Cute Kids, Waru Gaki, and Haircuts, Oh My!

It seems that in the past few months there have been a lack of new gained experiences that are uniquely Japanese. I don't mean in the sense of visiting new areas, or seeing famous places, which we obviously did over winter vacation while having fun with Kristin, but new experiences when it comes to everyday life (la vie cotidienne) that are different from our American experiences. It seems that nowadays we are getting used to everything and not much is "new" and exciting. I am happy to report now that the last couple weeks have been filled with different "new" and exciting unique Japanese experiences that I would love to share with you!

One amazingly wonderful thing that is different here is how much I like my job and "bosses" as opposed to my last job in the States - and how much they like me! (Sorry Deli people if you're reading this, I'm not talking about YOU!) This was especially evident on January 26th. On the Sunday of that week I came down with some kind of illness that was flu-like and lasted about a week. Since I normally never get sick, and especially not for that length of time, I'm sure it was a Japanese strain that I had never been exposed to. It was at its worst for the first few days, but being someone who doesn't like to shirk responsability, I dragged myself to work on Monday. When Tuesday rolled around I forced myself to call in sick. Wednesday I still wasn't feeling good, but two days of calling in sick to me were unthinkable so I dragged myself in. (Plus we don't get paid for days we call in sick!) The vice principal, principal and head teacher took a look at me, conferred for a moment and then the head teacher came over to me, felt my forehead, declared I had a fever and told me to go home. They assured me that they would not call the Board of Education or my company to let them know that I was not at school. "For us, you are at school today, yes? Please, we will not call. Kiotskete, ne?" This meant that I would be paid for not working on Wednesday. I can't conceive of this happening in any American company, especially not where I worked last. From an ethical standpoint I don't know if it was the best thing to do, because I didn't work and got paid, but the idea that someone wanted to extend such kindness warmed my heart and I had the urge to cry. Japanese kindness is wonderful!

Another wonderful new experience was my visit to an elementary school. I went to teach 5 classes - two "English" classes, two "Social studies" classes and one combining the two. I taught 6th and 5th graders all about myself and all about American culture. Going into it was a little nerve racking since I wasn't sure how much English ability the kids would have and I knew that the Japanese teachers would not be fluent in English. Once I got there, I was surprised at the kid's ability and only had a few moments where I was unable to explain something. The difference between the elementary school and the junior high I normally teach at was that the kids had not gotten to the "I'm too cool for school" phase and so almost all of them were really excited to learn all about me and America. It was also really fun to play "Red Light, Green Light" (a 'typical' American game) and answer their enthusiastic questions. Plus, Japanese kids are SO cute! :)

Over time, I've discovered that my junior high is probably not typical of Japanese junior high schools. My school is declared "the worst junior high in Ashikaga" and I am discovering why. There are a few badly behaved kids that unfortunately make the whole school stand out as "the bad seed." I think I've mentioned before some of the pranks the kids have pulled, but let me add some more. It recently occurred to me to ask Jon if a fire alarm going off at school was an almost every day occurrence. He told me no, which came as a surprise to me because at my school this is definitely the case. The other day I was asked to go help a teacher with an issue. I followed her into a girl's bathroom where we found a desk and a chair locked into two different stalls. We had to maneuver ourselves into the stalls to remove said objects. Just a couple weeks ago, I was looking out the window of the teacher's room when trash began to rain from the sky. Straws, chalk and other objects fell onto the front steps of the school. One piece of chalk with particular good timing and aim happened to strike a student in the forehead as he looked up to see what was falling from the sky. I was told not to go pick up the trash because "they might throw more and we don't want you to get hurt". The worst of the misbehaved kids have discovered that saying "fuck you" is not something I appreciate, so of course they make sure they say it often, and loudly to me. On the week that I was sick, a group of them headed me off as I was leaving school and got up in my face saying "fuck you, girl" several times. What's funny is that the reactions that the teachers have toward these kids is not as I would expect it to be. They laugh at the kid's antics, and when those kids get especially angry, they only push them into a room and have a talking-to with them. It doesn't seem to be helping matters any. The latest of their antics was this Thursday when I gave a demonstration lesson to the other junior high ALTs and some English teachers. I guess they figured out where our discussion was held after the lesson because we were rudely interrupted by one kid opening the door and yelling out "fuck you, man" before running away. After I ran and locked the door to prevent another rude interruption, they contented themselves with yelling the same type of thing from the hallway - and including my name. Despite these unpleasant kids, I want to emphasize again how much I LOVE my job and most of the kids! It is never boring, that's for sure.

Well, spring is officially here in Japan. Last week on Thursday was the first day of spring according to the Japanese calendar, and coming right along with spring came our first snowfall. As you can see in the picture, it wasn't much to speak of, but funnily enough, when I got to school the morning after the snow fell, I discovered that school had been delayed an hour. Better safe than sorry, I guess? It was interesting to hear about Japanese traditions to welcome spring in. They include throwing soybeans out of your house to expel evil spirits, eating soybeans, and planting heads of sardines in the garden and hanging them from your porch also to expel evil spirits. Maybe the bad smell keeps them away. :)

I've been trying to avoid getting my hair cut by cutting off all the split ends I can find while bored at school. I was afraid of a hairstylist misunderstanding my wishes and meeting with a hair disaster! However, it's been more than a year since I've had my hair cut, and it was getting a little crazy. So, this week I finally decided that enough was enough and asked an English teacher to help me set up an appointment. Displaying typical Japanese kindness, she called the salon to set up an appointment with her stylist and gave me a discount card of 60% off! Yesterday with much trepidation I set off for the salon. Of course, I had nothing to be worried about, and aside from the person I was with at the moment announcing to the salon what I had just finished doing (yell - "shampoo!" answer by all other employees - "please, enjoy!"), it wasn't much different from an American haircut. Of course, it took me a couple tries and a lot of body language to get the stylist to understand what I wanted, but we got there in the end. My stylist was a young, skinny guy, with very 80s hair - long and curly permed all pushed over to one side. I had a lot of fun watching him cut my hair. With all the swooping and lunging, I felt that I was watching the "haircut ballet". In the end I was very happy with the results and, wanting to make sure that he understood that I liked it, I told him I loved him, and bowed. After all, the students are always telling me that in English, so hopefully he didn't misunderstand!

I'll finish up with a thought about Valentine's Day. How are all of you going to celebrate? Here, the tradition is that women give men chocolate. Then, a month later on March 14th, the men return the favor and give women chocolate. Although many of us probably agree that Valentine's Day is a commercial, unnecessary holiday that just pressures us into buying romantic paraphanelia, at least in Japan the giving is equalled out, right? We hope that you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day and a great week! Ai shiteru all!