The Mask

The winter germs this year have been unrelenting. Minika seems to be sick every week and I’m not far behind her. I sat at my desk this morning with my usual sniffle and cough when suddenly the teacher who sits next to me thrust a mask into my hands. I had no choice but to wear it!

For those unfamiliar with this Japanese way these masks are worn by people

1) who are sick and don’t want to spread germs and
2) by people who are healthy and don’t want to get sick

Getting sick is not an option especially for teachers as they are so busy. I have not managed to get my head around the Japanese way of going to work when you are really sick and spreading your germs. I don’t care if it makes me look bad here. If I can’t talk, am coughing myself stupid, have a bad stomach and a raging headache I will call in sick!

Until things get that bad – I’m stuck with the mask!

Hallelujah!

After being given free reign over my 2-7 class I am trying to think of interesting activities every week for them to use their imagination and use the English they know.

When trying to think of a good idea I think about what I did at school and sometimes it pays off. So, this week class 2-7 have been preparing for “The Great Balloon Debate.”

The concept is very simple – there are five of you in a hot air balloon that has just started sinking. You must have a debate and decide which person to throw overboard so the others can survive.

I gave everyone a character with good and bad points and put them in groups of four. They had to write a short speech saying why they should stay and then write about why the other people in the balloon should be thrown out.

Today was presentation day and after the speeches the class had to vote who went overboard. Here is the highlight of my day:

One of my favourite students was playing the character of Jim; a 92 year old fisherman in poor health. Sensing he might get thrown overboard (as the three girls in his group were strong characters) he made up a story about he had been married to each of the girls and they had all cheated on him and left him.

I thought it was an absolute stroke of genius and the class loved it. See! Just when you start thinking these kids have no interest and don’t want to try anything, one of them pulls that out of the bag!

Raw Talent

At my high school we have three different courses to choose from. Classes 1-6 follow the “normal course” covering the basics and a wide range of other subjects. Class 7 is the international course, class 8 is art and class 9 is design.

I found out that the students from class 9 were putting on a fashion show this weekend and I jumped at the chance to see what they’ve been making.

I was amazed at the talent of these kids. Not only did they design and make all of the items on display; but they also produced their own show and modeled their own clothes. The show was unbelievable and the kids were excited to see me in the audience.

Students demonstrated how to put on a traditional kimono

My favourite first year girls show off their aprons

This is what they can do with one piece of material and a lot of pins

I walk past this every day at school – I love it

Voulez vous......

Tonight we headed to a local French restaurant for Allen’s birthday. It was a good night and the food was absolutely delicious. Here is the obligatory group shot!

I won’t bore you with the details but just upload the good stuff

Oh and here's the cake - Minika chose it - and yes those are what you think they are!

She's a maneater!

I haven’t seen my bus friend Akiko since last September when she told me the exciting news that she “at last” had a boyfriend. Her words not mine and considering she’s 37 and wants to start a family I thought that was great news!

Tonight she told me that they got engaged in October

Oh – how sweet!

Oh and they got married in December!

Easy tiger – what’s the rush?!?!?

Ha ha we had a good giggle about it and I joked that the next time I saw her she would be pushing a pram.

Giving Back

After living in Kumamoto for almost three years it’s about time I gave something back to the community. A fellow ALT has been volunteering at an orphanage downtown but due to family and business commitments he was looking for people to take over. Dawn, Pooja and I volunteered and we are all really excited.

All we have to do is prepare a 40-50 minute English class for a small group of year 6 kids once a week. Tonight was the first night and we all introduced ourselves and got to meet the class. There are only 5 students but they all seem eager to learn and I think we’re going to have fun with them.

The hall where we teach is pretty depressing and I have no idea what British orphanages are like, let alone Japanese ones, but they all seem pretty happy and I can’t wait to see them next week!

Global Warming = Crazy Weather = : (

I know Kumamoto is a place for weather extremes but this year has been riduculous!

According to the Lunar calendar yesterday was the coldest day of the year. It really was and everyone was freezing cold. Today is all about the rain. It has been pouring nonstop since last night.

During my first year the weather was simple:

Summer - hot and humid and sweaty
Autumn - 2 weeks of nice comfortable weather
Winter - freezing cold everyday but clear blue skies and sunshine
Spring - 2 weeks of comfortable weather

Those were the days.......

Come on kids...

Sometimes I can get a little frustrated with the kids here. They seem to respond better without a Japanese teacher present and I can’t understand why. If I were them I would feel more confident about speaking up with a JTE in the room because if I made a mistake they could translate for me. However a students here don’t work like that and when it’s just the ALT in the room, they take full advantage and go crazy!

Take class 1-7 for example. They are all part of the international high school course and next year they will specialize in either English or Chinese. Because of this, I don’t understand why they are my hardest class. They hardly ever volunteer answers and even when I’m asking for simple feedback (nod your head if you understand) I am met with blank faces.

I was a little nervous of my afternoon class with them today after my JTE informed me I would be teaching the class alone!

An hour later and I left on a high as the class had gone really well. They listened, understood and practiced the activity and some people even volunteered to do a demonstration!! I don’t understand why they are so different when I teach them by myself?!!?

Happy Surprise Birthday Akira!

Just in case you were wondering what an actual Japanese person does at karaoke…..

See - they're even crazier than the foreigners ;)

The big 2-0

Today was a national holiday to mark Coming of Age Day. Anyone turning 20 in the current school year will celebrate this day. At 20 you can smoke, drink and vote in Japan so it’s a big deal over here!

It’s also great for us as we get to see the girls dressed in their best kimonos. The boys either wear a traditional hakama or a Western style suit. Perfect hair and make-up is a must and if you don’t believe how crazy it gets, just try booking a hair appointment this weekend and you’ll see!

This is still one of my favourite Coming of Age Day photo. The kimonos are worth thousands of pounds, the hair and make-up took hours and cost a lot too. Where’s the best place to show off all that effort…….

Beowulf - good/bad?

Saw Beowulf the movie yesterday. I can’t decide if I liked it or not.

*I had no idea it was a CGI movie
*It was quite graphic – especially the first scenes
*The subtitles were in Japanese so I couldn’t always understand the Old English

What did you think?

The Technological Age??

When I wanted to show slideshows at my junior high schools last year, I had to take my own computer and hang a large piece of paper on the wall. It amazes me that in a country known for their technological developments the Japanese kids get so excited when they get to touch a computer.

Luckily my brand new school comes complete with a C.A.L.L room (Computer Assisted Language Learning) and a huge audio-visual room large enough for 300+ students. I took full advantage of these resources when my teachers asked me prepare any lesson for this week’s class. I decided to prepare a slideshow and get the kids involved in an interactive quiz about Christmas and New Year in England. It went down well and the kids loved seeing pictures of mum and dad being silly (i.e. drunk) on Christmas Day.

I plan to kids the kids back in the C.A.L.L. room very soon!

Delicious but dangerous...

Another New Year custom in Japan is creating rice cakes (餅, mochi).

Boiled sticky rice (餅米, mochigome) is put into a wooden shallow bucket-like container and patted with water by one person while another person hits it with a large wooden hammer. By mashing the rice, it gets sticky and forms a sticky white dumpling. This is made before New Year's Day and eaten during the beginning of January.

Because of mochi's extremely sticky texture, there are many deaths by choking on New Year in Japan, particularly in the elderly population. The death toll is reported in newspaper publications the day after New Year.

Sad but true and there have already been 13 cases of choking in Tokyo alone!!

Time to unpack?!?

Since I have been home for 6 days I thought today was the perfect day to unpack ; ) and tidy my house ready for the start of school. I hate unpacking and find the only way to motivate myself is to throw it all over the floor. That way the mess bugs me so much I have to tidy it up. It works for me!This photo was actually taken in my first year but you get the idea ; )

I said a little prayer for you.....

After 3 days and absolute nothingness it was time to return to the semi-real world and report for work on Friday morning.

We didn’t actually have anything to do and, seeing as there was only a small number of us, Yuji decided to take us to Fujisaki Shrine for our New Year visit. He does this every year and Mr. Ben was not in the mood but we all trudged along anyway.

Going to a shrine (in most cases more than one) is a very important part of Japanese New Year celebrations. You get to say your prayers for the coming year and purchase a whole range of good luck charms, fortunes and decorations.

So we threw our money in – clapped – bowed and made our wishes for the New Year. I also decided to buy a fortune. They come in all shapes and sizes and are usually split up by birthday, birth month or blood type. Inside you usually get a piece of paper which will tell you how lucky your fortune is (bad, fair, good) and, if you buy the more expensive ones, you will get a deeper analysis looking at love, work, travel and money etc.

Luckily for me this one was a good fortune – yay!

The world has gone PC crazy!

PC = Political Correctness!
Here is a funny little something someone sent me in an email.
It should be PM = Political Madness!

A Politically Correct Santa?

'Twas the night before Christmas and Santa's a wreck...

How to live in a world that's politically correct?

His workers no longer would answer to "Elves",

"Vertically Challenged" they were calling themselves.

And work conditions at the North Pole,

Were alleged by the union to stifle the soul.
Four reindeer had vanished, without much propriety,

Released to the wilds by the Humane Society.

And Equal Employment had made it quite clear,

That Santa had better not use just reindeer.

So Dancer and Donner, Comet and Cupid,

Were replaced with 4 pigs, and you know that looked stupid!

The runners had been removed from his sleigh;

The ruts were termed dangerous by the E.P.A.

And people had started to call for the cops,

When they heard sled noises on their roof-tops.

Second-hand smoke from his pipe...had his workers quite frightened.

His fur trimmed red suit was called "Unenlightened."
And to show you the strangeness of life's ebbs and flows,

Rudolf was suing for unauthorized use of his nose,

And had gone on Geraldo, in front of the nation,

Demanding millions in over-due compensation.
So, half of the reindeer were gone; and his wife,

Who suddenly said she'd enough of this life,

Joined a self-help group, packed, and left in a whiz,

Demanding from now on her title was Ms.
And as for the gifts, why, he'd ne'er had a notion,

That making a choice could cause so much commotion.

Nothing of leather, nothing of fur,

Which meant nothing for him. And nothing for her.

Nothing that might be construed to pollute.

Nothing to aim. Nothing to shoot.

Nothing that clamoured or made lots of noise.

Nothing for just girls. Or just for the boys.

Nothing that claimed to be gender specific.

Nothing that's warlike or non-pacific.

No candy or sweets...they were bad for the tooth.

Nothing that seemed to embellish a truth.

And fairy tales, while not yet forbidden,

Were like Ken and Barbie, better off hidden.

For they raised the hackles of those psychological,

Who claimed the only good gift was one ecological.
No baseball, no football...someone could get hurt;

Besides, playing sports exposed kids to dirt.

Dolls were said to be sexist, and should be passe;

And Nintendo would rot your entire brain away.
So Santa just stood there, disheveled, perplexed;

He just could not figure out what to do next.

He tried to be merry, tried to be gay,

But you've got to be careful with that word today.

His sack was quite empty, limp to the ground;

Nothing fully acceptable was to be found.

Something special was needed, a gift that he might,

Give to all without angering the left or the right.

A gift that would satisfy, with no indecision,

Each group of people, every religion;

Every ethnicity, every hue,

Everyone, everywhere...even you.

So here is that gift, it's price beyond worth...

"May you and your loved ones enjoy peace on Earth."