They Played the Bejeezus Out of That Pole

And once again, Taiko rocks my world!

I happened to mention that I liked that drumming arcade game again. It was three weeks ago, at Arao #3 Junior High, and my comment was followed by an invitation from one of my all-time favorite seventh graders. I like this kid because he carries his energy wherever he goes, including right into the classroom. I wish he would come along with me to every class in every school, but then I'd have to pay him, and he's sort of young for a regular job and all. Anyway, he told me he liked to do Taiko drumming and invited me to come and watch his group performance in a few weeks. I thought it sounded cute--a bunch of seventh graders doing Taiko on a stage.
And today rolled 'round, I'd forgotten the performance date, and at 9am my lovely tutor calls me this with a couple of free tickets to the show!
I think a lot of people have seen Taiko on TV, like me, but I didn't really expect it to be like it was on TV, with all the glory and intensity. I wondered if it was a production put on by the area middle schools or something.
The great sloping hall of the Arts Center probably holds seven or eight hundred people, and the place was full to capacity. I ended up sitting next to three of my former students from Arao #3, and we exchanged the standard, "How are you?", "I'm fine, thank you. And you?", only to be interupted by the incredible sound of 'PONG PONG PONG PONG'; the big bass drum captured our attention.
Taiko is not just hitting a drum. Taiko is a full experience of movement, color, sound, and energy. Every strike comes with intention, from the mind and the body. The drummers struck the drums and moved from side to side with every strike, their stance deeply wide. Their arms moved so graciously and furiously, shooting up after each hit, all the way up, seeming to point towards the heavens! As the rhythms became more and more complex between the various performers on stage, the stage lights shone new colors forth onto them and their background. The performance went on, strikingly, flawlessly, and every new group that would come out to take the stage would have a different set of costumes. The sets were varied yet simple, the colors were always subtely different and therefore refreshing to take in. The show was dynamic and professional throughout, even when these teeny little kids(maybe around 5 or 6 years old) were on stage, banging away with the rest of them. It was again amazing to witness the concept of talent education(a concept brought to the west by Shinichiro Suzuki, founder of the Suzuki method for stringed-instrument players) brilliantly at work. This concept says that every child has talent, and with the proper support structure, all children can achieve success.
Now, I didn't mean to skimp on the part about the adults, the ones really drove the show home. Their skill was apparent even before they started twirling their sticks in the air and adding complex steps and body movements as they played. All in all, there seemed to be about seventy-five members of the group. They finally all took the stage for one big(and actually real, not like in the US, where it's just expected) encore. A gargantuan bamboo pole was lowered across the front length of the stage, and while the adults and young adults played the drums on the back part of the stage, the kids lined up and played that bamboo pole with fury. It was a spectacular encore.
Needless to say, I got a lot more than my money's worth out of this one. Of course, since I didn't pay for it at all, that isn't saying much. ; ) But I mean for it to say great things, actually. The show genuinely blew me away, and seeing that little seventh-grader up there on the stage, the head drummer of the junior students, giving it his blessed all, brought tears to my eyes.
This has been an interlude, brought to you by life itself. It has been an intermission from the job-saga, which will continue to unfold at another meeting with the Board of Education tomorrow...

Total Plutonic Reversal

What can I say? Life happens. They've decided to cut my program next year. I can't renew my contract.
I've known for some time that the city of Arao has been having a financial crisis. That's why they cut the program down from two people to one person in this last year(which is why I'm so busy in school; I do the job of two people). But as it happened, today, the day after I decided to stay on for another year, the Board of Education met with me to tell me they're axing the JET program in Arao due to lack of funds.

It took me about ten seconds to absorb this life altering piece of information.
Summary of emotions felt; Surprise, momentary confusion, relief, stress.
I say 'surprise' and not shock because I'm coming to accept that life is totally out of my control.
And the relief came before the stress; no more Wednesdays at elementary school. ; )
And why the stress? The sudden uncertainty of what comes next.

I searched in my briefcase and found my thinking cap. I dusted it off, put it on, and threw these thoughts onto the table:
Does that mean I have to move out of Arao in July? Answer: Most probably yes.
Does that mean I have to move back to the US in July? Not necessarily.
What are my options??? (They'll have to get back to me)

Immediately after the meeting I got on the phone to my prefectural advisor. Blast it, she wasn't available. I need to know my options. I have two weeks to decide what to do.
Here's what I think they are: the first possibility is that I move to another town within Kumamoto Prefecture(a prefecture is made up of several cities or towns, like a county). Sounds, well, not thoroughly appealing. If I have to move, I want to make it worth the tremendous effort that moving can be. What sounds more appealing is that I might have a chance to transfer to another part of Japan, and live there for a year. As you know, I was planning on staying in Arao, but as long as I can't, maybe I can get a chance to experience life in a different part of Japan!
Of course, the option still remains to return home. This is not such a terrible option either. I could do some traveling after I return, as I'd planned to anyway, and I'd certainly enjoy coming back to Boulder.
It's cliched, but they handed me a lemon and I'm going to make some sweet, refreshing lemonade--ahhh!
So, I'm just waiting on that call from my advisor. She'll give me the beef and then I'll decide what to do next.

I've been banking on the words of Albert Einstein this entire year:
"In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity."
We'll see if ol' Albert really knows what he's talking about.

Six months in Japan today

How long is six months? It's long enough to have begun the journey.

My recontracting decision is due in less than two weeks. That means I have to decide whether or not I'm staying for another year. On the surface, it might've appeared that I've been ready to leave for a while. Yet, that's not the entire reality of it.
Since I came back from Philadelphia, something's happened to me. It makes me want to stay.
If I can blame this on someone, it was actually Honda Sensei who instigated my 'reconsideration'. I was training at the dojo in Kumamoto one night, about a month ago. We were doing some sort of kokyu-throw(movement/breath/timing-type throw). My partner was a woman who was very reserved in her style, and not so confident in her throws. Honda Sensei came around to see what we were up to, and he stopped us and turned to me. Honda Sensei has a quirky way about him sometimes, but when he wants to cut through the bullsh*t, he really becomes direct. I think he called someone over to translate, otherwise, I'm not sure how I knew exactly what he said. But this is what he said: "Why are you holding back? What is your purpose for holding back? There's no need. Train at your level."
I really didn't think too much about what he'd said just then. I just remembered his energy, and sort of accepting some energy from him; like he was giving me some energy.
After class, in fact, weeks after class, his words kept returning to me. Why are you holding back? What is your purpose for holding back? The words rang out in my head. And sure enough, I can see what his question was for. It's stupid, this game of being oneself. I give up trying to understand it. I completely give up hope.
Give me isolation; I accept it. I give up trying to deal with it all.
And so I celebrate six months in Japan today.

This being the case, my options are 1. Return home to Boulder in July, or 2. Stay in Japan for one more year.
Life choice #1: be surrounded by friends and family, rejoin the English-speaking world, play great works of music, rejoin the Aikido dojo; find a job.
Life choice #2: stay here, continue to embrace this life and be repulsed by it even more, explore and expand with Aikido opportunities, make money, and be prepared to come home to enter school in Boulder after next year.

Truth be known, I want to come home. Life is easier at home. Communication happens at home. There are many things that make life tediously difficult about living where I live. But I'm not convinced that's a good reason to leave.

Originally, I had wanted to stay here for two years. And so, I shall stay, I suppose. Even as I write it, my heart aches. But, I will survive.
(Cue disco music, while in the background, one small violin plays 'my heart bleeds for you'.)

P.S. If you are thinking to come and visit, I promise it's actually rather nice here. ; )

Naked Men and so forth...

I didn't know, after all, that they would run into the ocean.

The day started brightly. Soon after, it began to rain.
I was thrilled to be up bright and early on a Sunday morning. I was soon to head off to an Aikido seminar to break in the new year. I was greatly looking forward to seeing Suganuma Sensei again. I could hardly believe I'd been invited to a yudansha(black belt) seminar by Suganuma personally.

That's about where the good part of the morning ended. I made certain the night before that I understood the train schedule perfectly. I did exactly what I was told to do. Yet, somehow, in Japan, so far, that hasn't seemed to work out for me. I got on the wrong train. It went to the right place, only it was the local and not the rapid train, so I arrived after the seminar had already started. I was supposed to meet the group of ten or eleven people from my dojo on the train, but actually, they'd told me to get on the wrong train, so I didn't find anyone! I didn't even have a map of how to get to the dojo from the train stop!!! I did everything I could to get there. I asked for directions at the info booth in the train station. I got directions to the wrong dojo.
Finally, I gave up. I tried to maintain some composure as I poaked at a cabbage salad and dryly buttered my toast in the Fukuoka train station cafe.

I had been asked to this seminar a couple of months ago after talking to Suganuma Sensei at a party, and I was thrilled. Unfortunately, I didn't write the date down, so I promptly forgot when it would be. Naturally, I was surprised when someone reminded me about it at yesterday's practice. I'd already planned to go two festivals and have a meeting with my supervisor, my supervisor's boss, and the woman who has become my tutor. The purpose of the meeting was to promote positive communication among the staff in my office. It was to be informal, with eating and drinking. It would start at one.

So, I needed to quickly devise a plan so I could go to the seminar and the festivals and the meeting. I resolved to go to the first part of the seminar and skip the rest to come back for the meeting and so on. Well, as I said, I decided to give up on getting to the first part of the seminar and got on a train to ride two hours back to my town for the meeting. In the middle of the ride, my supervisor called to cancel the meeting. It was too late to turn around and catch the last half of the seminar.

Therefore, in light of the fact that my whole day had turned to crap, I went to the Naked Man Feast. Fest, that is. ; )
The men actually donned white loincloths, and they gathered at a very special shrine for the purpose of purifying themselves and blessing the town with good health and good fortune in the new year. They held fast to each other in a circle facing inward, about 30 men, with one man in the center hoisted on the shoulders of the others. They chanted 'Wa-soi, Wa-soi, Wa-soi' in rounds, as the man in the center urged them on. Firemen and police officers surrounded the ball of men as they swayed back and forth, sometimes into the crowd. It was pretty dangerous. One man in a loin cloth, with blood smeared across his chest staggered past me, apparently crushed by the unsteady mass. After inquiring, I learned that the men weren't drunk. They were cold.
People from the outside were tossing buckets of cold water onto their bare skin. Some of the men looked dazed, as steam rose from their bodies. But they kept chanting, and finally I could see that the man in the middle was holding something. I couldn't see what it was.
The pack started moving down the street, taking directions from the frigid man on top. Soaked and shivering, some with purple lips, they made their way through the tiny streets of the town, maybe four or five blocks to the Ariake Sea. Then, as simple as that, they ran in! It was probably 35 degrees Fahrenheit out at the time, and an icy rain was again starting to fall. As they shouted and danced around, I could then see what they were carrying. It looked like a straw target. Someone said it was the seat of the local deity, moved to the town from a neighboring shrine over four hundred years ago(I doubt it was the original cushion of the god! : ) ). The seat represents luck and strength, I was told, and it was the mens' job to safely carry it to the ocean!

Then, I got my picture taken with some of the naked men. : )

Bummed out that I missed the seminar, but so happy to have witnessed yet another angle of the complex Japanese cultural mobile.

Tomorrow it's back to school again. Tuesday is my last day at Arao #3 Middle School. I'm looking forward to moving on. There seems to be some stale air at #3. Thursday I start at #5...

Fourth Graders are from Heaven

Had another six-class elementary school day on Wednesday. Ended up staying at #3 Middle School til 10PM the night before trying to finish preparing. I still haven't found a way to deal with Wednesdays. Usually, there's no plan or idea given to me as to what I should teach. I generally receive a schedule about one week before class, but this week I got it the day before. The schedule tells me how many classes I will be teaching, the number of students, and the names of the teachers. It also tells me what time each class starts. Under the space for lesson suggestions, it undoubtedly reads some variation of: 'ALT(Julie) Gives Introduction, Song, Game, Goodbye'. This week's schedule read: 'We hope to play children's game in America,' and 'Please tell us that junior high school.' Uh...
I'm doing my best. We played a couple of silly counting games with racquets and foam balls in 1st and 2nd grades. 3rd grade practiced the alphabet, did an alphabet maze and played bingo. We made a calendar together in the 4th grade class. In 5th and 6th grade classes we played a card game, kind of like Memory, but speaking in English.

I usually try to come up with one 'quality' idea, and really work hard to make one class really good. I usually pick 4th grade to do it with, because I think 4th grader are at a particularly interesting time in their mental development. I think 4th graders embody the best of elementary school. They are curious and cute, but are able to hold onto concepts and work on projects as a group or by themselves. Thank iPods for the 4th grade.

And otherwise:
It's been quiet after the holidays.
Although,... the naked man festival is this Sunday; I'm looking forward to that. ; ) It's called Matobakai, and actually, the men wear loincloths. It's been freezing cold out, but I've heard it doesn't stop them from going to the shrine to celebrate. What they are celebrating is yet unknown to me.
Also on Sunday is the Dondoya Festival, where families take down the decorations that adorned their house for New Year's. They gather at another shrine, make a fire, and toss the decorations in to pray for good health in the New Year.
details to come...

On the plus side, my Japanese has really started improving rapidly as of late. Also, since I gave up caring what anyone thinks of me here, I feel much happier overall.

Letter

Hey, thanks!!  I hope your new year is just spiffalicious!!!

What other French stuff are you cooking lately?  I noticed one French restaurant here, but I almost don't want to try it.  I'm sick of having no friends.  It means I always go out by myself.
Yet, it looks as if I may have actually be getting more friendly with---dun dun duuhhh---my tutor!!  Yes, I finally got a tutor.  She's a perky, nosey, middle-aged Japanese lady who speaks English really well.  She reminds me of my old friend Joy in an odd way.  I think it's because she can be pushy sometimes, but it's in a way that is refreshing to me, so it's okay.  I'm looking forward to spending more time with her.  Maybe I can get a pic to send you.

When I was home I picked up the new Eminem CD, 'Encore'.  I have all his CDs now.  And even though I think he's vulgar, it's been really healthy to listen to him lately.  Somehow I don't feel all that isolated if I allow myself to blame the Japanese [culture] a little for my isolation.  Eminem helps me do that and feel better about myself for it.  I'm saying this only part sarcastically!

So, yeppers, I did enjoy PA a lot; I can't tell you how revitalizing it was seeing my family, if only for 6 days--except now I'm back to sitting at my desk at City Hall for this week.  It's the stupidest thing, just sitting there trying to come up with lesson plans with no curriculum, but they just don't know what to do with me while school's out, and they wouldn't dare ask me what I think!!  I think I ought to be back in my school, helping clean the place and planning real lessons with the teachers.  Argh!

Also, I just found out that after this cycle of middle schools is up, that is, when the school year ends in March, I start over again at the first middle school.  News to me, because my printed schedule had stopped after the end of March!  I had no idea I'd be returning to all the schools again.  No one told me!  I'm always left in the dark!! I haven't felt this much pent-up anger since I was a teenager--what's with all the crap they are handing me?

Weather's been cold, but not chills to the bone like Philly.  You were wondering, but no, Japan wasn't affected by the tsunami.  Do you actually prefer the cold to the T-shirts and clouds?  Seems heavenly because I'm so cold here so much of the time.  I don't even like to go outside my bedroom if I can help it--that's why I moved all the important stuff in here.  Not so good for my health though, not moving at all. ; )

The dream of Austria is still alive.  However, if I don't fly straight home first, I forfeit my free plane ride; it's just the JET rules.  So Austria will have to come after a trip home.  I'm actually dreaming of going to Aikido Camp my first week back--a sort of intensive re-entry program or something.

I just read this and think I ought to post part or all of it on the blog.  You want I should leave a sometin' out?

Hehe, you just asked all the right questions, I guess. : )

But I'm glad to hear you had a good New Year's, with the appropriate partying.  Partying here is nothing like partying there.  If the party starts smelling the least bit wild, someone gets up to leave, and pretty soon everyone's splitting.

I was thinking about the center again, you know, from Aikido.  Embodiment comes slowly, but it comes, slowly.

the gas station, the holidays and isolation

I never like to admit that I have a cold. I'll go through days of sneezes, boxes of tissues, and bottles of echinacea, denying any kind of condition, until one morning I'll wake up and the whole thing will have passed. Then I'd think "Boy, that some cold I had."

I'm currently in Japan, in denial.

Somehow though, the thought getting gas always seems to cheer me up.
As with the convenience stores, the moment of arrival at the gas station is climactic.

The convenience store:
Pretend for a moment, that you need to buy some drinking water because you discover your own tap to be somewhat disturbingly yellow. You can't take echinacea without water, so you decide to hop in the car(the compact 'Mira Daihatsu'--or whatever the case may be) and roll off towards 7-11 for a little 24-hour service. And service it is.
"!!!! IRASHAIMASE !!!!" "!!!!! WELCOME, PLEASE COME IN !!!!!"
The cashiers' vocal greeting hits you, like cupid's arrow, forcefully, unexpectedly, lovingly. You soak in the rush of it, buy your water, and leave.
[Perhaps I'll play a game someday and visit all the 7-11s in town with a tape recorder, to compare the greetings. I would award the loudest, most cheery one with an autographed photo of me, and a promise never to return to their store(take it easy Julie, drop the gun and move away from the cynicism).]

The gas station:
Simply put: it rocks. At the gas station, if you have a customer card, you are a god. You are a '-sama', a greatly respected one. No doubt, gas stations are one of my favorite parts of Japan.
I always go to the same one, if I can help it. I like the fumes, ...uh, vibes.
Okay, so they are just gas stations, but where else do you get full service, free window-wiping and every single attendant knows your name? And again, what could compare to the excitement upon pulling in:
"!!! HAI, HAI, HAI, HAI, HAI--OK !!! (Translation: I'll direct you as to where to park your car. Keep pulling up, keep coming, okay, stop!)
JULIE-SAMA! JULIE DESU! (Translation: It is the supreme goddess Julie who has come to visit us from the planet of strange-looking people. We love her, and yet are scared of her at the same time. Full service for this card-bearing stranger!)."

I'm becoming addicted to getting gas. Which brings us to the next point: the holidays. Which brings us to the next point: isolation.
It was quite wonderful to go home for the holidays. I am constantly surprised that as I grow, so my family and long lost friends also continue to grow. It's strange how I desire to pull away from everyone and everything I know. I was taught that without a reference point, one can realize enlightment. There is no reference point here, yet I do not realize enlightenment. I realize confusion and imbalance. I realize instability and fear. I realize I have isolated myself/that I am being isolated. Therefore, I like to ease the pain with a trip for gas.

New Year's in Japan:
The trip home was quite short(6 days) because I wanted to be sure to come back in time for Japanese New Year's festivities. I stayed the night with my host family, who had cooked an extraordinary meal containing 673 different fantastic dishes to choose from(I didn't really count ; ) ). Nagao Sensei, my host father, and I spent the hours after dinner drinking special thick rice wine and scotch. We watched famous Japanese people in crazy costumes sing on TV, and at 11:45PM, we rejoined the family for toshi-koshi soba, a kind of noodle dish eaten only on New Year's Eve. Soon after, we realized that it was midnight and headed off to a shinto shrine. It was at this shrine that we rang a huge bell(invoking dieties??), and afterward we went to another shrine to offer a few coins and pray/meditate for a moment. It was, perhaps, the first time I had seen regular Japanese folks acting religious.

And now it's back to being on my own. Back to work at the city hall with no work to do. Back to the drawing board. Back to reaching out, and yet again being casually and cooly rejected. Back to good food and good Aikido. Back to back with myself, with nothing but what I create. How lucky, and how meaningless!

Let's hope this year holds more mercy than the last one ended with--thinking of the tsunami. Also, let's hope this year the US government is able to show some compassion this year. Those are my New Year's wishes. Also, to exercise more. And get more gas.

Do We Have Clearance, Clarence?

Quick update: I'll be in Philadelphia from Dec. 23rd in the evening until Dec. 29th in the morning.
If the sudden urge to ask me a riddle or have me ask you one should occur, send me an email and I'll email you the phone number of where I'll be staying. Of course, I'll have several riddles prepared, so feel free to call several times.
Happy Jolly Holidays

This will be a short but much needed break from life here, currently, in Japan.

P.S. Aloe yogurt, as the container reads, is quite a yummy 'moisture desert'.

Who is This Insanely Talented Writer???

Remind me never to read someone's blog who is insanely more talented at writing than I am.

I tend to view writing as a way to communicate events, facts, or interesting stories to myself, for reflection, or to others, for sharing and maintaining connections. I like punctuation. I like grammar and the feel of a well-written sentence. I don't find much satisfaction in stream-of-consciousness writing. I mostly fail to comprehend the purpose of recording ephemeral emotions and confessing passing passions. It's easy to convince myself that writing of this kind is pointless self-indulgence. Then... I read someone's blog who knows how to do it right, and my logic instantly falls away.
Perhaps it is because of my isolation here that my blog has taken such a impersonal, almost formal tone. I just think I ought to relax it a little. Herein lies the problem: when am I ever relaxed in Japan?
I went to the hot springs again last night to relieve some tension from my tight shoulders after another long day in school. I sat in the classroom-sized, steaming hottub, while five Japanese ladies shot glances at me, casually chatting with one another. Not one said a word to me the entire time. Not one responded to my smile, my 'konbanwa'('good evening').
People tend to lean towards one extreme. Usually, it's the children who stare, until I wave to them and they realize I'm alive and human. They sometimes wave back, but mostly they just look away, their curious brains searching for the next oddity. The adults, in general, always notice me, but always ignore me. This leads to me feeling quite isolated nearly every time I go out by myself whether I'm at the grocery store, the mall, a restaurant, etc. I blame myself for this; I rather blindly entered a country without knowing the language and took up residence, actually requested residence, in the suburbs of a relatively unknown city on a relatively unknown island. I brought isolation upon myself, big time. However, I blame the Japanese too. Many of such people present themselves to be supremely sensitive to the needs of others, yet they push away my needs with a cold heart.
My solution to the present challenge is to continue to breathe and to recall the wonder of being alive. My solution is also to be proud that I am here, and that I am different. I am normal in many places, but I am not normal here in Japan. I happily sign autographs after every elementary school class. Amazingly enough, I can use chopsticks proficiently. I make sure that I eat very openly, so everyone can notice and pay me a compliment on my skills. I laugh wholeheartedly when, while giving my 52nd self-introduction class, the students, for the 52nd time, mock my pronunciation of the word 'Colorado' and giggle when I tell them the names of my family members, including Jason(the one with the hockey mask) and Rebecca(which sounds like the word 'silly' in Japanese). I am different, and because I'm American, that makes me special. Because I'm in Japan, that makes me an undeniable distraction.The other solution is to think of my job, selling English to Japanese kids, and of course, the kids themselves, who make life in school bareable and humorous.

Ah, forget the above reminder. We all need a little dose of inspiration from time to time, and we can all be insane in our own little way. ; )

Ode to Sashimi

Picture the scene: Fourteen hundred wide eyes stare at a lit stage, eagerly watching as the conductor lifts his baton. One, two... da, da da di di da da di di! The sound of timpani, brass and woodwinds thunder through the hall, proclaiming the commencement of Beethoven's final masterpiece. A chorus of nearly two hundred heads looks back at the crowd. Both the chorus and the crowd are anxiously awaiting the moment when the sounds of the heavenly Ode to Joy will fill the hall with beauty and light.
Now picture the orchestra: half students at Heisei Music Conservatory, half hired professionals, a handful of old-timers who return every year, and me. A... foreign face. The only foreign face--except for the conductor. This man, Renike, a German-born Japan resident for over twenty years, was remarkable. Not only did he bring Beethoven's spirit out of all of us through his inspiration, but he managed to convey his wishes at rehearsal through a mix of Japanese, German and English.
So how on earth did I get a gig like this one? Tsunoda Sensei is the answer. Haven't I mentioned that Japan is about connections? Maybe that's another blog waiting to happen, but, Tsunoda Sensei is one of the few old-timers who was asked back to play. He put in his good word for me and got me in. Into the first violin section, that is!
We had three rehearsals, two of which were during school hours, so I had to take some vacation time. I ended up getting paid about $100(against my contract, but I didn't know about the $ beforehand, I swear!!), so it didn't really matter that I took off. Rehearsal lasted three hours, which were put to good use, I'd say. Part of the time, we rehearsed a bassoon concerto by Weber, which was utterly Mozartian in my opinion(which means I like to listen to it, but not to play it). The rest of the time, I sat at my own stand in the back of the section trying desperately to get the comments from the concertmaster passed back to me. So many of the people I've met are terribly, horribly shy, to the point where no one will even look at me for fear I might talk to them. I had hoped to meet a couple people and maybe form some of my own musical connections in the area, as it's been a difficult task from the start, but no one would talk, even in Japanese!
Yet, I am not writing to show any discouragement, I am mainly writing because of food.
I want to write about the food Tsunoda Sensei and I ate after the concert.

Tsunoda Sensei, as I once mentioned, is a wealthy man. He runs a chiropractic business from his home, is the only Chinese herbalist I've heard of on Kyushu, and maintains a small concert hall in his house. He took me out for sashimi(raw fish/shellfish) after our hard day's work at the concert hall.
The sashimi place was one block from his house, in my hometown Arao. It was the tiniest hole-in-the wall of a restaurant, but looks were certainly deceiving in this case. My friend Steve, whom I traveled to Kyoto with, has a fine appreciation for all things sushi/sashimi. I wished I'd known of this place when he was here. We're not talking salmon and tuna, these fish and shellfish were from my area, fresh as can be, killed and cut up as we waited.

---I wanted to look up all the translations online, but I've tried and have come up with nothing helpful. I believe that many of the food items were rare or delicacies, so I will just do my best to describe them---
(I will list the Japanese in katakanized romaji for those who understand it and wish to correct my mistakes--please do. Also, everything is raw unless otherwise mentioned :) )

Starters: Kairagi-Shellfish, served on Amakusa wakame(local seaweed):
Kaibashira-Looked like a small conch(couldn't identify the shell), hammered open, scooped out of the shell, and thinly sliced. Colorful black and brown edges with a pink flesh.
Bira-Several small clams
Shoyu mameyariika-tiny squid soaked in soy sauce, mirin, and sake for 3 days(yuck-the eyeballs were not of a pleasant texture)

Another round of sashimi:
Aka ebi-Red shrimp, striped, very mushy
Tora fugu-The dreaded blowfish. The chef showed me his license as he served this specialty item. It is illegal to serve blowfish without a license because several parts of the fish are poisonous if swallowed. I freaked out with pleasure when he told me what it was, and I ate it right away. It's flavor was nondescript, like any mild whitefish sashimi I've had.
Haze-Small, whole, white fish, lightly fried
Iwashi dango-Dark brown fish balls, with onion and other vegetables, resembled my memories of liver

Tempura(batter-fried items) arrived:
Kuchizoko-Another tasty white fish
Konyaku-Purple gelatinous squares, rarely made tempura-style
Carrots
Haze-White fish

More sashimi and other things:
Hirame--White fish sandwiched in kombu seaweed for 2 days. Thoroughly consisent and pleasant texture.
Takuwa Tsukemono, ori-Two varieties of wild pickles
Ariake nori-local seaweed-Dark brown, nearly black. Resembled prunes in texture, flavor and color, all except for the seaweed aftertaste. Hmm.
Sukeami shiozuke-Teeny little shrimp, so bitter and salty they were nearly inedible. I did my best ;)
Kapo marunishi-Another shellfish, resembled fleshy, pink cheeks.

Special tastes:
One thirty-year old umeboshi-Plum soaked in wine/sake. So flavorful and bitter, my whole being became 'plum' for a moment. The taste lingered for several minutes. Not unpleasant, but fully encompassing the taste buds. A real treasure.
One thirty-year old umeboshi geokyoso-The plum's seed, removed from the exterior shell. Supposedly possesses special healing powers. It tasted good(shoulders shrug).
The chef's homemade 16 year-old shochu-whisky. Quite delicate, for whisky.
The chef's homemade 6 year-old umeboshi sake-plum wine. Yum yum yum.

Finishing course:
Rice
Daigojiru-Miso soup with coin-shaped dumplings inside. This miso had a texture like corn chowder, contained carrots, sweet potato, winter squash, and onions. The chef said that the recipe had been in the family for centuries. He learned it from his grandmother. He said that she'd served it to samurai. It was by far one of the tastiest foods I've had in Japan, if not in my entire life. It was a great way to finish a stunning meal.

I left out all the tasting sauces, but I think my point's been made about the amazing and unusual quality of this meal. It was obvious that the chef hadn't encountered a customer so enticed by his dishes in a long time. I believe this is why he attempted to create a meal beyond regular extravagance. (Truly, I believe it was the look on my face when he mentioned the blowfish. He knew I'd be interested to try anything after that.)
I ate so much that I had a hard time sleeping. At 3:30AM, I was wide awake. I called my mom and also bought a plane ticket home to Philly for the holidays. Then I read for an hour.
Ah, Japan.

Another Day, Another School

I had to say goodbye to Arao #2 Middle School on Sunday, my last day. It's hard to imagined how attached I'd become to the kids at that school in only three weeks. They had to get a staple remover, superglue 'undue', a hammer and two different sized wrenches to remove them from my sides.
For my goodbye ceremony, the principal stood in front of the body of students and told them how he had wanted to say many things to me in the past several weeks. He continued by saying that he hadn't been able to communicate nearly as much as he would've liked because of his lack of English language ability(and my lack of Japanese language ability, I might add). He then urged the students to learn English as best as they could so that they would never experience similar circumstances. He said he missed his chance. He thanked me for my work, and asked me to come back and visit. I assured him that I would.
I was also asked to make a goodbye speech. The principal handed me the microphone. I began by telling the students that I expected that maybe they were surprised because I hadn't told anyone that it was my last day of classes. I told them it was because I wanted to pretend it wasn't true. I asked them if they could see that English would be useful to all of them in the future, and would be extremely useful to some of the them. I asked them to enjoy their English studies, even if they 'hated English'.
Afterwards, two students came up to the front and, to my surprise, gave a speech in English, saying thank you and goodbye. They presented me with a huge bouquet of roses and lilies. Several of the students had bought them for me. I was asked to speak. In my response, I told them how much I enjoyed being with them, and how lucky they all were to have each other. Finally, I had the opportunity to express gratitude towards the fantastic teachers at the school and the students, who seemed exceptionally bright as a whole. It was quite a satisfying farewell.
After school, after the goodbyes with the teachers, I changed into my gym clothes and joined the tennis team for practice. It was freezing outside. I, who was freezing my butt off, wore a hooded sweatshirt and long pants. The students wore thin, long-sleeved shirts and shorts. Their stamina and resilience had impressed me from the start, but sincerely impressed me on that day. We had a good practice, and I went inside to grab my things.
And finally, I headed into the gym to watch the end of basketball practice. Then, quietly, anonymously, I slipped out. There was no final goodbye.

This morning I was late for my first day and Arao #3 Middle School. You should see the map I use. It's really, really bad. But, I live in a land of no excuses. I commited a terrible sin on my first day, and I noticed that several teachers at my new school gave me quite a cold shoulder all day long. What a great way to start my new life for the next month! I'm just lucky the principal was at a meeting!! ;)
I felt down all day. Very sad, and it was only being with the students that cheered me up a little. Unfortunately, however, I had four more self-intros to give today, and I barely had the energy to go to class, let alone be a cheerleader for English. Bash, this is what my mom calls this 'character-building'. I think it sucks.

The Mind's Movement

I've got a couple days of teaching seminars going on now. It's been hectic and I am tired a lot. It's been a busy week.
On Friday night I went to a 'drinking party' with the teachers from my current school and it was madness--everyone was smashed by the end including me!! It was fun! All the teachers let loose and were talking about each other. I couldn't believe how open they were about all their thoughts and opinions cause they are normally polite and professional--'so and so Sensei is sooo cute, so and so Sensei is sooo immature...' The vice-principal, more than slightly inebriated invited me to go fishing with him the next day!!
I couldn't go. The next morning, Saturday, I got up early and went to pick oranges with one of the teachers I teach with. They are mandarin oranges, called 'mikan' in Japanese, and they are small and super sweet and yummy. After that we got bento box lunches and I went to Aikido practice in the city.
On Sunday I got up early and went to an Aikido seminar with Suganuma Sensei, the 9th dan up in Fukuoka City. Afterwards, there was another drinking party, so I went, but didn't drink cause I was driving, you know? But got to talk with Suganuma during the festivities about Aikido, ask real philosophy questions--luckily there was a guy who could translate. I jokingly asked him to tell me the secrets of the universe, but he thought about it and then took my question seriously. The translation came back something like: 'we are the mystery, this moment we are living is the secret, the movement of the universe, the mind's movement, those are the secrets. Yet, they are not really secrets.' It was an awesome time, to talk with him and to have the freedom to ask him questions and listen to his answers. I wish I could tell you more about that. I have little time now.
So today, I got up early again for a teaching seminar, and there's another one tomorrow. A lot of getting up early. I can't wait until there's a moment to breathe.

Thanksgiving

I went in to watch the end of basketball practice today at #2 Middle School. I took off my shoes and set them on the wooden rack, peeked my head into the gym and tiptoed inside. A chorus of 'konnichiwa's rang out, so I gave up trying to appear invisible, stood up straight and weaved my way to the far side of the gym towards the stage.
Not one minute after I jumped up the side to take a seat on it did a student run to the back and bring a chair for me to sit in. Because I am a teacher, I shouldn't sit on the stage floor where it might be dirty or uncomfortable. The students consider it their job to take notice of their teachers' comfort, especially a guest teacher, and we also consider it our job as teachers to take care of them and do our best for them. Now I understand, it is not that we are not human, but we all have a job to do. The student's job was to get me a chair. My job in turn, was to be grateful for the favor and accept it. I don't mean to be presumptuous. This culture is still as foreign to me as the first day I set foot here in so many ways. Yet, I've finally learned how to accept a favor because I know I will eventually have my turn to give one. This makes living in Japan make sense. There is hardly room for independence because we all work so hard to fill each other's needs. The Japanese people I know seem to love to need each other.
Perhaps you'd be shocked, like I was, the first time I asked the students to answer questions aloud in class. Undoubtedly, after the question was asked, the student would turn to her friends who would promptly give her the answer. She would then turn back to me and repeat what they had told her.
If they are working on an assignment, students lean over and copy each other's work. Sometimes, while doing classwork, a student will get up, walk to his friend's desk, read his paper and go back and sit down. This is TOTALLY ALLOWED. It happened today in school; it happens every day. The teacher's don't pay attention. The students are supporting one another and it makes the teachers feel happy, regardless of whether anyone's learning anything. This is culture. It effects everything, it is seeping through every interaction, every word said or not said, and it's impossible, confusing, amazing and enlightening to me. I see the world from such different eyes than I thought.

I thought about Thanksgiving in the cafeteria today. I remembered several things that I am thankful for. Looking around me, I felt thankful for the smiles surrounding me on the student's faces, which reminded me of my cousin Jody's beautiful smile. Then I remembered the sound her sister Rebecca's laugh, and I felt grateful for that memory. Of course, that led me to think of my Aunt Cheryl, who sends me lots of reassuring emails and also has quite a wonderful laugh. Her brother, my dad, is wonderful because he keeps being curious about everything in life and he spreads that curiousity to me and my brothers. My's dad's wife is the same way, and she also helped him find a lot of himself, I think. My bro Jason. I trust him so deeply. After all this time he seems to be okay with looking out for his little sister. Zach, brother-o-mine has a beautiful heart, full of righteous love. And my mom. Do you know she sends me letters every week?? I find my mother's love defies definition. Now, I'm forgetting the unforgetable Uncle Bill and Uncle Larry, who both offer support to the entire family in different ways, tangible and intangible.
Finally, I would like to take a moment for squirrels. I know two people that are made very happy by them, and that makes me happy.
I think about people at home every day. I think about this beautiful culture here, and how it has made me feel grateful for others in ways I never conceived of. I believe in Thanksgiving, because it gives us a reason to speak up and say how we feel, as long as that feeling is one of thanks. So I'm happy I have a lot to say thanks for this year(family, aikido teachers and friends, music friends, friend friends, friend friend friends(you know who you are)).

I got up and folded my chair at about 6PM. The teams were just about to start playing again. As I jumped off the stage and began to walk towards the door, the basketball coach and one of the English teachers I teach with stopped me to ask if I'd like to come out with the teachers sometime (to drink!). I said 'sure!', as the buzzer went off and the kids bolted to midcourt to resume their game. I continued walking slowly to the far door, hoping to avoid being noticed and causing a delay in the game. Instead, I heard the squeak of 22 sneakers dash up behind me and the squeak/clomp of one student with a foot in a cast. I turned around, taken aback, as they all stand in a line before me. I then heard: "Kyotsuke! Rei!(Call to attention! Bow). "Thank you very much [for watching]!!"
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone

The Awesomeness That Is Sumo

Sumo. The very word conjures up images of tubs and refridgerators of men, massive hulks of human beings stomping their feet, slapping their bellies, and tearing each another apart. But actually witnessing these men up close, passing by them on the way into the arena as they klip-klop down the hallway in wooden sandals and light cotton robes, is a truly awe-inspiring and fear-ekoving event.
These are Mountains of men in these robes, each aspiring to attain the rank of Yokozuna, or lifetime Grand Champion. They head towards the changing room, where they will remove the robe(my personal favorite was the cotton candy colored one with the sky blue belt, on this man-beast bigger than the size of two Julies put together), and don the infamous loincloth belt, the unchanging mark of the sumo wrestler for approximately 1500 years.

I got a free ticket to the Annual Fukuoka Sumo Competition, one of six fifteen-day competitions that occur during the year in cities throughout Japan. My friend's friend couldn't go at the last minute and forfeited his own ticket worth $120 bucks, so my friend called me up and offered it to me. I felt like I was like being blessed with this ticket, yet the only priests involved would be Shinto ones, dressed in fanciful outfits, shouting words of inspiration to arm-locked giants inside a 15' ring!!

We arrived at the sumo hall around 11am, unknowingly way too early for the real action. The matches of the lower ranked divisions had begun at 9am, and continued until 2pm. You see, I thought these matches were the show. My eyes were glued to the ring at all times. Some of the men would strut into the ring like a nearly naked Hell's Angel, and others would have surprisingly little presence for their size. After a man with a fan would sing a short prayer-like song, the two wrestlers would enter the ring, bow to each other, and head to the sides of the ring to begin the ritual of clapping and stomping their feet. Meanwhile, the priest(authentic? I'm not sure)/referee would sing the names of the competitors. His outfits were supremely colorful, sometimes covered with dragons, or even gold-stitching. The men would return to face one another and begin a strange dance-like ritual of standing up and stomping(some of them could do a full split, sending one leg high into the air)and kneeling on their haunches, standing and shuffling around, and kneeling again. This ritual had the effect of building suspense and energy within the crowd. Finally they kneeled on their haunches one last time, staring through one another.
Then, the instant their knuckles touch the ground, they burst forth like elks in mating season. Yesterday, I believe I witnessed at least 3 broken ribs, a number of possible broken legs, and a man who looked in enough pain that he might have fractured part of his spine. We're talking fierce intensity here, as they try to down one another. And to think, these were just the lower divisions.
I didn't know that all the champs were just waiting their turn for the chance to enter the ring later in the day. Since they only have one match per day, they save the most exciting matches of the highest ranks for the very end. In fact, many of these big name sumo guys didn't arrive until after the lower division was finishing. A large crowd gathered outside the arena to welcome them in, cheer them on and swoon over them as they entered the arena. I watched, and felt very strange because I didn't know any of the men's faces, not until I watched them fight and a few of them became permanently etched in my brain.
The rituals of the upper division were considerably longer then the lower. They would enter, bow, go to the back, stomp their feet, toss some salt into the ring, return to face each other, stomp, head back, throw more salt, and repeat a third time. The third time was literally the charm, when the competitors actually showed some expression and raised the level of anticipation by slapping their bellies extra hard. The third time they headed to the back of the ring they wiped their bodies with a wash cloth, possibly a wash cloth containing a offensive odor seeing how their spirit would rage after wiping themselves clean. The sound of slapping bellies resounded through the arena, and we all awaited the instant their knuckles would touch the ground, sending two four hundred-pound boulders toward each other with only one intent: to make the other exit the ring or touch the ground first.
The matches generally lasted for a very short time, 30 seconds or less, but the most exciting matches would involve almost-wins and turnarounds. One match, a guy in purple with a firey look and one in black ended with the two flipping over, landing on the rim and tumbling down onto the surrounding judges on the sides. We couldn't tell who had touched first, and neither could any of the judges. After they held a 2-minute conference, it was decided that they would fight again. I believe this was unusual, because normally the men only have one fight in the entire day. So they faced off, and the belly slapping turned into body slapping and face jerking, and generous scoops of salt being chucked into the ring. It was the fridge in purple that reigned in the second match and was pronouced the winner in the end.
After the last match, a wrestler came into the ring with a kyudo bow, and twirled it at lightning speed, signifying the closing of the games of day eight of the competition.
I will not deny that I would gladly return to sit all day in a box smaller than a tissue box, with three other people who are also scared of fierocious men, every day this week if I were so blessed. The dream that was yesterday has expanded my mind once again, and endeared me even more to those things which make Japan great.

check out:
http://www.crystalinks.com/sumo.html
for info on sumo

http://www.mouthshut.com/readreview/23201-1.html
for more details on sumo life

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/sumo.htm
for the standings after yesterday's fights

Arao #2 Middle School

Arao #2 Middle School(Arao Dai Ni Chugakko) is so different from #1 Middle School that I still can't believe they're in the same town. Besides having a third of #1's student population, it also has new facilities, Japanese and western-style toilets(a real luxury in these schools), wood paneling, wood floors and huge chalk boards that are curved slightly inward at the ends. The boards can be raised or lowered to the teacher's liking by a metal bar underneath. Everything in this place is new. Everything works, and people know where everything is. #2 Middle School students don't seem to know how lucky they are. They attend the smallest middle school in the city, have the smallest classes and get personal attention every day. Consequently, their relieved ALT(a.k.a me) can actually remember some of their names.

Every day, at all the schools there is a break period after lunch. After the break period is cleaning time. Everyone cleans, the students, the teachers and even the principal. No one ever complains about or neglects their cleaning, they just do it. Their attitude, however unconscious it may be, always impresses me.
At #1 Middle School, cleaning time was somber. The children would wait for the bells to chime, bow to one another, and cleaning would begin. Some would sweep the cement floors, some would scrub the floors with rags, some would wipe the windows, and so on. No talking is allowed, but at #1 Middle School, they scarcely even made eye contact. It was quite a sobering time.
At #2 Middle School, the loud speakers blast 'Yankee Doodle', followed by some ragtime, followed by Vivaldi's 'Spring', followed by some disco music. As we merrily sweep, dust and wipe away, kids in the halls have relay races to see who can dash its full length the fastest; feet on the wood, hands on the rag, rag on the floor, and butt straight up in the air--go! It's the cutest thing since Hello Kitty. I'll try to get a picture.

Yesterday, I went in to observe the basketball and badminton teams. This is something I never did at #1 Middle School. I always felt like I wanted to leave #1 as soon as school was over. But here, at 'Nichu'(#2), I want to stay longer. Because my classes are smaller, I already recognize students, and so I feel more comfortable. I was surprised to see how good the kids were at bastketball, and to see that it was coed. I was just as surprised to see that the badminton team was not that good, basically hitting shuttle cocks in every direction. I wondered where their coach was.

There was a new student in school today, and the English teacher was assigned to orient him, so I taught my first class 100% alone today. Technically, according to my contract that's never supposed to happen, but I was expecting it anyway eventually, seeing as all the teachers are so busy.
The seventh grade class is only in their first year of English, so I think that class was probably an English blur to them, but luckily we got through it okay, and I think I'm still ultra-cool/weird/creature-from-outer-space-like in their eyes. Just the way I like it. ;)

So maybe, all in all, school is getting easier, except for 'killer Wednesdays'. 'Killer Wednesday' is when I teach six classes in a row to elementary school kids that don't understand me, and, just to be fair, I don't understand them. I converse with teachers all day long without actually understanding a word they say. In fact, I think no actual understanding takes place the entire day. 'Killer Wednesdays' are my 'very unhappy' days.
Good thing they only come on Wednesdays. 'Killer Wednesdays' on any other day just wouldn't be right. Ok, ha ha.

So, I... um... I joined the school tennis team today.

Kyoto and the 15th Rock

Kyoto was no less than a dream come true. It abounds with castles, temples, gardens, old style houses, covered plazas, original and classic foods, etc., etc., and of course, the treasured Japanese Maple tree, the pride and joy of the city. Upon arrival, the trees were just beginning to share their gift for color. Japanese Maples bring back fond memories of my childhood in Pennsylvania.
My company was Steve Delp, who is in from Boulder vacationing for a few weeks here. We met up at the Kyoto Station and headed off to the first of many wonderful meals, this one being an assortment of incredible edibles served in stacked boxes. The Kyoto Imperial Palace was our first stop, and while inside the palace walls, we stopped to sample treats, from pink pound cake to salty seaweed squares being handed out under a mini-market of tents. The palace grounds were huge, but it was hard to make an impression beyond that; we came too late in the day to get inside the inner walls and have a look at the actual palace itself.
No cause for alarm, however, we got our fill of castles and temples. We traveled to the largest temple, Nanzenji, which was Steve's favorite, and strolled around the gigantic complex of gardens and buildings, finally to find ourselves at the top of the tallest temple just in time to catch the sun setting behind the distant mountains. It looked like an egg yolk suspended, then disappearing gently into a mound of white batter. All along the crowded banister there was not a sound the moment the yolk touched the floury mixture.
We traveled to nearly all corners of the city, walking the Philosopher's Path in the east--we didn't see any philosophers--to the Arashiyama area with its famous zen rock garden on the western end.
I especially liked the zen gardens. We saw two, the first of which was made with only raked pebbles and fifteen large rocks. It is said that one can only see fourteen of the rocks at one time when looking out from the meditation hall, no matter the angle from which they are viewed. After viewing, moving and viewing again, I found the legend of the invisible fifteenth rock to be true. It is also said that the garden will reveal its meaning to the mind given the proper view and time. I only sat with it for twenty minutes or so, but I got a small tidbit revealed to me. As vast as the mind can see, there is always a component that is hidden from conscious thought, an ineffable beauty to life. That is what the fifteenth rock told me ;)
The other rock garden was spread throughout a lovely scene, set amongst trees and shrubs, mossy slopes and reflected by a lake. The rocks stood like quiet mountains, hardly saddened at all by the swarms of loud tourists chattering and chirping all around.
Kinkakuji Temple, or the Golden Pavilion, was to good to be true. This is a temple that is covered with a sheet of gold. It stands over a glimmering lake, in which its reflection shines brilliantly. I tried to imagine being there in front of the temple alone; I wanted to feel its religious inspiration, to soak it its beauty, to stay with it until the sun changed it from yellow to gold to glowing, but there were people in every direction. Hundreds, it seemed like thousands of tourists were endlessly snapping pictures. So I snapped my picture and weaved my way through the crowd to the other end of the path.
Earlier that day, on the advice of Steve's Lonely Planet Japan, we visited the Daikakuji Temple, also towards the west end of Kyoto. This temple was my dream come true. It was not huge or overrun by tourists, the trees were all colors and to me, the temple eminated tranquility. It was the only structure where I witnessed zen monks--three of them, apparently on their daily routine, walking out to begin a circle around a large pond. I wanted to stay at Daikakuji all day. Back on the bus, looking at the map, we realized the guidebook had actually directed us to Daitokuji Temple, not Daikakuji, and that neither of our books mentioned the one we had seen, explaining the lack of crowds and perhaps the less flamboyant appearance. I was thrilled at our accidental discovery.
Kyoto's night life seems to be filled with prostitutes, "gentlemen's 'snack' bars", and drunks from what I could see. Yet, they might be hard to spot if you are not used to seeing prostitutes in gowns with gloves and diamond earrings, and drunks in suits who never seem to cause a commotion. I, fortunately, decided against visiting the inside of a 'snack' bar.
Nightlife aside, I found Kyoto to be enchanting and every bit the dream I had imagined. There were several points during the trip when I said aloud, 'I could live here.'
It would be interesting to hear Steve's viewpoint of the trip because I'm sure he remembers things that I've already forgotten. Maybe I can post some of his thoughts.
Since returning, I've already had another six classes at elementary school(I'm desperately trying to get my schedule changed to less classes on elementary days) and (today) started at Arao #2 Middle School. Life goes on at the speed of life.

'I feel the earth, move...'

Last night, at 3:13am I awoke to an earthquake. I have one minute to tell you about it.

I was not scared. On the contrary, I felt a connection with this planet that I hadn't felt before. The earth seemed almost... ALIVE.
The shake itself lasted only about four or five seconds, and there was one tremor about five minutes afterwards. Yet, it was most extraordinary. I could have never imagined the feeling of awe that accompanied it. To anyone who has not yet experienced a small earthquake, I highly recommend you go out and find one. ;)

Ha ga ga ga, well blows me down!!!

I'm off to Kyoto tomorrow morning for five days. Going to Kyoto in the fall will be a dream come true.

Was it Something I Ate?

Have noticed some strange trees around town with orange-colored tomatos growing on them. Turns out those tomatos are really persimmons, and they are neither acidic nor poisonous, as their appearance had convinced me. I was given three today, and shared another with the teacher who had picked them at his father's farm. It was sweet and fleshy, like a peach, but had a flavor closer to honeydew. Another first time experience. I hear they're not the same as American persimmons:

http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/senior/fruits/persimmon1.htm

Right now, I'm in school. Actually, I'm alone in the staff room. It's pretty rare that the staff room is empty, but everyone is off preparing for the school festival next Sunday. I won't see it. I'm taking a trip to Kyoto, but I'll also have switched into my second junior high(appropriately named 'Arao Junior High School #2') by that time.
I'm glad that the staff room is empty right now because of the spider on my face. People can't stop staring at it. Of course the whole point was to make them curious, but I'm happy to have a short break from all the attention.
As you know, Halloween, the mother of all holidays, is just around the corner. And as you may or may not know, Halloween holds a special place in my heart. So I decided to make my feelings known, and to aid in the education process I drew a spider in its web on my face. I had to do it with a stubby brown eyeliner pencil and some impossible yellow and black stuff that was labeled makeup in the store... but the kids know what it is and it makes them say 'ehhhh??' really loudly when they pass by. I wrote a short Halloween story and had it translated into Japanese so they can read it and understand that there is a method to my madness. Anyway, Happy Halloween everyone, hee hee ha ha...

Taiko Arcade Drumming, sigh...

Among other things, I am now in love.
There's this arcade game in the City Mall that has recently acquired the number one spot for my attention. It's the taiko drumming game. He's how it works, and why I love it.
Imagine that before you is a medium-sized taiko drum, in your hands, two rubber drumsticks. You look up at the screen, and a menu appears. You select song #17 from over 50 possible choices. #17 is getting hard, because the difficulty level increases as the numbers get higher. The song choices vary from Mr. Roger's Neighborhood-type kiddy jingles to space rock to quasi-metal. Your song sounds like the disco version of Beethoven's Ode to Joy. After selecting the song, you get a little four measure intro, while you try to catch the beat and poom!-- here it goes!! You follow the smiley faces that appear on the screen, and when they get to a certain point on the screen, you hit the drum. Four red smiley faces appear. Bam bam bam bam! You hit the center of the drum each time. A blue face goes by and you hit the rim, klack!, but you were a beat late, so no points. A yellow face is stretched out on the screen, and you bend your knees and, bada bada bada bada, you roll as fast as possible. Your roll was really fast, so you doubled your score! Then, a big, red, mean face appears, and you wham the drum with both sticks at once, POW!!; then your song is over. After a second, the game tells you that your accuracy was 94%, you hit 46 smileys, you missed three, and you completely missed only five times. Your score is 26,639.
Now your friend Shiho wants to play, so you switch to two-player mode. She gets on the other drum and plays with you at the same time. Sometimes the game lets you fill in the beat for your friend, sometimes she hits and fills in your beats, making a whole new complex, brilliant rhythm. In this run, the beats get super fast and complicated, and your whole body gets into the rhythm. You lose to her by only 478 points, but your accuracy was better this time!
I think playing this game should be manditory for all people studying music in school, and should be part of the requirement to finish any university degree, just because it's so awesome. This game is hot, and I'm in love with it on many levels. It's too bad it's 200 yen($2!!) a pop; I'm trying not to go broke!!

Now Aspiring to Teach

I came inside the house just now to find a lizard crawling into my briefcase.

I was coming back from the video store, where I'd rented Karate Kid in Japanese(i.e., 'Best-o Kid'). We've been watching it in English in a ninth grade class, but it's way too hard for the students to follow the plot in English.
They're supposed to be thinking about the big question, 'Why did Julie Sensei pick this movie?', and answering several fun questions about cultural differences and phrases they recognize. I wish that we could have some sort of in depth discussion about Mr. Miyagi being a first generation Japanese-American, or the differences between the American sensei's approach to martial arts and Mr. Miyagi's, or Daniel's growth through the movie, but alas, my wishing is my downfall. I cannot access these young minds; I can't force them to be interested in something that may never be of use to them. So I just focus on planting the seed of curiousity which may or may not sprout one day. That's all I can do.

As you can see, I'm beginning to give up hope that I have a purpose as an ALT. That, I take as a very good thing. It signifies to me that I'm changing; that Japan/my experience is changing me in some way. Losing hope is like having growing pains, one might say: it hurts in one way, but eventually it'll transform you into something with a greater understanding of the world.
My new question these days has become, 'how do I be a good teacher?'. I no longer think that I can be the best teacher, the super ALT that will speak Japanese in three months, that will make friends with all the teachers, and earn the respect of all the students. Now I'm just interested in being a good teacher. I believe that starts with good ideas and a good motivation for teaching. So, I'm determined to teach things that the students can find immediately useful, such as crafts, scavenger hunts, letter-writing(working on penpals in the US), intriguing games and activities, i.e., focusing on what they know and extending just beyond it. These kinds of things are what make me come alive when I teach. Come to think of it, isn't that what I always found so wondeful about my favorite teachers, that they had found something that had made them come alive? (Thanks especially to Manson, for reminding me :) )

Have you got an 'active' idea for this aspiring teacher?