A Festive December

We've had some interesting happenings here in Ashikaga since our last blog. We had our first visitor in Paul, a friend of the family on Veronica's side. Paul, having been an ALT here in Japan himself some 15 years ago or so, was able to tell us some insightful things about Japanese life that we have yet to encounter.


One encounter that we didn't plan on was one with the Koban police. Since we don't have a car here in Japan (we bike everywhere) and Paul was here to visit for only part of a day, we figured we'd be creative with the three persons, two bikes situation. So literally 30 seconds into our bike ride (Paul on Veronica's bike and Veronica and I on mine) we hear someone yelling from across the street. We look over and see a Koban policeman running parallel to us and gesturing that we stop. At this point I'm still thinking that he's gesturing to the automobile driver who was situated between us and him. We stop anyway, and sure enough he wants to talk to us. Good thing Paul was with us or we'd have no idea what the problem was. Turns out, even though I see students giving each other rides (two to a bike) everyday, it's against the law to do so. Seriously, I'm not exaggerating, I see this thing every day. I thought he was picking on us because he thought it looked like an easy way to issue a citation and get some foreign money flowing the police department's way here in Japan. IF we do end up getting a citation in the mail, that hunch we be pretty much confirmed for me. I know they are really anal about doing things by the book in this country but, you've got to be kidding. This kind of thing happens more frequently around here than cars trying to make it through a traffic intersection on yellow. I'm just sayin'.
It was Veronica's birthday on the 20th so I figured it would be a good time to finally visit the local fine dining restaurant near us. And when I say near, I'm talking about 30 meters away. Budo Ya is the name (meaning "grapes and more") and it's no bigger than the neighboring houses around here. But they sure know how to impress their patrons with their culinary skills. We had a fancy nine course diner that we won't soon forget. However, it was a little pricey so it might be a while until we return for a second visit.


Veronica and I both had our respective 'end of the year' school staff dinners this week. The size and scope of the two dinners was a bit different but the cultural aspect was very much the same. We learned the hard way about the drinking situation. Basically, since we both bike everywhere, we didn't have a legitimate excuse not to drink. There was plenty of food and liquor, but NO WATER to be found. So, when you'd have a sip of your wine/sake/beer simply because you were seeking some liquid to go with your food, some Japanese person would come swooping in from nowhere to top off your glass again. After a while it got a little bit annoying, especially because I had my eye on this juice on the table and I didn't have an empty glass to put it in. I never did get a taste of that juice that night. All I'm saying is, next time I'm going to have a really good excuse ready and waiting before my next staff dinner.
So, I hear that there's an x-mas blizzard brewing for everyone back home in the Midwest. More snow huh? I can't say I'm envious. Today, for example, it actually reached 50 degrees for the high. It was a beautiful day, no blizzard in sight. Veronica and I both hope that the Ashikaga snow holds off until next year. They usually see snow here about once every three or four years. We hope this year isn't the snowy one.

X-mas here isn't all that much different than it is back in the states. There's x-mas trees and wreaths up everywhere. And, well known English x-mas songs playing in many public places like shopping malls and restaurants. People celebrate x-mas here but it's a working holiday. We did have today off (Wednesday, December 23rd) in honor of the Emperor's B-day but we do have to work Thursday and Friday. But then we're off for about two weeks. AND Kristin (Veronica's old roommate/good friend) will be here to visit us starting on January 2nd. We're planning to pack in as many fun tourism activities as we can while she's here. We hope we don't wear her out. It's gonna be fun.

Well, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone from Veronica and I. We hope this holiday season finds you in good health and in a festive mood. Bye bye for now. Ja mata (catch ya later).

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way to the Gakko

Jon and I love the fact that there is so much to learn here. Now that we have gotten over the first 'newness' of life in Japan, we are learning much more about the details of the culture we're immersed in.

I am a words person, so one of my favorite things is learning new 'fun' words in Japanese. There are always unexpected 'double entendres' when words in your native language sound the same as words in another language. I wondered when I was introducing myself to the students at the beginning of the year why they laughed when I told them my nickname was "Vero". Yeah, that means "tongue" in Japanese. I imagined my introduction from their perspective: "Hi, my name is Veronica, I'm from America, but YOU can call me tongue!" Ha ha. This week I learned that if I were to say "vaccuum" to someone here, they would think I was talking about something you do in the toilet. We went to a meeting for all the ALTs at an elementary school a few weeks ago and the Japanese teacher told the kids in English "now we will show you a skit!" "Show you?" A student exclaimed. I started laughing - "shoyu" means soy sauce in Japanese. "Now we will soy sauce a skit!" Huh?!

Jon and I have been asked a few times by students what our favorite Japanese words were. Jon likes "zehi" (certainly) and I like "toki doki" (sometimes). However, when we gave them these answers they seemed disappointed. This week a teacher asked me the same question and when I answered her she frowned. "No, in Japan, we have a phrase or a word that defines our life" she answered. "So?" She and a group of students were waiting for my answer - and under pressure the only thing I could think of was "ocean". Yep - not impressive. I couldn't come up with a sentence surrounding it either. What would your 'defining' word or sentence be?

No matter where you are, people are people. I almost fell out of my chair laughing this week when a middle aged male teacher (who is slightly larger than the typical Japanese body size) came up to me, flexed his calf muscle and told me to feel it. "Hard as a rock! That's cuz I'm a runner!" Yeah, dad, how many times have you done the EXACT same thing to me? In response I flexed my calf and held out my leg to feel. "Me too!" I said.

I was reminded that I AM teaching at a junior high school - even though they are Japanese students - when I walked out of a classroom to find the hallway and a nearby classroom flooded. It was raining, so I immediately thought that the building was leaking, but found out quickly that some student in the boys bathroom had opened the tap, clogged the drain and then left. There was so much water that it leaked through to the floor underneath! All the teachers not currently in class spent more than 30 minutes trying to use squeegees, buckets and dustpans to clean up the water. (No mops were in the school at all!) It was kind of funny to find myself using a dustpan to scoop up water, but not funny to think that since no one knew who had done the prank, no one would be punished for it. (Even if they did find out, I don't know what the considered punishment is for a student! I haven't seen a punishment yet.)

Although people's behavior can be often very similar, their roles in society are of course very different. We've mentioned before that students have long days at school and teachers have even longer (a lot of the time teachers don't leave school until 9 pm!) and this week I found out one reason why their days are so long. In Japan teachers' roles encompass many more things than simply being a teacher. One day this week a student was hit in the ear by another student. So the procedure that followed was: many teachers talk to injured student. Then many teachers talk to the student who injured him. Then the offending student's parents are called to the school, many teachers talk to the student and his parents. Then the parents go to the injured student's house and apologize, all while the teachers wait at school. Then the parents return to school and talk about what happened with the offending student and the teachers. Wow. No wonder their day is so long! Teacher's responsibilities include: teacher, counselor, mentor, coach, friend, therapist...and the list goes on. Everything seems to be a very long process involving many people (collectivist culture it is!), however when it comes to discipline in the classroom - there is none. The 'bad kids' are just ignored and they do whatever they want, all while they prevent the other kids in their class from learning anything.

I am definitely being kept on my toes when it comes to the schedule at school. There are many changes it seems, from day to day and even hour to hour - some that were planned in advance and that I didn't know about until the last minute, and some that are last second decisions. This week I stood up more than once to go to class (with a prepared activity in my hands) only to be told that I didn't have to go to class because they were going to do something else. It can be frustrating at times, and this week was especially bad since it included finals (or midterms, I'm not sure), so teachers were scrambling to get the kids caught up. However, everyone is always so kind, and this week with all the chaos going on I was again reminded of that.

Aside from language and society learning this week, we also went to the only 'big tourist attraction' in Ashikaga that we hadn't been to. Gyodo Temple is at the top of a mountain just outside Ashikaga, and the hour long, uphill bike ride was definitely worth it for the view we received of the fall landscape.

We are very happy that it is December already and that we are experiencing high 50s weather at least several times a week! We hope that wherever you are, you are enjoying this festive time of year and are not too stressed. Ja mata atode! (See you later!)

A Reason for Feeling Thankful

So, last Friday we finally caved and met up with the rest of the ALTs during one of their two weekly bar meetings. We weren't trying to outright avoid them, we just don't like the idea of drinking on a Wednesday night or staying out until one or two a.m. on a Friday evening/Saturday morning. Well, getting to the point, we're glad we went (although we don't plan to do it every Friday). We'd rather spend our money on SUSHI!! Or, at least spend more time with some Japanese teacher friends that Veronica knows from school (we are in Japan after all). I think if we told the other ALTs that we'd rather socialize with Japanese people on the weekend they'd definitely take it the wrong way. I just don't think most of them are here for the same reasons that we are. Plus, we have the privilege of sharing the happenings of our day with each other. We don't have to meet up with other ALTs to vent. We did have some good laughs on Friday though. There's an ALT from Ireland who's quite the jokester but we really had to concentrate when listening to him because his English was so difficult to understand.

Anyway, I wanted to follow up on our very first blog where in we made some predictions about our Japanese experience to come. Numbered from one to ten:

1. Yes, our apartment is tiny, but it's actually bigger than we thought it would be.

2. We definitely eat sushi at least two times every week...yum.

3. Our jobs ARE a breeze. But this has given me the opportunity to start up my after school class in which I make a powerpoint of a famous English song with pictures and matching lyrics that the students can sing along with and learn English through the use of pictures. Next week we're doing Stevie Wonder's "I Just Called To Say I Love You". It should be another hit.

4. The first month wasn't "overwhelming" but it was exhausting. It was mostly exciting though.

5. We have travelled quite a bit so far but there is so much more to see. We are excited to have our first guests and show them around too.

6. I actually don't feel all that tall. Some teachers are almost as tall as me at my school.

7. Yes, we are astonished by the average Japanese body weight here. But, this is because Japanese people are more healthy than Americans, not because they are malnourished in any way.

8. Yeah, we do update our blog about once a week. Do you like?

9. I think we HAVE grown from our experiences here so far. I also think we have more growing to do. We'll revisit this one again in 2010.

10. I do think that this has already been one of the best experiences of our lives.

Thanksgiving is tomorrow. And although we won't be able to share a Thanksgiving meal with family THIS year, we'll be thinking of everyone back home and counting our blessings. Loving family, friends, this experience, and good health are just a few things that we are thankful for this year. What are you thankful for?

Festivals and Giving Thanks

Konnichiwa, dear bloggers! As of tomorrow, Jon and I will already have been in Japan for three months! The time has flown by, yet we have now settled quite nicely into the routine of life in Ashikaga as ALTs. Not so many things are new to us anymore, and while it feels nice to become more familiar with our surroundings, I also miss being surprised by different cultural and societal differences. Or I should say, being as surprised. There are still some things that we haven't become completely used to, and probably won't adjust to completely during our stay here. The hygiene factors, for sure, count among those things.

Life at school continues with some events marking the seasons: on Halloween weekend my school had "bunkasai" - the school festival. It was an amazing experience! Every class decorated their classroom in a different theme (haunted houses and general game rooms were popular). There were also special performances in the gym - chorus performances, dance routines, brass band performances, cello solos, speeches about exchange trips to Springfield, IL (the sister city of Ashikaga), etc. I enjoyed the gym performances the most, especially the rendition of YMCA the brass band performed, with players not playing locating themselves around the gym and waving pom poms in time to the music! Everyone got into it and for once I could participate full force and know what I was doing! The students were all very dedicated to the preparation for the school festival - in fact during the week leading up to bunkasai, classes after lunch were cancelled and the whole school spent the last half of the day preparing for the event.

Although Japanese junior high school students have very long days (if they participate in school clubs) generally starting at 8 am and ending at 5 or 6 (after which some students still go to extra tutorial classes away from school), much of the day can be dedicated to physical fitness in the form of the school clubs (table tennis, soft tennis, badminton, etc). Classes seem to take a back seat to all sorts of activities like clubs, or different festivals. This month my school has been preparing for our own chorus competition and last week all classes after lunch were cancelled to either practice or for teachers to hold parent-teacher conferences. Needless to say, I have had to struggle to keep myself occupied at school during the day. Sadly enough, I also already exhausted the 15 English books I picked out for myself to keep up my reading habit! I will have to be more creative in school as well as out, from now on.

Today we went back to Coco Farm and Winery in the beautiful hills of Ashikaga. They were holding their annual Harvest Festival and we had been told by several natives that it was the place to be! It was definitely crowded - most people took shuttle buses because of the sheer number of people crowding the location, but we took the smarter route and opted to bike (as if we had another choice ha!). It was nice to be able to weave in and out of traffic and not have to sit in a car. When we arrived, we paid $20 a piece and got our 'Harvest kit' which included a wine glass each, a 'member button' and a ticket which we exchanged for a bottle of wine and souvenir corkscrew. There were food tents and wine tents everywhere and a stage situated in front of the vineyard where the crowd sat enjoying the music and refreshments. Our friends Michi and Yuki (the same ones who went paragliding with me) met us there and kept us company. There were so many people there, and more foreigners than we've ever seen in Ashikaga! Something we noticed shortly after arriving in Japan was the lack of foreigners in most places - they stand out a lot - especially lack of dark skinned people (African Americans, etc). In fact it took me several weeks to even see one African American looking guy! Today there were at least two I saw a couple times, and the fact that the sight is so rare here is still bizarre to me. We saw several young people that looked like ALTs and a few of the ALTs that we know from Ashikaga schools. Normally we don't see any of the other ALTs on a regular basis, although it seems as if we are in the minority with this. Other ALTS hang out frequently together, but we don't really want to spend our time with other people from our home culture because we're here to experience Japanese culture! It was a great day and experience at the festival, but we decided to go home after witnessing a man 10 feet away from us vomit into his lap and the tarp he was sitting on. Officially the first time seeing an intoxicated Japanese person, and we saw a lot of them today!

With November already half over (incredible!) we are starting to look forward to our winter vacation and Kristin's visit! Thanksgiving is coming up and I have done my duty and drawn some pilgrims, Native Americans and turkeys for the English bulletin board at school. Explaining and focusing on my own culture's holidays and hearing them taught to students by Japanese English teachers has made me appreciate them more than I ever have before. I never really thought about how many special things we do around Halloween until I had to think about it and make a game for my students around our traditional activities. This week as I cut out and colored my Thanksgiving decorations I returned to a familiar elementary school activity and thought about what I was thankful for. I deliberated and wrote out each of the ideas I came up with, cut them out and put them up on the board under the heading "I am thankful for...". Jon, family, friends, music, languages, food, water, oceans, books, sunshine and my dog were some of the things I wrote down. In fact, with the death of my dog at the beginning of this week, I am thankful for so many memories of loved ones, those here, and those who are no longer among us. I am thankful that my family could see Sasha grow up, thankful she was there with us during the good times and important moments, during the scary times and the sad. I can still hear her tail thumping on the carpet as someone walked past her, or her nails clicking on the pavement. It's nice to have those memories to draw upon when needed. I am so thankful for memories.

What about you? What are you thankful for?

Speeches and Keeping the Peace

So Japan, along with the rest of the world, is in the early stages of a long influenza season. The only thing is, around here, influenza is visible. Most people are wearing masks 24-7. That includes Veronica and I while we're at school. Both of our schools have made it mandatory that all students and staff wear masks all day to prevent getting the flu. Even though the WHO (the World Health Organization--working out of the United Nations) states that there is no evidence to support that wearing of masks by healthy individuals helps to prevent them from getting sick. This is of course assuming that nobody who is sick (and not wearing a mask) sneezes into your face at some point throughout the day. What is important for flu free individuals, however, is practicing proper and frequent hand washing throughout the day and NOT touching your face (i.e. eyes, nose, mouth) where the virus can easily enter your body through one of your moist, mucus membrane tissues. Until recently, I was under the impression that all modern nations understood these illness prevention techniques. I know you're thinking, "Jon, stop whining and just wear the mask." I would if that was all there was to it. Please ponder the following and leave a comment after this blog entry if you still think I'm over reacting. Issue number one: I am the only man who washes his hands always, often, or ever in my school. I know this because the same bar of soap has been in the men's restroom since I started working there on September 1st and it hasn't gotten much smaller. When I purchased some liquid hand soap to donate to the men's restroom in hopes of making washing one's hands even an easier activity than it already is, I noticed that the bar soap started to dry up and crack from lack of use (and I also don't think anyone has used my liquid hand soap besides me). I only hope that in the women's restroom the situation isn't identical. Issue number two: Since gargling with water is encouraged and brushing one's teeth after lunch is also encouraged (this is mostly for show, not true hygiene purposes), there is a glass in the men's restroom next to the faucet that I've been encouraged to use if I would like. Obviously, it's not being washed ever. Issue number three: Teacher's have now started to spray an isopropyl alcohol solution onto their new mask before putting it on their face every morning. They don't allow it to dry before securing it to their face. Umm, why not just spray the rubbing alcohol directly into your mouth? Whatever goal you are trying to achieve, I'm pretty sure it will work even faster that way. These are only three of the things that I've witnessed at my school (Veronica has some great stories as well) that not only don't prevent illness, but actually encourage the spreading of it. Some other things like running humidifiers in every room of the school I just find humorous. I was told that they help prevent the flu from spreading. To which I responded with, "Who, really, I didn't know that."


These illogical practices remind me of one of the cultural expectations here in Japan concerning the repression of questioning. As we've stated before, you're just not supposed to ask too many questions. If you do, you run the risk of people assuming that you don't know what you're doing. Kind of like boot camp. Just do, don't think or ask any questions. Maybe, just maybe, some questioning concerning influenza (What is a virus anyway? How is it spread? etc...) would be beneficial to our students right now. I don't think I am the best candidate (considering my foreigner status) to be testing these uncharted waters.


Since our last blog, Veronica and I were able to see the fruits of our labor (since September 1st) come to fruition in the form of the Ashikaga Junior High School English Speech Contest. We've both been spending extra long hours at school helping four students (four at each of our schools) prepare for the contest. Over eleven junior highs and forty students participated in the event. All of the long hours squeezing enthusiasm and pronunciation out of our students paid off with 5 of the 9 speech contest awards going to either my students or Veronica's students. Actually, one of my students came down with the flu and couldn't go to the contest so only one student from each of our schools didn't get an award (of the students who participated). Not bad huh? One of the other ALTs who was sitting next to me said that he didn't work on pronunciation with his students at all because he thought he didn't have enough time and that it was too difficult of a task to tackle all together. So much for trying. After meeting a number of the other ALTs and receiving numerous mass e-mails "To All ALTs" from Heart (our employer) that have a disciplinary tone to them, I've come to the conclusion that most of the other ALTs don't take their job too seriously.


Last Thursday I went with my school to the large theater venue in town for my school's choir contest. Basically, every student in school (all 750 of them) was expected to participate. Each homeroom class was a choir. Also, the accompaniment and conducting was also done by students from that homeroom. Pretty amazing right? And believe it or not, most classes actually sounded pretty good. Not only are Japanese students more physically fit than American students, but as a whole they are more musical as well. I've read (and witnessed) that students who have some type of musical influence at a young age often excel in other subject too. Pretty scary. Hey students back in America, if that one doesn't have you thinking, I'll close today's entry with something that will. This is a quote from a student's speech that I heard at the recent speech contest. The fact that the student giving the speech didn't feel the need to clarify what she meant by this line speaks volumes about the Japanese work ethic here. The student was talking about difficult challenges in her life and concluded with...."No matter the challenge...I'll handle it like a Japanese person." What vision enters your mind if you were to replace the word Japanese with the word American in this quote? Just wondering........

Ramblings of a tired ALT

Well a lot has happened in the last week and a half! Let me start with my biggest observations of late, and they are the hygiene conundrum! The week before last I went to another school for a demonstration lesson. An English teacher from my school accompanied me. We were told that there were several students with the flu at that school and to take care. So when we came back to our school after the meeting the teacher told me to wash my hands and 'gargle' before coming into the school. Which we proceeded to do...with only water. Hmm. I was very confused on this - how is this to help preventing the spread of germs?! Also there was an incident where two kids got into a fight, one pushed another one through a window, the injured one walked all the way down the hallway to the teacher's room dripping blood everywhere. This was later cleaned up by the teachers with...toilet paper and rags used to clean the floor. A little water, but no cleaning agent, no gloves, no biohazard bag, nothing. Hm. Interesting. This felt like a contradiction when you think about how everyone brushes their teeth after lunch every day and how you have to wash your hands before lunch. I am thinking it has more to do with the social need to 'not be offensive' rather than actually worrying about hygiene. Any thoughts? These perplexing incidents have been on my mind often since they happened!

Typhoon Melor came and went, with a lot of hullabaloo and then little actual damage. School was cancelled for one day in several schools in nearby cities, but teachers still had to go to school. Jon and I spent the day being the most productive we have been since we started work! I made a Halloween game for the kids to play and got creative planning Jon's birthday. Jon made several activities and worksheets for the kids. The days leading up to the typhoon were rainy, windy and downright dreary. The day the typhoon actually hit, however, we experienced almost no rain and only medium windgusts. The sky ranged from sunny, to kind of menacing looking, but no big weather really hit us on that day.

We have definitely been enjoying our surroundings: last week on the 9th, the teachers from the grade block I sit in (2nd grade teachers) decided to go out for dinner and invited me to come along with. Jon also was invited and we experienced a wonderful night of 'Japlish', tasted a five course 'Italian' meal and got to know some of the teachers from my school a lot better. We learned some things about Japan and some of the teachers even suggested that we get married here, in traditional Japanese outfits! :) There is one teacher in particular that is also new to the school starting in September like me, who has been especially kind and forthcoming. I am lucky enough to sit across from her in the teacher's room and she tries to speak English as I try my broken Japanese. She and her fiance picked Jon and I up and drove us to the restaurant and dropped us off. She also offered to pick us up for the paragliding adventure I had planned for Jon for his birthday! Michiyo and Yukioshi (the math teacher and her fiance) have been so kind, and I have a feeling they will become great friends.

Last weekend we visited some local tourist spots: we went to Bannaji temple, Orihime shrine and the Ashikaga gakko. The gakko is the oldest educational facility in Japan, and all three places were very nice to see. Orihime shrine is located on a hill that overlooks the city: the view was almost better than the actual site! It is so nice living in a city that you can bike almost everywhere to in a relatively short amount of time!

Last week on Monday was the 'Sports Festival' holiday. So there was no school and everyone was expected to go out and be sporty! We did our best to accomodate the holiday and enjoyed running and working out in the city. It has been beautiful ever since the typhoon - low 70s and sunny most days.

Jon's birthday was on Thursday and his mom and sister were wonderful and put together a care package for the event - his favorite cookies as well as some things to help us along in Japanese knowledge as well as some movies in English :) Friday we went to a sushi restaurant to celebrate - you can't beat sushi plates for $1!

Next week will be filled with Halloween lessons and games and on Thursday we will be judges in the English speech competition. Stay tuned!

International Communications

We've been told that by now Veronica and I should have had a noticeable feeling of home sickness. They say it hits about four weeks after you arrive in a new country. We've been here for almost seven weeks now. No sign of such feelings at this time. Of coarse we miss family and friends but I'm not sure if we miss the states as a location. Knowing that we'll return next spring/summer is comforting however. We're just having so much fun I don't think we've had time to be home sick. Take for example our experience yesterday. I'll try to paint the picture as vividly as possible.

Our Ashikaga City contact person for all Heart Corporation ALTs invited all five Heart ALTs to her house for dinner last night (basically, we would call her first if we have any emergencies or pressing issues---I don't think anyone has called her yet with any problems). So, Veronica and I were finally going to be able to see the inside of a real Japanese home. But, we soon got the impression that her home was anything but typical as we were expecting. The moment that forced an uncontrollable smile out of me came after maki sushi while we were readying our stomachs for the desert to come.

I was talking to the Englishman (ALT Wayne, from Southern England) about his Japanese wife in Tokyo and what she does for work. ALT Bridget was reading a Japanese children's book (in Japanese) to our host's three year old son who understands French and Japanese. Kae's (our host) husband Philippe (a Frenchman) was carrying on a conversation with Veronica in French about something related to architecture I think. Philippe was feeding his youngest son Marc who he and Kae had adopted from Brazil (Japanese families almost never adopt children so this was a very rare household indeed). ALT P.J., from Michigan, was carrying on a Japanese/English conversation with Kae about Chinese politics. This is when I thought to myself, "Veronica and I probably won't see anything like this again for a long time if ever." The best part about it was that the room was filled with open minded people who genuinely wanted to learn from each other. Also, none of the trilingual speakers (Veronica, Philippe, and Kae) in the room were trying to show off their skills. It wasn't about that. The overall appreciation that everyone had for each others differences was slightly unexpected and refreshing. Being a mono phone myself (basically just English), I had been expecting that I would feel slightly uncomfortable at some point in the evening. But that never happened. Veronica and I really enjoyed the evening to say the least.

Of coarse I can't finish today's posting without saying something about school. I have met so many extremely dedicated students at my school that it almost makes me cry (I think all teachers dream about having students who almost beg you to teach them). One such student is this girl (Akari) who shows up at my desk at the end of the school day because she wants me to help her with her English Speech Contest speech. She wants to memorize her speech because her English teacher (JTE--Japanese English Teacher) suggested that she should. Remember what I said before about suggestions? They're not suggestions at all. Anyway, Akari wants to memorize her seven hundred word speech before the contest. A speech translated into English by the JTE consisting of many big English words. We finished cramming the entire speech into her memory a couple of days ago. It took her less than a week. If Akari was autistic, this accomplishment wouldn't surprise me, but from what I can tell she definitely isn't. Think back to your high school days when you were an 11th grader who's been studying a foreign language for a couple of years (for about five hours a week). Could you memorize a large word composition with complex ideas in that new language of yours, in five days? I couldn't, that's all I'm saying. Kids like Akari make work for Veronica and I so fun here.

Well, that's all for now everyone. I'm off to give myself a haircut. I haven't had a trim for seven weeks so that means that I'm four weeks overdue. I hope it turns out o.k.. If it turns out looking ridiculous I'll make sure to take pictures and post them so we can all laugh together.

Add a little international flavor to your life this week. You'll be glad you did.

Running in Ashikaga

Something I’ve noticed lately is how much adults run around here. Or maybe I should call it ‘hustle’ or even ‘shuffle’. At school I’m always watching teachers shuffle back and forth. The phone rings, the teacher shuffles to the phone. Then they hustle to find the person who is being called. A student escapes school grounds, there’s a full out group run off after the student. Someone visits the school, a shuffle to the visitor, a shuffle to find the person being visited. With all this running, hustling and shuffling, no wonder everyone is so small. I can only imagine what American adults would look like if they ran around that much. It’s been so strange to see so many adults running around in a work environment, wearing business clothes. I’ve never seen the like. But then a lot of things about daily life are different. Let me take you through a typical morning.

Jon and I wake up on the floor of our apartment where our futons are at 6:15 and 7 am, respectively. Jon shaves in the shower room, and washes his face in the tub while I straighten my hair in the main room. Then I use the shower room to wash my face, and put on makeup while Jon uses the mirror in the main room to gel his hair, etc. We leave the apartment, unlock our bikes and ride to work. On the way we pass a couple official crossing guards who hold yellow flags reminding me of a bull fighter as they bow us across the road: “Ohiyo gozaimasu, onegaishimasu!” There are also several volunteer parents, some with their own children in strollers by the side of the road, holding the same yellow flag “onegaishimasu!” We ride by the adorable elementary school kids walking in groups to school all wearing their yellow hats and dragging their book bags, as well as our own students looking more sophisticated in either black pants and white button down shirts (boys) or knee length navy pleated skirts white shirts and navy vests (girls). “Good morning!” (Me) “Oh, Veronica! Ohiyo gozaimasu!”When we get to work, we walk up to the building, remove our indoor shoes from the shoe locker and put our outside shoes in the locker. Opening the door to the teacher’s room: “Ohiyo gozaimasu!” bow. Take a few steps; someone catches your eye “Ohiyo gozaimasu!” bow, etc. until reaching our desks and sitting down. The teachers all have desks grouped according to grade. Sitting down at our desks, we have a cup of tea waiting in the mug we bought and brought to school. We have a few minutes to organize our things for the day’s lessons and then the vice principal, principal and head teacher stand up. “Hup!” All the rest of the teachers stand up. “Ohiyo gozaimasu!” Everyone bows in the direction of the principal and then sits down. The teacher’s meeting usually lasts 20 minutes, with the head honchos standing and making announcements, any other teachers standing and announcing to the room and then the head teacher of each grade speaks individually to their own grades. Shortly after, most of the teachers leave to lead their home room class (which occurs each morning and afternoon). We get to relax in the teacher’s room and continue preparing for future lessons, or decorating our English boards. Around 9 am, the first lesson of the day begins.

We keep our own mugs at school, as well as a set of chopsticks in their own case. We wash both things ourselves in the sink in the teacher’s room. There are two sponges in the sink; each one has some Japanese writing in marker on it. I’d been using a sponge to clean my mug and chopsticks, and two weeks ago I figured out I’d been using the wrong sponge to clean my stuff. Apparently one sponge is designated as the ‘dirty’ sponge and is used to clean the sink and I can’t imagine what else, of course that’s the one I’d been using! Eeewwwwwwww. I’ve tried not to think about it too much. After lunch, teachers and students will be seen around the school brushing their teeth. After a couple weeks Jon and I figured we must seem dirty so we brought toothbrushes and toothpaste to school, and now I am proud to say that I brush my teeth three times a day. My dentist would be so proud :)

Last weekend we visited the Coco Farm and Winery on the outskirts of Ashikaga. It was beautiful. We had a delicious lunch and did some wine tasting (my first time!) We’ll definitely be going back. This week has seemed long for me after last week being only two school days: but Jon has an even longer week. Each junior high school holds a school festival every three years and we’re lucky enough to be here for the year when they happen. Jon’s school festival was today and tomorrow, so he’ll have a six day week. Here is a picture from the festival. The trade off is that he has Monday off, while I’ll be back in school! Mine isn't till the end of the month.

We’ve been thinking of y’all a lot, especially Christi with her baby’s impending birth right around the corner! In fact, he or she will arrive in T minus five hours! We hope that you are all doing well. Sending love from Japan xoxo

Kyoto and Osaka

You know that place where logic meets common sense? I pass by that place repeatedly on my way to work each day. For example, why drive a massive vehicle to and from work each day when a modest sized vehicle does everything that you want it to and more? Why work your butt off at the gym five days a week when you can just reduce the amount of empty calories (i.e. high fructose corn syrup products) and exercise only two hours per week with the same result? Why recycle paper that has been used on only one side when you can use the other side for memos and scratch paper and save your school/business a bunch of money? I could go on, but I think you get the point. In Japan we have seen many things that make us ask, “I wonder why we don’t do that in the states?” Garbage is an interesting issue here. I like the fact that they are serious about separating trash and recycling as much of it as possible, but it feels like an extra part-time job trying to get rid of our trash each week. Of course, we’ve also seen some glaring exceptions to this common sense and logic methodology. The previously mentioned snack food packaging (excessive to say the least) is one example. Another is indoor/outdoor shoes. Now, try to follow me if you can. If you have a pair of shoes that are new you can wear them indoors but not outdoors as well. Once worn outdoors, they are contaminated and can no longer be worn indoors…ever! However, if you wear your indoor shoes to cross the parking lot outside on your way to the gymnasium which is in a separate building…that’s okay. You can wear your outdoor shoes into a hotel and all the way up to your designated room, but once you get to your room you should put on the complimentary indoor slippers. Often, these slippers can be worn to places like the restroom and shower area, not to mention the lobby where you just came from when you were wearing your tennis shoes. So I ask you, what pair of footwear is cleaner? Does it matter? Maybe this is a cultural matter that makes its living outside of the governance of logic. At any rate, moving on.
We took total advantage of our five day weekend September 19-23. We took the bullet train down to Kyoto and Osaka to take in some of the historical sites. The bullet train (shinkansen) was expensive but necessary and worth it. We stayed in a capsule hotel in Osaka (30 minutes outside of Kyoto) because there wasn’t a hotel room to be found in the whole city of Kyoto. This holiday break (silver week) brings out all types of foreigners and Japanese alike. The crowds were crazy at times but we did get to see Osaka jo (jo means castle), roughly 8 temples, and 4 shrines. Veronica and I both enjoyed the experience immensely. We didn’t even see half of what Kyoto has to offer so if anyone who comes to visit wants to go back to Kyoto with us, we’re game.
Today (Friday) at school we didn’t really earn our money. At least it didn’t feel like it. All of the junior high schools in the prefecture had their sports tournament day so no schools had any classes. Veronica and I attended a number of sports matches around the city and called it a day early. I saw badminton, kendo, track and field, baseball, and soccer. Kendo is interesting. It’s like fencing but with heavier weaponry. The same girls that I can’t get a word out of during class are screaming their heads off at each other and charging with a full head of steam during the matches. Talk about venting. Some male coaches that I witnessed today need to learn how to vent. I don’t know if yelling full tilt and kicking over chairs will actually get your team to play better, but it seems to be a common theme I’ve noticed. Either the coaches are putting on an act in hopes of inspiring their team or they don’t have a healthy outlet for releasing their pent up energy. I’ve seen some male teacher outbursts like that at school too. Honestly, I think I’m missing something aside from the words that are coming out of their mouths. I’ll ponder this one further and revisit this issue sometime later perhaps.
On a happy note, it’s late September here and Veronica and I are loving the weather. It still feels somewhat tropical. Tomorrow we’re heading up into the hills to visit the local winery. It should take us about 40 minutes by bike each way. We’ll let you know how tasty the trip was on the next posting. Hope everyone is doing well in the States. Peace.

Junior High School

"Students of Ames Senior High, proud of our school are we

Cheering the orange and the black onto a victory (rah rah rah)...

...Doing the best for our high school, Ames High, AIMS HIGH!"

So began our year of teaching at Japanese junior high schools. Oh wait...actually the song went something like this "mumble mumble mumble (encouraging by teachers) mumble mumble (prodding by teachers) [short lived] la la la la! (back to) mumble mumble!"

Next, kyoto sensei (the vice principal) walks up to the stage, bows, "bla bla bla" motions toward me to come up to the stage, then gestures me toward the microphone. Feeling the temperature in my face start rising, I manage to say "Ohiyo gozaimasu! Hajimemashite, watashi wa Veronica desu. America kara kimashta, Eigo no sensei desu, Nihongo skoshi wakari mas. Sushi ga ski desu, hashiru koto ga ski desu. Dozo yoroshiku onegaishimasu."

Whoo! My official introduction to the students was over. Now two more weeks of detailed introductions in English would follow. Jon and I both tried to make the best of talking about ourselves over and over, and when eyes glazed over we would turn it up a notch. I started including my "special skill" (which is wiggling my ears) and was pleased to see students responding. For the most part I've found that students are generally quiet, and try to avoid being called on. As you would expect in any classroom, there is the class clown, the 'bad boy' (waru gaki) who never comes to class, doesn't dress in the school uniform and has brightly dyed hair, the smart kid asking all the questions, and the hyperactive student who keeps asking questions in Japanese to which the Japanese teacher responds with a slight laugh and a shake of the head, indicating it was an inappropriate question.

What interested the kids the most was that 1) I'm engaged 2) My fiance lives here, in Ashikaga! (Pause for classic double take look and a round of OOOOOH) 3) I have 4 brothers and 1 sister! (Most kids have 1 or 2 siblings at most) 4) I was born in Mexico where they speak Spanish! (Whaaa? Spaingo?) 5) I like to drink horchata - rice mixed with milk and sugar - "rice juice"! (Yuckyyyyyy) One teacher had me introduce myself briefly in French and Spanish as well and that also drew a good reaction.

Some things that drew no response at all: 1) Minnesota has 10,000 LAKES! (Blank look, even as I say lake in Japanese, and write 10,000 on the board) 2) Mexico has UNDERGROUND rivers I like to swim in called cenotes! (Eyes are starting to close) 3) My brother is a BREAKDANCER! (Showing picture, making bboy movements, nope, nothing)

After the introductions were completed, we got to the business of studying English. I must say: We LOVE the students! We have been trying to spend as much time with the kids as possible. So, when not in the teacher's room grading papers, etc and when we aren't in class, we've been spending time helping the kids do o-souji (cleaning the school), eating lunch with them, watching their club activities (seen here is the running club running around the track) and helping them with their English speech competition. They are all so polite and when approached in small groups, do their best to try to communicate with us in English. On Thursday I had a particularly good time at lunch when one of the students in my lunch group asked me if I liked "Friends". "Yes, I love 'Friends'!" I replied. "Do you know 'Smelly Cat'?" he responded excitedly. "Yes, I do! Smelly cat, smelly cat..." He was so excited he came over and asked me to teach it to him. Needless to say the rest of the class was entertained with our repititions of "It's not your faaauuuulttt" (No, say FAULT. 'Fauss'. FAULT. 'Fauss.' Faaaaulllllt. 'FAAAAUUULLLLT'. Very good!!)

Outside of interacting with the students, life at school has been very different for Jon and I. Jon works in a big junior high school with 9 English teachers. He usually is in class every period of the day. I work in a smaller junior high school with 3 English teachers and usually have 2 or 3 periods (out of 6) in class. Jon has been bringing some work home and staying later in the day to finish up grading papers, wheras I have been trying to find things to do and have now made 9 drawings to put up on the 'English board'. I haven't drawn anything since I was in junior high. We're figuring out what we're supposed to be doing but are still fish out of water at this point. We did figure out that we made a faux pas in telling everyone about our trip to Mount Fuji but not bringing any omiyage (souvenirs usually in the form of sweets) for our coworkers. Over these past couple weeks I've received over 10 omiyage gifts from coworkers. Oops! (Otto!)

Diet has been different, and a little difficult to get used to (as expected). One of the Japanese customs we need to abide by is eating all the school lunch. It's good, but it's big(ger than we're used to). We've had to adjust by reducing the size of our breakfast and dinner, and now that the headaches and tiredness have passed, have begun to resume normal exercise activities. Yea for running and lifting weights! Yea for cookies! Boo for excess packaging!

I'll close by explaining the mystery of the dripping hands from the last blog entry. There are almost NO public bathrooms anywhere that include paper towels or automatic hand dryers. People come out of bathrooms with dripping wet hands and go to the washcloth they carry around everywhere with them to dry their hands. Naturally we now carry a washcloth everywhere with us. This probably has something to do with the interesting (complicated) trash situation in Japan. I'll let Jon explain that one later.

Until next time, dear bloggers!

“Just do what everyone else does, you’ll be fine.”

We just finished our first week at school. Basically we’ve both just been giving our introduction speeches to various classrooms of students the whole week. On Friday, during my 15th presentation to one of the classes, I leaned over to the teacher and asked her, “Did I tell them about my family yet?” She looked at me like I was nuts and said, “No, I don’t think so.” Hey, you try giving the same speech that many times and try to remember what you just said. It’s difficult.

Our main mission at school this week was trying not to offend anyone, accidentally of course. There are so many subtleties that you need to look out for over here in the work place. Like, take suggestions seriously, because they’re not actually suggestions after all. And, there is no good reason for being late to work so make sure that you have two or three alarms set and one or two backup modes of transportation ready each and every day. And as I learned on Wednesday, you do not talk about last Sunday’s historic national election in the work place…oops…sorry…I mean, gomennasai.

Overall, our week at our respective schools has been very positive. Basically, we just tried to watch what the other teachers did and tried to follow suit the best we could. So far, that seems to be working for us pretty well. Only a couple of small problems arose due to some language miscommunications. So, we’re off to a good start.

Okay, quiz time. What kind of bicycle does Jon use to get himself to school? A.) a mountain bike. B.) a ten speed. C.) A bicycle with a big basket on the front, a grocery rack on the back, and a bell. I would love to tell you that it isn’t C but I can’t. Believe it or not, the type of bicycle that I have is the most sought after bike in all of Japan. In this country, practicality is king. O.K., next question. How many hours per day is the average Japanese middle schooler actually at school? A.) 7 hours. B.) 9 hours. C.) 11 hours. The answer again is C. But don’t feel bad for these kids, much of their day is spent doing club activities and sports. They get plenty of socializing in and they don’t have any time left to thug around and get into trouble after the school day is over. I kind of like it, as long as I get to leave school before they do (usually around 4pm or 5pm). Keepin' this show rollin'...What does one Japanese person say to another after one sneezes? A.) Nothing B.) Bless You C.) Don't do that again (in Japanese of course). The answer is nothing. Why? Because it's absurd to draw attention to something that could be viewed as embarassing? I really like this philosophy myself. I wish we followed this one in the U.S.. Okay, last question. You still have a chance to get at least one right. In an average box of cookies containing ten cookies (yes, that is the typical size around here), how many wrappings and/or trays are contained within? A.) three B.) thirteen c.) five. Well, if you include the box itself, it's thirteen. Each individually wrapped cookie sits in a tray that is sealed inside a plastic wrapper which is all housed inside the exterior box that you see on the shelf. In a country that founded the lean methodology (i.e. being more efficient and cutting unnecessary waste) this one really makes you scratch your head. However, this does help control binging.

As Veronica and I begin our second week of school, we are mindful of one of our long term goals while in Japan. We'd rather not have to wear a surgical mask to work if we can avoid doing so. Why would we ever do that? Well, since being sick is not a valid excuse for missing work, people in Japan simply sport a surgical mask all day long to help from spreading whatever they have. The funny thing is, you see people with Michael Jackson type masks around everyday and nobody thinks it's the slightest bit strange. Well, that's all for now. Tune in next time when we reveal the mystery of the people with dripping wet hands who exit public restrooms.

Settling In and New Experiences

We've now been in Japan for two weeks. The headaches are starting to lessen, and our stomaches are adjusting to Japanese food and water. In addition to meeting with the school principal and vice principal, we finished setting up our apartment, and got to know our city a little more. We're now ready for Japanese life.


It turns out that there are around 20 other ALTs in Ashikaga City. 3 more from our same company, and the rest from an assortment of other companies. We've met two others, one who has been living here since March, and it was very nice having an 'expert' in the city show us the ropes. All 20ish ALTs have a weekly get together which we might check out.


The big purchases of the week have been cell phones (required by the company), bicycles and a futon mattress (just a thicker futon). The bikes have been really cool to ride around the city with, and we look very stylish with our fancy phones. The futon mattress was fun to take home on the bike (see picture).


Luckily, we love the city. Compared to Tokyo, it is a 'small town' but it's got everything we need. Biking has allowed us to tour around and we've found two different shopping districts, two train stations, a large river going right through town (good for running along!), a gym (hallelujah!), a supermarket close to home (no more food from 7-Eleven, yea), a library, a shrine, and much more. It's been pretty hot and humid, which is great for us. Life is pretty peaceful, the people are nice and we already feel at home.


Once things were straightened out at home, it was time to tackle the next challenge: Mount Fuji. The pressure was on - the window of opportunity to climb Mount Fuji is very small. Climbing season is July and August, so we only had a couple days left, and really Saturday was our only option. So we left Ashikaga Friday night and took the train to Tokyo. It is amazing! We landed in Shinjuku Station which is right in Tokyo Times Square. I've never been to New York but I can imagine now how breathtaking it is standing in the middle of downtown, with buildings all around you reaching to the sky. It was awesome.

In the morning we woke up early to go to Mount Fuji. We're getting pretty good at riding trains now. Buses - not so much. Thanks to internet research we figured out the fastest route to Fuji - the express bus from Tokyo. But....we couldn't figure out how to make a reservation for bus tickets, (Nihongo skoshi wakare mas) so when we got there hoping to ride, no luck. Back to the trains.


We got to Mount Fuji around noon, bought hiking sticks and set off. It was rewarding...and exhausting. It took us about four hours to get to the Mount Fuji summit from Fuji-subaru 5th station (the most popular route), and we hardly rested at all. There were moments when thoughts of despair arose, but once you start climbing, you have few options. Either climb down (which after a couple hours is an impossible to think about), keep climbing (no matter how exhausted you may feel) or take a break. Taking a break for a little while is nice and you have to do it in order to acclimate to the atmosphere and less oxygen. Some people had brought oxygen tanks with them, and although we didn't use any, I can see how you might want it. After we got past the sixth station, it seemed harder and harder to keep the same energy level up.


There are eight stations along the climb and each one provides a stamp for your walking stick, a sleeping area if you want to rest for a few hours, a bathroom (100 Yen per person) and Ramen, candy bars, water, etc. We got our walking sticks stamped at the sixth station but then we decided to save our stamp money (the stamps get more expensive the higher you get) until the summit. This is a picture of one of the stations. They always looked a lot closer than they actually were!


We declined to use the sleeping areas. After a while, you don't want to rest because you just want to get the climb over with! We lucked out on the weather, it only rained a little, but it definitely got a lot colder. We started out in t-shirts, sweating and finished up wearing several layers and shivering. Once we made it to the top, after a (brief! We were exhausted!) celebration, we headed down. Thanks, Christi, for encouraging us to buy the hiking sticks. They were definitely necessary! Down was fun! The path is full of little pebbles and sand-type particles so you can shuffle / run down the path. The sticks helped lessen our falls (which didn't hurt since the ground was so soft) and slow us down when we got going too fast. About halfway down (one and a half hours in to the descent) the sun went down. Uh oh, no flashlight! Hm...luckily with the lights from the people on their way up (the most popular time to climb Mount Fuji is at night, in order to arrive at the summit for the sunrise) and our eyes adjusting to the night, we made it down. No bumps or bruises, but sore for sure. It will probably take a few days to recover completely, but WE CLIMBED MOUNT FUJI!

This week we start school. Eigo no kyoshi desu! We'll keep you posted. :)

Disequalibrium

Have you ever flushed the toilet and then washed your hands atop the toilet as the toilet tank recharges for the next flush? Me neither. It's a trip. Our apartment in Ashikaga City has all kinds of crazy gadgets straight out of some 007 flick. I think there's some interior design/architect dude somewhere in Japan with so much seniority that nobody dares tell him, "Sorry Tyko San, that idea bites, what else you got."

Seniority is a serious issue here in Japan. Take for example Veronica's school principal and my school principal. They've been in the school system for so many years that once they've attained their principal position, they basically earn the right to delegate most of the work to other people in the school, like the vice principal for example. I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with that, but it is interesting.

Veronica went to her school and met all of the staff on Monday. I went to my school today (Wed.) to do the "meet and greet" with the principal and others. After having some gold flaked dessert cakes and tea (I'm serious, there were actually gold shavings in the cakes. I was told by the principal that it helps one achieve optimal brain function. I smiled and nodded.) I introduced myself and recieved many smiles in return. Not smiles that say,"Oh, Hello." but smiles followed by a "Are you serious?" type of look. You see, when I say "Watashi wa Jonathan desu." it kind of sounds like "My name is Jon San." You see, people don't refer to Themselves as "something San" because that's someone elses job to call you that. Otherwise it sounds like you're full of yourself. After a minute or two of explaining by my company rep things were cleared up and we moved on. This only made me ponder what else I might have done or might do that was/will be taken the wrong way. I think that's what Veronica and I worry about the most. We don't plan to offend anybody, but there is a good chance that we will do it on accident more than we know.

This type of thing tends to put a person on edge just a bit. Speaking of which, Veronica and I have been getting some headaches from trying to understand the language day in and day out. I guess we could have studied Japanese a bit more seriously before we arrived. That's okay I guess. Perhaps we're just reaching our cognitive disequalibrium quicker than we had planned. What's that you ask? It's what teachers would call the phase in which the learner leaves their comfort zone, reaches a noticeable level of discomfort, and enters the optimal learning environment. River Heights students, if you're reading this right now (I hope you are) think about that for a second. Basically, it means that if you're always comfortable and relaxed when "learning" then you're probably learning at the slowest rate possible. A person forms their most vivid and exciting memories in life when this disequalibrium is in effect. Adults reading this, take note as well. If there is anything that you've been puting off doing because it would take you out of your normal, comfortable routine (a.k.a. Your baby blanket) make plans to make it a reality. Veronica and I have probably said, "I'm so glad we did this." to each other at least maybe...twenty times since we arrived here last week. Needless to say, the rewards outweigh the headaches. That's all for now. 'Til next time you little bloggaholics. Class dismissed. Jon San out!

Japanization

So, originally this blog was intended to be written next week, but there's so much to tell! For instance, did you know that Japan is a whole different country? Yeah. I know. Shocker.

Here are some ways that you can tell that you are in a different country:

1. If there is a parking garage in your hotel that cars are driven into and then stowed vertically, and when they are released to be driven away, they are turned toward the street by a wheel in the floor.

2. If your toilet is also a bidet.

3. If the faucet for the sink is also the faucet for the shower.

4. If the lights and air conditioning in your hotel room don't turn on until you place your room key in a slot in the wall.

5. If the graffiti on the bathroom stall is written in hiragana. (Japanese characters)

6. If cars are driven on the other side of the road, AND the other side of the car.

7. If the figure in the 'walk' sign is wearing a hat.

8. If beer and cigarettes are sold in vending machines on the sidewalk.

9. If you don't understand anything ANYONE is saying!

10. If you feel like you are indecently dressed in a tank top.

No matter how much you prepare for a different culture, there will still be big adjustments to make. It's no secret that we took a big risk coming here. Information was slow, and when we got it, not much of it came. It was at times frustrating. However, the company has more than made up for it in the two days that training was given. They prepared us for (it seems) every possible situation both at work and in our daily lives in Japan. Which is kind of overwhelming, but we should now be ready for anything! Neither one of us has ever had to think so much about everything we are doing while we're out in public. It seems very easy to offend someone accidentally, if you're a foreigner. It might take you a while, however, to figure out that you offended somebody, because in this culture, nothing is said directly (as not to offend the other person).

Some highlights of the things we've learned:

Greetings are very important in Japan. We learned the exact order (and phrase we should use) to greet teachers at the beginning of the day (in order of importance) and at the end of the day.

Recycling is very important. If you don't do it correctly, the old lady next door may go through your trash, properly recycle your items, find your name on a piece of your trash, and complain to the neighborhood bureau, who will complain to your company, who will then call and tell you to recycle your belongings the correct way.

Pointing is rude. We keep reminding each other not to do it - try it, it's hard, you do it all the time!

Unfortunately, America has come (somewhat) to Japan. Our hotel provides us free breakfast at the Denny's next door. Yes, it's not exactly the same, but come on! There's also McDonald's and Starbucks everywhere, and 7-Elevens and Holiday Inns are also frequently seen. Here's Jon trying out the Japanese cuisine.

Well, so far, everything is going well. Today we were busy being tourists of the Mito area and visited an outdoor sculpture garden. Of course, we took the train the wrong way for one stop, but we are learning more and more every day! We have one more day here in Mito, and then it's off to Ashikaga where we interview with the Board of Education and move into our apartment. Soon we will apply for our alien registration cards and get cell phones, yea! The word is that you can get a plan for $10 a month, niiice.

We hope that everyone is doing well. Kisses and hugs from the Far East!

Under the Same Moon

So, we've arrived in "The Land of the Rising Sun" and everything still feels new and exciting. We've already learned some new things about traveling not-so-light as Veronica and I have very little experience between us when it comes to checking bags at the airport (usually we pack so light we never have to check a bag). It all started before we left Minnesota. As busy as we were getting ready to depart last Sunday morning, we didn't bother to check the American Airlines website for checked baggage guidelines. Hence, I ended up paying an extra fifty dollars for my luggage because it was seven pounds overweight. However, if I had packed the extra seven pounds into an additional second checked bag, it would have been free. Go figure. By the way, don't let Veronica try to fool you into thinking that I packed more clothes than she did for this trip (she may make this declaration later). I'll just say that size 13 shoes take up way more room than a size....uh, I don't know...6. End of story. I win.

Jet lag is an interesting phenomenon. You see, the primitive parts of the human brain like the area that tells us, "Jon, you're getting very sleepy, you need to find a pillow quick!" haven't evolved a coping mechanism for this type of situation. Needless to say, Veronica has overcome her jet lag and I'm still struggling with it at the moment. How else can I explain the fact that I just can't sleep past 5am no matter how hard I try. For anyone who knows how much I just love my mornings, you'll find some humor in that one. So, on Wednesday morning (sometime between 3 and 4am) I found myself doing some stargazing. The slim crescent moon was performing a dance with Mars and they almost had me convinced that I was witnessing a newly choreographed play by a new cast of characters. They simply looked too brilliant and too light on their feet to be the old cast that I've come to know so well. Was it my brain playing tricks on me? Perhaps...but it was a most memorable sight indeed.

America is in denial. You know how difficult it is to see out of your windows at night when all of the inside lights are on? However, at the same time, anyone outside looking in can see you as plain as day? Okay, in this analogy Americans typify the people inside while the rest of the world identify with the passerby. "America, I can see you now very clearly and guess what, you are extremely overweight and unhealthy." Ponder the following. Veronica and I have been in Japan for four days now. Guess how many Japanese people we've seen that are obviously overweight (more than 5-10 pounds)? Anybody? Well the answer to that question is ONE. That's right, out of thousands of people we could only find ONE overweight Japanese person (at least he looked Japanese, we weren't able to talk to him to confirm his nationality). Just let that sink in for a minute. I know it makes you want to step outside of the "house" so you can get a clearer picture right?

The stereotype of Japanese being very nice is true. We were a bit lost...O.K. a lot lost when we were trying to make our way from our Hotel in Narita back to the bus station at the airport. While most Japanese were doing the "I'm not going to engage in dialogue unless it's a matter of life and death" thing, one college aged woman took notice of our situation and asked if she could help because we looked like we needed some help. She was more than helpful. It was like she felt an obligation to not only tell us but show us where we needed to go. She was awesome. We only wished that we had taken a picture of her to remember her by.

How many times have you seen a Mercedes Benz or a nice BMW parked in front of a farm house? Well, if you come to Japan then you'll see it a lot. America needs to start paying our farmers better for the important service that they provide for our nation. We've got our priorities backwards in many ways. How did this happen? Can we undo it?

(By the way, the farm houses were really nice too, amazingly so.)

We just finished our second and last day of our training with Heart. There were eight other ALTs in the training with us. I was perhaps the oldest. I definitely wasn't the tallest (see picture). All of the others were American except the one Canadian (the ethnically Japanese man who was born and raised in Canada) and the one chap Carl, I mean "Cahl" from Great Britain. Everyone was really nice. We hope to keep in touch with everyone else as we all head our separate directions to the cities that we'll be teaching in.