Living in Japan

Matcha Roll

2011-06-01T14:33:00.000+09:00

The principal at Tokiwa offered me a slice of green tea cake today. Yatta!

rice planting season starts again

2011-05-30T15:00:00.000+09:00

It’s that time of year again! When the rice fields are flooded with water.

today’s lunch

2011-05-18T13:18:00.000+09:00

During every lunch, the kyuushoku (school lunch) tv program broadcasts live from the school studio. At Joto, they like to show photos of the local farmers the school buys from. I think it’s cool because the kids see who planted, grew and harvested the vegetables they are eating.

Yesterday, the second graders peeled the peas in today’s lunch.

Today’s lucky carrot is a clover.

The slow eaters are left eating at the back of the classroom. I’ve sat there before. Sometimes I get called to classroom late and don’t get enough time to eat. The reason could be the kids are having a slow day getting ready for lunch or the teachers forgot it’s their turn with the ALT.

Sometimes the teachers will make everyone move to the back at a certain time to ensure that the children focus on eating and not get distracted by sitting together and talking.

The teacher is trying to help out. This one is very nice. She makes sure all the food is distributed and the children finish everything on their plates.

Lining up to bring everything back to the kitchen.

Memorable Kyuushoku

2011-05-17T19:20:00.001+09:00

Today’s lunch really stood out. First of all, I was eating with a Joto grade 3 class. This grade is very special to me because I used to help the teacher spoon feed the slow eaters when they were in grade 1. I always enjoy eating lunch with them and often come to their classroom during lunch recess.

When I arrive, the students are excited to tell me that I got a lucky ninjin in my soup. It’s a carrot cut out that elementary school students get to keep lunch fun. I can’t see the carrot because it’s buried under mushrooms and tofu. I ask for a spoon because I don’t leave a set of chopsticks at Joto anymore.

One of the boys look at me with saucer wide eyes and gasps like he just heard the biggest scandal. “You need a spoon!? But, today is chopsticks day! Don’t you know?”

For a moment, I feel ashamed like I actually forgot my chopsticks. I find a spoon and dig out the carrot. I forget the embarrassing moment with the excitement of my lucky ninjin.

We had beans in our lunch. I thought it was the dessert portion because the red beans were sweet and I quite liked them, but the children hated them. They complained about “mame” (bean) with a face.

We also had a rice covered ball of something. If the mame wasn’t dessert, I thought this might be. Maybe sticky rice covering something sweet. I cut a big off with my spoon. Oh. .. Rice covered meatball?

One of the kids at my table were attacking his sweet red beans first. He would pop 3 or 4 into his mouth, then wash it down with milk. It was funny to film him at first. Then he threw up.

It’s not uncommon to see children throw up during lunch. Though this is the first time I caught it on film! I felt really bad so I stopped filming, but now I wish I continued because it’s really an eye opener to the consistent experience I’ve had in Japan so far. Every time, the students and the teachers behave in the same nondescript way.

After he gagged and threw up, students noticed, but nobody said anything. Nobody laughed at home. Nobody yelled “gross!” Nobody moved away from him. None of the reactions the third grader in me would have had.

When he didn’t make a move, the students alerted the teacher, “Sensei, Tatsuhiro threw up!” The teacher didn’t look at him, but simply said “If you make a mess, you clean it up.”

The girl next to him pulled out a few tissues from her desk and handed it to him. When he was almost done cleaning, the teacher walked over to check on everything. He told the student to go wash his hands and that was the end of it.

This kid puked into his hands and on the floor. I just think it’s amazing how the situation always resolves.

I’m not sure how to describe what happened. Yes, I think there is a lot of discipline in the Japanese school system. However, I don’t think this is attributed to teachers being strict. I think it is the expectations and responsibilities that children are given in school even at such an early age. My teachers do not baby their students. The first graders have to serve lunch, clean the school, walk to their next class on their own and be able to sit for a whole period in the classroom without a teacher. I don’t remember being allowed to do something like that, let alone expected to. And the responsibilities increase and get more serious as they grow older.

I can really appreciate a culture that fosters this kind of responsibility. I said “culture”, because I think that even if we implemented a school program like this in a public school back home, it would not be successful in the same way. The children’s lives outside of school would also have to back up this same kind of mentality.

curry pan

2011-05-16T09:22:00.000+09:00

My kids’ way to make curry pan. Remove the insides of a loaf of bread and spoon curry in.

taking out library books

2011-05-13T10:14:00.000+09:00

This is at Joto Elementary School. The green plastic “books” are actually placeholders for books that are being borrowed right now. They are labelled with a name and colour coded for easy locating.

doki doki

2011-05-11T08:36:00.000+09:00

This game is called doki doki. Doki doki is the sound your heart makes when it beats quickly. The game can get pretty intense! It’s like pulling out crocodile teeth, but the monkey will fly out if you poke the right place in the barrel.

ultraman gifts

2011-05-10T08:38:00.000+09:00

Yesterday, I took a photo of Kenji’s ultraman.

Today, he came in with his assistant and offered me a red zip lock bag. I thought it was a present for me, so I said thank you and opened it. There were 9 different key chains. Four of which belonged to the same ultraman series. I felt a little embarrassed because he meant to just show me his collection.. so I OOoed and Ahhed over his key chains, then I gave the zip lock bag back to him.
The teacher said “no, no.. present” and then I was even more embarrassed! haha and so touched. After I took a photo of his key chain figure, he went home and gathered his collection to give to me. I wonder how long it took him to collect these.

From left to right: Traffic Guard Ultraman, Salary man Ultraman, Doctor Ultraman, I’m not sure Ultraman.. firefighter/mailman?

Joto Ensoku

2011-05-09T12:39:00.000+09:00

Joto had an ensoku day for grades 1 to 4. The upper grades are scheduled for a trip to HIroshima next week so they have a regular day of classes. I was given a choice as to which grade I wanted to go with. I chose third graders and their trip to Odagahama beach.

I didn’t bring a change of clothes, so I stayed out of the water and way of splashing kids. I started to collect glass fragments polished by the sand and ocean. Soon, I had a whole band of kids running across the sand to find me glass pieces. I ended up with a heavy bag full of treasure.

I bought my lunch from the conbini.

It is a tradition of ensoku to bring sweets and share them with each other. The kids gave me an edible stamp candy. I think you’re only supposed to stamp it on your tongue, but they were licking it and stamping it on each other’s faces. I took photos of them with my camera, but I can only find photos on my iphone.

thunderstorm

2011-04-27T08:29:00.000+09:00

It rained so hard that the first graders couldn’t be sent home. The teachers herded them into a little corridor between two of our buildings to wait out the bad weather. Some of the children were really scared of the thunder and crying, some were just screaming for fun.

Did you know? The little backpacks all elementary school students have sell for around $100. Girls usually have red and boys have black. I think it used to be a rule, but now I see pink and blue backpacks too.

Kham Pan shoku

2011-04-26T08:33:00.000+09:00

The veggies in today’s kyuu shoku (school lunch) looks like Kham Pan’s shredded grass.

A Saturday Night

2011-04-23T08:27:00.000+09:00

Ian drove us to Goen for some yakiniku. Then we bought a bunch of conbini snacks and desserts and hung out at Dan’s place for a while.

Noma Uma Highlands

2011-04-21T08:00:00.000+09:00

You can tell we have an ensoku day because of the multiple camera batteries that are charging. (This is on my desk)

While we were walking, I saw the restaurant Cherbourg in the distance. It’s a fancy French restaurant that offers a set menu. It was just so crazy because I had never heard of the restaurant until two days ago. I had made a friend from my Surin tea party fundraising event and she invited me to have dinner at Cherbourg. Tonight! I made plans to get a ride from my friend because I didn’t know where the restaurant was, but it’s a five minute drive from my place.

Noma Uma Highland is a tourist attraction in Imabari. I always thought it was far away, but I found out that it’s actually not far from my apartment. There is a stable of miniature horses where you can ride and pet (though you’re not supposed to) them. There is also a big playground and souvenir gift shop.

Rock climbing wall. I did an easy climb and all the kids thought I was so awesome. haha

Rocking horse. These girls spent half an hour on this thing. They look so grown up in their uniforms in school, but they’re still kids =)

She’s not sitting down because this slide is made of rolling pins. I guess it’s supposed to move you down the slide, but it just really hurts. I’ve tried it a few times. It’s so rough, it even tears up cardboard. I vote for more normal slides haha.

I wish I was spoiled with Mickey Mouse chicken nuggets when I was young. This whole bento thing.. I think mothers only go all out on bentos because they don’t have to make lunch everyday. I’m all for making pretty bentos (I think I would be doing it more for the fun of it for myself than the benefit of my kids haha) but if Japanese mothers had to make bentos everyday, I’m sure the kids would be getting peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

I look like a man

2011-04-14T07:56:00.000+09:00

I received a package of letters from last semester that students wrote after I left. Most of them wrote the same thing. I really enjoyed the drawings from the younger students.

This one is my favourite. I’m teaching my elephant lesson. Check out my hair!

Super Low Desk

2011-04-13T11:14:00.000+09:00

The desk where I had lunch today was so tiny.

fire across from joto

2011-04-12T10:21:00.000+09:00

hanami with parents

2011-04-10T08:53:00.000+09:00

After my parents and I came back from Thailand, we had a couple of days to be together before they went back to Canada. I was starting a new year at school, which also means cherry blossom viewing time.

My parents and I were very busy packing up things for them to help me bring home, but we managed to slip out of the house two times to enjoy the blossoms. We didn’t picnic under the flowers, but there was tons of that to live vicariously through.

The first time, we drove around Tamagawa and stopped wherever my mother thought would be a good photo opportunity. The second time, we went to shimin no mori park close to my apartment before dinner.

Tokiwa gr 6 farewell party

2011-03-14T15:41:00.002+09:00

This year, I was so excited that my parents could experience the sixth grade graduating celebrations that are held within the school. The graduation ceremony involves only the grade six students, their parents and school staff. The farewell party involves all the students in the school. I think it’s a much more touching affair and really shows the community side of Japanese schools that I didn’t experience growing up in Canada.
The students entered under the rainbow flower gateway. I thought the traffic jam was so funny.

Every grade prepared something for the sixth graders. I saw some old activities and was happily excited by new ones. Of course, the sixth graders won in every contest they were in.

First graders did a “thank you” number in song and dance. It was interesting to see them include some Japanese sign language since there are three students in that grade that use it in the classroom.

A kendama contest with the sixth graders.
A game of tag between two teams where you are out when someone takes off your tail. A team wins when the other has lost all it’s tails.

Skipping rope contest.
Never complete without a multiple choice quiz!
The fifth graders had the most hilarious game. Every student drew a picture of one of the grade six teachers. Those were mounted as a border around an empty face. Beside each face, a volunteer stood with a photo of a grade six teacher.
Every graduating student took turns placing a medal (a sort of “congratulations”, you will be at the top of the school next year) over the volunteer fifth graders neck, then sticking a piece of the portrait on the empty face. The results were strikingly similar!

spice kingdom

2011-03-12T15:53:00.000+09:00

Thank you kids =)

2011-03-07T15:02:00.000+09:00

I got a lot of thank you presents from my kids. Most of it were letters and origami. Many of the grade 1-4 teachers provided the students with note paper and they wrote me letters with drawings. I took photos of the ones that were especially touching, different and crazy.. but I can’t find where the photos are.. I did find ONE though.

I don’t know if this student paid attention to learning English during my lessons, but they definitely paid attention during lunch time when I talked about how much I liked One Piece (and my undying love for Zoro) haha.

fundraising project for surin

2011-03-07T09:18:00.000+09:00

On short notice, I became a part of Inews’ International Fair at Sai Sai Cafe this year. I thought it was a good opportunity to do fundraising for the Surin Project. I thought it would be a fair with many booths, sort of like a matsuri. However, there was actually just one booth. Mine.

I had ideas for different midway style games.. and they failed miserably because the event was focused on a stage with speeches and presentation. I ended up ditching the games and just held a box to collect loose change all day. It was very successful, but sort of disappointing because I spent a lot of time thinking and working on the games. Even my dad joined in and created an elephant ring toss game.

My apartment is a mess from preparing special end of year lessons and graduation presents for all my sixth and ninth graders. My mother tried to keep the apartment clean, but I would just mess it up everyday after I came home from school. haha

Meeting with Akiko at the Inews office.

Tatsuya Sensei let me paint our elephant in art club. He said “use as much paint as you want”. He’s so nice.

Our finished work.

Checking out the area the day before the event.

My booth =)

Elephant Ring Toss

selling stuff at hard off

2011-03-06T16:03:00.000+09:00

While my parents were here and had a car, I used the opportunity to sell some things at hard off. There is no chance at making a profit at hard off, but I feel like it’s a good way to recycle things that you don’t want or need anymore.

I sold all three of my guitars that I bought at hard off. They took them back at 1/6 the price. I was not surprised by that because the guitars were so cheap when I bought them, I knew I wouldn’t get much back.

Selling clothes to Off House had the most surprising results. Since it was already spring, they were not looking to buy winter clothes. I’d have to wait until fall to sell them for a better price. That’s not really an option for me, so I decided to sell my huge piles of clothes for .. 40 yen! The summer clothes I had fetched different prices, but nothing over 100 yen for one piece of clothing.

I also decided to get rid of my ds. Apart from a recent stint of beating crafting mama, I hadn’t touched my ds for more than a year. I didn’t want to bring it back home if I wasn’t going to play if, so I decided to sell it to hard off. They gave me 2000 yen for it.

End of year lessons–Grades 5&6

2011-03-04T14:13:00.000+09:00

It was hard to find a hands on activity for my older students that would engage them at their skill level. Fifth and sixth graders in Japan already start home economic classes in the kitchen with a regular curriculum. I thought it would be fun to make cake with my kids.

We would have had time to make the cake from scratch, but I wanted to have my elephant lesson with them. I prebaked the cakes the night before each day I had a lesson and let the students follow simple directions to make an elephant and decorate it.

I had my first lesson with a grade six class at Joto. I was worried about the timing of my first lesson. However, I was fortunate because the students had a free period after. As I thought I might, I ran out of time during the first “test-run” lesson. However, I was able to shorten the elephant powerpoint section, and organize the decoration and eating section better. The rest of my lessons were amazingly able to fit into the allotted class time!

With my tiny microwave that also acts as an oven, I had so many problems baking cakes. It was all the same to my students whether or not the cakes were perfect, but it really bothered me. If I had the time, I would have chucked out the less than perfect cakes.. but unfortunately? fortunately? I was forced to accept whatever I made and keep going because I didn’t have the time to redo everything until I thought it was passable.

My first cakes were baking unevenly because I put two cakes in at a time to save time. When I did just one cake at a time, I had even rising but I still had problems with the cooking time. In the end, I baked the cake until the top was a nice colour, then I used “ranji” to cook the inside. I had to experiment with the time and temperature of the recipe. On the last day of lessons, I FINALLY had little golden cakes that I was really proud of.

I have a total of 6 grade 6 classes between my two elementary schools. I made two cakes per class. For grade 5, I have a total of 4 classes. One of the classes has 40 students, so I decided to make 4 cakes for that class. In two classes, I made the cake with soda because I had students that were allergic to eggs and milk. In total, I made 22 cakes!

I had so much fun with this lesson. It was really rewarding to see how much my kids enjoyed it too. For the most part, they were very great with letting everyone have a go at decorating and also split the cake fairly. Some of the students even remembered their teachers and counted them for a slice of cake. For the rest of the students that might have forgotten their manners out of excitement, I just reminded them. Even though I’m hardly responsible for the upbringing and behaviour of my students, it makes me really proud to see them so well behaved.

I had a lot of stressed out moments like not realizing the whipping cream needed sugar and having to steal some from the teacher’s lounge, not having enough time in between lessons to wash materials and setting up for the next class, the cakes not looking their best.. but letting myself be more creative in my teaching, putting in the extra work and remembering to smile!.. it was so worth it.

I’m really thankful that my teachers allowed me to have such a different class. I know that I am lucky to have teachers that were willing to work with me because I know that having this lesson was more work for them too.

So, in conclusion. It was a little crazy, cost me money, and stole lots of sleep from me but I was really happy with my end of year lessons for my fifth and sixth graders.

As always, the crucial moment of Junkan which decides how big your piece of cake will be.

The bowl of whipped cream was always licked clean!

At Joto, one group named their elephant Yoshida. They say never name an animal because you will get attached.. but they had no hesitation when it was time to cut Yoshida and eat him. haha

I didn’t take photos with every class, but here’s all the one’s I have. No cake looked similar even though the students in each class were given the same ingredients. At first, I had M&Ms, raisins and chocolate pens.. Then, I just had raisins and homemade chocolate frosting. In the end, I only had raisins for them. I thought more decorating options would be better but having just raisins took less time and the children had just as much fun decorating with less choices.

song for me

2011-03-03T16:22:00.000+09:00

Today was my last day of lessons with fourth graders at Tokiwa. During lunch with them (At Tokiwa, I teach one grade per day and always eat lunch with one class in that grade), they serenaded me with a song!

It was so cute! Seeing that I was done eating, the teacher signalled to all the students. They must have been waiting for this because almost all of them rose together as one. I was really confused and then the teacher said “we have a song for you”.

End of year lessons–Grades 1-4

2011-03-02T14:59:00.000+09:00

After my lesson all about elephants, the students were given a chance to make their own elephant necklace. I prepared different sized construction paper for the head, ears and nose. I had three premade elephants, but they needed no encouragement from me to create their own.

It was a good assignment, because it wasn’t too hard for first graders but the fourth graders still enjoy doing this kind of thing. I was able to do okay balancing how much preparation was necessary (pre-attaching the tape to each necklace), how time was needed for the lesson and how much time was needed for the activity, depending on the skill level of each grade.

I’m sure they had fun with this arts and crafts portion, but I think I enjoyed seeing their creativity even more! It’s amazing. I have no idea what’s going on in their little heads.

Matching eye glasses.

My students were very good at making stellar elephants! They were very cute and elephant like.. but here are some special elephants I want to share.

Here are some class photos.

dance show

2011-02-28T16:12:00.000+09:00

I was invited (formally with a heart shaped invitation card) to attend a dance club performance after lunch. They did a good job but I give even bigger props to the boys dancing on the side. They were able to learn on the spot and were really into the performance!

The boys tangled up in a mini fight beside the audience got dragged out and yelled at by a teacher.

My favourite part was when the girls took off their hair ties and flung them at the audience haha. It was just so innocent when you think about what other things get thrown off from stage into the audience.

Inews Tea Party

2011-02-27T09:07:00.000+09:00

new first graders

2011-02-21T15:23:00.000+09:00

Today, next year’s first graders came to Tokiwa for a visit. We all gathered in the gym to welcome them. There was an introduction and small presentations with activities from each grade.

Each new student was paired with an almost graduating first grader. They stayed for lunch in the first grade classrooms. I wish I could have joined them! They were SO little haha. Even with last year’s experience, I was still surprised by how tiny and shy they were. Now that I’ve been here for a full school year, from April to April, I can really appreciate how much learning a first grader has to do, and how much teaching a first grade teacher is responsible for! (I mean especially in the Japanese school system)

You can see the new students are half a head smaller even when sitting down.

bowling

2011-02-19T13:39:00.000+09:00

I tried bowling at fuji grand with a couple of people after a big meal at Spice Kingdom. You have to know your shoe size because you rent your shoes from a vending machine. I was worried at first because I remember the few times I went bowling at home, I had to try a few pairs of shoes at the counter before getting the right ones. However, I was good to go on the first try!

The shows were blue and red with velcro straps.

The machine broke only after a few rounds. We had to move to the next row and started to play again from the beginning. My lucky strike was erased and I had the lowest score at the end of the game =(

inside out

2011-02-18T16:04:00.000+09:00

Kayo sensei showed me a leftover piece of bread in the teacher’s lounge. It could have been from one of the students that participated in the lunch announcements or one of the teachers in the room. Nobody knew.

9th grade final lesson

2011-02-17T18:21:00.000+09:00

The ALT doesn’t work with 9th graders in their third and final term. I’m not sure if this is just at Hiyoshi, or standard in all schools.

Last year,

Angel wings.

The swimming bee is a drawing of the 9th grade English teacher.

I didn’t realize the math I was giving the students was so complicated! haha I felt really bad for this student when I saw all his calculations on the paper.

setsubun

2011-02-03T09:20:00.000+09:00

Always celebrated on February 3rd, we’re supposed to throw roasted soybeans out the door at someone wearing an oni (devil) mask to cast out bad luck. Then we eat as many soybeans as our age to bring in good luck. In the lucky carrot post from yesterday, you can see today’s lunch with the rabbit. I didn’t get enough soybeans.. maybe that’s why my lucky ninjin phase ended.. haha

Occasionally, one child will ask me to sign a random piece of paper.. and then all of a sudden, I’ll have a mob of children asking for my signature. First they all bring me paper, and then they bring me erasers, pencil cases, hands, shoes and.. today is the first time I signed a leg!

Rakki- ninjin!

2011-02-02T09:17:00.000+09:00

I had a lucky carrot in my soup two days IN A ROW! A maple leaf and a rabbit. Maybe my luck would have gone on to be three days in a row.. but I worked at Hiyoshi and junior high school students don’t get lucky carrots..

School Newspaper Appearance

2011-02-01T00:34:00.000+09:00

The principal of Hiyoshi Junior High School read my article on the surin project in the december/january issue of the iNews, a bilingual magazine in Imabari. He thought it would be good to tell our students about it and included an excerpt of what I wrote in the monthly Hiyoshi newspaper. Below is the translation of what he wrote in Japanese.

Title: This school’s ALT, Mis Heidi volunteered in Thailand

Elephant speech bubble: “In my country, the forest is disappearing. My friends are gradually decreasing. Although there were 100000 elephants in the 1900s, now there are only 4000 elephants.”

Main text: This school’s assistant English teacher, Miss Heidi, spent last year’s summer and winter vacation volunteering in Thailand two times. She was volunteering to take care of elephants. Since she went to Thailand, of course we are talking about Asian elephants. For Thai people, elephants are like cows in the olden days of Japan. They are important working hands and irreplaceable animals. Nevertheless, the numbers of elephants are quickly declining due to industrialism and deterioration of the natural environment. For the purpose of helping those elephants, people in Thailand’s Surin province started the “Surin Project” to help create a sanctuary so elephants can live in natural conditions. This project is starting to be known all over the world. Miss Heidi believed in the project goals and participated in volunteering.

I interviewed Miss Heidi, “What is your best memory?”

“The baby elephant. When I went to the Surin Projectin summer, there was a pregnant elephant mother. During winter, I saw that elephant mother give birth to a healthy baby. It was inspiring and left a deep impression.” said Miss Heidi with her whole face smiling.

I also want to see a baby elephant!

cooking class

2010-11-30T10:58:00.000+09:00

The teachers know that I like cooking and taking photos so I’m often invited to home economic classes. What they don’t know is that I like food tasting the best!

And of course.. cleaning =)

Skipping Rope

2010-11-30T09:39:00.000+09:00

Skip rope professionals came to Tokiwa to teach the kids double dutch (skipping with two ropes). They were grandpa aged but the guys in the demonstration videos were really cute! haha

Hat Modeling

2010-11-29T10:52:00.000+09:00

I went on a knitting hat rampage recently. Two of my hats were child sized so I took it to Tokiwa to get it modeled by my kids. I think they enjoyed being behind the camera lens more than in front of it!

Tamai daiichi Biru

2010-11-20T10:47:00.000+09:00

My building’s being renovated.. It’s taking forever! I’m off to meet my parents in Taiwan for the long weekend. I took some pictures for them to see.

shorinji kempon meet

2010-11-03T12:55:00.000+09:00

I started Shorinji Kempo after my family left. I took a one month break and I just started up again. The lessons are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I go to the Monday and Wednesday lessons if I have no knitting lesson on Wednesday and if it isn’t raining. The location is a bit far so sometimes it’s difficult to get motivated to go.

It’s been really fun though! On Mondays, my lesson overlaps with 6 year olds and their colourful belts. Even the white belts must be better than me! haha On Wednesdays, practice is a little bit tougher and I’m with only with old(er) men with black belts. They try really hard to help me though they can’t speak English. I try to do my best too. I’m not sure if I want to be graded but I definitely want to learn as much as I can while I’m here.

On National Culture Day, I didn’t have work because it’s a national holiday. I was invited to help out at the Imabari Shorinji Kempo meet at the city gym. It was a fun day! I gave out pamphlets, practiced my Japanese, watched advanced patterns and every coloured belt fight. I even got a fancy bento lunch and a towel as a souvenir.

Whipped cream sandwich

2010-10-27T12:02:00.000+09:00

The first time I had sliced bread for school lunch. The filling was whipped cream with fruits!

saijo taiko matsuri

2010-10-15T12:22:00.000+09:00

We took the last train to saijo and stayed in Saijo until 4 in the morning. Fortunately, we got a ride back to Imabari so we didn’t need to wait for the first train of the day. Here are pictures of where the floats gather after they come down from the mountain (which we missed!!)

Cornflaked chicken

2010-10-07T11:58:00.000+09:00

A twist on breaded chicken…

Noh Play

2010-10-01T12:14:00.000+09:00

I saw a Noh play with Ian (new Oshima JET) in Matsuyama. It was at the castle park. I couldn’t take photos during the performance but I got a picture of the stage before it started. It was a really amazing show! I didn’t know anything about Japanese theatre before I went but luckily Ian graduated from theatre so I was in good hands. There was definitely a language barrier problem, but apparently they use Shakespeare Japanese so most Japanese people struggle with it too. Anyways, I was able to understand because Ian practically has the scripts memorized!

sports day preparation

2010-09-08T12:15:00.000+09:00

I’m not able to see my students sports day festivals, but I was able to watch them practice.

Drying Watermelons

2010-08-25T12:06:00.000+09:00

I found watermelon chunks drying by the side of the street when I was walking home. I’m not really sure what they’re for.. but I don’t think it’s common practice because it’s the first time I’ve seen something like this!

HArbour and Dinner

2010-07-26T21:52:00.000+09:00

My parents invited friends from Hong Kong to visit us in Japan. On the first night, my dad showed us the harbour (he loves fishing so he’s very familiar with that area haha) and we went to dinner.

I found a starfish but I made the mistake of smelling it.

It looks like a lot of people still had food in their mouths! haha

9800 yen watermelon

2010-07-26T21:48:00.000+09:00

Have you seen a square watermelon before? This one was being sold at Saty.

shiminomori koen

2010-07-24T21:48:00.001+09:00

We took an evening walk to the park near my house. It was the first time for my dad to go. We wanted to walk all the way around but we only made it to the playground area. It got dark very fast and mosquitoes were biting.

Second Kei Car we got

2010-07-23T21:45:00.000+09:00

Sport’s day preparation

2010-07-21T22:57:00.000+09:00

Today at art club, we worked on huge poster boards for Sport’s Day.

We traced Kanji and hiragana on old boards with a projector.

Anju and Akari, the 9th graders in the club, planned out the colours and mixed them in containers for us.

Today’s hard work!

Knitting Class: I went to knitting class today.. haven’t been for like two months! and I FINALLY finished my first project, a knitted cap. I started on a super holey shawl =)

Last day of school

2010-07-20T22:26:00.000+09:00

Today was the last day of school before summer vacation! I went to Hiyoshi from 9-12, had lunch with my tutor and then went back to Hiyoshi at 2 for art club.

Last week at art club, I started a sketch for my second painting. I’m doing a portrait of a sea turtle (of course! haha). Last time, I struggled a lot with the shell. It looked all 2D and Tatsuya Sensei had to show me how to draw a grid of curved lines and draw on top of that.

This time, I had a really hard time with the head. I couldn’t get the eyes right. At all. I asked Anju to help me because she seems to have a really artistic eye but it seemed hopeless. She soon gave up and the younger first graders took over with more cartoonish eyes.

The art teacher came to the rescue but it wasn’t working out so we took a break and he drew wishful anime eyes haha

I’ve been really enjoying art club. The kids aren’t as shy because they see me so regularly and they often include me in their jokes. I want to take drawing seriously and spend my time practicing so I’ll become better but they remind me that sometimes I need to take a break!

chef desu.

2010-07-16T01:09:00.000+09:00

Jokers pretending to be chefs.

the classic corn as teeth

2010-07-15T01:08:00.000+09:00

cleaning with newspapers

2010-07-14T00:58:00.000+09:00

Last week, I was in Macau with my parents and I saw a McDonald’s employee wiping a mirror with a wad of newspaper. I honestly thought she was doing a shoddy job at work until I came home and saw my students doing the exact same thing!

When I think of newspapers.. I think dirty newsprint that will leave black fingerprints everywhere if you don’t wash your hands after you read it. Apparently, the ink has an oil that can clean the windows.

2010-07-13T01:11:00.000+09:00

My kids sharing TEA. How cute is that. haha I was thirsty too. I wonder if they would have shared with me. I didn’t want to weird them out, but I totally wanted to ask!

art club

2010-07-12T01:33:00.001+09:00

These sketches were done in the spring when I still wore my jacket to school. I had taken a break from sketches of kham pan to paint a turtle on my umbrella. I was pretty much stationary so the teacher made me the art subject!

I’m impressed =) I wouldn’t be able to sketch a person for beans.

I’ve been really enjoying art club! I’ve been going regularly since I came back from winter holidays (every day except for Joto days and during exam periods, when they cancel clubs). The teacher even introduced me as a regular member when we had an assembly in the gym to showcase all the clubs at the school.

I’ve mostly only done close up sketches of kham pan, where I’m only focusing on one body part so it’s easier for me to draw. My last one had her head, trunk and two feet, woah! haha I’ve also done a pretty horrible attempt at a watercolour landscape with her.

Other than elephant related work, I also painted a turtle on my umbrella. Right now, I’m working on a sketch of a green sea turtle for my first real painting on canvas! (Is it still called canvas if it’s not the rough kind for oil painting? Anything you paint on.. can be called the canvas, right?) Tatsuya Sensei asked me which size I wanted today.. of course the smallest! haha I wouldn’t know how to fill a big one.

Now that school is out and it’s summer vacation, I get to go to art club every day from 9-12 instead of going to the office. I cleared it with the office today. My supervisor said he thought this option was more useful. With three solid hours, every day, I really hope I get more practice and trust my ability to draw. Right now, I’m still anxious when I’m holding a pencil and I see that blank page in front of me.

Tatsuya Sensei even asked me to exhibit my work for Bunkasai (Culture Day). Though he was drunk, and gesturing widely, imitating many pieces of work.. I hope I can come up with at least one piece of work that is pretty decent and that I’m proud of and I hope it can be put alongside my students!

One Piece

2010-07-11T00:43:00.000+09:00

Thanks to a friend downloading ALL the One Piece episodes available onto a portable hard drive for my parents to bring me.. Katie and I have been watching this anime. We’re currently on episode 148. We had to put the marathon watching on hold because she’s in Hong Kong right now.

The kids love that I watch One Piece. They all tell me who their favourite characters are and it’s easy to argue with them because they defend their character by saying they’re cool. They haven’t developed their reasoning skills and I give them no mercy. Of course, Zoro is the best pirate. Ace is the best secondary actor.

One lesson with the second graders at Hiyoshi, they had to guess what I like the best, what I like second, what I like third, fourth and fifth. They were feigned outrageous disbelief when I said Zoro was fifth and Hiyoshi was sixth. haha

check out this buddy’s artwork. Never have I wanted to draw anime characters until now!

Surprise!

2010-07-10T00:49:00.000+09:00

I was uploading pictures from my phone to my laptop and look what I discovered. These are the types of award winning photographs I get when the kids take over my phone. haha I don’t think I could ever replicate this photo!

still drowning rice field

2010-06-23T21:38:00.000+09:00

look, the shoots grew taller!

Library

2010-06-23T21:36:00.000+09:00

Katie and I were studying at the library after school on Wednesday. Parents came early to watch a movie and then drove us to bible study.

You made a mistake.

2010-06-23T00:33:00.000+09:00

I went to Hiyoshi today and look what I found on my desk!

Someone had corrected some Japanese I left on my desk. It was really nice of them but unnecessary because I copied the words from kumon and just noted the meaning in English. I wasn’t directly translating the Japanese.

haha so now I know.. people DO look at my desk when I’m not around.

Disney at the library

2010-06-19T15:48:00.000+09:00

I watched Mulan in Japanese and I understood most of it because I’ve seen it in English many times. It was so exciting!

Katie at Tokiwa 小

2010-06-16T18:51:00.000+09:00

My kids love my sister. They ask me where she is all the time and sometimes they come to the office to play with her! =)

Rainy Day

2010-06-15T15:53:00.000+09:00

We’re all gathered watching the roadrunner because it’s rainy outside. I like those days =) The best shows are when it’s an animation without words, then I can understand it for sure!

ぷにぷに

2010-06-15T14:23:00.000+09:00

Katie had to sneak attack this picture. haha Don’t worry, he still loves me even though I like squishing his face. It’s so puni puni! LoL my hand looks gigantic on his tiny first grader face.

cloth for a beard

2010-06-15T14:03:00.000+09:00

This is a first grader during school cleaning. He put the cloth he was using to wipe the floor with.. on his face. haha

lost a sock

2010-06-14T15:18:00.000+09:00

I spy with my little eye a sock in the middle of the road! haha it’s mine. I was using the sock as a buffer because the new rain boots I was wearing were cutting into my ankles. I cross the street and all of a sudden, my ankle started chafing again. I look behind and my sock was in the middle of the road!

We had to wait till the lights changed. Then I sent Katie to pick it up because I was too embarrassed haha

ice cream floats!

2010-06-14T14:43:00.000+09:00

i haven’t had one in so long! It was really yummy =) My tutor took us to a small Italian restaurant near the Ginza. They had delicious pizza! but the pizza bread bottom was still a little too thin and crunchy for my liking.

kittychan chair

2010-06-14T14:00:00.000+09:00

Katie and I noticed a Hello Kitty granite chair (while we were lost trying to find the Shorinji Kempo studio I wanted to check out(.

drowning rice fields

2010-06-14T13:58:00.000+09:00

picture jeopardy

2010-06-14T13:50:00.000+09:00

Really versatile for playing different games.

zousan sticker

2010-06-13T13:53:00.000+09:00

We have to read one package of homework everything we go to Kumon. When we finish, the package gets stamped and we can pick a sticker from the box. Katie traded me an elephant sticker for my “something sucky” (Katie’s words lol) sticker. lahっkeyyyyy (that’s how my kid’s say it! haha)

Yakiniku Goen

2010-06-13T13:29:00.000+09:00

I went with Katie to Goen to hang out with some friends.

We go here quite often because the food is pretty cheap. It’s like Korean BBQ back home (the concept of cooking + the smell that sticks to your clothes when you go home). The sauces are really yummy but it’s too far to bike to so I only join when there’s someone to split the taxi with.

They have cow tongue. It’s really chewy.

KOA HOUSE

2010-06-12T19:10:00.000+09:00

We went to Koa House the next day after the birthday party. We decided to take the later bus so we went to the restaurant to eat a late lunch. We even had enough time to take a nap before the bus came. (below: yummy fruits and yogurt)

Breakfast at McDonald’s

2010-06-12T13:37:00.000+09:00

For those that can’t read Japanese: McDonald Hot Dog Mega Sausage

To put the straw in a McDonald’s milk carton, you have to first peel back the plastic layer!

Happy Birthday!

2010-06-11T19:17:00.000+09:00

We had a nomihodai to celebrate Katie’s Birthday (and mine). Had people come from all over Ehime but mostly Imabari. Ended the night off with karaoke (of course). It was really fun!

Shimanami Batting Centre

2010-06-07T13:41:00.001+09:00

Hideki didn’t have to play tennis because it was rainy so we all went to the batting cages by Saty. I think it was 300 for 24 pitches (I’m not really sure).

A picture marquee showed a fake pitcher. It was moving in time with the pitches, but I couldn’t get used to the image of a pitcher, instead of a real person. I had a lot of fun but it was hard to hit the balls. They were really fast even on the lowest setting. I kept getting fouls! haha

sushi fune

2010-06-07T13:20:00.000+09:00

I took Katie to the Sushi Boat near the station. It was my first time going there. The one by my apartment closed down sometime in the winter. After we paid, the lady cashier gave us each a coin to put in the pu ball vending machine. I’m not sure what the occasion was (maybe because we were foreigners), but it was fun! We got two small packages of crunchy stick chips.

Studying at McDonald’s

2010-06-06T13:10:00.000+09:00

The McDonald’s next to the Imabari Bypass intersection is a 24 hrs location. Katie and i went there to study kumon. My tutor and I met here a couple of times but now we do the Saty McDonald’s if we feel like a cheap ice cream and fries.

Katie got a McPork. They have a silhouettes of poor piggies on the wrapper!

Koa HOuse

2010-06-05T19:30:00.000+09:00

Jesse and Stef took us to Koa House, in Sakurai. It is an onsen type facility but you wear a swim suit in the water. They have a big swimming pool with a slide. There is exercise equipment you can use and exercise classes you can join.

We took a free bus that picked us up down the street from our apartment. Koa House is only 500 yen on Saturdays, so it was a really good deal.

The first thing we tried out was a walking (TORTURE) chamber. It was in a L shape. One wing was filled with pebbles, the other had a tile floor with bumps. The second hall wasn’t so bad but the first hall had me gripping the handrails from the pain. The pebbles massage the bottoms of your feet. That sounds like a nice massage, right? However, walking on the pebbles actually stimulates all your reflex points that correspond to different parts of your body. So, if a part of your body is in bad condition (i.e. your knees, your kidneys), the reflex point on your foot will REALLY hurt.

There are time when you’re walking, and you think you’re doing okay.. and then you will step on a pebble a certain way, and you just collapse from the sudden pain. haha maybe I’m just a wuss (probably) or my body is really broken (just as probably).

I feel like a steamed pork bun. yum!

Take Home Kyuushoku

2010-06-01T13:05:00.000+09:00

I had a fever so I stayed home to sleep it off. Katie went to school for lunch and school cleaning. I woke up when she came home and still got to eat school lunch! A teacher was nice enough to pack everything up for me.

sleep Writing nonsense

2010-05-25T01:05:00.000+09:00

I must have been falling asleep when I was doing this Kumon homework package.

2010-04-22T15:17:00.003+09:00

I got a cold. I was taking buckley's extra strenght cold medicine, but I ran out. I called tomoe sensei to take me to the doctor's. Here they call it the "hospital".

I met her at 2 in the afternoon but I didn't get home till 6:30. There was a lot of waiting.

Since I'd never been to the hospital, I had to fill in a bunch of papers. First, the nurse took my blood pressure. Then, I went in to see the doctor.

One nurse held my shoulders down and another tilted my head back. Their grip was tight like I was some uncontrollable wild animal while the doctor put the big popsicle stick on my tongue and told me to say "ahh". It was really uncomfortable. Then, all of sudden the nurses starting roughly pulling my shirt up. I was SO NOT impressed by how they treat their patients. But this is how it is in Japanese "hospitals". I'm glad that I had been warned about this by other foreigners before, or I think I'd have been upset.

I didn't say anything but I think the doctor could tell I really didn't like it. She told them to stop and I unbuttoned the top of my shirt so she could hear my heart. It was probably racing because I was so mad! Haha

The doctor took notes on my condition. Then she ordered a blood test for me. I'm not sure if that's a standard thing they do because a blood test for cold symptoms seem so extreme to me.

The nurse was really bad. She got blood all over my forearm when she took the needle out. I'm not sure if it was from the wound or from the needle. I hope it was blood she already took from me. It was so messy.

When the results for the blood test came back, the doctor prescribed antibiotics for me. She was worried I might have an ear infection and recommended that I go to see an ear doctor (no, she couldn't just check my ears herself.. I feel that they have more specialists in Japan?).

She prescribed 7 different kinds of medicine for me. Three times a day. Four days in a row. They do a different pill per symptom here. I had a whole handful of pills to swallow when I got sick in hong kong too. Makes me feel old .. or mental.

No one pinned me down at the ear doctor's but his office was like a science lab.. or a torture chamber. There was a seat in the middle of the room. On the left was a stainless steel tools either in square metal containers or hanging from hooks. On the right was a shelf you might find at a warehouse. When you are outside, all you can hear coming from the room are children crying. Haha scary. I wish I could have taken a picture.

The doctor was really nice though. I didn't have an ear infection, but he was afraid the germs would travel there from my nose. He gave me some drops to take before the plane takes off so my ears won't hurt.

I've taken the medicine three times now. What they say about medicine here is true. It IS weaker than back home. I can feel the difference.

All in all, it has been a really different experience to see a doctor here. It was definitely unpleasant and unfamiliar for me. I hope I don't get sick enough to go to the doctor again while I'm here.

I also hope a trip to dentist won't be as bad because I'm due for a check up appointment soon.

love letter

2010-04-19T00:27:00.001+09:00

One of my kids referred to the letter I wrote them as a Love letter. haha
The language barrier creates so many awkward moments and inappropriate things.

Haru Yasumi (Spring Vacation)

2010-04-07T10:12:00.000+09:00

I can’t believe that spring break is over. Today is the last day before I have to go back to school to teach again. I wanted to accomplish so much during the break. I thought I was going to study and craft everyday, but I ended up not doing either. I was mostly busy with making more gift packages and spring cleaning. Here’s a summary!

Spring Cleaning: I had a bunch of people at my place a few times during spring break so I had to do a massive clean up of my apartment. I threw out SO many things: all the packaging of products, loose leaf paper I picked up at seminars, even the journal I had when I first came (it was basically just notes for this blog). I filled three bags of burnables and two bags of soft plastics. Then, I vacuumed everything, but I feel like my vacuum might be broken because it didn’t work very well. I put all my blankets and futon out to sun. Did loads and loads of laundry for the fleece blankets I got, piles of clothes and the missing socks I found. The cleaning took days.

Apartment Decoration: After the cleaning, I tried to make my apartment look more homey. I put up all the letters that I got from my sixth graders and other students. I put up the sketches that I’ve done of Kham Paan at art club. I put the blankets I made on the couches and hung up all the calendars I got from JET (FOUR!). Now that it’s getting warmer, I’ll be opening my apartment more to parties and gatherings. My winter hibernation is officially over!

Art Club: I got permission from Yamamoto Sensei to go to Art Club at Hiyoshi instead of the office during spring vacation. Both are 9-12 so it works out nicely. I just have to stamp my school attendance book instead of the one at the office. I’ve done five sketches total so far. I’m working on a watercolour right now, but it’s SO hard. It looks like a little kid drawing.

Dinner with Teachers: Sae Sensei and Mori Sensei invited me to have yakitori with them. They are both sixth grade teachers. It was such a fun night. I didn’t feel like we had any communication barriers at all. The food was great too. I hope we get to do it again soon.

I saw one of my students are the same restaurant. His dad was so drunk that he crashed into the wall after he tried to stand up to leave. I was so embarrassed for him, but something like this is more common than you think.

Change Over in Teachers: The Japanese school year runs from April to April. Every year, the board of education will move teachers to different schools. Teachers are usually moved anywhere between 3-10 years. They are given around one week notice before the new school year starts. It’s often a stressful time because some teachers are moved so far away that they need to find new housing for the next school year.

The period has been stressful for me too. I’ve had such great teachers at all three of my schools. I’m losing many of my favourite teachers and staff (Kyoto sensei from Tokiwa, the one that calls me Hije, My absolute favourite teacher! is moved to a school in Saijo. I teared up when I found out). I’m worried that a change in teachers may not turn out to be a good thing. Hopefully, I can work just as well with the new teachers and supervisors.

I found out which teachers are leaving in Tokiwa and Hiyoshi. I took pictures with the teachers, printed it out and stuck it on a postcard. Then I wrote each a letter in Japanese. I made them cinnamon apple raisin bread (two slices each in a little plastic bag). Tossed in a few chocolates and candies. It was basically the graduation package I had for the students with a little twist.

I had 19 staff changes just for those two schools. It will be a surprise when I go to Joto to teach. I don’t know who’s been switched out except for the principal, Miyoshi sensei (I found out he’s coming to Tokiwa) and the school lunch teacher (she’s being replaced by the Tokiwa school lunch teacher).

Good Bye Ceremony: I was invited to Tokiwa to hear the speeches of all the teachers that were leaving. When I got to school, I was surprised by how formal it was. All the students were back in school for the ceremony, even the sixth graders. It was good to see them. It made me so excited to teach the new school year.

The speeches were all so touching. I could understand most of what was said because the teachers spoke slowly and simply for the first graders. Along with most of the teachers, I couldn’t help but cry. I think that even if I didn’t have personal connections with all these teachers, I would still have cried because of how sad it all was. Some of the teachers had been teaching in Tokiwa for 10 years! They love the school and the children. It’ll be hard for them to leave these memories and start at a new school.

After the speeches, the children went grade by grade to give presents to all the teachers. I was overwhelmed by the same feelings of family and community that I had during the farewell party for the sixth graders, but this time, I also felt the respect the children had for the teachers and the paternal/maternal attitude in return.

I have only known these teachers for 8 months, so a change in staff may not affect my working relationship with them as much. However, as a foreigner, I think the change is equally tough on me too because I did not grow up in a culture where this is normal. I’m still trying to understand the change that is going to happen and what it will mean for the coming school year. Though I knew that teachers change, I didn’t expect it to be so soon and I didn’t think it’d be some of my favourite teachers. I’m not looking forward to this big change so much, especially after I got closer to the teachers recently through my letters and cookie making.

RE-Permed Hair: I got a digital perm on Thursday (April 1) but unfortunately it didn’t take very well, so I did it again the Wednesday following. This time, the hair dresser used smaller rolls. He also used the max amount of time for the hair cream and heat time. I got more curls but I’m worried it’ll wash out! *fingers crossed*

O-Hanami Picnics: The first weekend in April celebrates ohanami. Families pack bentos and picnic under sakurai blossoms. I went on Saturday AND Sunday to the same park for ohanami haha. On Saturday, I biked to the park with Jesse and his family to join his church in some picnic fun. I packed tuna melt sandwiches, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, and strawberries. Jesse made some awesome sour cream dip that we ate from chips they bought from Costco.

On Sunday, after Easter Sunday service, I went with kyoukai people. We sat in a different area of the park. We paid for bentos last week so I didn’t have to pack a lunch. I saw many of my students. I ended up playing tag with some of them. we just went on the slides when we got tired (the slides at the park were HUGE but it had a rolling pin bottom so our bums were so sore).

New Guitar: I went by Hard Off to look for a manga called Yotsuba&! They didn’t have any in stock, but I saw a whole bunch of guitars for 3000 yen. I picked out a dark colour one that also turned out to have deeper tones. It’s bigger than my first guitar and the neck is also thicker. The strings were really tough. I bought an extra light pack at the Yamaha store across from Hiyoshi. Kenichi Sensei is going to help me switch up the strings.

Asuka’s tour of Ehime: Asuka made some last minute plans to visit all of us in Ehime. She came by Imabari on Monday. I had dinner with her and Daisuke, then we chilled a little bit at my apartment. It was good to see her so soon after I stayed at her place after the Kra concert.

Knitting Lessons: Today was my first class of knitting lessons. It was awesome! I found a hat in a magazine that I want to make. The teacher started me off with testing the gauge. I usually skip that part so I had help with that.

open House

2010-03-28T00:53:00.000+09:00

So this is how an open house sign look in Japan!

off to kansai

2010-03-19T08:42:00.003+09:00

150 cookies: I made cookies this morning for the 5th graders at Tokiwa. There are 4 classes and 117 students. I had to wake up at 4 to get them done and have time for a shower too. I’m so great at cramming them together now!

Hiyoshi: Look what I found on my desk this morning!

Hato Sensei told me that today will be my last lesson with Class 1-3 and 1-2. I could play games with them. I didn’t have anything planned, so I asked Takasu sensei to borrow his map of Shikoku. I hope I can take care of his map (I know it’s not a REAL board game, but I just think about my games and how I’m so protective of them)! It’s 8 years old and it’s been through a lot of wear and tear.

Present: I just got the best gift ever! One of the teachers handed me a cd with all the pictures that were taken of the 3rd graders this year. Everything from Sports Day to Culture Day to graduation. I’m so excited to look through the pictures! I’ll save it for spring break. I’ll definitely post my favourites.

Tokiwa: sixth period, I didn't have class so I packed up and went over to Tokiwa. I gave cookies to three out of the four grade five classes but okano sensei's class was having p.e. outside. They were playing this game where you get points if you throw to your teammate standing on the block.

I went out to play with the first and second graders that were already dismissed. At 3:15, I went up to the classroom. The kids were just washing up and getting back. It was my last class for Tokiwa. Only first and second Hiyoshi graders left! I went back outside to play dodgeball until 4. Then I went to the office to register for a new alien registration card.

This is one of my kids cleaning the floor with a toothbrush and some white paste. They’ve been doing this the last couple of weeks. I think it’s to take out hard stains that couldn’t be removed with a rag and water during school cleaning everyday.

When I left, I had to take the long way out because the teachers were waxing the floor. They laid down towels so we wouldn’t ruin the new wax job.

City Office: Yamamoto Sensei went down to the city office with me to get a new card. It won’t be ready until the first week of April. I thought it would take a day. Oh well. I was signing the papers and Yamamoto sensei asked me why the two signature were different. On the left, I wasn’t really thinking, and I almost signed with a HEART at the end of my name. I’ve been signing too many of my kids things haha now I’m used to adding the heart. I made the same mistake at the post office last week.

Kumon: I was so tired. I'm sure I did a few head bobs. I finished one package. Then I went home for a nap.

Bus to Kyoto: I woke up at 9 to heat up a bath and pack. I met chen outside the building at 11:45 with plenty of time to spare. We waited at the bus depot for our 12:20 bus. At 12:15, just as I was about to suggest checking out the bus parked at the taxi bay, a man approached us and asked if we were waiting for the Kyoto bus. The bus in the taxi bay was it. He was the driver. I think he was specifically looking for us because chen's name was the only foreign one on the reservation list. Good thing we were speaking in our gaijin English so loud haha.

Chen and I got on the bus but we had a hard time finding our seats because the seating charts were different than the real seat numbers. We had a good laugh at Japan about that. She let me listen to some music by Kra. I tried to sleep but the seats were smaller than the GO Bus. It was really cramped and uncomfortable. The bus also stopped often for rest breaks and turned on the lights every time. The ferry definitely seems the best way to travel. I'm so excited to be taking is back!

Joto gr. 6 farewell party

2010-03-18T08:30:00.000+09:00

I set my alarm for 4, but I couldn’t resist dozing on and off until 5. I reached over to my laptop and resumed Atlantis, hoping the stimulation of a movie would wake me up. I gathered all the materials I needed to finish the bookmarks and package the cookies. Then, I snuggled up under my covers and did everything in bed. It got so cold since yesterday afternoon.

I finished with just enough time for breakfast (while walking down the stairs). Mari Sensei was late but I found out one of my Hiyoshi teachers lives in my building! (or at least he slept over in my building last night) Awesome trade off.

Joto: When I got to Joto, the first thing I did was go to the traffic grandpa with a bag of cookies. He's SO old, but I see him directing traffic infront of the school everytime I go. It must be tough when it's cold and rainy.

I still had to put the cookies and the bookmarks into the bags and twist tie them closed. The teacher next to me offered to help. Mari Sensei lent a hand too. It took no time to finish! It was so fast compared to Hiyoshi and Tokiwa.

Since the photo machine was broken at Saty, I wanted to see if Fuji Grand had one. I asked the principal if I could go since I didn’t have first period. She said sure, but it wasn’t open yet. I forgot it was barely 8 in the morning. I’ll have to go later.

As I walked out of her office, I heard her tell me to behave. I wasn’t sure if she meant I should behave myself in public at the mall or if I should be a good teacher and not go during school hours. I turned around and saw her mimicking sleep with her eyes closed, head tilted and resting on her hands facing each other.

She wasn’t telling me to act properly! She was telling me to sleep properly.

Farewell Assembly: Second period was an assembly in the gym. It was a a graduation assembly like the one I had at Tokiwa two weeks ago. It wasn’t as fancy or as big. Probably because Joto is so much smaller. It has only 200 students, versus Tokiwa’s almost 700.

Since the classes are smaller, they were able to do more skits and games that included everyone. The ceremony started off with the sixth graders entrance. First graders held a bridge of tissue paper flowers. The tall students and Miyoshi sensei had to duck because the children were so tiny.

They started off with a song that everyone sang with a slideshow accompaniment made by class 4-1. Their voices were so pretty.

Grade One: All the students chose a sixth grader and presented them with a paper medallion they had around their neck.

Then they played a game of “train/caterpillar” junken (that’s the name I’m giving it). You start off with groups of two that play junken. The loser had to go behind the winner and follow them around. Winners keep playing other winners until they lose. They represent everyone behind them so when they lose, the chain of people attaches themselves onto the newest winner. It was so fun and interesting to watch. I’ve never heard of this version of the game before. I’ve never known you could play junken in SO many ways until I came to here.

Grade Two: Second graders presented the sixth graders with a class present. Then they did a song with dancing. It was so cute. I liked when they put they’re hands over their heads to make a heart (like M, in the YMCA). My favourite part is when 9 boys came up to the front and took off their jackets. Then they turned around to reveal a message written in tape for the sixth graders.

Grade Three: The third graders did a reminiscing of the memories they had with the sixth graders. It was very personalized. It was so sweet and touching. The categories were walking to school buddies, friendship, cleaning, and big siblings.

Then class representatives were given a box full of rocks, literally! The third graders painted rocks and made little ducks with bows on them as gifts.

Grade Four: The fourth graders presented a quiz. I only understood two questions. “How many students are in grade 1?” and “How many students are in grade 2?” Of course, I knew the answers because I’ve been counting cookies for the last two weeks.

Grade Five: The fifth graders presented a series of skits. The first one was about Oni Sensei. I understood that.

The next one was about some gym teacher. He was really strict. He would yell something (I couldn’t catch it) and all the students would fall. I wasn’t sure what the meaning of that was.

The next group went camping, but there was a ghost (I’m guessing that’s what the ring girl was?) wandering around. Two boys were also wearing wigs and pretending to be girls.

The last was of an old lady that thought grapes were delicious. That’s all I could catch.

Teachers: A HUGE rope was brought into the middle. It was a tug of war between the teachers and the sixth graders. They competed two times. Once for each class. Both classes lost. I was asked to help the teachers, but they (obviously) didn’t need any help. I wanted to document this!

Grade Six: They sang a song together. The signs they are lifting up are just the lyrics.

Next, the sixth graders handed over the key they were given a year ago to the fifth graders. It was so ceremonial. This was one of my favourite parts. They made a speech about how they’ve had this key for a year and now they were going to pass it on.

Speech from Kocho Sensei: The last thing was a speech from the principal. Then the sixth graders gave her a present that they made. It was an apron with pink hearts on it. This moment was really memorable because it is the principal’s last year in Joto. She will be saying goodbye to more than the sixth graders.

The sixth graders walked out under the bridge. Ever since Tokiwa’s farewell party, I get so emotional just by seeing the flowered arches propped up in the hallway. It’s become such a symbol to me.

Zou San Zou San: Second grade was the last class I had my elephant presentation for. They were singing zousan (the same lullaby that Hato sensei had the first graders translate for me) in anticipation. The presentation wasn’t as successful as the other ones I had. The teacher didn’t translate at all so I was stuck trying to explain everything in simple Japanese and gestures. It was also a class of 36 so they were more restless.

I hurried through the presentation, showing more videos at the end of my presentation to entertain them. I gave out the letters and the cookies, then I asked the kids to give another rendition of zousan so I could have it on video. We finished just on time for lunch. You can hear the lunch bell ringing in the background.

Lunch: I had my final lunch of the year with Class 1-1. It’s a shame that I didn’t have enough school days to eat with Class 1-2 too. They are the only class I’m missing this semester.

After lunch, they gave me a book with a letter from every student in the class. I loved it! They filled up all the lines on the paper. Many of them made new (not so straight) lines so they could write more. I’m going to write back to all of them! I hope I can find the time during spring break. Maybe they will write to me again and we can be pen pals.

Oni: Oni means devil. It is the equivalent of being “it” when we play tag. Of course, I’m always chased by the oni. I’m easy to spot because of my height difference (I was also wearing my bright yellow ENF shirt today) and I’m a novelty to chase. You have no idea how tiring it is to run for a whole recess period. Did I ever do this as a kid? Anyway, all the running from yesterday and today left me really sore.

School Cleaning: She’s picking dust balls out of the vent with scissors.

Graduation Gifts: At the beginning of fifth and sixth period, I got a chance to say goodbye to the sixth graders and give them their gifts. As I left the 6-1 during the last period, I couldn’t help but feel really sad. My two favourite and best performing pair (they are SO cute. I hope they marry and have cute kids! haha) were in that class. Unlike Tokiwa, where I will see many of the students in Hiyoshi, I probably will not see these students again. I’m not ready to say good bye to them.

Cooking Lesson: I spent fifth and sixth period with class 5-1 in the home economics classroom. The children had premade groups and food they wanted to make. There were three groups that did pancakes. A group for tako yaki. One for mini pizzas and another for chocolate fondue.

I hung out with all of them, then finally joined a small group of three boys that were making fondue. One of the boys was mincing a chocolate bar finely with a chef’s knife. I told him that you could just keep the chocolate in its wrapper and smash it. I think he enjoyed my tip immensely haha.

While we were waiting for the chocolate to melt, I played around with the fruit. I was just fooling around, but they thought I was awesome and wanted to copy all my ideas. Kids always make you feel top of the world.

Kitamura Camera: I walked over to kitamura camera. It wasn’t hard to find. Shinichi san drew a really good map. To my surprise and pleasure, there was a photo machine right outside the shop. I used it to take passport pictures for my new alien registration card.

The shop was small, but they had a wide range of merchandise. They had a good selection of bags, some of them 4000 yen. My current bag can only hold a camera but I need something bigger to hold my other lens. I decided to go with a sling backpack.

I looked around the store to check out the lens they had. I tried out a few. Everything seems so heavy. I wanted a more general set of lens so I didn’t have to switch between mine so often but it’s so pricey. I think I’ll wait.

Gyuma Supa: On the way back, I stopped by the store to get more flower. Strawberries were also very cheap, so I bought two baskets. I haven’t been eating so healthy lately so I figure more vitamin c would be good.

Kocho Sensei: I said bye to Kocho sensei for the last time. Out of all the principals, I actually saw her the least but I really respected her for being a female principal. She was so soft spoken, delicate and motherly with the children. But I’ve also seen her strict and reprimanding.

I was actually getting teary eyed when I thanked her, both for me and for my mother. Kocho Sensei let my mother come to Joto 5 times and she didn’t have to pay for lunch either. I got a photo with her. Doesn’t she look so young? I can’t believe she’s retiring!

Acupuncture: Mari Sensei dropped me off at Hoshino Sensei’s. I was the only patient. I like that because I get a chance to talk to him more. Sometimes, I’m really tired from my day (or from being scared of the needles, it’s actually exhausting!) and I don’t want to talk. Today, I was chatty and it was fun.

Fuji Camera: I dropped by to check out the price of some of the lens I was looking at in Kitamura Camera. It was cheaper, but only by 2000 yen or so.

Church: I went to church to pick up my bike. I left it there yesterday so it would be easier for me to get home after acupuncture. Since I was there, I thought I might as well practice some piano. The lights were on, but the doors were locked (sometimes Kenichi sensei does this by mistake). I rang the door bell of the house and I was SO surprised when Tomoe sensei talked to me through a speaker.

We finalized the songs I would play and I got practicing. I did around an hour. Tomoe sensei invited me to dinner, but I still had to make cookies for Tokiwa tomorrow, so I declined. Still, we talked for a good half an hour before I left.

She laughed at Shuuta and me because we prayed (at first, I thought she said pLay and I was like.. no.. no.. we didn’t play. haha) together on Wednesday. We both didn’t open our eyes until the other person was long finished praying. He didn’t understand when I said “amen” because it is said with a different intonation in Japanese. To my defence, I actually understood almost everything he said. I just took a while to open my eyes because his prayer was SO short, I was surprised that he was really finished.

Sleep: I had to go to sleep after a quick bowl of pasta during an episode of Chuck. Cookies will have to wait until tomorrow.

white day

2010-03-14T12:48:00.000+09:00

Kyokai: Today’s service was replaced by a trio from Hiroshima. They did a story telling - opera singing - piano playing combination. We had tea and treats, then curry and rice for dinner. The guests also brought omiyage with them.

Kazuki made cookies for us because today is White Day. Exactly one month after Valentine’s (where only girls give chocolates), it’s when boys return the favour and give chocolate back. We also got cookies from Pastor Kenichi.

Kazuki’s put a bag over his head to entertain Misaki. She’s three years old but her brother and sister is 19 and 21. I can’t imagine my mother was a 4 year old.

Everyone sat around and talked. I went upstairs to practice some piano but the hymn book was put away for the pianist today. I played some songs from the old hymn book but I couldn’t find the ones I’m supposed to play. I practiced some guitar but my fingers soon hurt because I hadn’t practiced all week.

Kitamura Kamera: Shinichi san told me about Kitamura Camera. It is a chain of camera stores. There is one right next to Joto that he goes to. That’s where he gets his camera things. He said it’s really cheap. I’m going to check it out on Wednesday when I go to Joto.

Move: Mayumi san told me about Move. It is a hair salon she’s been going to for the past ten years. They do digital perms, but she’s never gotten one. It’s by the ginza and post office. I’m going to swing by there some time to check their prices.

762 hearts and 103 elephant cookies

2010-03-13T12:14:00.001+09:00

I spent the whole day baking cookies. I watched a movie while I packaged them. I had to take a break and nap in the afternoon. In the end, I was baking till three in the morning.

Who would waste bread!?

2010-03-12T12:02:00.000+09:00

Hiyoshi: I had the board game lesson with grade 8 again. I’ve gotten familiar with the textbook enough where I don’t have to look through it for questions. I just need a cue from Takasu sensei on whether the question should be easy, medium or hard and I can come up one with. The hard thing is remembering what questions I’ve already asked because all the classes are starting to blur with each other.

Lunch: I love bread for lunch! I like it better than rice.

Two of my students dropped their bread on the floor and they threw it out. They have the 10 second rule in Japan (as demonstrated by my Tokiwa kids 3/3/10). How could you waste bread!? I would have eaten it (in elementary school for sure haha), but I didn’t want them to judge me.

I went to Kumon after school. Then, I went to the cultural centre to pay them the 3000 yen for yoga. I also dropped by koto to say bye to the teacher and explain why I couldn’t take lessons anymore.

natto is stringy

2010-03-11T09:37:00.000+09:00

I saw a lot of my Hiyoshi third graders going to Nishi high school today. I’m really proud of them. I heard that the best education route in Imabari is Tokiwa Elementary, Hiyoshi Junior High and Nishi High School. I’m really fortunate to be teaching at TWO of those schools. I haven’t experienced any of the horror stories like kids climbing out the windows, standing at the back of the classroom all lesson, or being used as a tape recorder.

Hiyoshi: I just have three classes today. Last period with 1-3 is cancelled. I have two first grader classes. They had to make speeches without writing anything down first. Then they wrote it down and I corrected them.

Second graders played a board game with the map of Shikoku. It is a good concept for a review game. Students are divided into 6 teams. They take turns drawing out a question type (spelling, translation, comprehension) from a bag. If they can’t answer the question, they can give it up to the other teams. When a team answers a question correctly, they get to roll a big cardboard die and move spaces on the board. The board has special options like you need to rest a turn (ie. because you’re watching turtles in Kochi) or take a ferry and jump a couple of train stops (if you beat me in junken).

I printed out the photos for my Joto kids. I cut them all out, but I didn’t glue them onto the cards yet. I started second guessing myself and I’m afraid I’ll mix up the classes (even though there are only two!). Oh well, it’s safer to wait. I’ll take pictures with the grade 3s in Hiyoshi tomorrow. They don’t have anymore classes. Yesterday, they found out which high school they’ll be attending. Now, they only have to come to school to practice for the graduation ceremony and school cleaning.

Lunch: We had natto salad for lunch. I don’t think it tastes like anything. I just don’t like how slimy it can be. I’ve figured out how to cut the stringiness. I pull it against my bowl and the strands break. I still haven’t figured out how to stop stringy things between my mouth and the chopsticks after I put the natto in my mouth.

Yesterday, Hato sensei texted and called me to see where I was. I was originally supposed to go to Hiyoshi, but I switched the 17th and yesterday with Joto so I could attend the graduation ceremony at Hiyoshi. I guess she forgot so I’ll have to pay for lunch even though I didn’t go to school. Good thing it’s so cheap! I hope the other teachers know that it was just a mix up and I didn’t play hookie.

ICIEA: I dropped by to sign up for Yoga because applications start at the beginning of March. It cost 3000 for the whole year, but I didn’t have enough money so I promised to bring that tomorrow. Akiko helped me call a community centre across the street that offers knitting lessons. They had to contact the teacher to see if it’s okay to have a foreigner in their class. The sign up start date is March 25. I’ll know if I can apply before then.

157 cookies

2010-03-10T21:42:00.002+09:00

3:00 in the morning: I was supposed to make cookies last night, but I was really tired from a long day at work so I opted to do it in the morning instead. When I baked for Tokiwa on Friday, it took me four hours. I made 157 elephants. It took me three hours with this batch. I got to take a nap for an hour before Mari Sensei came to pick me up. It's still raining, by the way. It hasn't really stopped since last Tuesday. I thought rainy season is in June!

Joto: I had five classes again today. I taught 5-1, both six grade classes and both grade 1 classes. All of them were the last class I'll be teaching them this year. So I did the elephant presentation. Here’s a picture of the grade six girls in 6-1.

Lunch: I went to visit 6-2 after lunch, like I always do. Only three students were still working on their meal. The rest were done but many still had milk on their desk. One of them was blowing bubbles into their milk. I went up to him to take a picture but he thought he was going to get in trouble, so he started drinking his milk through the straw. Except, I could tell that he was only pretending because the level of milk wasn’t going down. Sneaky boy was trying to save his milk so he could still blow bubbles in it.

I don't know what this boy was trying to do, but he loved it. He was running around, trying to look at everything. It must have all looked so different. I could barely get him to stay still for one picture before he was sticking his head in someone’s desk drawer.

Graduation Presents: I spent the time in between classes working on the bookmarks. I finished gluing the names, writing on the back and attaching the ribbons. I also printed out the 52 graduation letters and folded all of them. Prepping the bags will be easy now. The only tough thing is making cookies for them (the 18th) AND elephant cookies for two more classes that I have presentations for AND cookies for the graduating class at Hiyoshi (the 17th, still haven’t decided if I’ll do anything more than letters).

Snow: I texted Megumi to ask for a ride to church tonight because it’s still raining. She replied back with a picture of where she lives. She’s stuck home because of the crazy snow. Soon after, David also sent me a picture of his snowy town. How are all these people getting snow? I just get rain that’s so cold, my toes hurt in my rain boots.

After school snack: Everyone got a blueberry hard candy, two soft cookies with chocolate in the middle and a bag of pretz. The way they designed the bag to open was really cool. I took a picture of the instructions on the left and the right is how it looks like after you open it.

There was a school meeting at 4. There usually is on Wednesdays at Joto. Mari sensei had to work a bit more after the meeting, but it was okay because I had tons of work too. After she dropped me home, I made pasta for dinner. I watched a movie while I bent all the paperclips into hearts. Then I clipped all the letters and put them away for when I fill the graduation gift bags. I spent the rest of the night catching up on the writing I had to do.

Elephant Presentation

2010-03-09T21:55:00.000+09:00

rainy days: It was pouring rain today. Mari sensei drove me to school because I had to bring my laptop for a presentation and I was afraid the cookies would break. I was so busy with tutoring and making cookies yesterday, I didn’t write up a good copy of the letter I had for fourth and third grade.

Joto: The first thing I did was write up the letter. Then I had to transfer the picture from my computer to Mari Sensei’s computer to print. I was going to email it to my gmail but the internet was down yesterday and this morning too. The printer only had blue and yellow ink left so everything turned out green. Fortunately, my letter was going to be in black and white so that wasn’t a problem. We photocopied 40 letters for grade 3 and 44 letters for grade 4.

I found out that the grade six graduation party is on the 18th. The last day I’m at Joto. How fortunate is that? I get to attend BOTH Tokiwa and Joto’s graduation parties. Too bad I can’t attend both graduation ceremonies.

I had five classes today. I covered “How Much” with 5-1 and 6-1. I taught grade 2 body parts. It was the 3rd graders last class with me, so I did an elephant presentation for them. I also had both fourth grader classes in the same period for an elephant presentation too.

Elephant Presentation: Here is a rough idea of the beginning of my presentation. You have to imagine me telling this with exaggerated actions and random Japanese words.

This is the first slide. I asked them if they knew what the picture is of. Everyone guessed elephant with no problem! I thought it might be tricky. I think the teachers may have told them what the special class was going to be about. Or maybe the elephant on my desktop gave it away.

“Heidi Sensei went to Thailand for winter vacation.”

“Elephant. Nature. Park.
I was a volunteer.”

“Elephant in Japanese is Zou(san). Elephant in Thai”go” is Chang”

“There are 34 elephants in the park.”

"Heidi Sensei was a volunteer.
She was a volunteer.
Volunteer.
Volunteer.
He is the guide.”

”There are around 60 dogs at the park.“

“Every night, one or two would sleep on my bed. In the room are two beds. Sometimes, dogs will sleep on the floor. One time, there were 6 dogs in my room.”

“One day, I saw a dog lying next to poo. I was so surprised! I did not let that dog sleep with me.”

“Elephant poo is THIS big. *show size* It is not smelly.”

“There are about 20 cats at the park. This one has a moustache. His name is uncle.”

”There are two main activities everyday. Feeding time and bath time. Feeding time is at 11:00 am and 4:00 pm.”

”Heidi Sensei is feeding the elephant some pineapple. Elephants are big. They can be dangerous. That’s why there is a gap between me and the elephant. Only their trunk can get food from me.”

“This man is a mahout. He takes care of the elephant. There is always a mahout with an elephant.”

“Before feeding time, elephants are always hungry. Sometimes, they hold up their trunk and open their mouths to wait for food. *mimic hungry elephant*

”This elephant is eating a banana from my hand."

”What's this in English? (teeth) Only young elephants have teeth. Old elephants don't have teeth.” “Elephants are like humans. They live to around 70 years old.”

I showed them the video of Kham Paan eating mikans, and then bread. I told them elephants can peel an orange if they want to. They were really impressed. Next, I showed them pictures of all the different types of food we feed the elephants.

“There are two types of elephants. African elephants and asian elephants. African boy and girl elephants have tusks. Asia boy elephants have tusks. Asia girl elephants have very small tusks.”

At the end of the presentation. I finished off with a picture of Angelo making me a figurine of Kham Paan and the story of how I got her tail hair ring. Some of the kids really enjoyed this part of the presentation because it was hands on and they could touch something. Plus, it was when I handed out cookies and letters to them.

Lunch: The little strawberry roll we had was SO good.

Patrol Car: Mari Sensei had to drive the patrol car today. She offered to give me a ride to the bulk supermarket. The car is a tiny pick up truck (all Japanese pick up trucks are puny) with a magnetic flashing blue light that sticks to the roof. It was such a rickety ride! She dropped me off, did her rounds around the neighbourhood, then she came to pick me back up.

Suupaa: I got three bags of flour. Butter was on sale, so I got 5 boxes. I think that should be enough. I also got two bags of sugar. In the fresh food section, I saw strawberries on sale. They were small but it won’t matter. I was thinking of making scones or something and you have to chop them up.

99 cookies

2010-03-08T22:59:00.001+09:00

Joto: Looong bike ride to Joto today but thankfully, it’ll be my last for this school year because Mari sensei will be driving me the rest of the times.

Kenji kun was really happy to see me. That made me glad. He's been more vocal when he plays with me (ever since I told him not to swing the mop in the air because it's kitanai/dirty). Maybe it's because I've shown that I can understand a lot of what he says.

Lunch: We had quartered slices of mikan again. I’ve seen the classic orange in mouth a billion times, but I thought it was funny that I had lunch with fourth graders and they did it without a problem. When I went to visit first grade. Their mouths weren’t big enough for the mikan. This kid was struggling to keep it in his mouth. You can see him tilting back his head to hold the mikan.

During break time after lunch, I asked one of the students to take a picture of me with the statue at the front of the school. I wanted to use it in the letters I'm going to write.

Suupaa: After school, I went to the bulk food store by Joto. I had to buy some chocolates to fill the graduation gift bags. I also bought strawberries and butter for the cookies.

Acupuncture: Tono is starting to really like me! He used to be by the door every time I came in, and then he would disappear. The last few times, he stuck around and I got a chance to pet him. He really liked it. Now he keeps walking around my feet when I change. I’m not sure where he is once I get on the table. I usually have my eyes closed so I can’t see the needles or they’re closed because I’m falling asleep.

Tutoring: We deviated from the normal lesson plan today because I needed a lot of help with my graduation letters. With Nobuko’s help, I revamped the grade six letter I wrote for Tokiwa students into grades 1-5 elementary and grades 1-2 junior high. It didn’t take as long as I thought it would because I reused a lot of the material. Next, she helped me translate the class agreement form for my eikaiwa. Then, I took a look at an article she had translated for inews.

Baking: When I got home, I went to work on making cookies for tomorrow’s presentation. There are 40 kids in grade 3 and 22 in each grade 4 class, plus the teachers. I doubled the recipe but it didn’t make enough cookies. I was out of flour and sugar so I hurried to saty while I had a yogurt pumpkin bread baking. It exploded like a volcano when I was gone.

I made another double batch of the recipe, but I didn’t finish using all the dough. I had made more than enough cookies for tomorrow.

I popped the second loaf of bread into the oven and worked on my presentation. I put walnuts in this time.

Elephant Presentation: I hadn’t started at all. I was just going to use the one I had made for Hiyoshi, but I realized that it would be too short and it didn’t have enough pictures. I need to make a powerpoint that can be used for all grades and change the content of the presentation so it is applicable to each grade.

it won’t stop raining.

2010-03-07T23:47:00.000+09:00

Megumi texted me this morning and said she could give me a ride. I didn’t even realize it was raining outside! I checked my weather widget when I woke up and it only said cloudy. It’s been raining hard since Tuesday. When will it stop?

I put all the extra cookies from the grade 6 graduation gifts in a box to bring to church. I didn’t want to eat the rest of it myself. I also grabbed my guitar and waited for Megumi outside.

We ate lunch really slowly and everyone hung around afterwards to talk. There was no kid’s party or meeting. It was nice to spend more time with everyone. I felt like some of the ladies tried to talk to me more. Usually, they just listen in on the conversations I have with Megumi san or Tomoe sensei.

I played guitar with Kenichi sensei. My fingers soon hurt a lot because I didn't practice all week. I was too busy with graduation. We played 5 songs from sheet music. It was really hard. I would have been too discouraged if I had to try the song myself. It was much much easier listening to him play, seeing where he put his fingers and the knowledge of the chords behind the notes.

After guitar, I went back to the main room downstairs. Reikosan and Youkosan were chatting. Soon, Megumisan came down and Tomoe Sensei joined us too. We talked about a whole bunch of things. I made a joke that no boy will want to hold my hand because of the calluses I'm getting on my fingers. It took them a while to understand me but when they did, Tomoe sensei countered that a a good boy only cares about holding my heart. I found it so funny that we can bounce jokes back and forth even though it can take such a painfully long time to understand each other.

After lunch, Youkosan had showed some of us the stretches that she does everyday. She is surprisingly flexible for having a bad back. This gave me an idea to organize a girls (in this case, mostly very old ladies) night once every month or two. It’s something interesting for them to look forward to. I get a chance to hang out with them more and become better friends with them. I brought this idea up and they seemed to like it.

i took a nap before I went down to Jesse and Steph’s for a game of Carcassonne and Settlers. Steph made bread pudding. It was really good.

slept the day away

2010-03-06T23:43:00.000+09:00

I stayed in bed till 3pm. I woke up on and off but my bed was so comfy and I told myself I could sleep for as long as I want because I didn’t have much rest the past few days. I started writing an article for inews.

While I was doing some research, I found out elephant day was March 13. I’m glad I didn’t miss it! I asked Jeremy if I could go on his show. It would be a good time to talk about elephants, but he already has the next two week scheduled.

I blogged a little bit, but the internet was really crappy so i just watched tv shows and movies until 5 in the morning. I feel like I’m back at mac with the sleep schedule of a university student. haha

Tokiwa gr. 6 farewell party

2010-03-05T23:39:00.000+09:00

491 cookies: I was supposed to wake up at 4, but I couldn’t get out of bed until 5 in the morning. I made so many cookies. At first, I only did one tray of 24 cookies. Then, I stacked two trays. They overlapped, so I could only fill 3/4 of the second tray (I’m in my bath robe haha. It was so cold in the kitchen and the robe is fleecy).

I made so many cookies. I filled up three containers. I tried taping the bag at different lengths to see what looked nicer. I chose the one on the far right in the end. The bottom left picture is of 117 bags of cookies. I can’t believe it.

Office Day: I went to the office but some people needed to use the room about half an hour after I got there. I asked Toyoshima sensei if I could go to Tokiwa and he gave me leave. I stopped by home to finish packaging up the cookies first then I biked to school.

Final preparations: In the teacher’s room, I had to finish putting in the rest of the stuff (letters/bookmarks/sweets) that I didn’t finish last night. Then I had to put in the cookies and twist tie the bag. I was quick, but I didn’t have enough time to finish it all before the presentation. When everyone left to go to the gym, Machi sensei and one of the other teachers helped me fill the bags. It was quickly done with the three of us. We made it just in time to skip the opening comments and watch the grade 1 performance.

Grade 1: They wore cute hats and gloves that they got at sports day last year. They had such loud voices for such tiny bodies. You can even see by the picture how much he’s trying to project his voice. The first graders did a dance as their farewell present.

Grade Two: They took votes of what the sixth graders liked best in different categories and made it into a quiz for the audience. They had questions like: Which is their favourite lunch food? Which school trip did they like the best? Which character do they like the best? Then they all did a dance.

Grade 3: They organized a mini sports tournament between the third graders and the sixth graders. It included individual jump rope, group jump rope, and over-under with a ball. The third graders tried their best, but they were no match for the graduating grade (they didn’t try to be nice). The sixth graders creamed them.

Grade 4: They put on a skit pretending to be teachers at the school. I couldn’t understand very much of it, but the grade six teachers were definitely made fun of. Everyone seemed to laugh after every sentence. They were very good actors.

Grade 5: They put on an impressive dramatic theatrical skit. They had moving backgrounds built of students like seaweed at the bottom of the ocean (of course that was my interpretation of it, I didn’t understand the skit). It got really complicated with headstands and two levels of people.

Grade 6: Here’s a video of their song. I tried out my camera for the video. The footage turned out to be a little choppy (I think it’s because my card isn’t fast enough), but the sound quality is fine.

After the grade sixes presented, they sat down on the floor and looked at the screen on stage. A slideshow of pictures were shown with karaoke style lyrics. It was very touching to see pictures of them in grade 1. I could recognize some of them and I can’t believe they were ever so small!

Parting words were written on the screen. It was still in the style of Karaoke lyrics, so everyone read them out loud.

Lastly, there were a few words from the principal. Then the sixth graders filed out under the rainbow bridge (where RED is the MIDDLE colour, what? haha is this a Japanese thing? or did the kids make a mistake).

Backstage after the show: The kids pose with their fish costumes.

Presents time: Along with the rest of the school, I went to each classroom to give out my gifts. I waited inline after the younger grades with their presents (trophies made of plastic water bottles, magnets made of modeling clay, monsters/figurines/statues made of recycled cartons and bottles). It was amazing. The whole act of giving back to the sixth graders who had taken care of them all year. Their faces were filled with excitement to hand over gifts they worked hard on. The sixth graders were so gracious in accepting the gifts. There was love. I felt like I was watching a huge family at Christmas.

When it was my turn, I got a chance to shake every students hand. Some of them hugged me. It was a really touching moment for me.

Sometimes when I teach, I spend the whole lesson facing the whole class and I don’t get a chance to really SEE the individuals. Today, I got to look into every student’s eyes and thank them. I really wanted to show my appreciation. I wanted to take this last chance to impress them (as in: give them a positive impression of English). Give them a moment where English is special and important. So hopefully, they will study hard in junior high school.

Getting all the presents done in such a short time has been really tough. I had to invest sleep and time and energy, but it was really worth it. I feel like the year has gone by so quick! I didn’t realize that school would end in March. I didn’t realize that we had so little time left. I felt like it was my last chance to really impact their life/education. How could I complain when I had a chance to do that? I’m just happy that I was able to do it.

Here’s a quick picture of the gift package that I took on my way to the classrooms. I was so rushed in preparing them, I didn’t even do an documentation. (two candies, one chocolate, one bookmark with name and picture of class, one letter, one heart paperclip, one bag of cookies)

Many of the students had drawings, letters and presents for me. It was wonderful I didn’t expect it at all. I tried to cram all of them into one picture, but it’s all overlapped.

Some of the chalkboards were dedicated to me too.

In three of the classes, I got class presents/cards.

While I was waiting in line, many of the students asked me to sign the bookmarks I made them. I also sign their notebooks and the hard piece of plastic you put behind your piece of paper so the next sheet doesn’t get dirty (I don’t know what it’s called). That is pretty standard. Especially with the younger grades. I sign those all the time (my mother signed tons too haha). BUT I got asked to sign two pairs of shoes AND and ARASHI cd cover (I felt related to them somehow).

Some of the students gave a short speech before they presented the class present. They had to keep checking their hand midway. It was so funny.

Mori sensei also gave me a gift. A photo frame, clip and four pictures.

This was unrelated to the party, but I got cookies. One of the special education classes made a bag for every teacher. So cute!

With school over, I went to Kumon. I only did one package because of the crazy week. I did the reading test, completed another package, handed it in, and then went home. I was going to have dinner with friends tonight but I was so hungry from skipping lunch that I made myself something (way too much!) to eat. Then, I was sleepy and full, but I decided to still go out and I’m very happy that I did. We went over to Melanie’s after dinner. I stayed until 3 in the morning. The walk home was rainy but refreshing. I slipped straight into bed. It was a long day =)

turtle bun

2010-03-04T17:05:00.001+09:00

Tokiwa: After I dropped off my bag, I went to Hiyoshi to print out the group photos I took yesterday with the sixth graders. Their printer is faster and better. Plus, I wanted to surprise the teachers because they didn’t know I was using the photos for anything.

I’m wearing beige and purple, standing in the middle of all the photos. Tokiwa students don’t have to wear uniforms. It’s easier for me to spot them outside of school because they look the same. A uniform can change so much about a person. It often makes younger kids look older and.

Lunch: I had this weird sea (must be!) thing in my salad.

I worked on cutting out the photos and pasting them on the bookmarks in between my classes and during 6th period. I was hardly finished and I wanted to by tonight. I wouldn’t have time tomorrow. I stayed at school until 7:00. I finished all the bookmarks by then. I wasn’t done stuffing all the bags, but Harry was coming over with the couch and I had to be home for that.

I got some pretty cool afterschool snacks. I see why teachers like working so late! (haha just kidding) Strawberry mochi and strawberry bun. yum =)

112 pieces of paper

2010-03-03T15:50:00.000+09:00

Tokiwa: Today was yesterday’s lesson with the fifth graders instead of sixth. Since I had practice yesterday, I got all of today’s hints literally within seconds. I had to pretend that I didn’t know what they were doing. The only work that stumped me was Hokkaido. Yesterday, they used hints like “north” “big” “snow” “cold” “skiing”. Today, I found out that they are famous for cows and caramel!?

Group Pictures: Fourth period, the sixth graders practiced in the gym again. I was specifically not scheduled for a class then so I could take group pictures with them. I stayed with them for the whole period so I could hear them sing again. It was really good. I’m impressed by how much talent they have. I don’t remember doing something this big in elementary school.

After practice, I took pictures with every class. We did a formal picture, and then a funny picture. I plan to use the funny one for the bookmarks. Akamune sensei was absent on work outside school so I had to take his picture after school.

Lunch: Today is Hina Matsuri, doll festival. It’s more of a girl’s festival. I only found out about it recently because it’s not a national holiday. We got these little crispy things. The kids were throwing it up in the air and trying (not successfully) to catch it in their mouths. I protested against reusing fallen crispies but they said there’s a 10 second rule.

We had mussels! I never thought we’d have something like this. I had one empty shell and some sandy ones but it was still really cool!

We had Doll festival crispies, mussels AND seaweed to wrap our rice in. This was so fun. I loved the rice too. It tasted sweet and sour. The teacher made a few onigiris at the end of lunch with the leftover rice and the students gave me one.

My students liked the seaweed more than the rice. The teacher was outside the class talking to some students the whole time. I’m not sure if this would have been allowed if he was in the room. Some teachers are really strict during lunch time. I was running around taking so many pictures and laughing so much, I had to stay after the bell rang to finish my lunch.

Graduation Letter: We ran out of time after lunch so Machi sensei and I worked on the letter during sixth period. Kyoto Sensei told me that they had a meeting soon, but I guess he saw I was still busy working so he told me to feel free to stay. I wrote up a good copy of the letter. I stayed until Machi sensei looked it over and gave it a okay.

Tokiwa Elephant: After school, I got some students to help take pictures of me and the elephant in the school yard. I wanted a picture of me (somewhere where they could instantly tell it was at school) to put on the letter for the six graders.

Dollar Store: I went to the 100 yen shop to get more postcards and ribbons for the bookmarks. I saw one of my younger Tokiwa kids. She helped me pick out the colour of the ribbons. I also got little plastic bags to hold cookies and bigger ones to hold everything. I had a hard time finding twist ties. They didn’t have it in the kitchen section. I had to ask for help and I was led to the gift wrapping section. I bought a bunch of hard candy. They were tiny, but many to a bag. I could do two per person. I saw these pretty confetti pieces with a hole in the middle so you can thread a paper clip through. Surprisingly, the coloured paper clips had the most per box, so I bought those.

Back to Tokiwa: I went home to quickly transfer the pictures from my camera to the computer and sent it to myself on Gmail. It was 6:30. I wasn’t sure if teachers would still be at school but I wanted to print out the photo and get started on folding the paper. The sooner I can get more done, the better. I still wasn’t sure if I could bake everyone cookies. It seems a little crazy.

Almost all the teachers were still in! Kyoto sensei helped me print out the photo. We had to fiddle with the contrast on the photocopier so I’m glad I had help. With 112 copies of the graduation in my hand, I walked over to church to practice piano.

Bible Study: After worship and bible reading, I went to the side room to fold the graduation letters. Tomoe sensei always went to this room with Kazuki and Shuuta. I always wondered what they did. I thought maybe she needed to keep an eye on them while they did they homework. It turns out that they do a mini bible study on their own from another book.

I sat at the corner of the table, quietly folding my papers. As I heard Shuuta read, I realized this was the first time I’d heard him say so much! The second time would be the reading test I gave him with the rest of the first years in Hiyoshi. He’s really shy, so it was nice to actually hear him speak. At the end, Tomoe sensei tried to explain what the main point of their bible study was. I thought it was really nice of her to include me.

I tried to thread the paperclip through confetti. The picture on the box made the idea look so pretty! but it didn’t work out. The paper clips I got had a coating of colour, making them thicker than regular paper clips. I made about 10. Really shoving the paperclip through. I realized it wasn’t going to work and I gave up. I started to use the paperclips regularly. Then I remembered I could make them into hearts and it wouldn’t be as plain.

Tomoe sensei and Kazuki asked to help. I taught them how to make the hearts. Only Kazuki got a hang of it, but it took him a while. I told him to keep practicing so he could make good ones for his girlfriend. I felt really bad when he told me he didn’t have one anymore. I went all mother on him and told him now is the time to study. The three of us had some good conversations about school and relationships.

Megumi san had to leave but Tomoe sensei told me to stay until they had finished helping me with all the letters. Then, they could drive me home. I didn’t mind walking because my backpack was light and it wasn’t raining but she said it was dark and she wanted to know where I live. She said it in a creepy way haha but she was just joking. She’s always joking.

One time, I had a bag I got in Thailand with elephants all over it and she asked me if the bag was heavy? I had the translation, but somehow the joke was lost on me and someone had to explain it. haha

Curling Ribbons: I got home at 10. I already had some postcards cut up into two bookmarks and hole punched them. I watched a movie while I tied ribbon onto the bookmarks and curled them so it was pretty.