A couple months back, I was doing a reading lesson in an ichinensei class. I don't really remember the grammar topic, but it was a section where a boy was talking about his Uncle Nick in America. He was describing the energy efficient house that Uncle Nick lived in. We went through the usual routine and had the students listened to us read it first. A particular section passed by, "Uncle Nick's house has solar panels. He gets his energy from the sun."
Next, we do a read and repeat section with the students. The teacher reads as one character, I read as the other, and the students repeat every sentence. "Uncle Nick's house has solar panels." "Uncle Nick's house has solar panels." "He gets his energy from the sun." "He gets his energy from the sun."
So, we read, they repeated, and then they practice. The students all stand up and practice reading through the entire page on their own and we walk around and help them. Most students stumbled on words, a few stood out as excellent, but it soon became apparent that a few had no idea what the English meant.
After that, the teacher usually checks the meaning. He reads the sentence in English and then asks the students if they understand and to try and translate. 9 times out of 10 they don't, so the teacher translates it for them, which they then write down in their notebooks. It got to the section mentioned above.
"Uncle Nick's house has solar panels. Niku oji no ie wa soraru paneru ja arimasu." (I probably butchered the Japanese there...) The students wrote it down and waited for the next sentence, bored as ever.
"He gets his energy from the sun. (I don't know the japanese here.)" There was a brief pause and a few boys chuckled. One of them said, "Nani... mo ikkai!" (What... one more time!) The teacher repeated the sentence. More of the class giggled and the boys flat-out started laughing.
The boy who asked for him to repeat got really excited. "Oh, oh, OH!!!" he exclaimed, slowly rising out of his chair. As he gracefully spread his arms out to the sides and tilted his head back, as if basking in the warm glow of the Yellow Sun, he shouted, "SUPERMAAAAAN!!"
I laughed. Hard.
It's funny how awesome simple sentences can be when taken out of context. :)
Showing posts with label Translation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Translation. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Monday, February 9, 2009
Over the Hill
It occurred to me last week that I have been here now for a few days over 6 months. I’m at the halfway point. I remember back when a year seemed so long. And now, it feels like my remaining 6 months won’t be long enough. A couple of weeks ago, the recontracting deadline came around. I opted not to recontract, solidifying that I would, in fact, be leaving in August, as per the original plan. It’s not that I don’t love what I’m doing and where I’m at. I just have too many other things to do back in the states. Had I known it would be like this, though, I might have planned way back at the start of this process to stay for longer.
Of course, there was a lot about my time in Japan I didn’t know back then. I didn’t know I’d have a bigger apartment than the pictures showed. I didn’t know I’d have an awesome convenient store right across the street with fantastic service and even better bentos. I didn’t know I’d be placed in a lovely spot just kind-of-in the inaka, but still with a touch of big city life.
I didn’t know I’d meet so many people from so many different countries; Ireland, England, Australia, New Zealand, Norway… Texas... ... Alaska. I didn’t know I’d meet so many people from different parts of Japan. I’ve got great friends in Ozu, Arao, Mifune, Nankan, Tamana, Yamaga and many, many other places including Kyoto and Osaka. I didn’t know we’d be going out and having some of the most incredible nights I’ve had in a long time. ...I didn't know I would actually ENJOY karaoke...
I didn’t know Anna would be able to come visit and let me show her around for a few weeks. Nor did I know we’d be going to see Nagasaki together, standing at the epicenter of the A-bomb, or going to Beppu and ooo-ing and aah-ing over Hell, or going to Kumamoto and standing at the top of one of the top 3 most beautiful castles in all of Japan. I had no idea I’d be experienced enough in Japanese language and custom to get us around to those places without help (or get us lost so spectacularly… *cough*).
And speaking of that, I didn’t think it would be possible to learn as much Japanese as I have, and be as comfortable with custom as I’ve gotten. Of course there are miles and miles to go with it, but starting from absolutely nothing, I’m shocked. I didn’t think my anxiety and fear as I stepped off the plane would ever melt into sighs of relief and solid self-reassurances of “You can do this.”
Yeah, had I known all of this, sure. I would have planned for longer. Who wouldn’t? However, I do know that all good things must come to an end. I don’t want to make myself sick of Japan… Personally, I know if I stay any longer and try to recreate all of the magic from my first year, it would cheapen the whole experience for me. I planned 1 year, I have the mindset for 1 year, I’m going home after 1 year. Well... 6 months now. ;)
As a disclaimer to all you people interested in a program like this, don’t think this means I’m saying YOU should only stay for 1 year. By all means, you should stick around and enjoy Japan for as long as you like. You make the decision that’s best for you, just as I have. I’m only trying to give you a heads up: You’re gonna want more. ;)
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Peek-a-boo...
Look, I know it's been a while. I should have called. I should have written. I could have at least sent you a text message. But I'm sorry. It's inconsiderate of me to have left you for so long without even a warning or a word of goodbye. But I just needed some time to be myself. Some time to think, you know? How many times in this world-gone-mad do we find ourselves wishing that we'd just had that time to-... ok, you get the point. :D
December hit. With a vengeance. Oh MAN did things get busy. Along with the usual week-to-week happenings, piles of Christmas parties and concerts got thrown into the mix all of a sudden. I'll do my best to keep this short and give a day-by-day recount of what has been happening for almost a week and a half.
Friday, Dec. 5th - JET Christmas Party
The JETs have what's called Mid-Year Seminar where they all get together and touch base and have meetings for a couple days in the city. The week culminates with a big Christmas party (which, since I got the hook up, I got invited to). Friday ended, and I ran to the train to make it downtown in time. The venue was a nice, swanky lounge-area with a 7 course meal, christmas music, suits, year-thus-far slideshows... pretty fun night. The nijikai was karaoke, so always a fun time. (And yes... I wailed Grace Kelly... (poorly))
Saturday - Aaaahhh.
What? Can't do something everyday. Just got to relax a bit. woo.
Sunday - Christmas cards and Frisbee!
This day, I was asked to help some students make Christmas cards... was pretty fun. Immediatly after that, I was invited by a student in my eikaiwa class to watch her family perform at this concert (in the same building as the christmas cards... Awesome, since I'm lazy. :D). I was blown away. They were pretty dang good, and then her son played a couple solo pieces on his guitar. Oh MANwas he good! I bought his CD, so now I've got awesome original classical-ish guitar music to listen to. :D
After this, I biked as fast as I could over to the train station to head down to Yatsushiro. Ben, from Kyoto, was down in Kumamoto-ken to play in an Ultimate Frisbee competition with his old team, so I went to meet up with some friends to watch. After an hour and a half train ride (I still never get bored of these things. :D), I found myself at the field just in time for the final game. Really cool too watch... I've never seen this level of ultimate frisbee before (Yeah, you heard me, Martens!). Once it was over, we drove a few hours north to Kurume, where Ben's bus was leaving from that evening, and got some dinner at this awesome ramen place. More purikura, and then we said goodbye to Ben. Then, back another couple hours to Kumamoto, a train to Ozu, and a bike ride home.
Monday - Kikuchi-gun Christmas Party
Once school got out, I ran home and helped Tim make some gratin to bring to the pot-luck Christmas party we were having out at some little shop/cafe thing called Darius. We made it fashionably late (because we're oh-so-fashionable). The place was pretty cool. Small, perfect for our party of 10 people, and all dressed up for Christmas. After dinner, we sang Christmas music (actually, we all sat and listened to Holly rock the crap out of some christmas standards... :D) and called it a night. On the way out, Kana managed to get her car stuck up on a curb, so all of us Men-folk did what we do best around car trouble: we stood around staring at it and going, "Yeah... mm hmm...." until finally someone thought of a good idea to help her out. She made it home safely and her car still functions. :)
Tuesday - Eikaiwa Class/Christmas Party
Everyone brought some snack food, so instead of a class, we sat around eating and talking. We all asked questions about Christmas in America and in Japan. Then, I busted out the cheap-o presents I bought them for an attempt at a White Elephant gift exchange. (I just ran to the hyaku-en shop and bought anything from pens to christmas ornaments to a bungee for a bike basket...) I think everyone had a good time... last Eikaiwa class until February, so things might get easier for me.
Wednesday - Class, as always
Went to my Japanese le
sson. Same as always... oh, except this week, I got partnered up with someone else, so I didn't get my own private lesson. It was good to review a bit, and also to have another person to have to bounce some Japanese off of. OH, and at the beginning of the lesson, I successfully told my teacher what I did last weekend entirely in Japanese. (Granted... BROKEN Japanese... "Friday... I went... christmas party... and karaoke... uh... uh... it was fun... " etc. etc.) Oh, and dinner that night was at a little mexican restaurant. Good food!!! Holy cow. :D (Yes, they have guacamole, Anna... though I don't know how you'd rank it)
Thursday- Nabe Party
Since Tim's headed off to Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos for a couple weeks, we decided to have a sort of "Good-bye/Nabe Party" for him. Basically, throw a bunch of food into a pot, set the boiling pot in the middle of the table, grab what you want with chopsticks, soak in some sauce, enjoy. Pretty fun night overall. Wooo.
Friday - Light shopping and a night off.
I didn't really have a night off, I don't know why I said that. I stayed at school until about 5:45 working on projects (and keeping up appearances, so the other teachers don't think I'm lazy and always leave at 4:30-4:45...) and then ran home to meet up with Tim. He had some shopping to do for his trip, so I tagged along out to Hikari-no-mori. It's always fun to wander around this mall, I dunno why. Oh, I bought an electric blanket/bed warmer thing that works AWESOMELY. We grabbed some dinner and headed home.
Saturday - Too much...
Tim needed a hand getting his bags up to the train station, so I had to wake up at 6:40 AM and tag along. The plan was, we drive up, I wait with his bags, Tim takes his car back, brings back his bike, he leaves, and I ride his bike home. I found myself waiting at the train station at 7:00 AM and sure enough, a group of my students wander in. The girls ping-pong team apparently had a competition that day. Of course, they all saw me with the bags and were like, "Oh, Sandall-sensei!! Wh-... uh... where are you going?" I tried my best to explain that I wasn't going anywhere, but to no avail. They looked puzzled, so they dropped the subject. A few minutes later, their teacher came in as well and said hellp, and they asked HER where I was going and told her to ask me in english. I tried again to explain (because I don't want the teachers thinking the lazy American is enjoying himself too much on the weekends and spending all his money travelling around... then they'd expect omiage every Monday... :( ). I hope they got the idea... anyway, I eventually biked home and crashed for a few more hours (in bed... not on my bike... heh).
A few hours later, I woke up to get ready to head into the city. The plan was to meet Kana downtown to help me look for clothes stores that work for tall guys like me and then finally check out the castle. (I'm the worst Kumamoto ALT ever, since I haven't even been there yet.) After all that, we were going to drive to Arao and watch another friend perform on her violin (MUSIC GEEK ALERT!!). Shopping was a bust, but I did find some neat stores. Turns out, though, in Japan, Big & Tall means pretty much just Big. The things that were tall enough for me were pretty much tents, since I'm a scrawny dude. Ah well.
The castle... THE CASTLE. Is COOL!!! I took lots of video and pictures, but yeah. Good times. And a lot of it is in english, so that's a plus. I saw less than half of it, though, since we were crunched for time.
We finally drove up to Arao to see this concert, which ended up being the town's Environmental Awareness party, or something. There were a couple of random acts before Julie's violin, but finally, she started playing. Holy cow, she's good. After that, a whole group of us went out to dinner at a "viking-style" restaurant (All you can eat buffet... which turned out to be all you can eat yakiniku. ALWAYS A PLUS).
A long drive and a short train ride back, and here I am. See? Now do you understand why I haven't been around? I'm sorry if I've seemed distant lately... it's just that I've had a lot on my mind. If it's okay with you, I'd like to still be friends... *sniffle*
*roll credits, cue music, yadda yadda*
Catch you all later! ^__^
PS: Oh, and I finally experienced my first earthquake!! Just sitting around at 2 AM and WHAM. Nice. A 3.5 says the report, so I don't know if that's big or not. Didn't feel terribly big and only lasted a few seconds. It was too cool for me to be scared of. :D
December hit. With a vengeance. Oh MAN did things get busy. Along with the usual week-to-week happenings, piles of Christmas parties and concerts got thrown into the mix all of a sudden. I'll do my best to keep this short and give a day-by-day recount of what has been happening for almost a week and a half.
Friday, Dec. 5th - JET Christmas Party
The JETs have what's called Mid-Year Seminar where they all get together and touch base and have meetings for a couple days in the city. The week culminates with a big Christmas party (which, since I got the hook up, I got invited to). Friday ended, and I ran to the train to make it downtown in time. The venue was a nice, swanky lounge-area with a 7 course meal, christmas music, suits, year-thus-far slideshows... pretty fun night. The nijikai was karaoke, so always a fun time. (And yes... I wailed Grace Kelly... (poorly))
Saturday - Aaaahhh.
What? Can't do something everyday. Just got to relax a bit. woo.
Sunday - Christmas cards and Frisbee!
This day, I was asked to help some students make Christmas cards... was pretty fun. Immediatly after that, I was invited by a student in my eikaiwa class to watch her family perform at this concert (in the same building as the christmas cards... Awesome, since I'm lazy. :D). I was blown away. They were pretty dang good, and then her son played a couple solo pieces on his guitar. Oh MANwas he good! I bought his CD, so now I've got awesome original classical-ish guitar music to listen to. :D
After this, I biked as fast as I could over to the train station to head down to Yatsushiro. Ben, from Kyoto, was down in Kumamoto-ken to play in an Ultimate Frisbee competition with his old team, so I went to meet up with some friends to watch. After an hour and a half train ride (I still never get bored of these things. :D), I found myself at the field just in time for the final game. Really cool too watch... I've never seen this level of ultimate frisbee before (Yeah, you heard me, Martens!). Once it was over, we drove a few hours north to Kurume, where Ben's bus was leaving from that evening, and got some dinner at this awesome ramen place. More purikura, and then we said goodbye to Ben. Then, back another couple hours to Kumamoto, a train to Ozu, and a bike ride home.
Monday - Kikuchi-gun Christmas Party
Once school got out, I ran home and helped Tim make some gratin to bring to the pot-luck Christmas party we were having out at some little shop/cafe thing called Darius. We made it fashionably late (because we're oh-so-fashionable). The place was pretty cool. Small, perfect for our party of 10 people, and all dressed up for Christmas. After dinner, we sang Christmas music (actually, we all sat and listened to Holly rock the crap out of some christmas standards... :D) and called it a night. On the way out, Kana managed to get her car stuck up on a curb, so all of us Men-folk did what we do best around car trouble: we stood around staring at it and going, "Yeah... mm hmm...." until finally someone thought of a good idea to help her out. She made it home safely and her car still functions. :)
Tuesday - Eikaiwa Class/Christmas Party
Everyone brought some snack food, so instead of a class, we sat around eating and talking. We all asked questions about Christmas in America and in Japan. Then, I busted out the cheap-o presents I bought them for an attempt at a White Elephant gift exchange. (I just ran to the hyaku-en shop and bought anything from pens to christmas ornaments to a bungee for a bike basket...) I think everyone had a good time... last Eikaiwa class until February, so things might get easier for me.
Wednesday - Class, as always
Went to my Japanese le
sson. Same as always... oh, except this week, I got partnered up with someone else, so I didn't get my own private lesson. It was good to review a bit, and also to have another person to have to bounce some Japanese off of. OH, and at the beginning of the lesson, I successfully told my teacher what I did last weekend entirely in Japanese. (Granted... BROKEN Japanese... "Friday... I went... christmas party... and karaoke... uh... uh... it was fun... " etc. etc.) Oh, and dinner that night was at a little mexican restaurant. Good food!!! Holy cow. :D (Yes, they have guacamole, Anna... though I don't know how you'd rank it)Thursday- Nabe Party
Since Tim's headed off to Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos for a couple weeks, we decided to have a sort of "Good-bye/Nabe Party" for him. Basically, throw a bunch of food into a pot, set the boiling pot in the middle of the table, grab what you want with chopsticks, soak in some sauce, enjoy. Pretty fun night overall. Wooo.
Friday - Light shopping and a night off.
I didn't really have a night off, I don't know why I said that. I stayed at school until about 5:45 working on projects (and keeping up appearances, so the other teachers don't think I'm lazy and always leave at 4:30-4:45...) and then ran home to meet up with Tim. He had some shopping to do for his trip, so I tagged along out to Hikari-no-mori. It's always fun to wander around this mall, I dunno why. Oh, I bought an electric blanket/bed warmer thing that works AWESOMELY. We grabbed some dinner and headed home.
Saturday - Too much...
Tim needed a hand getting his bags up to the train station, so I had to wake up at 6:40 AM and tag along. The plan was, we drive up, I wait with his bags, Tim takes his car back, brings back his bike, he leaves, and I ride his bike home. I found myself waiting at the train station at 7:00 AM and sure enough, a group of my students wander in. The girls ping-pong team apparently had a competition that day. Of course, they all saw me with the bags and were like, "Oh, Sandall-sensei!! Wh-... uh... where are you going?" I tried my best to explain that I wasn't going anywhere, but to no avail. They looked puzzled, so they dropped the subject. A few minutes later, their teacher came in as well and said hellp, and they asked HER where I was going and told her to ask me in english. I tried again to explain (because I don't want the teachers thinking the lazy American is enjoying himself too much on the weekends and spending all his money travelling around... then they'd expect omiage every Monday... :( ). I hope they got the idea... anyway, I eventually biked home and crashed for a few more hours (in bed... not on my bike... heh).
A few hours later, I woke up to get ready to head into the city. The plan was to meet Kana downtown to help me look for clothes stores that work for tall guys like me and then finally check out the castle. (I'm the worst Kumamoto ALT ever, since I haven't even been there yet.) After all that, we were going to drive to Arao and watch another friend perform on her violin (MUSIC GEEK ALERT!!). Shopping was a bust, but I did find some neat stores. Turns out, though, in Japan, Big & Tall means pretty much just Big. The things that were tall enough for me were pretty much tents, since I'm a scrawny dude. Ah well.
The castle... THE CASTLE. Is COOL!!! I took lots of video and pictures, but yeah. Good times. And a lot of it is in english, so that's a plus. I saw less than half of it, though, since we were crunched for time.
We finally drove up to Arao to see this concert, which ended up being the town's Environmental Awareness party, or something. There were a couple of random acts before Julie's violin, but finally, she started playing. Holy cow, she's good. After that, a whole group of us went out to dinner at a "viking-style" restaurant (All you can eat buffet... which turned out to be all you can eat yakiniku. ALWAYS A PLUS).
A long drive and a short train ride back, and here I am. See? Now do you understand why I haven't been around? I'm sorry if I've seemed distant lately... it's just that I've had a lot on my mind. If it's okay with you, I'd like to still be friends... *sniffle*
*roll credits, cue music, yadda yadda*
Catch you all later! ^__^
PS: Oh, and I finally experienced my first earthquake!! Just sitting around at 2 AM and WHAM. Nice. A 3.5 says the report, so I don't know if that's big or not. Didn't feel terribly big and only lasted a few seconds. It was too cool for me to be scared of. :D
Monday, December 1, 2008
They did it... I can't believe they did it...
Imagine my surprise last week when this happened. I got a knock on my door, pulled myself out of my computer chair, half asleep, half sick, and I wandered to answer it. Upon opening the door, I saw a Japanese gentleman standing there with a small white paper in his hand. He looked somewhat dressed up (and me in my grinch pajamas and a t-shirt... leave me alone. I was sick (and they're oh so comfortable. :D )). Slacks, a button down shirt and tie, a sweater, and a nice coat. He started off in Japanese, "Ah, sumimasen. Watashi wa nani nani nani nani nani nani..." and so on and so on. I wasn't awake enough to process much, so I kinda gave an embarassed smile and said, "Oh, sumimasen... Nihongo ga wakarimasen... gomen nasai." He balked for a second and said, "Oh... uh... uh... My name... is... Sato..." and he handed me the paper he was holding.
Now, I've had door-to-door salesmen stop by before... but usually about the time they realize I don't understand them, they leave me alone (and go bug Tim). This guy was obviously different, so I took the flier and noticed a big christmas tree on it. "Oh... ah... Katakana... choto mata..." I started to translate the katakana and see if there was any Kanji I recognized. While I was doing this, he said something that I sort of recognized. I lifted my head... then it dawned on me what time it was. It was about 12:45 on Sunday afternoon. Wuh oh, I thought. Glancing back down, I translated the following: (read it like spanish vowels and see if you can figure this out faster than I did) "i-e-su ki-ri-su-to," "wa~do," "ku-ri-su-ma-su kai, (kai is one of the few kanji I know... roughly means "party")" and "su-te~ku se-n-ta~." It also had a time and a date on it... have you figured it out yet?
...keep thinking...
Ok, about the moment I put it all together, the gentleman managed to confirm it in english. "Eh... church of... Jesus Christ... of... eh... Latter..-" "Latter Day Saints," I finished for him with a smile. They had found me. I didn't know how, but they'd found me (Not that I was necessarily hiding...). Oh, and the answers above, "Jesus Christ," "Ward," "Christmas Party," and "Stake Center." (If you got all 4, you won a special decoder ring. Please see my sister-in-law to redeem them *angry face* (just jokin', Shannon. :D))
I was proud of myself that I was able to understand most of the sheet, though. And over the next 15 minutes, between his limited english and my bad japanese, I was able to work out that he was inviting me to the ward christmas party, what ward it was, when that ward meets on Sundays, where the building is, that one of the missionaries there is American, and a couple other random facts. The key bit of info was that he'd be picking me up at 8:15 AM the next Sunday ("Gozen hachiji jugo fun... raishu, nichiyobi." Ooooo, aaaahh... but I think that might be a bit off. I forget how to exactly say "Next sunday."). And over the week, I found out that it was my sister-in-law's fault! The church called her to see if she knew my current address, and since you can't really lie to church, she had to spill the beans. (Again, see her for your free decoder rings. In fact, tell her I said you could have extras!)
So, yes. I went to Japanese LDS Church yesterday. The ride there was kind of quiet (what with the language barrier and all... heh) though I did try some beginner english with Sato-san's son in the back seat. He's one of Tim's students at the other Junior High school in Ozu, so I figured I should test him and find out who's the better ALT (It's me. ;) ). When we got to the church, I stood in the lobby talking to a few people, being introduced around to a lot of people whose names I will forget, if I haven't already (Not to be rude... I just have a hard time hearing and remembering japanese names). Just a lot of really nice people all excited to meet me and try out bits of English. And I still don't know how to introduce myself... Last name, first name? First name, last name? English accent? Japanese accent? Most intros from me sound like, "Hajimemashite! Watashi wa Colin. Uh... Co-rin... Colin desu... er... Watashi wa Co-rin desu... eh... sumimasen. :("
Finally, the missionaries show up and I think I inadvertantly attached myself to the english one for the next few hours. He helped me through classes and translated where necessary. He helped clarify my introduction for the other people, too. Also, there's a pair of senior missionaries in the ward from Idaho, but I only met the husband. He was incredibly helpful, also. I feel kind of bad, though, because I know they've got REAL work to do, but they're stuck translating for this silly gaijin.
The first thing that amazed me was how alike EVERYTHING is. Procedure was all the same, of course, but I mean also the teaching styles. In what I think was the Gospel Principals class (I was hangin' with the missionaries, and that's where they went), the teacher did that thing where she puts the topic on the board and goes around the room asking what it means to everyone. EVERYBODY THAT HAS EVER TAUGHT IN CHURCH EVER has done that one! I had to chuckle a bit. (And yes, they had the doilies.)
Perhaps the best part was Sacrament meeting. Of course this was the same, but as a special treat, I happened to be there the day they did a Primary presentation. Heck yeah! I dunno, I always enjoy watching those (To further illustrate the "same-ness" factor, a few parents had to either feed their kid their lines, or flat out say the speech for them when their child buried their faces in their parents shoulders). In this case, though, it was neat to hear all the primary tunes in Japanese. Oh, and as far as reading Hymns, I actually was able to sing along! Music is written out phonetically (all hiragana and katakana) and since I already knew the melodies, I could focus on the Japanese. Though, a couple songs in, I got cocky and started reading both the tenor line AND the hiragana... go me. ;)
After the meeting, I said goodbye to the missionaries and rode back to Ozu with Sato-kyodai (Not Sato-san... I found out "Sato-Kyodai" is the equivalent of "Brother Sato"). I volunteered the rest of my info to the missionaries before going, also. The senior missionary gave me an information sheet about the YSA group that meets EVERY NIGHT at that building, so I might pop over a few times to see what's up. At the very least, it'd be fun to meet a few more people my age (or a little younger... heh... I'm older by YSA standards. :( ).
All in all, I wouldn't be surprised if I found myself wandering that way again on a Sunday morning... if only for the little sense of Home I got from all the routine. :)
Now, I've had door-to-door salesmen stop by before... but usually about the time they realize I don't understand them, they leave me alone (and go bug Tim). This guy was obviously different, so I took the flier and noticed a big christmas tree on it. "Oh... ah... Katakana... choto mata..." I started to translate the katakana and see if there was any Kanji I recognized. While I was doing this, he said something that I sort of recognized. I lifted my head... then it dawned on me what time it was. It was about 12:45 on Sunday afternoon. Wuh oh, I thought. Glancing back down, I translated the following: (read it like spanish vowels and see if you can figure this out faster than I did) "i-e-su ki-ri-su-to," "wa~do," "ku-ri-su-ma-su kai, (kai is one of the few kanji I know... roughly means "party")" and "su-te~ku se-n-ta~." It also had a time and a date on it... have you figured it out yet?
...keep thinking...
Ok, about the moment I put it all together, the gentleman managed to confirm it in english. "Eh... church of... Jesus Christ... of... eh... Latter..-" "Latter Day Saints," I finished for him with a smile. They had found me. I didn't know how, but they'd found me (Not that I was necessarily hiding...). Oh, and the answers above, "Jesus Christ," "Ward," "Christmas Party," and "Stake Center." (If you got all 4, you won a special decoder ring. Please see my sister-in-law to redeem them *angry face* (just jokin', Shannon. :D))
I was proud of myself that I was able to understand most of the sheet, though. And over the next 15 minutes, between his limited english and my bad japanese, I was able to work out that he was inviting me to the ward christmas party, what ward it was, when that ward meets on Sundays, where the building is, that one of the missionaries there is American, and a couple other random facts. The key bit of info was that he'd be picking me up at 8:15 AM the next Sunday ("Gozen hachiji jugo fun... raishu, nichiyobi." Ooooo, aaaahh... but I think that might be a bit off. I forget how to exactly say "Next sunday."). And over the week, I found out that it was my sister-in-law's fault! The church called her to see if she knew my current address, and since you can't really lie to church, she had to spill the beans. (Again, see her for your free decoder rings. In fact, tell her I said you could have extras!)
So, yes. I went to Japanese LDS Church yesterday. The ride there was kind of quiet (what with the language barrier and all... heh) though I did try some beginner english with Sato-san's son in the back seat. He's one of Tim's students at the other Junior High school in Ozu, so I figured I should test him and find out who's the better ALT (It's me. ;) ). When we got to the church, I stood in the lobby talking to a few people, being introduced around to a lot of people whose names I will forget, if I haven't already (Not to be rude... I just have a hard time hearing and remembering japanese names). Just a lot of really nice people all excited to meet me and try out bits of English. And I still don't know how to introduce myself... Last name, first name? First name, last name? English accent? Japanese accent? Most intros from me sound like, "Hajimemashite! Watashi wa Colin. Uh... Co-rin... Colin desu... er... Watashi wa Co-rin desu... eh... sumimasen. :("
Finally, the missionaries show up and I think I inadvertantly attached myself to the english one for the next few hours. He helped me through classes and translated where necessary. He helped clarify my introduction for the other people, too. Also, there's a pair of senior missionaries in the ward from Idaho, but I only met the husband. He was incredibly helpful, also. I feel kind of bad, though, because I know they've got REAL work to do, but they're stuck translating for this silly gaijin.
The first thing that amazed me was how alike EVERYTHING is. Procedure was all the same, of course, but I mean also the teaching styles. In what I think was the Gospel Principals class (I was hangin' with the missionaries, and that's where they went), the teacher did that thing where she puts the topic on the board and goes around the room asking what it means to everyone. EVERYBODY THAT HAS EVER TAUGHT IN CHURCH EVER has done that one! I had to chuckle a bit. (And yes, they had the doilies.)
Perhaps the best part was Sacrament meeting. Of course this was the same, but as a special treat, I happened to be there the day they did a Primary presentation. Heck yeah! I dunno, I always enjoy watching those (To further illustrate the "same-ness" factor, a few parents had to either feed their kid their lines, or flat out say the speech for them when their child buried their faces in their parents shoulders). In this case, though, it was neat to hear all the primary tunes in Japanese. Oh, and as far as reading Hymns, I actually was able to sing along! Music is written out phonetically (all hiragana and katakana) and since I already knew the melodies, I could focus on the Japanese. Though, a couple songs in, I got cocky and started reading both the tenor line AND the hiragana... go me. ;)
After the meeting, I said goodbye to the missionaries and rode back to Ozu with Sato-kyodai (Not Sato-san... I found out "Sato-Kyodai" is the equivalent of "Brother Sato"). I volunteered the rest of my info to the missionaries before going, also. The senior missionary gave me an information sheet about the YSA group that meets EVERY NIGHT at that building, so I might pop over a few times to see what's up. At the very least, it'd be fun to meet a few more people my age (or a little younger... heh... I'm older by YSA standards. :( ).
All in all, I wouldn't be surprised if I found myself wandering that way again on a Sunday morning... if only for the little sense of Home I got from all the routine. :)
Monday, November 17, 2008
Kids say the darndest things!
I'd like to apologize in advance for the slightly inappropriate post you're about to read. All I have to say is "Eh. It's Japan." I usually shy away from writing about the questionably vulgar things on my blog, but there's starting to be a lot of them (and some downright hilarious ones, let's be honest) so I figured I'd lump everything thus far in to one post.
Imagine you were a junior high school student. Imagine you're a junior high school student being forced to learn a new language. Imagine you're one of those students that doesn't really care about the new language. Now imagine they put a native speaker in front of you who doesn't fully understand YOUR language. What's the first thing you'd do? Remember, you're a junior high student.
That's right. You'd look up all the dirty words and rude questions and start throwing them out when no other teachers are around. And that basically sums up the introduction of the group of boys who I work with during cleaning time.
Sure, they ask if I have a girlfriend. This seems to be a standard among students of ALTs across Japan. I don't always answer them, though, because it opens the door to many, many terrible things. That doesn't mean you can't take those terrible things and make them a learning experience, though!! Enter deflection procedures!
One day, a group of boys kind of wandered near me. I saw the bravest one bend over to have one of the smaller, smarter ones whisper something in his ear. The brave one smiled and looked at me. "Do... sex... you... uh... like?" Now, I know full well what he was trying to ask me. Evasive maneuver one, "hahaha. Umm. Eigo ga wakarimasen. Sumimasen! *deep bow*" ("I don't understand english. Excuse me/I'm sorry!") He looked back at his friend and I heard his friend almost whisper, "Do you like..." He tried again, "Oh... uh... Do you... umm... do.... do you like... eh? Oh, do yo-" I cut him off. He's not giving up, so let's spin this around!
"Oh, you're trying to say 'nani-nani ga suki desu ka?'" (nani-nani basically stands for "something something") He said,"Yes! Yes! Sex!" I ignore him and start the call and response. "Right. *ahem* Do..." "Do..." "You..." "You..." "Like..." "Like..." "Do you like..." "Do you like..." "Very good! There you go! Now just add in 'Tennis' or 'soccer' or 'japanese food' and you're all set!" At this point, I give him a thumbs up and get back to work, ignoring him. "Do you like sex?? DO YOU LIKE SEX??" I congratulate him again, "Omedetto! Yokatta eigo!!" ("Congratulations! Good english!") and start working. They soon realize I won't acknowledge that question. :)
Today was different, though. Another stock question these boys ask is, "Do you play sex?" This has come up a few times (boys will be boys, I guess) but today, they put a spin on it and completely blindsided me. There I was, sweeping up the entry way with some other students when this same group of boys comes over. The brave one walks right up and asks, "Are you a sex player?" I stiffle a laugh and play dumb, "Oh, am I a sax player? Like a saxophone? *mime a saxophone* No, but they are very cool, aren't they?" "No, no! Sex! SEX!" over-enunciating the E. Again, I say, "Aah! Eigo ga wakarimasen!" He smiles, knowing full well this routine, and says this little gem: "Are you a sex technician?"
WHAT??? You mean to tell me that this boy who usually falls asleep in class, doesn't know the answer to the questions, and is a general nuisence to the teachers went through the trouble to learn TECHNICIAN??? And he actually USED IT CORRECTLY??? I mean, heck yes that's a weird phrase, but grammatically, it's sound! I tried. I really really tried my hardest not to laugh, but dangit, it was just too funny. SEX TECHNICIAN?? That's like the name of some bad 80's song! (Note to self... write bad 80's song named "Sex Technician")
Of course, since I unfortunately laughed (hard... VERY hard) about it, the other boys picked it up, and all I heard for the rest of cleaning time was, "Sex technician! Sex technician!!!" It wasn't nearly as funny 10 minutes later.
That's just kind of how things go some days. I've heard stories of ALTs getting upset by those and getting defensive, but that only eggs it on. You gotta roll with it and play along. If you get angry, they'll keep doing it. So far, my approach of "subtly letting them know I understand them, but won't answer" has been effective. We still get along, and they've largely cooled it on those questions and slang (There are some words that have come up that are much worse, but I'll spare you). And after all, at least they're learning english. :D
Oh, and on another note, I was talking to a group of sannensei about the Mission Impossible movies today and one of the girls said that I look like Tom Cruise. I tried to ignore the crazy scientology ramblings of the New Tom Cruise and remember his dashing good looks. Sure, Tom Cruise and I probably look alike to her just like every japanese/chinese/korean person looks like Jackie Chan to most Americans, but I'll take whatever compliment I can get. :D
Imagine you were a junior high school student. Imagine you're a junior high school student being forced to learn a new language. Imagine you're one of those students that doesn't really care about the new language. Now imagine they put a native speaker in front of you who doesn't fully understand YOUR language. What's the first thing you'd do? Remember, you're a junior high student.
That's right. You'd look up all the dirty words and rude questions and start throwing them out when no other teachers are around. And that basically sums up the introduction of the group of boys who I work with during cleaning time.
Sure, they ask if I have a girlfriend. This seems to be a standard among students of ALTs across Japan. I don't always answer them, though, because it opens the door to many, many terrible things. That doesn't mean you can't take those terrible things and make them a learning experience, though!! Enter deflection procedures!
One day, a group of boys kind of wandered near me. I saw the bravest one bend over to have one of the smaller, smarter ones whisper something in his ear. The brave one smiled and looked at me. "Do... sex... you... uh... like?" Now, I know full well what he was trying to ask me. Evasive maneuver one, "hahaha. Umm. Eigo ga wakarimasen. Sumimasen! *deep bow*" ("I don't understand english. Excuse me/I'm sorry!") He looked back at his friend and I heard his friend almost whisper, "Do you like..." He tried again, "Oh... uh... Do you... umm... do.... do you like... eh? Oh, do yo-" I cut him off. He's not giving up, so let's spin this around!
"Oh, you're trying to say 'nani-nani ga suki desu ka?'" (nani-nani basically stands for "something something") He said,"Yes! Yes! Sex!" I ignore him and start the call and response. "Right. *ahem* Do..." "Do..." "You..." "You..." "Like..." "Like..." "Do you like..." "Do you like..." "Very good! There you go! Now just add in 'Tennis' or 'soccer' or 'japanese food' and you're all set!" At this point, I give him a thumbs up and get back to work, ignoring him. "Do you like sex?? DO YOU LIKE SEX??" I congratulate him again, "Omedetto! Yokatta eigo!!" ("Congratulations! Good english!") and start working. They soon realize I won't acknowledge that question. :)
Today was different, though. Another stock question these boys ask is, "Do you play sex?" This has come up a few times (boys will be boys, I guess) but today, they put a spin on it and completely blindsided me. There I was, sweeping up the entry way with some other students when this same group of boys comes over. The brave one walks right up and asks, "Are you a sex player?" I stiffle a laugh and play dumb, "Oh, am I a sax player? Like a saxophone? *mime a saxophone* No, but they are very cool, aren't they?" "No, no! Sex! SEX!" over-enunciating the E. Again, I say, "Aah! Eigo ga wakarimasen!" He smiles, knowing full well this routine, and says this little gem: "Are you a sex technician?"
WHAT??? You mean to tell me that this boy who usually falls asleep in class, doesn't know the answer to the questions, and is a general nuisence to the teachers went through the trouble to learn TECHNICIAN??? And he actually USED IT CORRECTLY??? I mean, heck yes that's a weird phrase, but grammatically, it's sound! I tried. I really really tried my hardest not to laugh, but dangit, it was just too funny. SEX TECHNICIAN?? That's like the name of some bad 80's song! (Note to self... write bad 80's song named "Sex Technician")
Of course, since I unfortunately laughed (hard... VERY hard) about it, the other boys picked it up, and all I heard for the rest of cleaning time was, "Sex technician! Sex technician!!!" It wasn't nearly as funny 10 minutes later.
That's just kind of how things go some days. I've heard stories of ALTs getting upset by those and getting defensive, but that only eggs it on. You gotta roll with it and play along. If you get angry, they'll keep doing it. So far, my approach of "subtly letting them know I understand them, but won't answer" has been effective. We still get along, and they've largely cooled it on those questions and slang (There are some words that have come up that are much worse, but I'll spare you). And after all, at least they're learning english. :D
Oh, and on another note, I was talking to a group of sannensei about the Mission Impossible movies today and one of the girls said that I look like Tom Cruise. I tried to ignore the crazy scientology ramblings of the New Tom Cruise and remember his dashing good looks. Sure, Tom Cruise and I probably look alike to her just like every japanese/chinese/korean person looks like Jackie Chan to most Americans, but I'll take whatever compliment I can get. :D
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
How the Gaijin Stole Halloween
Let's face it. I love Halloween. I love Halloween an unnatural amount. I love Halloween so much that I... well, pretend I did something extravagant and over-the-top. That's how much I love Halloween. Needless to say, I was heartbroken when I learned that Japan doesn't come close to the great lengths the USA does in celebrating it. No matter! There was Halloween fun to be had by all!
The sannensei teacher ALSO loves Halloween. She talked about this a month or so ago and said she wanted to have some Halloween themed lessons. The other teachers mentioned this, too, but sadly, they didn't follow through. Now I think I mentioned all of this in recent posts, so I'll just cut to the chase and let you know how everything went.
Before my Japanese lesson last week, there was time to go shopping around, and we stumbled into this store called Don Quixote. Time assured me that they had everything, and that this "everything" included HALLOWEEN COSTUMES! Great, I thought. I'd already decided to be a zombie (since I tore some slacks on my bike a few weeks ago (Sweet! Free costume!!)), so maybe I would be able to find some accessories like make-up, masks, or whatever. Hanging from the rack, I found (cue trumpet fanfare) a pair of skeleton gloves! Ok, so I wasn't going as a skeleton. Whatever. Leave me alone, they looked cool. :(
I of course bought the gloves (and also some Halloween candy... woo!). The next day, we would be starting our sannensei Halloween lessons, but I didn't know if it was okay to wear the gloves. The sannensei teacher assured me that she'd be dressed as a witch on Friday, and that was all the persuasion I needed. The lessons that day went well, I think. I gave a brief listening quiz on the history and traditions of Halloween, and then we went into a Halloween mad-lib. Yes, I know. Mad-libs aren't funny. And if you think they weren't funny before, imagine how well they'd go over with a group that doesn't understand the language. As far as they knew, they'd just be inserting tab A into slot B and completeing the assignment, not really getting the joke. I was pretty nervous about it going in. It didn't help, also, that the mad-lib was written by a former ALT and pretty much sucked in terms of "bringin' teh lulz." ("it wasn't funny," for all you un-hip, non-internet nerds.)
I took it upon myself to write another one, at the request of the teacher, and it was... a little better. At least by contrast, maybe it would help the kids "get" a mad lib. ("Oh, you mean 'ugly Johnny singing into the creaky car noisily' is funny?? hahaha! Okay!" ...sigh... such is the mad-lib) Luckily, though, the mad lib went over GREAT!!! I read their creations line by line while the teacher translated. The bulk of the class laughed at the translations, while a handful chuckled at it when I read it in english (Good students!! Yay!!). I underestimated the power of Mad-libs + Japanese humor. In a society where a "comedian" equals some guy dressed in a tux and bowler tinking wine glasses and saying, "Yaaay, rennaissaaaance!" why WOULDN'T this be funny?? Anyway, the lessons worked.
And Friday, I got to wear my skeleton gloves... and scared the crap out of them. I walked into class, hands hidden behind my back, like I was naturally waiting for class to begin. They do the entire isatsu ("Good afternoon, Mr. Sandall...") and bow and all that, and finally, it was my turn. After having been in the class for 4 or 5 minutes, I finally fling my hands out while proclaiming, "I LOVE Halloween!!" Pause to enjoy the gasps, shrieks, and "Sugoi!"s. It was fun. :)
Friday night found me Make-up shopping... shut up. Shut up shut up shut up. All I could find was some eyeliner and white eye shadow, soooo... cool. Pale and dead looking. I used some red poster paint and chopped up my slacks a bit more and went as "Recently-turned-zombie-bitten-in-the-leg-by-a-crawling-zombie."
By "went as," I mean I went to the ALT Halloween Party in Tamana. People have bee
n talking about this party for months, and since everyone loves Halloween, but no one in Japan celebrates, it's up to the ALTs to host their own fun. And fun it was. I saw a ton of old friends I'd met at other gatherings and met a few new people as well. People came from ALL OVER... like from all the way to the south of Kumamoto-ken ('sup, Cindy? Now that I know you read/stalk this... ;) ). Basically, the party was a blasty-blast (Yes, I quoted Dane Cook right there) and my costume actually turned out alright. Of course, there were a ton of other, WAY COOLER costumes (Giant Onigiri?? That's AMAZING!!). (It sucks because you can't see my mutilated pants on the picture... Oh, and I'm standing next to a Pocahontas and... any anime fans out there recognize the far right? :D )
That's all my Halloween rantings for now. but... just one last thing, before I wrap this up and head to Eikaiwa...
Monday, we had a day off. It was Bunka no hi (Or basically "Culture Day"), so no school. Tim had to make a run to Hikarinomori to grab some clothes and asked if I wanted to go along. I said sure, and made a quick shopping list. We headed out around 3:30 and wandered around the mall for a few hours, picking up random bits and pieces. I actually found shoes that fit!! (and-a... eyes that burrrn like... cigarettes...) I also picked up some workout clothes for the winter... since Tennis is probably going to go well into the colder months. :D I mentioned the prospect of dinner, and Tim said that there was this cool italian restaurant downstairs, but first he had to grab some coffee grounds.
So we wandered back over to Starbucks (In Japan... I know... their global domination is nigh) and he began sifting through the bags to find a good flavor. As we were standing there, we're all ofa sudden approached by Maki, a friend from Ozu. She's just there shopping, so we talk with her for a bit. Suddenly, Kana shows up also, just randomly shopping. This isn't terribly odd, since Hikarinomori is the hip, cool place to be (or something like that) and we were standing in a pretty high traffic area. To further compound this coincidence, about 5 minutes later, Miyuki and her friend Shingo show up, also out shopping. So we all stand and chat for a few minutes, and finally Tim says, "Hey, we were just headed to grab dinner, you guys wannna come?" "Hey, sure!" was the general response from the crowd.
We walked down a few floors to find the "fancier" restaurants and the 6 of us get a table. Oddly, they gave us 8 chairs... I thought nothing of this. They then brought out 8 waters. I think, "Meh. Must have miscounted." And about 5 minutes later, Nick and Mari (The Mifune gang) show up. "Oh, sorry we're late," says Nick. This is my first sign to go, "Wait, what?" and I start to put things together. Through the course of the meal, Nick and Mari start making jokes about birthday spankings since Tim "mentioned" my birthday was in a couple days, Kana and Miyuki mysteriously disappeared for about 10 minutes, and there's a lot of winks and short comments in Japanese... none of which I understand. Basically, I have a hunch. A BIG hunch.
Kana and Miyuki come back looking all suspiscious, and not a moment later, I notice the servers standing a little ways away all huddled around something. I hear a few flicks of a lighter and my eyes widen. They turn around and bring over this pie with candles sticking out spelling, "Happy Birthday!!" Everyone breaks out into song, and I just sit there with my jaw on the floor. Complete and utter surprise. My friends rock. :D
Yes, I should have noticed the string of strange coincidences sooner... but whatever. I loved it. Kana went through the awesome trouble of making a "cake" (pie) that was AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS (It wasn't "bimyo," Kana... I was joking. :D).
After dinner, there were talks of going to a late movie, but we thought better of it... and went and did purikura instead. "Puri-kura" = "Purinto Kurabu" = "Print Club" = "photo booths where you can add designs and print ouf stickers." 8 of us crammed inside one of the larger ones, took some random shots, and then went outside and drew all over them with the image editing stuff. I'll let the images speak for themselves. :D (And yes, I know my name is spelled wrong in that one... whoever did it, I WILL FIND YOU!!!!)
The sannensei teacher ALSO loves Halloween. She talked about this a month or so ago and said she wanted to have some Halloween themed lessons. The other teachers mentioned this, too, but sadly, they didn't follow through. Now I think I mentioned all of this in recent posts, so I'll just cut to the chase and let you know how everything went.
Before my Japanese lesson last week, there was time to go shopping around, and we stumbled into this store called Don Quixote. Time assured me that they had everything, and that this "everything" included HALLOWEEN COSTUMES! Great, I thought. I'd already decided to be a zombie (since I tore some slacks on my bike a few weeks ago (Sweet! Free costume!!)), so maybe I would be able to find some accessories like make-up, masks, or whatever. Hanging from the rack, I found (cue trumpet fanfare) a pair of skeleton gloves! Ok, so I wasn't going as a skeleton. Whatever. Leave me alone, they looked cool. :(
I of course bought the gloves (and also some Halloween candy... woo!). The next day, we would be starting our sannensei Halloween lessons, but I didn't know if it was okay to wear the gloves. The sannensei teacher assured me that she'd be dressed as a witch on Friday, and that was all the persuasion I needed. The lessons that day went well, I think. I gave a brief listening quiz on the history and traditions of Halloween, and then we went into a Halloween mad-lib. Yes, I know. Mad-libs aren't funny. And if you think they weren't funny before, imagine how well they'd go over with a group that doesn't understand the language. As far as they knew, they'd just be inserting tab A into slot B and completeing the assignment, not really getting the joke. I was pretty nervous about it going in. It didn't help, also, that the mad-lib was written by a former ALT and pretty much sucked in terms of "bringin' teh lulz." ("it wasn't funny," for all you un-hip, non-internet nerds.)
I took it upon myself to write another one, at the request of the teacher, and it was... a little better. At least by contrast, maybe it would help the kids "get" a mad lib. ("Oh, you mean 'ugly Johnny singing into the creaky car noisily' is funny?? hahaha! Okay!" ...sigh... such is the mad-lib) Luckily, though, the mad lib went over GREAT!!! I read their creations line by line while the teacher translated. The bulk of the class laughed at the translations, while a handful chuckled at it when I read it in english (Good students!! Yay!!). I underestimated the power of Mad-libs + Japanese humor. In a society where a "comedian" equals some guy dressed in a tux and bowler tinking wine glasses and saying, "Yaaay, rennaissaaaance!" why WOULDN'T this be funny?? Anyway, the lessons worked.
And Friday, I got to wear my skeleton gloves... and scared the crap out of them. I walked into class, hands hidden behind my back, like I was naturally waiting for class to begin. They do the entire isatsu ("Good afternoon, Mr. Sandall...") and bow and all that, and finally, it was my turn. After having been in the class for 4 or 5 minutes, I finally fling my hands out while proclaiming, "I LOVE Halloween!!" Pause to enjoy the gasps, shrieks, and "Sugoi!"s. It was fun. :)
Friday night found me Make-up shopping... shut up. Shut up shut up shut up. All I could find was some eyeliner and white eye shadow, soooo... cool. Pale and dead looking. I used some red poster paint and chopped up my slacks a bit more and went as "Recently-turned-zombie-bitten-in-the-leg-by-a-crawling-zombie."
By "went as," I mean I went to the ALT Halloween Party in Tamana. People have bee
n talking about this party for months, and since everyone loves Halloween, but no one in Japan celebrates, it's up to the ALTs to host their own fun. And fun it was. I saw a ton of old friends I'd met at other gatherings and met a few new people as well. People came from ALL OVER... like from all the way to the south of Kumamoto-ken ('sup, Cindy? Now that I know you read/stalk this... ;) ). Basically, the party was a blasty-blast (Yes, I quoted Dane Cook right there) and my costume actually turned out alright. Of course, there were a ton of other, WAY COOLER costumes (Giant Onigiri?? That's AMAZING!!). (It sucks because you can't see my mutilated pants on the picture... Oh, and I'm standing next to a Pocahontas and... any anime fans out there recognize the far right? :D )That's all my Halloween rantings for now. but... just one last thing, before I wrap this up and head to Eikaiwa...
Monday, we had a day off. It was Bunka no hi (Or basically "Culture Day"), so no school. Tim had to make a run to Hikarinomori to grab some clothes and asked if I wanted to go along. I said sure, and made a quick shopping list. We headed out around 3:30 and wandered around the mall for a few hours, picking up random bits and pieces. I actually found shoes that fit!! (and-a... eyes that burrrn like... cigarettes...) I also picked up some workout clothes for the winter... since Tennis is probably going to go well into the colder months. :D I mentioned the prospect of dinner, and Tim said that there was this cool italian restaurant downstairs, but first he had to grab some coffee grounds.
So we wandered back over to Starbucks (In Japan... I know... their global domination is nigh) and he began sifting through the bags to find a good flavor. As we were standing there, we're all ofa sudden approached by Maki, a friend from Ozu. She's just there shopping, so we talk with her for a bit. Suddenly, Kana shows up also, just randomly shopping. This isn't terribly odd, since Hikarinomori is the hip, cool place to be (or something like that) and we were standing in a pretty high traffic area. To further compound this coincidence, about 5 minutes later, Miyuki and her friend Shingo show up, also out shopping. So we all stand and chat for a few minutes, and finally Tim says, "Hey, we were just headed to grab dinner, you guys wannna come?" "Hey, sure!" was the general response from the crowd.
We walked down a few floors to find the "fancier" restaurants and the 6 of us get a table. Oddly, they gave us 8 chairs... I thought nothing of this. They then brought out 8 waters. I think, "Meh. Must have miscounted." And about 5 minutes later, Nick and Mari (The Mifune gang) show up. "Oh, sorry we're late," says Nick. This is my first sign to go, "Wait, what?" and I start to put things together. Through the course of the meal, Nick and Mari start making jokes about birthday spankings since Tim "mentioned" my birthday was in a couple days, Kana and Miyuki mysteriously disappeared for about 10 minutes, and there's a lot of winks and short comments in Japanese... none of which I understand. Basically, I have a hunch. A BIG hunch.
Kana and Miyuki come back looking all suspiscious, and not a moment later, I notice the servers standing a little ways away all huddled around something. I hear a few flicks of a lighter and my eyes widen. They turn around and bring over this pie with candles sticking out spelling, "Happy Birthday!!" Everyone breaks out into song, and I just sit there with my jaw on the floor. Complete and utter surprise. My friends rock. :D
Yes, I should have noticed the string of strange coincidences sooner... but whatever. I loved it. Kana went through the awesome trouble of making a "cake" (pie) that was AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS (It wasn't "bimyo," Kana... I was joking. :D).
After dinner, there were talks of going to a late movie, but we thought better of it... and went and did purikura instead. "Puri-kura" = "Purinto Kurabu" = "Print Club" = "photo booths where you can add designs and print ouf stickers." 8 of us crammed inside one of the larger ones, took some random shots, and then went outside and drew all over them with the image editing stuff. I'll let the images speak for themselves. :D (And yes, I know my name is spelled wrong in that one... whoever did it, I WILL FIND YOU!!!!)
Monday, October 20, 2008
Okay, fine. I'll rate.
Since I highly doubt any of them will magically stumble upon this blog, I've decided to give the skinny on the teaching situation I'm in... the good, bad, and ugly (you love cliches, and you know it). This, of course, comes after a particularly weird day...
So amidst the flurry of ramblings so far, you've probably gathered that things aren't always entirely peachy amongst my JTEs (refreshin' yer memory... 'japanese teachers of english,' or else my 'cooperating teachers'). Well, wait, lemme back up... amongst them, it's fine, since they rarely work together... I guess it's amongst me and them... and the support teachers. And not so much them... more me... because of them. See the "It's not my circus" post to get a sense of things...
Have I circle-talked enough? K. Well, basically, the scoop is that I work with three teachers: One for the ichinensei, one for the ninensei, and one for the sannensei. There's also a support teacher that "floats around" (more detail on the quotes later). I can safely say that 1 and a half of my 3 main teachers completely rock. 1 being the ninensei teacher. I love working with her. She's always got her head on, knows what's going on in the class, effectively teaches the english to the students, and does her very best to let me know what I need to do (AND SHE ACTUALLY USES ME AS MORE THAN A HUMAN TAPE RECORDER!!). She's amazingly hard working, and can usually be seen running in and out of the staff room with an arm load of folder bins, still managing to smile and say, "Hello!" as she dumps them off on her desk, only to turn around and toss some posters and a CD player at a line of students that have followed her in to help carry things back upstairs. Then off she goes again. I completely respect her as a teacher because she really seems to be in it for the students. And she's totally confident in her own ability, too... we actually have conversations outside of the required, "Ok, so for class 2-4 today, I would like you to..." The only complaint is that sometimes I feel like I let HER down, either by asking too many questions or taking up too much of her time.
Let's talk about the half, shall we? The sannensei teacher has good control of her classroom, it seems. She's always got a good plan in mind and usually implements it fairly well... even if I'm not necessarily included in this planning. The impression I get, though, is that she isn't confident in her english ability. Therefore, we rarely talk except for the usual dialogue above (I'm not retyping it... seriously, it's, like, 9 lines up there). Even if I don't always know what's going ON in the classroom (since she speaks mostly in Japanese to the students, other than a few routine phrases that shoot out every class period), I relax because I know she's got it under control. There have been a few times where she'll suddenly pass me the ball and I'll have no choice but to stand there blinking until I get sacked. One story comes to mind... I asked what we were doing for the next period, and she told me lesson 5-1. We get up to the room, go through the routine opening ("Hello everyone," "Hello, ___-sensei and Andy-s... uuhh... Mr. Sandall" "You're getting closer... Good morning, class."), and while the class is settling down, she looks at me, "I made mistake... we are doing 5-2 today." Oh... great. Ok, I can fake it... she won't throw random stuff at me, right? Wrong.
In retrospect, I should have realized that she'd want me to exercise the grammar point. I should have known that just by glancing at the book, I would have seen that the point was "His name is James, but his friends call him Jim." But since I'm still the new guy and still learning the way these teachers work and the way the books are set up... I was left with no choice but to have the following conversation in front of the class. "Mr. Sandall, what do you call MacDonalds in America?" "Umm... MacDonalds...?" And she just kinda stared at me, visibly thinking "Umm... crap... what do I say now?" She kinda smiled and tried again, "What do you call MacDonalds in America?" I reply more confidently this time, "It's just MacDonalds." Score, Colin. You TOTALLY got that one right! Again, the blank stare. She turned to a student and asked, "What do you call MacDonalds in Japan?" The student glanced at the book and said, "Oh! Eto... we call MacDonalds 'Mac.'"
I smashed my head against the door frame, trying hard not to laugh at my own idiocy. But the moment had passed. I knew the answer to every single question from that point on, but she never passed to me again for that period. :D Between classes, I could only laugh, shake my head, and apologize. She laughed, too, and said it was okay, since we didn't have time to talk about it. I said, "Yes, but in case you were wondering, in America, we CALL it MacDonalds. And we also CALL Kentucky Fried Chicken KFC. I understand now." And we laughed. But I nailed it that next period. (Congratulations, Colin, you just passed middle school esl.)
Anyway, we have a lot of miscommunications, but nothing terribly serious, and nothing that doesn't get sorted out within a few moments. ...which brings me to exhibit C.
This is the teacher I heard about before I set foot in the building. I had recieved a warning by way of Tim from the old ALT about this guy. Only I didn't realize how frightened I should be. I think at one point, I said, "I haven't seen enough evidence to really call him a bad teacher, per se..." well I take that back. I have. This guy is terrible. Sure, he's shown improvement over the time I've watched him, but not much, and he's still leaps and bounds behind the other staff. Speaking of other staff, remember the quotes from earlier? Told you they'd be back. The support teacher, the nicest lady in the world, "floats around," or at least she did last year. This year, she's been asked to go to every single ichinensei class to help teach. This teacher has had parents come to the school complaining about him, he's had the principal and the vice principal down his throat for as long as he's been there, and his inability to teach is what the support teacher told me one day was a "public secret." (And I really was completely serious when I said she was the nicest lady in the world.) All the other teachers know he's not good, but there's nothing anyone can really do about it.
So why all the hub bub? The guy speaks amazing english. Really, he does... he's probably tied for best english speaking teacher, if not actually having first place. Does that mean he's able to explain anything that much better? Oh, don't be silly! Of course not! Then that would be TOO easy! It's okay, though. To be fair to all languages, he can't explain much better in Japanese, either (The support teacher told me). He teaches out of order (how can they understand the dialogue if they haven't learned the grammar point yet?), he constantly misplaces things (leaving me to tap dance while he goes back to fetch his flash cards), he lacks control of his class, and even fears his students. I've seen students openly stand up to him in class and he does nothing... one student refused to work, and while he tried to get the student on task, the student simply gave him an insulting expression... this caused the teacher to do what any good teacher would do... er, wait, no... the... the opposite... my bad (I think someone flipped my note cards around). He just looked shocked, and turned around and went back to the front of the classroom angrily... He didn't say a word about it. In another class, I noticed a student was off task. Since I wasn't sure exactly what they were supposed to be doing (Nihongo ga wakarimasen, remember?), I pointed the student out. The teacher said to me, and I quote, "Oh... haha... yes. He should be working. You should tell him. I don't want to go back there. He... he sometimes makes fun of me."
I'll give you a few spaces to really let that one sink in.
Pick up the jaw and let's continue on. Anyway, routinely in class, the support teacher finds herself having to step in and reteach the lesson of the class. I can literally hear students going, "...ooooohhhhhhh....." when she finishes. Of course, this is after they've spent 10 minutes fumbling through a worksheet.
I suppose this post comes after a weird day... I had two ichinensei classes today, and both went terribly, and by that I mean "as usual." The teacher and the support teacher were all but fighting in front of the class while I stood off to the side being genki and happy, and continuing on in my little tap dance ("Not my circus... not my circus... not my circus..."). Later that afternoon during a free perioid, as I was trying to prep for my adult ekaiwa class tomorrow night (details later), they were in some sort of heated discussion in the staff room. I heard my name get dropped a few times, but didn't try to pick out any other words and just kept my head down. I went to the copy room to make some worksheets, and when I came back, the conversation had moved to my desk... they were standing at my desk, continuing the argument, and using my text book to point things out (it was the closest text book, which is why I assume they were at my desk... I hope... *gulp*). I found other projects to work on away from my desk and killed some time. I looked back about 5 minutes later and the vice principal had joined the fray... all still standing around my desk. Tell me that's not unnerving.
So about the time the period was over, they finally wrapped up the conversation and I was able to get back to the safety of my little metal fortress. But still... I wasn't able to talk to either of them the rest of the day, so I don't know what went down... nor do I think I want to know what went down. Just smile, nod, be happy, do your job, and all will be well. :)
Ok, so, aside from all this rambling, I don't want you to get me wrong. I completely love it here. Sure, there are some downsides, but that's the hazards of the job, I suppose. Every ALT has a "that guy" at their school, so I'm in good company. We all just manage and enjoy the fact that we're in freaking Japan.
...and marathon Scrubs on days off...
So amidst the flurry of ramblings so far, you've probably gathered that things aren't always entirely peachy amongst my JTEs (refreshin' yer memory... 'japanese teachers of english,' or else my 'cooperating teachers'). Well, wait, lemme back up... amongst them, it's fine, since they rarely work together... I guess it's amongst me and them... and the support teachers. And not so much them... more me... because of them. See the "It's not my circus" post to get a sense of things...
Have I circle-talked enough? K. Well, basically, the scoop is that I work with three teachers: One for the ichinensei, one for the ninensei, and one for the sannensei. There's also a support teacher that "floats around" (more detail on the quotes later). I can safely say that 1 and a half of my 3 main teachers completely rock. 1 being the ninensei teacher. I love working with her. She's always got her head on, knows what's going on in the class, effectively teaches the english to the students, and does her very best to let me know what I need to do (AND SHE ACTUALLY USES ME AS MORE THAN A HUMAN TAPE RECORDER!!). She's amazingly hard working, and can usually be seen running in and out of the staff room with an arm load of folder bins, still managing to smile and say, "Hello!" as she dumps them off on her desk, only to turn around and toss some posters and a CD player at a line of students that have followed her in to help carry things back upstairs. Then off she goes again. I completely respect her as a teacher because she really seems to be in it for the students. And she's totally confident in her own ability, too... we actually have conversations outside of the required, "Ok, so for class 2-4 today, I would like you to..." The only complaint is that sometimes I feel like I let HER down, either by asking too many questions or taking up too much of her time.
Let's talk about the half, shall we? The sannensei teacher has good control of her classroom, it seems. She's always got a good plan in mind and usually implements it fairly well... even if I'm not necessarily included in this planning. The impression I get, though, is that she isn't confident in her english ability. Therefore, we rarely talk except for the usual dialogue above (I'm not retyping it... seriously, it's, like, 9 lines up there). Even if I don't always know what's going ON in the classroom (since she speaks mostly in Japanese to the students, other than a few routine phrases that shoot out every class period), I relax because I know she's got it under control. There have been a few times where she'll suddenly pass me the ball and I'll have no choice but to stand there blinking until I get sacked. One story comes to mind... I asked what we were doing for the next period, and she told me lesson 5-1. We get up to the room, go through the routine opening ("Hello everyone," "Hello, ___-sensei and Andy-s... uuhh... Mr. Sandall" "You're getting closer... Good morning, class."), and while the class is settling down, she looks at me, "I made mistake... we are doing 5-2 today." Oh... great. Ok, I can fake it... she won't throw random stuff at me, right? Wrong.
In retrospect, I should have realized that she'd want me to exercise the grammar point. I should have known that just by glancing at the book, I would have seen that the point was "His name is James, but his friends call him Jim." But since I'm still the new guy and still learning the way these teachers work and the way the books are set up... I was left with no choice but to have the following conversation in front of the class. "Mr. Sandall, what do you call MacDonalds in America?" "Umm... MacDonalds...?" And she just kinda stared at me, visibly thinking "Umm... crap... what do I say now?" She kinda smiled and tried again, "What do you call MacDonalds in America?" I reply more confidently this time, "It's just MacDonalds." Score, Colin. You TOTALLY got that one right! Again, the blank stare. She turned to a student and asked, "What do you call MacDonalds in Japan?" The student glanced at the book and said, "Oh! Eto... we call MacDonalds 'Mac.'"
I smashed my head against the door frame, trying hard not to laugh at my own idiocy. But the moment had passed. I knew the answer to every single question from that point on, but she never passed to me again for that period. :D Between classes, I could only laugh, shake my head, and apologize. She laughed, too, and said it was okay, since we didn't have time to talk about it. I said, "Yes, but in case you were wondering, in America, we CALL it MacDonalds. And we also CALL Kentucky Fried Chicken KFC. I understand now." And we laughed. But I nailed it that next period. (Congratulations, Colin, you just passed middle school esl.)
Anyway, we have a lot of miscommunications, but nothing terribly serious, and nothing that doesn't get sorted out within a few moments. ...which brings me to exhibit C.
This is the teacher I heard about before I set foot in the building. I had recieved a warning by way of Tim from the old ALT about this guy. Only I didn't realize how frightened I should be. I think at one point, I said, "I haven't seen enough evidence to really call him a bad teacher, per se..." well I take that back. I have. This guy is terrible. Sure, he's shown improvement over the time I've watched him, but not much, and he's still leaps and bounds behind the other staff. Speaking of other staff, remember the quotes from earlier? Told you they'd be back. The support teacher, the nicest lady in the world, "floats around," or at least she did last year. This year, she's been asked to go to every single ichinensei class to help teach. This teacher has had parents come to the school complaining about him, he's had the principal and the vice principal down his throat for as long as he's been there, and his inability to teach is what the support teacher told me one day was a "public secret." (And I really was completely serious when I said she was the nicest lady in the world.) All the other teachers know he's not good, but there's nothing anyone can really do about it.
So why all the hub bub? The guy speaks amazing english. Really, he does... he's probably tied for best english speaking teacher, if not actually having first place. Does that mean he's able to explain anything that much better? Oh, don't be silly! Of course not! Then that would be TOO easy! It's okay, though. To be fair to all languages, he can't explain much better in Japanese, either (The support teacher told me). He teaches out of order (how can they understand the dialogue if they haven't learned the grammar point yet?), he constantly misplaces things (leaving me to tap dance while he goes back to fetch his flash cards), he lacks control of his class, and even fears his students. I've seen students openly stand up to him in class and he does nothing... one student refused to work, and while he tried to get the student on task, the student simply gave him an insulting expression... this caused the teacher to do what any good teacher would do... er, wait, no... the... the opposite... my bad (I think someone flipped my note cards around). He just looked shocked, and turned around and went back to the front of the classroom angrily... He didn't say a word about it. In another class, I noticed a student was off task. Since I wasn't sure exactly what they were supposed to be doing (Nihongo ga wakarimasen, remember?), I pointed the student out. The teacher said to me, and I quote, "Oh... haha... yes. He should be working. You should tell him. I don't want to go back there. He... he sometimes makes fun of me."
I'll give you a few spaces to really let that one sink in.
Pick up the jaw and let's continue on. Anyway, routinely in class, the support teacher finds herself having to step in and reteach the lesson of the class. I can literally hear students going, "...ooooohhhhhhh....." when she finishes. Of course, this is after they've spent 10 minutes fumbling through a worksheet.
I suppose this post comes after a weird day... I had two ichinensei classes today, and both went terribly, and by that I mean "as usual." The teacher and the support teacher were all but fighting in front of the class while I stood off to the side being genki and happy, and continuing on in my little tap dance ("Not my circus... not my circus... not my circus..."). Later that afternoon during a free perioid, as I was trying to prep for my adult ekaiwa class tomorrow night (details later), they were in some sort of heated discussion in the staff room. I heard my name get dropped a few times, but didn't try to pick out any other words and just kept my head down. I went to the copy room to make some worksheets, and when I came back, the conversation had moved to my desk... they were standing at my desk, continuing the argument, and using my text book to point things out (it was the closest text book, which is why I assume they were at my desk... I hope... *gulp*). I found other projects to work on away from my desk and killed some time. I looked back about 5 minutes later and the vice principal had joined the fray... all still standing around my desk. Tell me that's not unnerving.
So about the time the period was over, they finally wrapped up the conversation and I was able to get back to the safety of my little metal fortress. But still... I wasn't able to talk to either of them the rest of the day, so I don't know what went down... nor do I think I want to know what went down. Just smile, nod, be happy, do your job, and all will be well. :)
Ok, so, aside from all this rambling, I don't want you to get me wrong. I completely love it here. Sure, there are some downsides, but that's the hazards of the job, I suppose. Every ALT has a "that guy" at their school, so I'm in good company. We all just manage and enjoy the fact that we're in freaking Japan.
...and marathon Scrubs on days off...
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Ever notice Kyoto and Tokyo are the same syllables, just reversed?
Ladies and gentlemen, I now hold in my hand the tickets required to get me to Kyoto this Saturday. Well, I assume they're tickets. Since I can't read most of it, I'll resign to calling them "magic slips of paper that transport me to enchanted faraway places." ("mspttmefp," for short) Tim, Kana and I met up in the city last night after my Japanese lesson to head over to the station and buy the shinkansen tickets (Bullet traaaaiiiin!). Again, I must clarify. They set up buying the tickets, I stood behind them like a drooling idiot admiring the floor tiles until they prodded me and said, "Colin, Money. Now." Anyway, the point is we got them. And our 5 day trip to Kyoto, Osaka, and Kobe is READY TO START! we'll spend Saturday night through Tuesday morning in Kyoto, Tuesday morning, take the hour train ride to Osaka and stay there until Wednesday morning. Wednesday morning, it's off to Kobe to see a couple things, and then grab some Kobe beef for lunch, and then we hit the train and head back to Ozu that night. I'm expecting some fantastic pictures, since, you know, Kyoto has a lot of that "classic Japan" look going on. (Work it, honey!)
Our english recitation contest looms ever closer, though... specifically, it's the Friday after we get back from the trip. So, 2 more days to practice with the kids before they perform. Are they ready? yes, no, and I don't know. Yes, because a few of them are phenomenal. No, because there are a couple that I have not even worked with once. I don't know, because I haven't been to anything like this before, so I don't know the expected level of each grade... I THINK we're doing great, but who knows, really? I guess the point is that they're really great kids, and we have fun working on the speeches. To resolve the language barrier, and also get them to relax a little more, I've resorted to goofy gestures and over exaggerated expressions. It seems to be working with a lot of them, so... sugoi! I hope. :gulp:
Also, some of my students are dirty. The ninensei were working on a worksheet where they have to introduce a person and use the word "looks." As in, "This is Ichiro. He looks happy because he will play baseball today. He loves baseball. (etc. etc.)" I was walking around the classroom reading sentences, helping out here and there, and I stumbled across a students response (One of the class-clown types... generally a really good kid, but he needs to stay focused!!). He wrote one about the teacher: "This is Ms. Matsuzaki. She looks beautiful." I chuckled and motioned for Matsuzaki-sensei to come read it. She laughed, too, and told the student that he gets 10 bonus points, then walked away. I patted him on the back, laughed, and gave him a thumbs up, then walked to the other students. When I came back around, I checked to see what progress he made. *ahem*
"This is Ms. Matsuzaki. She looks beautiful because she is easy."
I stopped. I re-read that. I looked at the student's smiling, proud expression. I suppressed laughter. I smiled, said "good job!" and walked away. Because she's EASY?? Really?? I know he didn't mean it the way it came out, but it was hilarious, either way.
The next couple days, I started checking the other classes worksheets as they came in. So, I was sitting at my desk checking sheet after sheet and making marks and corrections all over... and stumbled across another one. "This is Maki. She looks happy because she is easy." And then another one. "This is Saito. She looks excited because she is easy." (My personal favorite right there)
I could not figure out if there was something I just didn't get, if the students were making jokes, or if Ozu really IS full of scarlet women (and raaagtime!! Shameless music that'll grab your son, YOUR DAUGHTER with the arms of a jungle animal instinct, MASS-TERIA!! ...er... I mean... 'scuse me).
The answer came later. I was telling this to Tim during the train ride into the city and he kinda chuckled and said, "Ooooh... no no no... Ok, that's because the word for 'easy' is 'yasashii.' Yasashii ALSO means 'nice.'" Oh. OOOOOHHHHHH... Here I was, thinking my students were perverts and in reality, they're just complimenting each other... eh, I guess another one of those lost in translation things. But I refuse to have the lesson where I explain what that phrase actually means in America... who knows what kinds of things the students will say to me in the halls after that?
...speaking of which, I think my pirate crew is moving on to another gag... or at least another group of sannensei have found a new phrase. "Because I love you." This has taken the shape of all different phrases... "Sandall-sensei, do you love me?" "I love you!" "I will do it! Ok! Because I love you!"
My greatest fear is that these phrases will combine forces. "Mr. Sandall! I love you because you are easy!"
*sigh*
Our english recitation contest looms ever closer, though... specifically, it's the Friday after we get back from the trip. So, 2 more days to practice with the kids before they perform. Are they ready? yes, no, and I don't know. Yes, because a few of them are phenomenal. No, because there are a couple that I have not even worked with once. I don't know, because I haven't been to anything like this before, so I don't know the expected level of each grade... I THINK we're doing great, but who knows, really? I guess the point is that they're really great kids, and we have fun working on the speeches. To resolve the language barrier, and also get them to relax a little more, I've resorted to goofy gestures and over exaggerated expressions. It seems to be working with a lot of them, so... sugoi! I hope. :gulp:
Also, some of my students are dirty. The ninensei were working on a worksheet where they have to introduce a person and use the word "looks." As in, "This is Ichiro. He looks happy because he will play baseball today. He loves baseball. (etc. etc.)" I was walking around the classroom reading sentences, helping out here and there, and I stumbled across a students response (One of the class-clown types... generally a really good kid, but he needs to stay focused!!). He wrote one about the teacher: "This is Ms. Matsuzaki. She looks beautiful." I chuckled and motioned for Matsuzaki-sensei to come read it. She laughed, too, and told the student that he gets 10 bonus points, then walked away. I patted him on the back, laughed, and gave him a thumbs up, then walked to the other students. When I came back around, I checked to see what progress he made. *ahem*
"This is Ms. Matsuzaki. She looks beautiful because she is easy."
I stopped. I re-read that. I looked at the student's smiling, proud expression. I suppressed laughter. I smiled, said "good job!" and walked away. Because she's EASY?? Really?? I know he didn't mean it the way it came out, but it was hilarious, either way.
The next couple days, I started checking the other classes worksheets as they came in. So, I was sitting at my desk checking sheet after sheet and making marks and corrections all over... and stumbled across another one. "This is Maki. She looks happy because she is easy." And then another one. "This is Saito. She looks excited because she is easy." (My personal favorite right there)
I could not figure out if there was something I just didn't get, if the students were making jokes, or if Ozu really IS full of scarlet women (and raaagtime!! Shameless music that'll grab your son, YOUR DAUGHTER with the arms of a jungle animal instinct, MASS-TERIA!! ...er... I mean... 'scuse me).
The answer came later. I was telling this to Tim during the train ride into the city and he kinda chuckled and said, "Ooooh... no no no... Ok, that's because the word for 'easy' is 'yasashii.' Yasashii ALSO means 'nice.'" Oh. OOOOOHHHHHH... Here I was, thinking my students were perverts and in reality, they're just complimenting each other... eh, I guess another one of those lost in translation things. But I refuse to have the lesson where I explain what that phrase actually means in America... who knows what kinds of things the students will say to me in the halls after that?
...speaking of which, I think my pirate crew is moving on to another gag... or at least another group of sannensei have found a new phrase. "Because I love you." This has taken the shape of all different phrases... "Sandall-sensei, do you love me?" "I love you!" "I will do it! Ok! Because I love you!"
My greatest fear is that these phrases will combine forces. "Mr. Sandall! I love you because you are easy!"
*sigh*
Friday, August 22, 2008
I think August is the time of year where Ozu news stations send their top notch meteorologists on extended vacations and leave the forecasting to the interns. It's just so easy at this point. "Weather Forecast for Ozu in the month of August: Rain. Back to you, Taro-san!" Ok, it doesn't rain ALL the time, but it rains a little each day, it seems. Sometimes, it's nice and cools everything off. Today, it rained most of the day and was overcast. Typically, I love these kind of days... but then I remember I bike to work. *enthusiastic thumbs up*
I tried to get a cell phone today... guess I'll wait until pay day, because I wasn't expecting having to pay everything up front. Blast that. I wanted a keitai. :( But seriously... probably the most frustrated I've been here so far. The lady went and grabbed several models of phones and set them on the table without a word. Chieko was there to translate and said, as confused as I, "...I guess you pick one?" So I stared at them having no idea what each of them do... cell phone technology is a bit more advanced here, so combine that with the fact that I have only really bought a cell phone once, and you've got a very confused guy. It took maybe about 10 minutes before the lady realized she'd have to explain things and, you know, actually do her job. By that time, Tim was finished dealing with his business, so he came over and explained everything, since he'd just found out from a better, more personable employee. Long story short, I picked out my plan and took care of all the annoying busy work today (and felt special/like an idiot with two translators...) and just have to go in and pick out my phone and sign a paper or two next week. But come on. After I finish raving about the service, this happens?
Other than that, same old same old. Took care of tax forms, made a trip to KFC for lunch (Awesomely American!), and just came on home. I managed to make an early morning Skype call to Anna, so that was good. This internet thing sure does rock. :D (Contact! With real people! I am OVERJOYED!!! (And incredibly dorkier and dorkier with every post!))
Tomorrow's chore day. Love those lazy Saturdays. :D
I tried to get a cell phone today... guess I'll wait until pay day, because I wasn't expecting having to pay everything up front. Blast that. I wanted a keitai. :( But seriously... probably the most frustrated I've been here so far. The lady went and grabbed several models of phones and set them on the table without a word. Chieko was there to translate and said, as confused as I, "...I guess you pick one?" So I stared at them having no idea what each of them do... cell phone technology is a bit more advanced here, so combine that with the fact that I have only really bought a cell phone once, and you've got a very confused guy. It took maybe about 10 minutes before the lady realized she'd have to explain things and, you know, actually do her job. By that time, Tim was finished dealing with his business, so he came over and explained everything, since he'd just found out from a better, more personable employee. Long story short, I picked out my plan and took care of all the annoying busy work today (and felt special/like an idiot with two translators...) and just have to go in and pick out my phone and sign a paper or two next week. But come on. After I finish raving about the service, this happens?
Other than that, same old same old. Took care of tax forms, made a trip to KFC for lunch (Awesomely American!), and just came on home. I managed to make an early morning Skype call to Anna, so that was good. This internet thing sure does rock. :D (Contact! With real people! I am OVERJOYED!!! (And incredibly dorkier and dorkier with every post!))
Tomorrow's chore day. Love those lazy Saturdays. :D
Thursday, August 21, 2008
August 14th: And one for mah homies...
The work day was... again... uneventful. I need to get out of that office, or at least be given something relevent to do. As of now, "Get adjusted" is too vague, so I take that to mean "learn Japanese speaking and writing!" Which I'm doing. It's kind of cool that I'm getting to the point where I can phonetically spell out the kana. Not at sight, of course... I have to stop and think about each one, so I'm reading it at about the speed of a kindergarden kid would sound when reading. ("See... D-...Dick... run? Run.... umm... S-... see... oo, look, ponies and sparklies!" ...blasted ADD) I attempted some kanji today... which killed a good half hour. Seriously, it was, like, 6 or 7 symbols, and it took me a half hour to decipher. I was expecting something grand for all my effort, but it was just letter head saying, "To Ozu North Junior High Principal:" ("Drink more ovaltine.")
After sufficiently killing the day destroying my eyesight by counting strokes in tiny japanese characters, it was time to relax. I'd heard that Ozu had an irish pub. Initially, I thought this was funny, but then realized it's probably no funnier than the US having irish pubs... or indian restaurants... or korean puppy woking... (Plus side! Japan doesn't have NEAR as many irish as America does! .....jk) So Tim and I decided to hit up Sligo, the pub, for a burger. It's kinda cool because it really is like a classic irish pub. And the food was pretty much awesome. A little pricey, but definitely worth it ("Now THAT'S a 5 dollar milkshake..." (Note: There were no actual milkshakes (sorry, Anna))).
On a side note, we walked in and saw a table full of college-age japanese guys hanging around ("Jeager bombs...") a table. We found a table away from them. About 5 minutes later, about 5 well-dressed (*wink wink*) japanese girls around the same age came up the stairs and entered the bar. We're not sure, but it looked like they sort of lined up in front of the guys... a moment later, there was applause... yeah, we figured they came up from the "Snack Bar" downstairs... if you don't know what a japanese snack bar is... umm... nevermind. Let's just say we think the guys ordered some friends. ("I'll have mine with a side of sad, lonely, depression.")
After that, we headed back, watched some arrested development and called it a night after a quick trip to Everyone, the rockin' lil' conbini across the street. Seriously. That place rocks. Tomorrow should be kinda cool, because Tim invited me with some of his friends to go to the Yamaga lantern festival... basically, tomorrow is the fireworks portion, but it's where everyone goes to hang out. It's about an hour away, so it should be a neat little road trip and an excuse to get out of Ozu and meet some people; other ALTs and some natives.
For now, it's off to bed. I have another glorious day of doing nothing tomorrow. Actually, at 4, I meet with the principal of my school, so that should be kinda cool. Hopefully. Otsukaresama dashita!
After sufficiently killing the day destroying my eyesight by counting strokes in tiny japanese characters, it was time to relax. I'd heard that Ozu had an irish pub. Initially, I thought this was funny, but then realized it's probably no funnier than the US having irish pubs... or indian restaurants... or korean puppy woking... (Plus side! Japan doesn't have NEAR as many irish as America does! .....jk) So Tim and I decided to hit up Sligo, the pub, for a burger. It's kinda cool because it really is like a classic irish pub. And the food was pretty much awesome. A little pricey, but definitely worth it ("Now THAT'S a 5 dollar milkshake..." (Note: There were no actual milkshakes (sorry, Anna))).
On a side note, we walked in and saw a table full of college-age japanese guys hanging around ("Jeager bombs...") a table. We found a table away from them. About 5 minutes later, about 5 well-dressed (*wink wink*) japanese girls around the same age came up the stairs and entered the bar. We're not sure, but it looked like they sort of lined up in front of the guys... a moment later, there was applause... yeah, we figured they came up from the "Snack Bar" downstairs... if you don't know what a japanese snack bar is... umm... nevermind. Let's just say we think the guys ordered some friends. ("I'll have mine with a side of sad, lonely, depression.")
After that, we headed back, watched some arrested development and called it a night after a quick trip to Everyone, the rockin' lil' conbini across the street. Seriously. That place rocks. Tomorrow should be kinda cool, because Tim invited me with some of his friends to go to the Yamaga lantern festival... basically, tomorrow is the fireworks portion, but it's where everyone goes to hang out. It's about an hour away, so it should be a neat little road trip and an excuse to get out of Ozu and meet some people; other ALTs and some natives.
For now, it's off to bed. I have another glorious day of doing nothing tomorrow. Actually, at 4, I meet with the principal of my school, so that should be kinda cool. Hopefully. Otsukaresama dashita!
August 13th: Say what?
It's finally hitting me. Or at least, it has a few times, but today was kinda bleh.
"It" is the notion that I'm completely illiterate and almost unable to communicate in this country. A few days ago, I was reading The Subtle Knife when I really started to think about that. It's like I had my brain switched to "Japan-mode," but there I was reading a book in english. Midway through the chapter, Den-san came down the hall saying something in Japanese, and I instinctively responded, "Hai!" It snapped me out of my english-zone a bit. Kind of a weird feeling. On the plus side, it's cool that I'm starting to make things automatic, such as saying "Hai" when called on, saying "Ohayo gosaimasu" every morning without even thinking about it... little things like that, that when you stop to think about, make you feel like you've accomplished a lot.
I was watching Arrested Development last night after work, and that same feeling hit me again. As soon as it was over, I decided it was time to run across the street and grab some dinner. Not a moment later, I thought, "Oh... hey... heh... I'm in Japan." Again, I had gotten used to hearing the English. It's not a bad thing, but it is kind of jarring when that happens. Luckily, it's happening less and less, I think.
But that still leaves the fact that I can't read any signs or talk to random people (yet... school starts in two weeks, where I'll be expected to speak English ALL the time). I'm doing everything I can to remedy that. Rosetta stone will be a help, although it will be a while before I learn anything relevent to say. Today's big task at the office was to work on my hiragana and katakana, so that should help with the reading part. And I'm coming along on my hiragana, too! Even though I won't really know what it MEANS, I can still write in hiragana and translate! I've already got a few symbols memorized, so it's a start. A few more weeks of constant work, and I should be good to go. Then I can tackle Kanji. *gulp*
Don't get me wrong. While it's difficult, it's not necessarily a bad thing. I feel motivated to learn everything I can so I can be as coherent as I can. Basically, I'm saying I'm definitely up to the challenge. I just know (and secretly dread) that it's going to take a while before I get any major results. It's kind of a weird feeling, though, because I'm still freaking excited about it all!
To anyone that is thinking about doing something like this, future JETs, maybe foreign college students, I know they say it's okay to not know japanese upon arrival (my predecessor was that way. They say he knew about 5 words). But I recommend you study what you can, when you can. Every little bit helps. I can definitely see how a complete fluency of the language isn't at all necessary, but at the very least, try and learn the business etiquette phrases. Greetings, thank yous, things to say before meals... the internet is littered with "Important phrases in Japanese."
Again, I stress this (for my worried mother ;) ). There's nothing WRONG about it, I'm fine and all that, but it just gives me more to do. Which kinda makes the boring office days bareable. :)
"Gambatte!"
"It" is the notion that I'm completely illiterate and almost unable to communicate in this country. A few days ago, I was reading The Subtle Knife when I really started to think about that. It's like I had my brain switched to "Japan-mode," but there I was reading a book in english. Midway through the chapter, Den-san came down the hall saying something in Japanese, and I instinctively responded, "Hai!" It snapped me out of my english-zone a bit. Kind of a weird feeling. On the plus side, it's cool that I'm starting to make things automatic, such as saying "Hai" when called on, saying "Ohayo gosaimasu" every morning without even thinking about it... little things like that, that when you stop to think about, make you feel like you've accomplished a lot.
I was watching Arrested Development last night after work, and that same feeling hit me again. As soon as it was over, I decided it was time to run across the street and grab some dinner. Not a moment later, I thought, "Oh... hey... heh... I'm in Japan." Again, I had gotten used to hearing the English. It's not a bad thing, but it is kind of jarring when that happens. Luckily, it's happening less and less, I think.
But that still leaves the fact that I can't read any signs or talk to random people (yet... school starts in two weeks, where I'll be expected to speak English ALL the time). I'm doing everything I can to remedy that. Rosetta stone will be a help, although it will be a while before I learn anything relevent to say. Today's big task at the office was to work on my hiragana and katakana, so that should help with the reading part. And I'm coming along on my hiragana, too! Even though I won't really know what it MEANS, I can still write in hiragana and translate! I've already got a few symbols memorized, so it's a start. A few more weeks of constant work, and I should be good to go. Then I can tackle Kanji. *gulp*
Don't get me wrong. While it's difficult, it's not necessarily a bad thing. I feel motivated to learn everything I can so I can be as coherent as I can. Basically, I'm saying I'm definitely up to the challenge. I just know (and secretly dread) that it's going to take a while before I get any major results. It's kind of a weird feeling, though, because I'm still freaking excited about it all!
To anyone that is thinking about doing something like this, future JETs, maybe foreign college students, I know they say it's okay to not know japanese upon arrival (my predecessor was that way. They say he knew about 5 words). But I recommend you study what you can, when you can. Every little bit helps. I can definitely see how a complete fluency of the language isn't at all necessary, but at the very least, try and learn the business etiquette phrases. Greetings, thank yous, things to say before meals... the internet is littered with "Important phrases in Japanese."
Again, I stress this (for my worried mother ;) ). There's nothing WRONG about it, I'm fine and all that, but it just gives me more to do. Which kinda makes the boring office days bareable. :)
"Gambatte!"
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)