9:15). Will didn't call us, so we found a place to eat. It was some Italian restaurant. The food was cheap, and of okay quality. Will met up with us at the restaurant, and we all headed back to his apartment to get our luggage. We headed to the train station on the subway. Victoria and Sarah were worried about missing our train, but I wasn't. This is a little strange since I am probably the most schedule-oriented and anal of the three of us. We arrived at the station with enough time to get some coffee to go at Starbucks and take the escalators up in the train station. The train station is built like a big V. In the bottom of the V are the train platforms. Escalators go up both sides of the train station and there are stores and restaurants all along the escalators. We took about 10 escalators up and could see quite a lot from the top. It was really nice. Sarah and Victoria started to panic about time once we got to the top and headed down without going to look at the view (which was great). We made it there with 5 minutes or so to spare. We were on the closest track, so it was very easy to get there.
The train ride home was uneventful, except that we were in a smoking car and sitting in non-adjacent seats. We all ended up moving together as people got off the train at different cities, but we didn't think about moving to a non-smoking car (we're stupid, okay?). As more people left the air quality improved. Unfortunately, Sarah was feeling bad most of the afternoon, and being in the smoky train didn't help. Almost as soon as we left the Kyoto area, we rain into pouring rain (it had been raining all weekend in Toyama and was dry in Kyoto) which was still going on when we arrived in Toyama. Nothing like a midnight bike ride home in the rain to say "Welcome home!"
Today music returned during lunch. We haven't had music for the last week or so, and I've been wondering why. Normally there is a radio show put on by the students during lunch, which includes music. I found out why yesterday afternoon from Mrs. Iguchi. She is pretty good at keeping me informed of all the bad things students are up to. A couple weeks ago she pointed out a student to me and said that he was crazy and dangerous. I've never seen him in class, because he rarely comes to school. Apparently he is sometimes drunk when he does show up. She said his parents are divorced and his mother doesn't take good care of him. He has to eat breakfast in a cheap restaurant every day because she won't buy breakfast foods for him. Well, he doesn't do that well in the school environment. He likes being here because then people will talk to him at least, but he exhibits bad behavior to get negative attention.
He didn't come to school during September at all, but recently he's been coming sometimes. Apparently a week ago he kept showing up during the lunch broadcasts and saying stuff into the microphone. I think he got ahold of the microphone at time outside lunch and made some stupid comments during class. Anyway, they just locked up the room so he couldn't do it anymore, hence no more broadcasts.
A couple days later he got bored and went down to the infirmary. I guess there was a first year student there whom he knew. He was being disruptive, so the nurse told him he had to leave and started leading him to the door. I guess he got upset and attacked her. Iguchi-sensei said that the he punched and kicked the nurse. The nurse got away and ran upstairs to the teacher's room and locked herself in the principal's office. I guess the student came into the teacher's room and started pounding on the principal's door, trying to break it in. Someone called the police, and I think maybe some teachers restrained him. Anyway, the police took him away and the teachers had a serious meeting after school about it.
His father is in a nearby prefecture, and he met with school officials. He said he was taking his son to live with him there and that he'd get him help, etc, that weekend. However, this Monday the student was seen hanging around outside the school, so the teachers don't know what happened with him going to Fukui. I guess some of the teachers, like the nurse, are afraid for their safety. But the really strange thing is that I don't think he's really going to be punished for attacking one of the teachers like that. Apparently in Japan minors are only given lots of warnings for bad behavior, as opposed to some sort of action to fix the problem or move the student to a special program. I think he can legally come back to school if he desires. Anyway, that's my crazy school. We're getting a reputation for having problematic kids now.
He didn't come to school during September at all, but recently he's been coming sometimes. Apparently a week ago he kept showing up during the lunch broadcasts and saying stuff into the microphone. I think he got ahold of the microphone at time outside lunch and made some stupid comments during class. Anyway, they just locked up the room so he couldn't do it anymore, hence no more broadcasts.
A couple days later he got bored and went down to the infirmary. I guess there was a first year student there whom he knew. He was being disruptive, so the nurse told him he had to leave and started leading him to the door. I guess he got upset and attacked her. Iguchi-sensei said that the he punched and kicked the nurse. The nurse got away and ran upstairs to the teacher's room and locked herself in the principal's office. I guess the student came into the teacher's room and started pounding on the principal's door, trying to break it in. Someone called the police, and I think maybe some teachers restrained him. Anyway, the police took him away and the teachers had a serious meeting after school about it.
His father is in a nearby prefecture, and he met with school officials. He said he was taking his son to live with him there and that he'd get him help, etc, that weekend. However, this Monday the student was seen hanging around outside the school, so the teachers don't know what happened with him going to Fukui. I guess some of the teachers, like the nurse, are afraid for their safety. But the really strange thing is that I don't think he's really going to be punished for attacking one of the teachers like that. Apparently in Japan minors are only given lots of warnings for bad behavior, as opposed to some sort of action to fix the problem or move the student to a special program. I think he can legally come back to school if he desires. Anyway, that's my crazy school. We're getting a reputation for having problematic kids now.
Monday, November 25, 2002
Today's lunch was an interesting experience. It seemed to be calamari with the typical vegetables that seem to come with every meal, normally bean sprouts, seaweed, cucumbers, or lettuce. Normally we have some combination of those four vegetables. However, part way through the meal I realized my white bean sprouts had little silver dots on them, which I realized were little eyes. Turns out they were little white fish instead of bean sprouts. I still ate them, but it was quite surprising. They didn't really taste like much, however.
All the teachers went to a meeting, so I am left alone again. It seems to happen once a week. I think the Japanese really like meetings a lot. There are 2-3 teacher's meetings on average. I guess with all the schedule changes, they have to keep up somehow. A girl students just came to the office and lost all ability to communicate. She just kept saying, "uh, uh, uh" and occasionally uttering the name of one of the teachers. I eventually got her to say something more substantial in English. Though she could've said it in Japanese and I probably would've gotten it still. It was pretty funny, but I was a little worried she might wet her pants or something.
All the teachers went to a meeting, so I am left alone again. It seems to happen once a week. I think the Japanese really like meetings a lot. There are 2-3 teacher's meetings on average. I guess with all the schedule changes, they have to keep up somehow. A girl students just came to the office and lost all ability to communicate. She just kept saying, "uh, uh, uh" and occasionally uttering the name of one of the teachers. I eventually got her to say something more substantial in English. Though she could've said it in Japanese and I probably would've gotten it still. It was pretty funny, but I was a little worried she might wet her pants or something.
One weird thing in Japan is the bathrooms. I really like the toilets with heated seats, bidets, automatic lowering lids, and everything else under the sun. However, the Japanese style toilets are quite annoying. They are basic squat and go to the bathroom in a big hole type of things. I still don't understand how that would ever be the preferred method of going to the bathroom, but I have noticed that many of the Japanese teachers will use the Japanese toilet instead of the western one. Maybe it forces you to go quicker since there's no heated seats to encourage you to stay for awhile.
I don't mind the occasional Japanese toilet, since many of them are being phased out quickly. What does bother me is that many times there is a lack of privacy while going to the bathroom, especially for men. When we took the train to Kyoto, I was really surprised at the toilets. There was one locking toilet with a closing door that was co-ed. There was also a urinal for men in a small side door. This door had a big window however, so anyone who wanted to could see you peeing. They also decided that putting a lock on the door was a luxury, so there was no lock either. It was more than a little weird watching people walk by while I was peeing.
This is not the first time I've used urinals that are visible to people passing by. It happened in Kyoto at some of the shrines, and at random restrooms in Toyama too. One of the worst times was on Mt. Fuji. The bathrooms on the mountain are just pit toilets in shacks normally. At the very top there was a bathroom, but it was set up really strangely. As you walked in, there were urinals on both sides. To get to the pit toilets you had to keep walking. These pit toilets were for men and women. So women had to walk by all the men peeing to get to the bathroom. I just don't understand it sometimes.
I don't mind the occasional Japanese toilet, since many of them are being phased out quickly. What does bother me is that many times there is a lack of privacy while going to the bathroom, especially for men. When we took the train to Kyoto, I was really surprised at the toilets. There was one locking toilet with a closing door that was co-ed. There was also a urinal for men in a small side door. This door had a big window however, so anyone who wanted to could see you peeing. They also decided that putting a lock on the door was a luxury, so there was no lock either. It was more than a little weird watching people walk by while I was peeing.
This is not the first time I've used urinals that are visible to people passing by. It happened in Kyoto at some of the shrines, and at random restrooms in Toyama too. One of the worst times was on Mt. Fuji. The bathrooms on the mountain are just pit toilets in shacks normally. At the very top there was a bathroom, but it was set up really strangely. As you walked in, there were urinals on both sides. To get to the pit toilets you had to keep walking. These pit toilets were for men and women. So women had to walk by all the men peeing to get to the bathroom. I just don't understand it sometimes.
Yay, my computer came back to me last Friday. Hopefully everything is fixed. Since the problem only occurs occasionally, I can't immediately tell. The repair explanation was written in Japanese, so I don't understand it well. I need a computer person who speaks Japanese and English. Maybe I'll bring it to Mr. Okamoto at one of my elementary schools. He speaks English well and is the computer person there.
Anyway, this week I only have five classes total because exams are Friday-Tuesday, so no one wants classes before the exam. I should have time to finally write about Kyoto Monday.
Anyway, this week I only have five classes total because exams are Friday-Tuesday, so no one wants classes before the exam. I should have time to finally write about Kyoto Monday.
Monday, November 18, 2002
Yesterday was just gorgeous. For some reason the sky was without clouds, and the weather was nice. Then today it rained all day again. Doh! I wish I had brought my camera with me when I went up the top of the city hall tower. I could see quite a long way, plus the mountains are snow-capped now, so they are quite beautiful.
Friday, November 15, 2002
Sunday in Kyoto take 3.
The six of us (Sarah, Victoria, Will, Alex, Akemi, and I) ended up in a vegetarian restaurant in the Sanjo Keihan area. Will and Alex are vegetarian, so they were quite familiar with the restaurant. We don't really have vegetarian restaurants in Toyama (ditto for most of Japan), so it was a different sort of experience. There were many foreigners in the restaurant, including Nadia (again!) and a couple other Toyama JETs. The portions of food were a little small, I thought, but the food was good. Or at least that's what everyone else told me. I ended up not getting my food until about 15 minutes after everyone else had finished eating.
One of the strangest things about Japan is that in restaurants they serve each dish when it is prepared, not all at the same time. This means that people sometimes, such as for this dinner, get their food at radically different times. Anyway, this put me in a pretty bad mood since I was starving after walking around all day long. We didn't really eat a solid lunch either (just snacks), because we were worried about shrines and temples closing on us in the afternoon. Anyway, my food finally came, but I ended up still hungry because the portion was a small.
At dinner, we were seated at a small half-circular table with the flat side of the half-circle pressed against the wall. It was a rather tight squeeze for the six of us, and I ended up next to the wall. By itself this wouldn't have been to bad, but Will was seated next to me, and he is really tall. Our legs were engaged in a fierce battle for legroom with each other and the table legs. I think it is fair to say that I was utterly defeated in this battle. Unfortunately, the restaurant was a little loud, so I had trouble hearing the people across the table from me, pictured here. I could hear Victoria and Will's conversation, but it involved stories from university, so I wasn't really able to participate much.
After dinner we went upstairs to a bar, which was even more noisy than the restaurant. I was still hungry so I thought I'd order some yaki-tori (skewered meat). However, it never came after 45 minutes, so I managed to ask the waitress in Japanese, "Where is my yaki-tori?" At least it makes me feel like I've learned something since arriving here that I can say that much. The waitress went to go check and came back and said something I didn't understand, except that they had messed up and forgotten about me. Ten minutes later I finally did get the yaki-tori, but it wasn't really that great anyway.
At the bar, I ended up on the end again, but sitting next to Victoria this time so I at least had someone to talk to. Here's a picture of us at the bar, including a tasteful t-shirt in the background. It was, like many bars in the world, smokey and loud, and not really my type of place. I was glad when we left at 11:10 or so. I really needed something sweet for energy and a pick me up, so we went searching for ice cream shops. However, most of them decided to close at 11, so we kept finding closed ice cream shops.
Finally I spied a crepe shop which had sweet crepes, some of which even had ice cream. I was excited and went to get a crepe, but then someone spied a photo booth nearby, and said we should have a group photo taken. Photos booths are quite popular in Japan, and are more complex than some video games in the US. They produce these tiny sticker pictures that you can put in books and such. You can change the background and add funny shapes and everything. They're fairly expensive, but fun. Of course, when we come out of the photo booth, the crepe shop has just closed. At this point I'm pretty upset and close to tears. I'm really tired and all the forces of the world were conspiring to keep me from having a positive evening in Kyoto. So I went back to Will and Alex's place and went to sleep. Victoria came with me to keep me company, which was nice. We pretty much passed out, because we didn't even notice when the other four came back to the apartment around 2:30am. Apparently they were pretty drunk and quite loud, but neither one of us remembers waking up then. So ended Sunday in Kyoto. I'll write about Monday later.
The six of us (Sarah, Victoria, Will, Alex, Akemi, and I) ended up in a vegetarian restaurant in the Sanjo Keihan area. Will and Alex are vegetarian, so they were quite familiar with the restaurant. We don't really have vegetarian restaurants in Toyama (ditto for most of Japan), so it was a different sort of experience. There were many foreigners in the restaurant, including Nadia (again!) and a couple other Toyama JETs. The portions of food were a little small, I thought, but the food was good. Or at least that's what everyone else told me. I ended up not getting my food until about 15 minutes after everyone else had finished eating.
One of the strangest things about Japan is that in restaurants they serve each dish when it is prepared, not all at the same time. This means that people sometimes, such as for this dinner, get their food at radically different times. Anyway, this put me in a pretty bad mood since I was starving after walking around all day long. We didn't really eat a solid lunch either (just snacks), because we were worried about shrines and temples closing on us in the afternoon. Anyway, my food finally came, but I ended up still hungry because the portion was a small.
At dinner, we were seated at a small half-circular table with the flat side of the half-circle pressed against the wall. It was a rather tight squeeze for the six of us, and I ended up next to the wall. By itself this wouldn't have been to bad, but Will was seated next to me, and he is really tall. Our legs were engaged in a fierce battle for legroom with each other and the table legs. I think it is fair to say that I was utterly defeated in this battle. Unfortunately, the restaurant was a little loud, so I had trouble hearing the people across the table from me, pictured here. I could hear Victoria and Will's conversation, but it involved stories from university, so I wasn't really able to participate much.
After dinner we went upstairs to a bar, which was even more noisy than the restaurant. I was still hungry so I thought I'd order some yaki-tori (skewered meat). However, it never came after 45 minutes, so I managed to ask the waitress in Japanese, "Where is my yaki-tori?" At least it makes me feel like I've learned something since arriving here that I can say that much. The waitress went to go check and came back and said something I didn't understand, except that they had messed up and forgotten about me. Ten minutes later I finally did get the yaki-tori, but it wasn't really that great anyway.
At the bar, I ended up on the end again, but sitting next to Victoria this time so I at least had someone to talk to. Here's a picture of us at the bar, including a tasteful t-shirt in the background. It was, like many bars in the world, smokey and loud, and not really my type of place. I was glad when we left at 11:10 or so. I really needed something sweet for energy and a pick me up, so we went searching for ice cream shops. However, most of them decided to close at 11, so we kept finding closed ice cream shops.
Finally I spied a crepe shop which had sweet crepes, some of which even had ice cream. I was excited and went to get a crepe, but then someone spied a photo booth nearby, and said we should have a group photo taken. Photos booths are quite popular in Japan, and are more complex than some video games in the US. They produce these tiny sticker pictures that you can put in books and such. You can change the background and add funny shapes and everything. They're fairly expensive, but fun. Of course, when we come out of the photo booth, the crepe shop has just closed. At this point I'm pretty upset and close to tears. I'm really tired and all the forces of the world were conspiring to keep me from having a positive evening in Kyoto. So I went back to Will and Alex's place and went to sleep. Victoria came with me to keep me company, which was nice. We pretty much passed out, because we didn't even notice when the other four came back to the apartment around 2:30am. Apparently they were pretty drunk and quite loud, but neither one of us remembers waking up then. So ended Sunday in Kyoto. I'll write about Monday later.
Thursday, November 14, 2002
Okay, this is take two for writing the second part of Sunday on the Kyoto Trip. If you think this one is not very good, I assure you that the first one I wrote was much better. This time I'm writing it outside of blogger to make sure that I'll still have the text if something goes wrong on blogger's end.
Anyway, so last time, I forgot to include that after the temple walking tour, but before we went up to the lookout at Eikan-do, Sarah stopped to take part in her favorite pasttime: taking pictures of many different things. This time some children playing at a day care right next door to the temple grounds were her subjects.
After we descended from the tower, we left Eikan-do and started on the actual Philosopher's Walk. It is a gravel trail that goes beside a small stream and through many nice looking neighborhoods. There are many tea houses and cafes beside the trail, along with random gift shops. We even saw a charity yard sale on a side street right off the trail. As always, we ran into a couple JETs from Toyama that we knew.
We passed several temples that we could've visited, but we were a little worried about the time. We wanted to make it to the temple at the end of the Philosopher's Walk, Ginkaku-ji. Ginkaku-ji means Silver Temple, or something like that. There is a very famous temple in Kyoto that is called Kinkaku-ji, or Golden Temple. The exterior is completely gold-covered, so it is impressive to look at. Ginkaku-ji is like a sister temple or something. It was supposed to be completely covered in silver. However, the lord that was paying for all this silver died after the temple was built, but before it was covered in silver. In the above picture you can see one of the original buildings of the temple (rare in Japan, since they are wooden buildings) on the left. On the right you can see the newer temple buildings, whose roofs are painted silver, I think mostly to keep with the name and original intent. You can pay to tour the newer buildings, but the old one is off limits. I didn't bother to tour the buildings since the tours were in Japanese, and the buildings were pretty new.
One thing that is famous at Ginkaku-ji besides the original building, is the silver sand patterns. In the photo from above, you can see the lines of sand in the center of the compound. There are two sand sculptures there. The one you see is supposed to represent waves on a body of water. Here's a close-up of it. The other one (not pictured here) is a big mountain of silver sand that is supposed to be Mt. Fuji. They are both fairly impressive, but what impressed me more is that it seems like all the grains of sand are perfectly in their place. I wonder how often they have to re-rake the sand to keep it so neat. The Mt. Fuji sculpture is a near perfect cone.
After seeing the sands, the trail led around to a little garden area, where I surprised Victoria with a picture. The trail climbed up to give us the view of the temple from above. Finally the trail led back down to near the historic building, which wasn't very impressive to look at it, except that it is supposed to be old. One thing that is more impressive is the 20+ foot walls that you have to walk through to enter and exit the temple area. The walls were stone for about 5 feet and then tall bushes were neatly trimmed to form the rest of the wall. Behind the bushes was a thick bamboo forest. On the way out through this area, Sarah and Victoria found a really cute Japanese baby strapped onto some man's back (I can only assume his father's). We got permission from the father and mother to pose for a picture with the baby. This was a much more amenable idea to me than Victoria's constant plans to kidnap cute Japanese children to dress in bumblebee suits and keep as her own, so I agreed to it. You can see part of the bushes behind the picture.
It was getting late, so we headed back to the subway. Unfortunately we had to walk all the way back, because there is no subway or train near Ginkaku-ji. We headed back to Sanjo Keihan (where we walked around and had dinner Sat. night) instead of returning home, because we were hungry. Sarah was feeling dizzy and needed someplace to stop. Near the metro station at Sanjo Keihan, there is a Starbucks, so we went there. I'm not a big coffee fan myself, but Sarah was really missing a good cup of coffee, so Starbucks was the next best thing. :)
I got a hot chocolate and a chocolate scone, which I haven't had in awhile. It was nice to feel like we were in a little bit of home. The menu was in English, the staff spoke English, and there were many foreigners there. Just seeing a menu with English was a nice change, because that just doesn't happen much in Toyama. My favorite restaurant in Toyama, a Nepalese restaurant, does have an English menu, so that should tell you something about the powers of a menu in English.
We got a call from Alex that she had finished work and would meet us at Starbucks. So we hung out there for awhile. We ran into some Toyama JETs at Starbucks, including Nadia. Once Alex came we walked along some of the shopping area, stopping in some stores. We eventually found our way to an eight-story book store which has a whole floor dedicated to foreign books. We spent awhile there, and Will finished work and met us there. A Japanese friend of theirs meet us there also, Akemi. She came from another area nearby. We all went out to eat after Victoria finished trying to buy all the English books in the store (she was a lit major).
More tomorrow. I've got more interviews now.
Anyway, so last time, I forgot to include that after the temple walking tour, but before we went up to the lookout at Eikan-do, Sarah stopped to take part in her favorite pasttime: taking pictures of many different things. This time some children playing at a day care right next door to the temple grounds were her subjects.
After we descended from the tower, we left Eikan-do and started on the actual Philosopher's Walk. It is a gravel trail that goes beside a small stream and through many nice looking neighborhoods. There are many tea houses and cafes beside the trail, along with random gift shops. We even saw a charity yard sale on a side street right off the trail. As always, we ran into a couple JETs from Toyama that we knew.
We passed several temples that we could've visited, but we were a little worried about the time. We wanted to make it to the temple at the end of the Philosopher's Walk, Ginkaku-ji. Ginkaku-ji means Silver Temple, or something like that. There is a very famous temple in Kyoto that is called Kinkaku-ji, or Golden Temple. The exterior is completely gold-covered, so it is impressive to look at. Ginkaku-ji is like a sister temple or something. It was supposed to be completely covered in silver. However, the lord that was paying for all this silver died after the temple was built, but before it was covered in silver. In the above picture you can see one of the original buildings of the temple (rare in Japan, since they are wooden buildings) on the left. On the right you can see the newer temple buildings, whose roofs are painted silver, I think mostly to keep with the name and original intent. You can pay to tour the newer buildings, but the old one is off limits. I didn't bother to tour the buildings since the tours were in Japanese, and the buildings were pretty new.
One thing that is famous at Ginkaku-ji besides the original building, is the silver sand patterns. In the photo from above, you can see the lines of sand in the center of the compound. There are two sand sculptures there. The one you see is supposed to represent waves on a body of water. Here's a close-up of it. The other one (not pictured here) is a big mountain of silver sand that is supposed to be Mt. Fuji. They are both fairly impressive, but what impressed me more is that it seems like all the grains of sand are perfectly in their place. I wonder how often they have to re-rake the sand to keep it so neat. The Mt. Fuji sculpture is a near perfect cone.
After seeing the sands, the trail led around to a little garden area, where I surprised Victoria with a picture. The trail climbed up to give us the view of the temple from above. Finally the trail led back down to near the historic building, which wasn't very impressive to look at it, except that it is supposed to be old. One thing that is more impressive is the 20+ foot walls that you have to walk through to enter and exit the temple area. The walls were stone for about 5 feet and then tall bushes were neatly trimmed to form the rest of the wall. Behind the bushes was a thick bamboo forest. On the way out through this area, Sarah and Victoria found a really cute Japanese baby strapped onto some man's back (I can only assume his father's). We got permission from the father and mother to pose for a picture with the baby. This was a much more amenable idea to me than Victoria's constant plans to kidnap cute Japanese children to dress in bumblebee suits and keep as her own, so I agreed to it. You can see part of the bushes behind the picture.
It was getting late, so we headed back to the subway. Unfortunately we had to walk all the way back, because there is no subway or train near Ginkaku-ji. We headed back to Sanjo Keihan (where we walked around and had dinner Sat. night) instead of returning home, because we were hungry. Sarah was feeling dizzy and needed someplace to stop. Near the metro station at Sanjo Keihan, there is a Starbucks, so we went there. I'm not a big coffee fan myself, but Sarah was really missing a good cup of coffee, so Starbucks was the next best thing. :)
I got a hot chocolate and a chocolate scone, which I haven't had in awhile. It was nice to feel like we were in a little bit of home. The menu was in English, the staff spoke English, and there were many foreigners there. Just seeing a menu with English was a nice change, because that just doesn't happen much in Toyama. My favorite restaurant in Toyama, a Nepalese restaurant, does have an English menu, so that should tell you something about the powers of a menu in English.
We got a call from Alex that she had finished work and would meet us at Starbucks. So we hung out there for awhile. We ran into some Toyama JETs at Starbucks, including Nadia. Once Alex came we walked along some of the shopping area, stopping in some stores. We eventually found our way to an eight-story book store which has a whole floor dedicated to foreign books. We spent awhile there, and Will finished work and met us there. A Japanese friend of theirs meet us there also, Akemi. She came from another area nearby. We all went out to eat after Victoria finished trying to buy all the English books in the store (she was a lit major).
More tomorrow. I've got more interviews now.
Wednesday, November 13, 2002
I have about an hour to do nothing, which has pretty much been the theme today (doing nothing, that is), so I figured I'd hog the staff room computer and write up some stuff about the trip. The only other teachers who are here are the three teachers without homerooms. They happen to be some of the best English speakers too, which is nice.
We left for Kyoto on Saturday because Sarah and Victoria were working on Saturday. Unfortunately their schools had their choral contests on the Saturday of a three day weekend. That meant they got Tuesday off, but I didn't so we had to take a shorter trip. In the end, we found out Sarah didn't have all of Tuesday off because they forgot to tell her that she wasn't contractually obligated to go on Saturday. So she still had to go visit her elementary school on Tuesday afternoon, which wasn't the best situation. Victoria got a full day off though. Anyway, we left around 6pm on Saturday evening, and it is about a 2 and a half hour journey there. Unfortunately our train was stuck at a station halfway there for a whole hour. This is pretty serious in Japan, since trains often run on time to the minute. We arrived at Kyoto an hour late, but we were able to call ahead to Victoria's friends to tell them we would be late.
Two of Victoria's friends from college, Alex (female) and Will, met us at the train station and let us stay on their floor (it's Japan, everyone sleeps on the floor). It was nice and quite affordable, of course, to stay with them since they knew their way around town and it was free. That night we dropped off our stuff at their apartment and eventually went to get a late night dinner. We went to Sanjo Keihan (third station on the Keihan train line), which is a big commercial and nightlife district. I think it's basically the center of the city. We went to a small Korean restaurant (seats 9 people) and all squeezed into the only booth in the place. One of the ladies who worked there spoke English pretty well, or at least understood it. If we said something about if we should ask for bowls, ten seconds later she would drop off some bowls, because she had overheard us. The food was very good. I think that was my first time having Korean cuisine, so it was a nice experience. Alex and Will had been to the restaurant several times in the last couple weeks, so the ladies knew them quite well. They promised them an English menu the next time they returned, but they were handy enough with the menu that it wasn't necessary. I don't think I even looked at the menu. We just let the two of them order for us. I had a really spicy cabbage dish that was great, but made my stomach hurt the next morning. The best part was a pancake-like thing. It was very good.
After dinner, we walked around downtown Kyoto, which was quite hopping. Toyama is pretty quiet at night, except in the strip club/red light district. We ran into Nadia, a fellow Toyama JET, wandering around on her own and later, a whole crew of Toyama JETs going to a nightclub. It was pretty late for us, so we went back and collapsed. One disappointing thing was that Alex and Will had to work during Sunday and Monday, even though they were holidays. They work for NOVA, which is a private English conversation school that has branches throughout Japan, including Toyama. I think NOVA has to be open especially on holidays and weekends, because that is when many students can come during the day.
Sunday morning we decided to go on the Philosopher's Walk. One subway station away from the one that we were at is a series of large temples and shrines that form a nice walk by a little river. We were slackers, so we didn't get going until after noon, but we wanted to relax and enjoy things too. The first temple we went to was Nanzen-ji. It had collosal gates (pic of Sarah and pic of Victoria) outside the grounds. There was a brick aquaduct built in part of the temple grounds. I guess it provided water for some of the temple area. I didn't go into the main temple area because it was a little expensive. I did go into the temple garden/pond area though. After awhile, I started getting bored, so Victoria and I went on to Eikan-do, which houses a famous statue of Amita Buddha. Sarah climbed up a trail leading up the mountain away from the temples.
Eikan-do had much prettier trees (and pond) than Nanzen-ji. They had lots of Japanese maples that were bright red. Eikan-do had a walking tour that allowed you to go through the main temple buildings and finally to the famous Buddha statue. The catch was that we had to take off our shoes. It wasn't raining in Kyoto like it did all weekend in Toyama, but it was just as cold. After walking around in my socks through all the buildings, my feet were a little numb. But we did get to see some cool statues, and some screen illustrations. They asked people not to take a picture of anything inside the temple, so I don't have any pictures. Apparently the story behind the famous statue is that a priest was walking around the temple when one of the Buddha statues came to life and started walking in front of him. He stopped to gawk and the statue turned its head to admonish him for being slow. To commemorate this experience, a statue was built of the buddha with its head turned. It was pretty neat, but not all that impressive. Monday would prove to be the day of impressive Buddha statues.
After the tour we climbed up to a hillside shrine that is part of the complex and looked out over the city.
I'll finish telling about the Philosopher's Walk later. I have to go help with more interviews this afternoon.
We left for Kyoto on Saturday because Sarah and Victoria were working on Saturday. Unfortunately their schools had their choral contests on the Saturday of a three day weekend. That meant they got Tuesday off, but I didn't so we had to take a shorter trip. In the end, we found out Sarah didn't have all of Tuesday off because they forgot to tell her that she wasn't contractually obligated to go on Saturday. So she still had to go visit her elementary school on Tuesday afternoon, which wasn't the best situation. Victoria got a full day off though. Anyway, we left around 6pm on Saturday evening, and it is about a 2 and a half hour journey there. Unfortunately our train was stuck at a station halfway there for a whole hour. This is pretty serious in Japan, since trains often run on time to the minute. We arrived at Kyoto an hour late, but we were able to call ahead to Victoria's friends to tell them we would be late.
Two of Victoria's friends from college, Alex (female) and Will, met us at the train station and let us stay on their floor (it's Japan, everyone sleeps on the floor). It was nice and quite affordable, of course, to stay with them since they knew their way around town and it was free. That night we dropped off our stuff at their apartment and eventually went to get a late night dinner. We went to Sanjo Keihan (third station on the Keihan train line), which is a big commercial and nightlife district. I think it's basically the center of the city. We went to a small Korean restaurant (seats 9 people) and all squeezed into the only booth in the place. One of the ladies who worked there spoke English pretty well, or at least understood it. If we said something about if we should ask for bowls, ten seconds later she would drop off some bowls, because she had overheard us. The food was very good. I think that was my first time having Korean cuisine, so it was a nice experience. Alex and Will had been to the restaurant several times in the last couple weeks, so the ladies knew them quite well. They promised them an English menu the next time they returned, but they were handy enough with the menu that it wasn't necessary. I don't think I even looked at the menu. We just let the two of them order for us. I had a really spicy cabbage dish that was great, but made my stomach hurt the next morning. The best part was a pancake-like thing. It was very good.
After dinner, we walked around downtown Kyoto, which was quite hopping. Toyama is pretty quiet at night, except in the strip club/red light district. We ran into Nadia, a fellow Toyama JET, wandering around on her own and later, a whole crew of Toyama JETs going to a nightclub. It was pretty late for us, so we went back and collapsed. One disappointing thing was that Alex and Will had to work during Sunday and Monday, even though they were holidays. They work for NOVA, which is a private English conversation school that has branches throughout Japan, including Toyama. I think NOVA has to be open especially on holidays and weekends, because that is when many students can come during the day.
Sunday morning we decided to go on the Philosopher's Walk. One subway station away from the one that we were at is a series of large temples and shrines that form a nice walk by a little river. We were slackers, so we didn't get going until after noon, but we wanted to relax and enjoy things too. The first temple we went to was Nanzen-ji. It had collosal gates (pic of Sarah and pic of Victoria) outside the grounds. There was a brick aquaduct built in part of the temple grounds. I guess it provided water for some of the temple area. I didn't go into the main temple area because it was a little expensive. I did go into the temple garden/pond area though. After awhile, I started getting bored, so Victoria and I went on to Eikan-do, which houses a famous statue of Amita Buddha. Sarah climbed up a trail leading up the mountain away from the temples.
Eikan-do had much prettier trees (and pond) than Nanzen-ji. They had lots of Japanese maples that were bright red. Eikan-do had a walking tour that allowed you to go through the main temple buildings and finally to the famous Buddha statue. The catch was that we had to take off our shoes. It wasn't raining in Kyoto like it did all weekend in Toyama, but it was just as cold. After walking around in my socks through all the buildings, my feet were a little numb. But we did get to see some cool statues, and some screen illustrations. They asked people not to take a picture of anything inside the temple, so I don't have any pictures. Apparently the story behind the famous statue is that a priest was walking around the temple when one of the Buddha statues came to life and started walking in front of him. He stopped to gawk and the statue turned its head to admonish him for being slow. To commemorate this experience, a statue was built of the buddha with its head turned. It was pretty neat, but not all that impressive. Monday would prove to be the day of impressive Buddha statues.
After the tour we climbed up to a hillside shrine that is part of the complex and looked out over the city.
I'll finish telling about the Philosopher's Walk later. I have to go help with more interviews this afternoon.
Tuesday, November 12, 2002
Well, I got drafted to help students with an interview test and that took all afternoon, so no more writing about Kyoto before I send away my computer. I just hope it gets fixed and sent back to me. If they just took my computer, I don't know what I'd do. I'm definitely sending it registered mail with insurance though to help make sure it will be okay.
I finally got my act together, so it looks like I will be sending my laptop to Tokyo for repairs. This is pretty inconvenient, since they don't offer the overnight service I can get in the U.S. However, I need my laptop fixed, so what else can I do? This will probably result in no more new pictures for the next couple weeks, along with less posts, since I'll be sharing a computer will all the other teachers. I'll try to post something about Kyoto today, and more spread out during the week. It will be more difficult since I won't be able to write stuff at home.
Today was the last Halloween lesson, which is nice. I was getting a little sick of that lesson. I've also done several 2nd-year lessons involving "I think..." and "When __, I ____." I don't know that the lesson is that good, but the students are getting some practice speaking, which is good since in one of the classes the teacher doesn't speak English. It's not that he doesn't want to, it's more that he's not very good at it. He doesn't do things all the other teachers do, like greet the class in English before beginning. He gives all the instructions (even simple ones) in Japanese, which is starting to bug me. At least conversations with him keep me entertained. If I tell him something, it appears he understands me, but he really doesn't most of the time. He is good at repeating words that I say back to me, which gives the impression of comprehension. However, it is often the case that he has merely recognized a word that I said, not the whole thing. He also often doesn't recognize when I'm asking him a question. I don't know why this is the case, but he can't recognize it, so he thinks I am telling him something instead of asking him. Anyway, it keeps me entertained.
I've also started entertaining myself by torturing kids in the hallway. I walk beside them and tap them on the opposite shoulder and they always look the wrong way. I think it's great! I don't know if anyone does this in Japan. Maybe I'll start a whole fad among all the kids.
Today was the last Halloween lesson, which is nice. I was getting a little sick of that lesson. I've also done several 2nd-year lessons involving "I think..." and "When __, I ____." I don't know that the lesson is that good, but the students are getting some practice speaking, which is good since in one of the classes the teacher doesn't speak English. It's not that he doesn't want to, it's more that he's not very good at it. He doesn't do things all the other teachers do, like greet the class in English before beginning. He gives all the instructions (even simple ones) in Japanese, which is starting to bug me. At least conversations with him keep me entertained. If I tell him something, it appears he understands me, but he really doesn't most of the time. He is good at repeating words that I say back to me, which gives the impression of comprehension. However, it is often the case that he has merely recognized a word that I said, not the whole thing. He also often doesn't recognize when I'm asking him a question. I don't know why this is the case, but he can't recognize it, so he thinks I am telling him something instead of asking him. Anyway, it keeps me entertained.
I've also started entertaining myself by torturing kids in the hallway. I walk beside them and tap them on the opposite shoulder and they always look the wrong way. I think it's great! I don't know if anyone does this in Japan. Maybe I'll start a whole fad among all the kids.
Monday, November 11, 2002
Today I got a little frustrated with one of my teachers. Last week she asked me to come up with a list of "When I am sad, I cry." type of sentences. I made a lot of them and left them on her desk Thursday along with another activity she asked me to write. I put a note on them asking if they were what she wanted. I never heard from her again until I tracked her down this morning (finally) and she said that she hadn't read them yet. She then looked at it and told me that almost all of it needed to be redone in the next couple hours before the class. Plus she wanted me to come up with a came involving the sentences she had me make. She had previously made me think that she had a game in mind. It's the first time I've really taught with her, so I was taken aback quite a lot. I ended up with a pretty rough lesson plan that we scraped through. Hopefully I can improve it before tomorrow's lesson. Some of the things were too difficult. It can be tough to know the skill level of the different classes, especially the first time you teach them.
Videos and DVDs are pretty cheap to rent here, I think. There is no price difference in most rental places between new and older rentals. Plus my place has a deal some days where you can get 5 DVDs or videos for 1000 yen (8 dollars). I found out Sundays are half-price for anime (cartoons) rentals and dates that end in a 1 or a 5 are half off everything ($1.40/rental). Getting a just released DVD for $1.40 is a pretty good deal, I think. Today ends with a 1, so I might take a trip to the video store to get something for this upcoming week.
Kyoto pictures are now up. I'll try to write a whole story linking them up and all that. You can see the pictures now at: http://www.duke.edu/~bi/japan/KyotoTrip/
Thursday, November 07, 2002
An interesting fact: pumpkins in Japan are green and smaller than pumpkins in America. From what I can tell, the skins are not as tough either, because they are often served in tempura with the skin on. That's about all I've learned from the Halloween lesson I've taught a million times now. I'm still teaching Halloween lessons, even though it is after Halloween. It's a pretty easy cultural lesson to do, and the students like seeing me in my superbrian costume.
I feel a little sorry for the female students, because their summer uniform and winter uniforms are about the same. The girls all have to wear knee-high skirts, despite the fact that it is freezing outside. The guys get to wear coats and long pants, so it hardly seems fair. I haven't noticed the girls looking particularly cold or anything yet, though.
Today is actually a nice day for once. Yesterday became a nice day by the afternoon, but of course I was way to busy to actually enjoy it. On Wednesdays I have English Club (4-5), then Japanese lessons (5:30-7), and finally basketball (8:30-10:00), so I am very busy. I want to go bicycle to a new shop I saw once but couldn't go to. Hopefully I'll be able to right after school. I might go buy a futon also. My bed is horribly uncomfortable (springs in my back), so I was thinking of covering it with a futon. That way I could also take it off and put it on the floor for any guests who come. Currently I have a comforter on top of my mattress, but it is getting colder and I think I would like an extra comforter on top of me, rather than using it for padding. I found a futon for about $50, which is the cheapest I have seen yet. I think it's probably worth it.
I've made it my passion to go explore all the foreign food stores I can. There are about 5-6 in Toyama from what I can tell. The most convenient is also the most expensive and smallest by far. They tend to have lots of different items though. My current preferred one is moderately close to my house, and very large. They have alcohol and other beverages from around the world. They also have some foods too. My recent discovery is that they have inexpensive cereal there. It is brand-imitation German cereal (fake frosted flakes, etc.). Normally cereal is 250-300 yen ($2-2.50) for a 210g box. The German cereal is 100 yen ($.85) for a 250g box. I need to stockpile some cereal because I won't be able to bike to the store all the time. They also have a variety of cheese for okay prices. I am a little disappointed that the only root beer they have is Dad's (just like the expensive store), however it is only $.65 per can.
One store I want to bike to on a nice day is another foreign foods store I drove by.
I've made it my passion to go explore all the foreign food stores I can. There are about 5-6 in Toyama from what I can tell. The most convenient is also the most expensive and smallest by far. They tend to have lots of different items though. My current preferred one is moderately close to my house, and very large. They have alcohol and other beverages from around the world. They also have some foods too. My recent discovery is that they have inexpensive cereal there. It is brand-imitation German cereal (fake frosted flakes, etc.). Normally cereal is 250-300 yen ($2-2.50) for a 210g box. The German cereal is 100 yen ($.85) for a 250g box. I need to stockpile some cereal because I won't be able to bike to the store all the time. They also have a variety of cheese for okay prices. I am a little disappointed that the only root beer they have is Dad's (just like the expensive store), however it is only $.65 per can.
One store I want to bike to on a nice day is another foreign foods store I drove by.
Tuesday, November 05, 2002
Wow, Kyoto is so nice, especially in comparison to Toyama. I'll try to write a detailed explanation of our trip, but unfortunately my laptop is really acting up now. About every 10 seconds the backlight goes off until I close the lid again. It is just silly, and needs to be fixed (correctly this time, I hope). It's still raining in Toyama and apparently yesterday was the first time it snowed in the city this winter. I think that water covers something like 80% of the world's surface, and 1% of that water is in Japan.
However, in Kyoto it barely rained at all, so that was really nice for our trip. More about Kyoto and pictures later.
However, in Kyoto it barely rained at all, so that was really nice for our trip. More about Kyoto and pictures later.
Friday, November 01, 2002
We're going to Kyoto on Saturday. Hopefully it won't be raining so much there. This whole week it is supposed to rain in Toyama. Darn mountains and sea! I'll hopefully have more pictures and stuff after the trip.
Our tickets were about $120 round-trip for a 2.5 hour journey. It's not horrible for Japan, but it still seems really expensive for a pretty short trip. We had no problem getting tickets going there, but return trip tickets were nearly all sold out. We have to sit in the smoking section in separate seats for the return trip. It's a national holiday, so I think many people are going to Kyoto on Friday and returning on Monday.
If it doesn't rain tomorrow I'm going with Iguchi-sensei to Shomyo Falls, the largest waterfall in Japan. It is not wide like Niagara Falls, just really tall (number 4 or 5 in the world, I think). The leaves should be changing color now and it is supposed to be quite nice.
Our tickets were about $120 round-trip for a 2.5 hour journey. It's not horrible for Japan, but it still seems really expensive for a pretty short trip. We had no problem getting tickets going there, but return trip tickets were nearly all sold out. We have to sit in the smoking section in separate seats for the return trip. It's a national holiday, so I think many people are going to Kyoto on Friday and returning on Monday.
If it doesn't rain tomorrow I'm going with Iguchi-sensei to Shomyo Falls, the largest waterfall in Japan. It is not wide like Niagara Falls, just really tall (number 4 or 5 in the world, I think). The leaves should be changing color now and it is supposed to be quite nice.
I don't remember if I've mentioned the following things, but Japanese people seem rude to me with the following things.
1) I'm crossing the street between two lights. Cars are stopping at red lights in both directions. I think many cars in America would waive you on. Here the cars will just keep going until they are completely stopped at the light, even though there is no where for them to go.
2) They want to get me something to drink at the elementary schools. However, they don't ask what I would like to drink. So they bring me coffee or tea, very often not something I want to drink. It seems strange to me that they don't ask what I would like, or if I would like a drink at all. I think it is just their way though.
3) I am about to walk through a door behind someone and the door is slams in my face. They don't hold doors for anyone. Quite often they don't even seem aware that someone else is coming through the door. I held the door for someone the other day and he got really flustered. He kept saying thank you profusely.
I don't think they're trying to be rude, but it is just my perception of what is polite or not. They undoubtably think some things I do are rude too. But of course I'm not trying to be rude either.
1) I'm crossing the street between two lights. Cars are stopping at red lights in both directions. I think many cars in America would waive you on. Here the cars will just keep going until they are completely stopped at the light, even though there is no where for them to go.
2) They want to get me something to drink at the elementary schools. However, they don't ask what I would like to drink. So they bring me coffee or tea, very often not something I want to drink. It seems strange to me that they don't ask what I would like, or if I would like a drink at all. I think it is just their way though.
3) I am about to walk through a door behind someone and the door is slams in my face. They don't hold doors for anyone. Quite often they don't even seem aware that someone else is coming through the door. I held the door for someone the other day and he got really flustered. He kept saying thank you profusely.
I don't think they're trying to be rude, but it is just my perception of what is polite or not. They undoubtably think some things I do are rude too. But of course I'm not trying to be rude either.
Wednesday, October 30, 2002
This week I am doing a Halloween lesson for my students. I made a costume which includes a bandanna, a mask cut from cardboard packaging, an inside-out yellow t-shirt, and a cape (some random flag I found in my desk). It looks quite funny. Most of the third year students have seen it, but the younger students haven't seen it yet. I think I'll wear it all day tomorrow. I've just been wearing it just for classes so far.
I originally made it for a Halloween party I attended on Saturday. One student's mother is an English teacher at a private cram school. She asked if I would help out at the school's Halloween party. I wore the costume to the party, because it just wouldn't be Halloween otherwise. I asked if the students would have costumes, and she said that wasn't a Japanese tradition. I pointed out that Halloween wasn't a Japanese tradition either, but they were doing a Halloween party. So I think she told the students to dress up in simple costumes if they wanted to. About half of the students were dressed up. Most of the girls were witches, and a lot of boys were ninjas or pirates. I was pretty impressed at their costumes for probably not having done it before.
The party had two parts. The first party was younger elementary kids who were not that good at English. Then there was a party for the older kids, some of whom were students at my junior high school. They thought it was quite funny to see me all dressed up. I think they didn't know it was me for a little while. First they did short skits for us, then we did a skit to explain trick-or-treating to them. We played conversation games to get them talking, then we did a modified trick-or-treating. Another ALT was there, so there were three of us (the Japanese teacher, Nate, and myself). We each had a bucket of candy, and the students came up to us and said trick-or-treat. But before they got candy, they had to answer a question. It was good practice for them, plus they had to say "thank you" afterwards.
After the party, we were invited to have dinner with her family. The food was pretty good, but talking with them was the best part. It is good to talk to Japanese people in private. They don't really open up in big groups. At the end I got paid 5000 yen ($40), which I really wasn't expected. Japanese people love to give gifts like that.
I originally made it for a Halloween party I attended on Saturday. One student's mother is an English teacher at a private cram school. She asked if I would help out at the school's Halloween party. I wore the costume to the party, because it just wouldn't be Halloween otherwise. I asked if the students would have costumes, and she said that wasn't a Japanese tradition. I pointed out that Halloween wasn't a Japanese tradition either, but they were doing a Halloween party. So I think she told the students to dress up in simple costumes if they wanted to. About half of the students were dressed up. Most of the girls were witches, and a lot of boys were ninjas or pirates. I was pretty impressed at their costumes for probably not having done it before.
The party had two parts. The first party was younger elementary kids who were not that good at English. Then there was a party for the older kids, some of whom were students at my junior high school. They thought it was quite funny to see me all dressed up. I think they didn't know it was me for a little while. First they did short skits for us, then we did a skit to explain trick-or-treating to them. We played conversation games to get them talking, then we did a modified trick-or-treating. Another ALT was there, so there were three of us (the Japanese teacher, Nate, and myself). We each had a bucket of candy, and the students came up to us and said trick-or-treat. But before they got candy, they had to answer a question. It was good practice for them, plus they had to say "thank you" afterwards.
After the party, we were invited to have dinner with her family. The food was pretty good, but talking with them was the best part. It is good to talk to Japanese people in private. They don't really open up in big groups. At the end I got paid 5000 yen ($40), which I really wasn't expected. Japanese people love to give gifts like that.
Yesterday the rain decided to keep coming down. I don't know if it ever stopped raining in the last several days. Finally last night at some point the rain stopped, because it wasn't raining when I woke up this morning. Yesterday was actually quite weird, because there were big patches of blue sky during the day, but it was still raining. At one point, I saw one of the most beautiful rainbows I have ever seen. It showed up during a class change, so everyone was standing in the halls staring at it. It was very low on the horizon, so it appeared very big, and seemed to have more than just seven colors. It appeared on top of the city's skyline, and was just amazing. There was a second rainbow higher in the sky, so that was cool too. It was one of those times I wished I had my camera at school.
It's been really cold recently. Today isn't quite as bad, at around 55 degrees fahrenheit. Yesterday was really cold. I don't know specific numbers though. I'm guessing it was around 50. Plus it was raining, so I was soaking wet everywhere I went. If it is going to rain today, I imagine it will be tonight. It looks too nice right now to rain.
It's been really cold recently. Today isn't quite as bad, at around 55 degrees fahrenheit. Yesterday was really cold. I don't know specific numbers though. I'm guessing it was around 50. Plus it was raining, so I was soaking wet everywhere I went. If it is going to rain today, I imagine it will be tonight. It looks too nice right now to rain.
I don't normally comment on school lunch, but this one was actually pretty good. For the first time lunch did not include milk! We had orange juice to drink instead. I was in shock for awhile. Every other lunch has had milk. The orange juice was from Valencia, which prompted me to try to explain to the students that Valencia was a region in Spain. I think I was unsuccessful until I drew a map on the board which they understood. Hopefully that expanded their world view a little, or something.
We also had egg drop soup with corn and carrots. It was quite good. The main dish was a pork cutlet with mashed potatoes and some random vegetables. We had bread instead of rice. When I looked at the bread, I noticed there was something in it. It turned out to have little pineapple pieces throughout it. I think it is probably the best meal I've had here, as far as sheer taste goes.
We also had egg drop soup with corn and carrots. It was quite good. The main dish was a pork cutlet with mashed potatoes and some random vegetables. We had bread instead of rice. When I looked at the bread, I noticed there was something in it. It turned out to have little pineapple pieces throughout it. I think it is probably the best meal I've had here, as far as sheer taste goes.
Thursday, October 24, 2002
I discovered that one of my first-year students is also a foreigner. I had suspected it since she has darker skin and a different appearance than many of the other students, but I wasn't sure. Her family is from the Phillipines and she doesn't read kanji apparently. She understands most Japanese. She is quite loud and eager to participate in English class, another characteristic that clearly sets her apart from the Japanese students, who are incredibly reserved and quiet all the time.
Big news this week was that my old supervisor at HAHT is leaving the company. He was one of the founding programmers there, so it is a big loss for the company. He will be working at a new Microsoft development group (5 people) starting up in the Triangle area. I'm sure it was tough for him to leave a company he helped build, but I imagine exciting new opportunities await him at his new job. I hope all my old co-workers are placed under some equally good new manager.
Wednesday, October 23, 2002
Today is another day of sitting around and not doing very much. I think after lunch I will work on a lesson plan for a Halloween lesson. That would be fun for the students, I think. I don't know what I'll do exactly though.
This morning I graded all those poems I posted for you (about 300 total), and I am recording my voice for the listening tests for first-year students. Yesterday I recorded some stuff for the second-year student listening test. I always worry that maybe I am speaking too quickly or other things. Sometimes the teachers will tell me, and other times they won't.
This morning I graded all those poems I posted for you (about 300 total), and I am recording my voice for the listening tests for first-year students. Yesterday I recorded some stuff for the second-year student listening test. I always worry that maybe I am speaking too quickly or other things. Sometimes the teachers will tell me, and other times they won't.
I'm often frustrated with the level of English my students seem to have, but sometimes I am pleasantly surprised. The textbook had a section on poetry for the third-year students. I was a little reluctant to make a lesson for it, but the teachers said it would be good practice writing. I thought it might be too difficult for the students. However, many of them wrote pretty good poems considering their limited knowledge of English. So I took some of the best ones and I'm posting them here on my weblog, so you can see the results. I put the students name and class number after the poem, unless I couldn't read the name because it was written in kanji.
Window
Open it
The beautiful world
What can you see?
Dream
-Emi Matsuki 2
Starry Night
Have many friends
Shine in the sky
Wish for happiness
Beautiful
-Ayumi Matsuda 2
Moon
Night comes
The moon shines
The mysteries of nature
Beautiful
-Makiko Nishino 8
Daytime
Much rain
From the sky
The sky is crying
Sad
-Sasakura 8
Flowers
Very beautiful
Closing opening dying
Already so far away
Time
-Erina Kanazawa 8
Sky
Many birds
Many planes
Across the sky...
envious!
-Itaru Monno 7
Blue
The sea
Spreads the sky
I see a lot of blue
Earth
-Hiromi Takamori 7
Song
People produced
Satisfy our heart
The height of culture
Pleasant
-Tamohari Tui 4
Nature
Very tolerant
Forest, sky, sea
It nestles my spirit.
Life
-Ai Masuyama 4
Sky
Blue Country
peace, wonderful, free
I can not fly.
forever.......
-Yuugi Miyamoto 4
World
Many places
Sea, island, mountain
born to die
wonder
-kanji name - 9
Universe
Many stars
Sun, Moon.... Earth
We'll go to there.
Infinity.
-kanji name - 9
Stars
shine oneself
night sky twinkle
a shooting star wish
beautiful
-kanji name - 9
Tree
Very big
Green old mysterious
I see it calm
Wonder
-Shihoko Sasajima 5
fly
can fly
Sky, free, most natural
But free so difficult
Thinking
-Ryo Kawakami 5
Equality
Don't fight
Liberty, right, freedom
I wish for peace
Peace
-Izumida Toshihide 5
Test
Study hard
Exhausting, bother, difficult
But do my best
Fight!
-Yotutani Akina 5
Dream
Good night
Happy, sad, busy
I don't wake up
Lucky
-Fuchino Syouko 1
Sports
Enjoy running
Running very hard
run against the wind
Wonderful
-Yuka Takabayashi 1
Music
Sweet sound
blues, rock, country
The world is covered
Great
-Masayuki Segawa 1
Tomorrow
Big sky
never ending story
We can't know future
History
-Emi Yoshida 6
Monster
Big body.
Fearful and bad.
It barks at us.
Darkness.
-Mitsuaki Aratani 6
Dream
Very happy
Speak to friend
But we are busy
Regret.
-Harumi Tanii 3
LIFE
Happy faces
laughing, crying, shining
LIFE is only one
Special
-Hayato Kitano 3
Day
The sunrise
The sun rise
The days pass quickly
good
-Kanji name - 3
Leaf
Many friends
They usually dancing
They have many dresses
Beautiful
-Mika Hamasaki 3
Dream
People having
We have possibility
I want to be.....
Forever
-Naohiko Miwa 3
They also wrote some about Mrs. Iguchi and me. I included two of the funnier ones.
Brian
very groovy
He is popular
His class is interesting
Hold out!
-Akie Fukai 1
Teacher
Mrs. Iguchi
Popular, beautiful, wonderful
But she is scary
Dangerous
-Okada Taku 6
Window
Open it
The beautiful world
What can you see?
Dream
-Emi Matsuki 2
Starry Night
Have many friends
Shine in the sky
Wish for happiness
Beautiful
-Ayumi Matsuda 2
Moon
Night comes
The moon shines
The mysteries of nature
Beautiful
-Makiko Nishino 8
Daytime
Much rain
From the sky
The sky is crying
Sad
-Sasakura 8
Flowers
Very beautiful
Closing opening dying
Already so far away
Time
-Erina Kanazawa 8
Sky
Many birds
Many planes
Across the sky...
envious!
-Itaru Monno 7
Blue
The sea
Spreads the sky
I see a lot of blue
Earth
-Hiromi Takamori 7
Song
People produced
Satisfy our heart
The height of culture
Pleasant
-Tamohari Tui 4
Nature
Very tolerant
Forest, sky, sea
It nestles my spirit.
Life
-Ai Masuyama 4
Sky
Blue Country
peace, wonderful, free
I can not fly.
forever.......
-Yuugi Miyamoto 4
World
Many places
Sea, island, mountain
born to die
wonder
-kanji name - 9
Universe
Many stars
Sun, Moon.... Earth
We'll go to there.
Infinity.
-kanji name - 9
Stars
shine oneself
night sky twinkle
a shooting star wish
beautiful
-kanji name - 9
Tree
Very big
Green old mysterious
I see it calm
Wonder
-Shihoko Sasajima 5
fly
can fly
Sky, free, most natural
But free so difficult
Thinking
-Ryo Kawakami 5
Equality
Don't fight
Liberty, right, freedom
I wish for peace
Peace
-Izumida Toshihide 5
Test
Study hard
Exhausting, bother, difficult
But do my best
Fight!
-Yotutani Akina 5
Dream
Good night
Happy, sad, busy
I don't wake up
Lucky
-Fuchino Syouko 1
Sports
Enjoy running
Running very hard
run against the wind
Wonderful
-Yuka Takabayashi 1
Music
Sweet sound
blues, rock, country
The world is covered
Great
-Masayuki Segawa 1
Tomorrow
Big sky
never ending story
We can't know future
History
-Emi Yoshida 6
Monster
Big body.
Fearful and bad.
It barks at us.
Darkness.
-Mitsuaki Aratani 6
Dream
Very happy
Speak to friend
But we are busy
Regret.
-Harumi Tanii 3
LIFE
Happy faces
laughing, crying, shining
LIFE is only one
Special
-Hayato Kitano 3
Day
The sunrise
The sun rise
The days pass quickly
good
-Kanji name - 3
Leaf
Many friends
They usually dancing
They have many dresses
Beautiful
-Mika Hamasaki 3
Dream
People having
We have possibility
I want to be.....
Forever
-Naohiko Miwa 3
They also wrote some about Mrs. Iguchi and me. I included two of the funnier ones.
Brian
very groovy
He is popular
His class is interesting
Hold out!
-Akie Fukai 1
Teacher
Mrs. Iguchi
Popular, beautiful, wonderful
But she is scary
Dangerous
-Okada Taku 6
Tuesday, October 22, 2002
Okay, well now the archives are a little messed up after the time change, but the main posts seem to be working okay. Anyway, I don't think I told everyone about the trip Paul and I decided on for Christmas and New Year's break. We are going to Singapore and Malaysia. We have a direct flight out of Osaka airport on the 21st. We arrive in Singapore that evening and we'll go home at 11:50 pm on January 6th. We have a night flight and arrive back in Osaka around 7:00 am on the 7th. School starts the 8th, so we have all day to get home and get situated.
We finally chose Singapore/Malaysia because it is pretty safe and fairly inexpensive (Malaysia is very cheap). Almost everyone I know is going to Thailand for the holidays, so we decided to be different. There's always time for Thailand later. We thought about Taiwan and Vietnam too, but ruled both of those out. I've been looking up inexpensive nice hotels in Malaysia, because there are a bunch with a great rates, even for the holidays. I figured out we can stay at a 5 star hotel in Kuala Lumpur for about $23 each per night from the 24-27. It's really a stellar deal, I think. We can get a nice hotel for about $12 each there. I can't even imagine what true budget accomodations would be priced. Since we can afford it, I think we'll probably stay somewhere nice for Christmas evening and day, and probably around New Year's too. Singapore is almost twice as expensive, so I doubt we'll be staying at such a nice hotel there. there are reasonable rates on cheap hotels though. I doubt we'll be in Singapore too long since it is quite small and city-like.
One of the students in my Japanese class is from Malaysia. She said it is quite nice there and that it's always warm. Since Japanese winters are supposed to be pretty rough (wet and little heating indoors), I figure we'll appreciate the change of climate. I'm going to try to tap her for information about where we should go that might be a little off the beaten path. I think we'll visit the major cities, like Kuala Lampur, but we really like natural things better. I am quite interested in seeing the Petronas Towers, however. They are the tallest buildings in the world, and I would love to add them to my "Brian taller than X building" picture collection. I think going to the top of them would be awesome too since I'm sure you can see quite a long ways.
Malaysia is divided into two parts: Peninsular Malaysia and Malaysian Borneo. Singapore is connected to Peninsular Malaysia, which is where most of the major cities are. However, in Malaysian Borneo, there is one of the largest national parks in the world, with the second tallest mountain in the world, I think. Anyway, it sounds cool, but I haven't looked into how much the flight between lands would cost yet to see if it is do-able.
Our ticket to Singapore was 80000 yen each, which is about 650 dollars. Not too bad for the holidays, but the girl from Malaysia said it was normally about half that, so I guess it's not that good after all. I'll keep you posted as we put together more of a plan. I ordered the Lonely Planet guide to Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei from amazon.co.jp. They have fairly good prices there on English language books, and free shipping if your order is over $12, so it is a good deal. I think the guide will come in the next week or so.
We finally chose Singapore/Malaysia because it is pretty safe and fairly inexpensive (Malaysia is very cheap). Almost everyone I know is going to Thailand for the holidays, so we decided to be different. There's always time for Thailand later. We thought about Taiwan and Vietnam too, but ruled both of those out. I've been looking up inexpensive nice hotels in Malaysia, because there are a bunch with a great rates, even for the holidays. I figured out we can stay at a 5 star hotel in Kuala Lumpur for about $23 each per night from the 24-27. It's really a stellar deal, I think. We can get a nice hotel for about $12 each there. I can't even imagine what true budget accomodations would be priced. Since we can afford it, I think we'll probably stay somewhere nice for Christmas evening and day, and probably around New Year's too. Singapore is almost twice as expensive, so I doubt we'll be staying at such a nice hotel there. there are reasonable rates on cheap hotels though. I doubt we'll be in Singapore too long since it is quite small and city-like.
One of the students in my Japanese class is from Malaysia. She said it is quite nice there and that it's always warm. Since Japanese winters are supposed to be pretty rough (wet and little heating indoors), I figure we'll appreciate the change of climate. I'm going to try to tap her for information about where we should go that might be a little off the beaten path. I think we'll visit the major cities, like Kuala Lampur, but we really like natural things better. I am quite interested in seeing the Petronas Towers, however. They are the tallest buildings in the world, and I would love to add them to my "Brian taller than X building" picture collection. I think going to the top of them would be awesome too since I'm sure you can see quite a long ways.
Malaysia is divided into two parts: Peninsular Malaysia and Malaysian Borneo. Singapore is connected to Peninsular Malaysia, which is where most of the major cities are. However, in Malaysian Borneo, there is one of the largest national parks in the world, with the second tallest mountain in the world, I think. Anyway, it sounds cool, but I haven't looked into how much the flight between lands would cost yet to see if it is do-able.
Our ticket to Singapore was 80000 yen each, which is about 650 dollars. Not too bad for the holidays, but the girl from Malaysia said it was normally about half that, so I guess it's not that good after all. I'll keep you posted as we put together more of a plan. I ordered the Lonely Planet guide to Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei from amazon.co.jp. They have fairly good prices there on English language books, and free shipping if your order is over $12, so it is a good deal. I think the guide will come in the next week or so.
Today I don't have much to do. Tomorrow and Thursday are mid-term exams. That makes today the last day before exams, and none of the teachers were thrilled about doing anything but last minute reviews before the exams. I find the exams a little funny, because they don't seem to count towards anything. It doesn't seem to matter how you do on exams, because everyone goes on to the next grade, even if you never go to class. The only exams which are important are the high school entrance exams the oldest junior high students take in March. I guess they just like practicing a lot.
On Saturday I went to an English speech contest held at Toyama University of International Studies. I went with Iguchi-sensei, the teacher who took me home from the meeting last Wednesday (we talked about Iraq and things). She was excited to go this year, because she has always wanted to go in the past. Both her children are in college in Tokyo now, so she says she can finally do things she wants to do on the weekends. There were three categories at the competition: junior high, senior high, and open. There were five contestants in each category. One of my students had applied for the speech contest but didn't make it. I think her speech was too long, so that didn't help.
The speeches were generally very good, though they had trouble with the microphone not working halfway through, so it became difficult to hear some of the speeches. Generally we agreed with the first place winner of each category, except for the winner of the open category. I would've given her third, not first. Two of Iguchi-sensei's old students were in the competition. One was a girl she taught as a first year junior high student, who is now a third-year student. The other was a girl she taught in junior high who is now in senior high. Her old students did quite well, getting first and second in their categories. The two of us had fun talking about Mr. Porcaro, the guy who yelled at us about English Club in August. He is a professor at the university and was the chief judge for this competition. He came over to talk to us at one point during the reception afterwards and Iguchi-sensei took off for another conversation. She later apologized for leaving me alone with him, but said she hates talking to him that much.
The campus was quite nice. It was located near a small town and had lots of space. It was surrounded by forests, and Iguchi-sensei kept worrying (unnecessarily, I think), that we would see a bear. I told her I would be really excited if we saw a bear, but I think she was a scared. Anyway, it was a nice thing to do on Saturday morning, and it didn't require me to do anything strenuous, so that was nice. I also found out something interesting. I thought she had taught at 5 schools in 10 years of teaching. Actually she has taught at 8 schools in 10 years of teaching. I asked her why, and she said she wasn't a regular teacher, so she was mainly used to fill in gaps when regular teachers were moved elsewhere. I asked her if she wanted to be a regular teacher, and she said she doesn't want to, because they have to stay later after school. She likes going home early. Apparently regular teachers all have homerooms, so they must stay later to take care of the students in their homeroom. Iguchi-sensei doesn't have a homeroom.
On Saturday I went to an English speech contest held at Toyama University of International Studies. I went with Iguchi-sensei, the teacher who took me home from the meeting last Wednesday (we talked about Iraq and things). She was excited to go this year, because she has always wanted to go in the past. Both her children are in college in Tokyo now, so she says she can finally do things she wants to do on the weekends. There were three categories at the competition: junior high, senior high, and open. There were five contestants in each category. One of my students had applied for the speech contest but didn't make it. I think her speech was too long, so that didn't help.
The speeches were generally very good, though they had trouble with the microphone not working halfway through, so it became difficult to hear some of the speeches. Generally we agreed with the first place winner of each category, except for the winner of the open category. I would've given her third, not first. Two of Iguchi-sensei's old students were in the competition. One was a girl she taught as a first year junior high student, who is now a third-year student. The other was a girl she taught in junior high who is now in senior high. Her old students did quite well, getting first and second in their categories. The two of us had fun talking about Mr. Porcaro, the guy who yelled at us about English Club in August. He is a professor at the university and was the chief judge for this competition. He came over to talk to us at one point during the reception afterwards and Iguchi-sensei took off for another conversation. She later apologized for leaving me alone with him, but said she hates talking to him that much.
The campus was quite nice. It was located near a small town and had lots of space. It was surrounded by forests, and Iguchi-sensei kept worrying (unnecessarily, I think), that we would see a bear. I told her I would be really excited if we saw a bear, but I think she was a scared. Anyway, it was a nice thing to do on Saturday morning, and it didn't require me to do anything strenuous, so that was nice. I also found out something interesting. I thought she had taught at 5 schools in 10 years of teaching. Actually she has taught at 8 schools in 10 years of teaching. I asked her why, and she said she wasn't a regular teacher, so she was mainly used to fill in gaps when regular teachers were moved elsewhere. I asked her if she wanted to be a regular teacher, and she said she doesn't want to, because they have to stay later after school. She likes going home early. Apparently regular teachers all have homerooms, so they must stay later to take care of the students in their homeroom. Iguchi-sensei doesn't have a homeroom.
Well, I seem to be at the end of my cold. I barely notice it anymore, which is nice. However, my stupid tonsils still won't return to their normal size. Grr... I just want to be able to feel 100% instead of 90% sometime during October.
It keeps raining here. In fact, it always seems to be raining in Toyama. I think in any given week it probably rains 4-5 days. Everyday I take my rain gear to work, even if it looks nice and sunny. I'm going to blame the weather on my recent illness. Unfortunately that doesn't bode well for me since precipitation rates go up in the winter here. I'm doomed to carry golfballs in my throat it seems.
It keeps raining here. In fact, it always seems to be raining in Toyama. I think in any given week it probably rains 4-5 days. Everyday I take my rain gear to work, even if it looks nice and sunny. I'm going to blame the weather on my recent illness. Unfortunately that doesn't bode well for me since precipitation rates go up in the winter here. I'm doomed to carry golfballs in my throat it seems.
Friday, October 18, 2002
Apparently people know that some of us Americans drink sweetened ice tea. Because two of my schools have started giving it to me. They pour a tiny amount of japanese tea in a small cup and then proceed to dump about three spoonfuls of sugar into this tiny cup. I've never had such sweet tea in my life! It's akin to drinking pure sugar. At least they're not giving me coffee anymore. Generally I ask for water, but they don't feel like that is being very hospitable, so they want to give me tea instead.
Today at Horikawa Minami Elementary School there was a teacher from Kentucky visiting. There are about 10 teachers from Kentucky in Toyama right now. I think last year some of the teachers from here went to Kentucky. They are here for one week. Of course they wanted me to meet her and talk to her, so we said hi to each other. I guess we sounded too friendly, because then one of the Japanese teachers asked if we knew each other. I couldn't help but chuckle. There's only a small chance I would even know a teacher from my home city, much less another state. She doesn't know any Japanese and she talked quite quickly, so one of the best English-speaking teachers at the school told me she couldn't understand anything she said. I told the teacher it would be okay to ask her to speak slower.
Teaching elementary students while sick is not so fun, because I can't rely on another teacher to talk a lot. However, the kids were genki (happy and energetic) enough to pull me through it.
Another weekend of rest and getting better is hopefully upon me. I just want to be better again by Monday.
Today at Horikawa Minami Elementary School there was a teacher from Kentucky visiting. There are about 10 teachers from Kentucky in Toyama right now. I think last year some of the teachers from here went to Kentucky. They are here for one week. Of course they wanted me to meet her and talk to her, so we said hi to each other. I guess we sounded too friendly, because then one of the Japanese teachers asked if we knew each other. I couldn't help but chuckle. There's only a small chance I would even know a teacher from my home city, much less another state. She doesn't know any Japanese and she talked quite quickly, so one of the best English-speaking teachers at the school told me she couldn't understand anything she said. I told the teacher it would be okay to ask her to speak slower.
Teaching elementary students while sick is not so fun, because I can't rely on another teacher to talk a lot. However, the kids were genki (happy and energetic) enough to pull me through it.
Another weekend of rest and getting better is hopefully upon me. I just want to be better again by Monday.
Thursday, October 17, 2002
Getting Japanese people to give an opinion on anything can be rather difficult. It is impossible in a large group and still challenging in one-on-one conversations. They seem so worried about saying something wrong or offensive that they often won't talk. Arggh!
Yesterday there was a conference in the afternoon of all the English teachers. Mrs. Iguchi took me home after the meeting. I had dinner with her last month, and she volunteered to take me home because she lives quite close to me and the school. The trip was about 30 minutes so I asked her some questions about politics and other such things. During the meeting we saw a team-teaching demonstration at a new junior high school. It was the nicest school in the whole world, from my point of view. Every classroom had ethernet ports for all the students in the floor, sliding blackboards, and a digital projector in the ceiling. The teachers were all loaned laptops to use. The ALT there said that there are more computers than students in the school. Basically, it was amazing the difference between my school and this other school.
Anyway, after the team teaching demonstration, we had a discussion where we talked about how it went. I think only one Japanese teacher had suggestions or gave comments about the lesson (positive or negative). I asked Mrs. Iguchi about this and she said that Japanese people don't like to give their opinions in front of others. Many of them were at the same official "level" as the teacher involved in the class, so criticizing her might've been disrespectful. So basically a bunch of us ALTs gave suggestions instead, though we have some of the least experience teaching. The only Japanese person who did do any criticizing is one of my favorite guys, a famous teacher-trainer, Mr. Nakamura. He has apparently written some books on teaching, and it is considered a big deal when he gives advice on teaching. He criticizes Japanese teachers for teaching just for the end of year tests, and for only using the textbook in class (both of which are quite true). Often it seems less important that students can actually communicate, than if they can understand some written questions in a specific context. I think they learn too many set responses instead of being able to construct their own sentences.
So I also asked her what she thought about the US attacking Iraq, since my mom was curious. In true Japanese style, she tried to dodge the question so she didn't have to answer. She said, "That is such a difficult question." I admit it is a little complex to explain why you think as you do, but saying whether or not you agree is not that difficult, so I pressed her for why it is a difficult question." She replied, "I am not American. I haven't been to America. I don't understand all of its problems." What a cop-out! I explained that I wouldn't be offended if she thought it was wrong, but she still wouldn't answer. I know its on the news all the time, so I was hoping to hear what she thought about it.
I did manage to discuss the Japanese financial system and the North Korea kidnapping situation recently though. I don't know how much about the North Korea kidnapping you heard, so I will tell you. About 24 years ago some North Koreans came to Japan and kidnapped 10 people. They were brought to Korea and forced to teach Korean spies about Japanese culture and language. Japan didn't know this happened for quite awhile, but Japan did find out at some point. A couple weeks ago, North Korea admitted they took these people from Japan, and a couple days ago 5 of the people returned to Japan finally. North Korea says the other 5 died of disease, but Iguchi-sensei said that Japanese people think they were probably killed. I managed to find out that many Japanese people think that North Korea has recently revealed this information and returned the hostages, because of America's threats against Iraq. They think North Korea is afraid that America will attack them next, and they are trying to clean up their act to show good faith on their part. This might be true, I don't know. However, today North Korea announced that it had been working on making nuclear weapons, so maybe they are trying to clear the air some because of this threat. So maybe another reason she is reluctant to comment on Iraq is that it might be helping Japan clear things with North Korea.
We also talked a little about why Japan doesn't have an army anymore, and she basically said that they don't really want one now, because Japanese people look at things differently. She also said that China and Korea would be deeply opposed to any effort to have an army (they have only a national defense force) because of the brutalities suffered in World War II. It was an interesting conversation as a whole, and I appreciate any chance I can get to talk with Japanese people one-on-one.
Yesterday there was a conference in the afternoon of all the English teachers. Mrs. Iguchi took me home after the meeting. I had dinner with her last month, and she volunteered to take me home because she lives quite close to me and the school. The trip was about 30 minutes so I asked her some questions about politics and other such things. During the meeting we saw a team-teaching demonstration at a new junior high school. It was the nicest school in the whole world, from my point of view. Every classroom had ethernet ports for all the students in the floor, sliding blackboards, and a digital projector in the ceiling. The teachers were all loaned laptops to use. The ALT there said that there are more computers than students in the school. Basically, it was amazing the difference between my school and this other school.
Anyway, after the team teaching demonstration, we had a discussion where we talked about how it went. I think only one Japanese teacher had suggestions or gave comments about the lesson (positive or negative). I asked Mrs. Iguchi about this and she said that Japanese people don't like to give their opinions in front of others. Many of them were at the same official "level" as the teacher involved in the class, so criticizing her might've been disrespectful. So basically a bunch of us ALTs gave suggestions instead, though we have some of the least experience teaching. The only Japanese person who did do any criticizing is one of my favorite guys, a famous teacher-trainer, Mr. Nakamura. He has apparently written some books on teaching, and it is considered a big deal when he gives advice on teaching. He criticizes Japanese teachers for teaching just for the end of year tests, and for only using the textbook in class (both of which are quite true). Often it seems less important that students can actually communicate, than if they can understand some written questions in a specific context. I think they learn too many set responses instead of being able to construct their own sentences.
So I also asked her what she thought about the US attacking Iraq, since my mom was curious. In true Japanese style, she tried to dodge the question so she didn't have to answer. She said, "That is such a difficult question." I admit it is a little complex to explain why you think as you do, but saying whether or not you agree is not that difficult, so I pressed her for why it is a difficult question." She replied, "I am not American. I haven't been to America. I don't understand all of its problems." What a cop-out! I explained that I wouldn't be offended if she thought it was wrong, but she still wouldn't answer. I know its on the news all the time, so I was hoping to hear what she thought about it.
I did manage to discuss the Japanese financial system and the North Korea kidnapping situation recently though. I don't know how much about the North Korea kidnapping you heard, so I will tell you. About 24 years ago some North Koreans came to Japan and kidnapped 10 people. They were brought to Korea and forced to teach Korean spies about Japanese culture and language. Japan didn't know this happened for quite awhile, but Japan did find out at some point. A couple weeks ago, North Korea admitted they took these people from Japan, and a couple days ago 5 of the people returned to Japan finally. North Korea says the other 5 died of disease, but Iguchi-sensei said that Japanese people think they were probably killed. I managed to find out that many Japanese people think that North Korea has recently revealed this information and returned the hostages, because of America's threats against Iraq. They think North Korea is afraid that America will attack them next, and they are trying to clean up their act to show good faith on their part. This might be true, I don't know. However, today North Korea announced that it had been working on making nuclear weapons, so maybe they are trying to clear the air some because of this threat. So maybe another reason she is reluctant to comment on Iraq is that it might be helping Japan clear things with North Korea.
We also talked a little about why Japan doesn't have an army anymore, and she basically said that they don't really want one now, because Japanese people look at things differently. She also said that China and Korea would be deeply opposed to any effort to have an army (they have only a national defense force) because of the brutalities suffered in World War II. It was an interesting conversation as a whole, and I appreciate any chance I can get to talk with Japanese people one-on-one.
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