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.