Another Beautiful Day in Paradise
Mood:  energetic
Now Playing: Oh, what a beautiful morning.....
Saturday, Dec. 6th

So every once in awhile, my batteries start to run down and I need a recharge. Beginning a new teaching assignment at a school where the kids are definitely "NOT SHY AND VERY LOUD" did me in this last week. I have a sore throat and am feeling really, really drained, so here's what works for me: I go to bed fairly early on a Friday night. Well, actually, last night I fixed myself a "medicinal brandy" (Mom's recipe - hot tea, honey, lemon juice and, oh yeah, brandy). Then I don't get out of bed until I just can't sleep anymore on Saturday. I do my daily 1/2 hour meditation and throw on my running clothes and go for a run. So this morning that's exactly what I did. Except I forgot to look outside first and, when I hit the pavement, it was pouring rain. Well, I didn't want to end up feeling worse so I went back upstairs, threw on my "Nanook of the North" cozy, comfy warm night gown and made myself buckwheat pancakes with home-made applesauce. Then I made a couple of phone calls to the states, that always makes me feel wonderful.

I felt so good that I went for a bike ride to a store and bought a few last minute Xmas presents and then the rain stopped. So, of course, I get back into my running clothes and out the door for an hour plus run. (I've been working my way up to an hour). I ran from my apartment to the Shukugawa River and followed it down to the ocean. This is the first time that I've made it all the way to the ocean and the sun was setting as I ran to the beach. Wow, what a view. By the time I got home it was dark and the full moon had come out so I ran under trees along the river by moonlight.

Ended the day all bundled up in my comforter with a cup of tea and the newest Harry Potter book.

Now that's the way to recharge!

Table Tennis
Mood:  energetic
Now Playing: Oh, I'm happy, oh so happy.
My bicycle odometer rolled over 800 miles today!
I am so enjoying my new school. The kids are so enthusiastic. I've already committed two faux pas (sic?) this week. First, during lunch, the kids were asking me lots of questions and I automatically stuck my chopsticks in my rice when I turned around to answer a question. I HAD BEEN WARNED TO NEVER EVER STICK MY CHOPSTICKS IN MY RICE. oops. I was corrected immediately. What I didn't know is that it's a tradition to put a bowl of rice with chopsticks sticking out of it in front of your home shrine when someone has died. sumimasen! Next mistake was walking into class sucking on a throat lozenge. Again, I know that candy is not allowed in school but my throat was sore and I forgot to get rid of the thing when I walked into class. I was immediately noticed by the students. again....sumimasen. These kids are very observant. They don't let anything pass them by. I've been amazed when someone noticed something small that I was wearing or the color of some earrings that I wore the day before. Seems that they really are aware of details. I know that this is a generalization but in general....
I had a free period this morning and some of the 3rd grade girls asked me to play table tennis with them in P.E. today.

Campaigning
Campaiging goes on for a couple of weeks. Every day at lunch time the students come in and do a little campaign speech for a few classes. They take turns so that everyone in the school has heard every speech. The candidates always take a friend with him/her. The friend also gives a little testamonial about his/her friend. This is all very serious. They wear banners across their chest and stand at the entrance of the school in the morning saying "vote for me" for a few days before elections. There are posters on the walls. I asked some of the students who they were going to vote for or who they thought would win and got some blank looks. Little did I know that everyone who ran for office got elected! surprise, surprise.

My First Day at Masago Chugako
Mood:  energetic
Now Playing: Twenty-four days till Xmas
A new school, new teachers, new students. Masago is only about 3 miles from my apartment so I get to sleep in a few extra minutes in the morning. I take the same route that I have been using but just turn off sooner. Our office looks out onto the bay and there is a gorgeous curved bridge that has the sun shining on it most afternoons. Gorgeous. This is a newer school than Hamako but still no heating in the classrooms and, I'm sure, no air conditioning either. It's hard to beleive that I was wearing as little as possible just a few months ago. Now I'm wearing almost everything I own at once. A neck scarf and gloves are a must during chilly bike rides to work in the morning. I have found that a t-shirt under my turtleneck and then a sweater vest over that and a jacket is pretty cozy for now. I know it's going to get colder and I have my little handwarmers sitting in my desk drawer for when my fingers start freezing. These hand warmers are made of some chemical that when it hits the air it heats up. There are sticky ones to stick to your back under your jacket. These are supposed to be very effective at keeping your core temperature up there.

Masago is a little bigger than Hamako. I have 4 classes of 1st, 2nd and 3rd graders. That's 12 different groups of 35-40 kids each that I get to work with. Change is always stressful and my first challenge is to memorize all the new teachers names and begin memorizing some of the kid's names. What fun.

Pumpkin Pie Party
Mood:  party time!
Now Playing: Happy Thanksgiving
Sunday, Nov. 30th

Well, I got brave and had my first get-together this weekend. Since the turning of Halloween and then Thanksgiving in the states I was definitely getting the urge to cook and more specifically to bake. When I discovered that most of my Japanese friends had heard of pumpkin pie but had never tried it, that gave me the courage to try to get a gathering together.

First task was finding pumpkin. I haven't seen anything that looks exactly like a pumpkin in the markets here so my first attempt was with some baked yams. I tried "pumpkin" bread at first. That was successful after figuring out how to use the microwave/oven/toaster. The first loaf was a bit burned on top then I discovered that I had the oven rack in upside down. sumimasen. Next, Connie and David brought a couple of cans of pumpkin home. So the next pumpkin bread was authentic and very yummy. Then I discovered that a friend from Bangladesh had never even heard of pumpkin! Oh, my gosh, I gotta have friends over and introduce them to a taste sensation.

So, the next step is finding more pumpkin. I found all I needed in Sannomiya (which is in Kobe). I invited about 20 folks thinking that I would get about 10 people to show up. Well, Didik invited his girlfriend and she invited her sister. Didik also invited Troy, our Australian friend who came along for birthday dinner at the beginning of the month. It seems like a lot of folks decided to bring friends to try the pie. Luckily, I got the idea early on that this may be a popular party so I baked 5 pies and 4 mini's on Saturday. David actually had to go out and buy another Pyrex pan. I baked one at a time in two ovens (David's downstairs) and mine. It took about 4-5 hours but, boy, was it worth it.

Didik and his friends arrived early on Sunday. He whipped the whip cream for me. (I actually found powdered whip cream, just add milk and whip!) Didik also set up my computer to the boombox and played DJ for the entire time. Everyone chipped in making coffee and cutting pie. Miwa brought a present (a Japanese card game) Some of us English speakers got to test our knowledge of hiragana with the cards. Yuko and Yoshiki brought their two little girls so we had a coloring activity in one room. My teacher friends enjoyed working with these two cuties.

All and all a very fun Sunday afternoon.
I think I will do this again!

Last day at Hamako
Mood:  sad
Now Playing: I'm going to miss you when I'm gone.
Sunday, Nov. 30th
Pumpkin Pie Party

The idea all began with Halloween and pumpkins.
I couldn't believe that there were folks in Japan who had never tasted pumpkin pie. Well, I first tried to bake a pumpkin pie by using sweet potatoes (couldn't find a real pumpkin in the stores). It was ok but Connie and David found me some canned pumpkin and that tasted much more authentic. Then I found out that Siddique-san didn't even know what pumpkin was. I just had to have a party. So I invited just a few friends but then one person asked if he could bring a friend. Then before I knew it, there were sisters, friends and others being invited. Luckily, David offered his little oven and so on Saturday I baked 6 pies and a few small individual pies in my and David's oven. The next door neighbors must have thought me extremely odd running up and down stairs with pumpkin pies in my hands. What a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon. I think it was a great success.
Party Photos



GOODBYE HAMAKO

My first teaching experience is coming to an end. This is my last day at Hamako. I did my speech in the teacher's room this morning. This is very traditional. At the morning meeting, we always stand and greet each other with a "Ohayo gozaimasu" and a bow. Then I get to go to the front of the room. The principal says a few words about my stay here and then I get to say a few words. It's so nice that the school takes time to say "hello" and "goodbye" to everyone who comes to work at the school. Then all the students assemble in the gym. Again, this isn't just especially for me alone. This is done for every person who comes to teach - even a long-term sub. The principal gives a little speech, I get to give a little speech to the kids and then two representative students come up and do a little speech thanking me in Japanese and English. I am presented with a beautiful bouquet of flowers.

It's amazing that some of the kids are eager to say goodbye but I notice that some of the boys, especially, are tending to avoid me and don't want say goodbye. I'm guessing that they are just too embarrassed or maybe too emotional to say goodbye. I am showered with gifts and notes. David has come to school with me today and, that is very lucky for me, because he will bring a big bag of things back to the apartment for me on his bike. I can't carry them all on my bicycle and I am going directly to a restaurant after work for the traditional "Goodbye dinner" with the Hamako staff.

After lunch, we are off to the high school auditorium for the Nishinomiya Chugako(Jr.Hi.) Speech and Recitation Contest. Mr. Sasaki is already there organizing and running the competition. Mrs. Hatozaki, David, and I walk over with our two girl contestants. Saki is a 2nd grader (ni-nensei, 7th grade in US) and Miyabe is a 3rd grader (san-nensei, 8th grade in US). I have been coaching these two for a few weeks now. I can't believe how hard they both have worked. Saki has memorized a section our of her textbook on "Landmines and Children in Cambodia." We both have it memorized! She is very good and is so poised and seems to have nerves of steel. She struggles with the pronunciation but is really improving. She has listened to a cassette tape that I made for her of the speech and she has videotaped herself at home. Wow, what dedication. Miyabe is reciting two poems and is so good with gestures and intonation. I now know "I Shot an Arrow into the Air" by heart now too. Both girls perform without a flaw and I would rate them at the top of their groups. Unfortunately neither wins the contest but they are both winners to me. By the time I get home after the dinner, there are email messages from both girls awaiting me! Amazing.

So the contest is over at 5pm and we walk back with the kids. Both girls are very happy with themselves, no sadness in these two. They did their best and are rightfully proud. We have an hour before we have to meet for dinner so I gather up my stuff and relax for just a few minutes before I follow Miwa on her bicycle to the restaurant.

Mr. Sasaki has organized this "Goodbye" event. He has promised to take me to the best steakhouse in Nishinomiya and as far as I can tell, he has done just that. We sit at a horseshoe shaped bar. There is a grill built right into the bar. Our plates are half on the grill to keep them warm (that's a really nice touch). We are served some appetizers including grilled daikon and some slices of some kind of squash, very yummy. Of course, there is plenty of Japanese beer. Then there's a salad of shredded cabbage, maybe, and other veggies. There are lots of jokes about tofu steak. The chef puts on a grey substance cut in blocks that literally dances across the grill. This is a most fascinating sight. This grey gel is called konyaku and it comes from a really different potato that comes out of the ground sticky. It's processed, I'm sure quite a bit, before it's transformed into this block of gel. Supposedly it has no calories but really fills you up. I don't see how it has no calories but that's what everyone says. Anyway, because of the moisture in this substance it dances and jigs its way across the grill reminding me of frogs legs! It has a chewy consistency after grilled and is rather bland but ok when dipped in shoyu (soy sauce). Then comes out a huge piece of meat. It looks to be at least 10 lbs. but then there are 13 of us. Once on the grill the chef adeptly cuts it into bit size chunks. This is quickly on our dishes and almost inhaled it's so good. Then more fat is added to the grill and big hunks of garlic and then lots of gohan (rice). This is almost as good as the steak!

We retire to a side room where we are served some outrageously dark coffee. It is cold brewed in glassware reminiscent of a moonshine still. It takes 4 hours to brew a pot of this coffee and at 9pm at night, I can't believe these wonderful folks are drinking large mugs of it iced with cream and gum syrup (some kind of liquid sugar). I opt for ocha (green tea). One of the P.E. teachers humors me with a cheer for me as he did at my Welcoming Party. This group seems like family by now and I will truly miss them all. We leave around 9:30pm tired, full, and happy. Miwa gallantly points me in the right direction so that I can find my way home in the dark. I am getting better at finding my way thank goodness. It's sad to be leaving but so happy to have had this opportunity to get to know these people so well. I have made some wonderful friends here.
Hamako photos

Too Much to do, So Little Time to Write
Mood:  happy
Wednesday 11-26-03
I volunteered at the Nishinomiya School for the Disabled (Nishinomiya Yogo Gakko) today. What an incredible experience. These kids range in age from probably 6 years old to 18 years old, I'm guessing. They are severely disabled and bussed in from all over the city. Some are very mobile and understand language and can communicate a bit but are severely mentally retarded. Some autistic, I think, along with many severe phsical deformities. (These are the high end kids.) I'm not sure because communication is limited English with the wonderful teachers here. Spina bifida, CP, cystic fibrosis and other severe disabilities are seen here. Kids in wheelchairs, some who are literally carried from room to room. Goals for one student, for example, are to just learn how to roll over on the floor. One student is just learning how to push a buzzer for help. A few students are learning how to communicate with a computer keyboard. Some are bed ridden and almost comatose. ALL KIDS are treated "as if" they are aware and able to participate, even the comatose ones. They are all talked to individually and ALL have INDIVIDUAL CARING, GENTLE, HAPPY, POSITIVE ADULTS with them ALL SCHOOL DAY! There are definitely more teachers and aides than students. These adults are so good with the kids that at first I thought that a few of these people were mothers and fathers of the kids. Nope, they all are just dedicated teachers and aids. I got to participate in classes with them where they were getting physical therapy and stimulation through touch, music and just verbal interaction. A very hopeless situation for some kids was turned into such a happy, positive daily routine. I am truly inspired by their dedication.
I have seen these kids participate with their respective classes from their "home high schools" on different occasions, for example on Sports Day which was an all-Nishinomiya celebration of all the Jr. Highs in the city at the local sports stadium. These disabled kids were wheeled in to the arena and were with their individual jr. hi. classmates. What an incredible effort to have these kids feel a part of their group even if for a little while.


Monday 11-24-03
Another Japanese Holiday and another trip to Kyoto with my friend Miwa and her two friends. Miwa is an angel at Hamakoushien Chugako (junior high school). She has been so helpful at school and knows a lot of English so she is an extra "translator" when the English teachers are too busy to help me here. Her two friends are around the same age, 10 years younger than me, (we are all single women, wow). We visited Nijo Castle and a wonderful shopping district. One of my favorite photos for this day is a photo of a small box of mushrooms called "mattake" with a price tag of 25,000 yen. That's about $250, yikes! Mushroom photo and more

The autumn leaves were glorious. We had a late lunch at a very incredible, very different Tsukemono restaurant. The closest I can get to describing tsukemono is pickled things but this isn`t quite accurate. The flavors are much milder than pickles but everything is processed in some kind of vinegar, I think. The restaurant was traditional with tatami mats on the floor. You sit with your legs under you until your legs fall asleep and then you do the best you can. There is a window next to our table looking out on to an enclosed Japanese garden with a koi pond, mini waterfall and stone lantern and of course a gorgeous camellia bush in bloom and a Japanese maple with brilliantly red leaves. As we began our lunch it started to rain and the pink petals of the camellia came drifting down mixed with the red maple leaves, wow, it was like a painting developing before our eyes. We are served one course at a time and everything is a masterpiece. Cut and arranged like a piece of artwork. There is everything from daikon, a Japanese white radish to miniature watermelon,cabbage to some dark green leaf similar to kale. There is miso soup served for one course and then lots of gohan (rice) with - wouldn't you know it - those little fishies with the eyes staring out at you. A new thing to me is being served a second bowl of rice that we poured green tea over and then added some little pieces of tsukemono and then ate/drank it. That was very unusual to me. All and all another great day with some new Japanese friends. Life certainly is good.

Little fishies! oh, my
Mood:  incredulous
Wed. Nov. 19th
Please don't order takikomi gohan unless you like little fishes staring out at you while you munch them down. We had it for lunch today. The little fishes are called "shirasu boshi" (that means little fish in Japanese) - oh I see! Well, they are staring at me while I'm eating them! Achhh.. The bowl of rice looks like it's teaming with what I would call "dried fry" which are little guys who have just hatched a few days ago. The good news is they are pretty bland and not real fishy tasting. They are quite chewy because they have been dried. They just look so real swimming around in my rice. I am surprised that this is the first time since coming to Japan that it was a bit hard to eat my food!

Am I in Heaven?
Mood:  happy
Melonpan. I've been hearing about this delicious sweet bread from the kids. It doesn't have melon in it, it's just shaped like a melon! A teacher told me that you couldn't get it around here that it only was sold on the streets in Tokyo and maybe Kyoto. Well, I'm riding my bicycle out of Hamako in the rain this afternoon. It's fairly dark at 5pm but I see on the street corner a gathering of people in front of a van. As I pull up, I discover that two guys are grilling this wonderful looking bread ("pan" in Japanese). It is yeast sweet bread, coated in sugar. They guarantee me for 120 yen that it is oiishi (delicious). Well, they are correct! It's selling like hotcakes. It was a bit of heaven standing in a cool rain under my umbrella mounted to my bicycle handlebars eating this hot-off-the-grill sweet. Life is good.

Where's Spot?
Mood:  energetic
Now Playing: Aren't those kids cute?
Shogako san-nenseis - that means elementary school third graders, cute as can be. Their teacher was in an August workshop that I taught with some other ALT's. She seemed to take a liking to me and asked me to do an audio-tape of the little story book "Where's Spot?" We presented this little story in the summer workshop. It turns out that one of her students had this story book written in Japanese and had literally worn it out. These kids apparently listened to me reading this story on tape everyday for awhile (not knowing much English but able to follow the pictures) and decided to make their own storybooks. They really wanted to meet me so their teahcer invited me to class. What I didn't know was that this had turned into a demonstration lesson. When I got there, there was a college professor and at least 10 college students observing with video cameras. Good grief, glad I didn't know ahead of time. No time to get nervous. Anyway, I read the story to the kids and they loved it. They showed us their story books that they had made and colored. One group even did a sort of puppet play on the theme.

It was a very rewarding experience and it was a wonderful chance to see a really great elementary school teacher in action. It was a relief to get back to the more familiar junior high kids though. This is where my heart is!

It's hard to believe that these little kids have to learn katakana (44+ symbols and sounds), hiragana (another 40+ symbols and the same sounds) these two systems are similar but some symbols look very different so the same sound like short "a" can have two entirely different symbols. These two syllabaries are only for foreign words and prepostitions and articles. Nouns and ideas are written in Kanji (an ancient Chinese syllabary). The kids learn a part of the over 40,000 symbols in this syllabary. So no wonder that they don't get around to learning Romanji which is our alphabet until later in elementary school. I am constantly amazed that a lot of the kids do know our alphabet at an early age.
If you'd like to see a photo of this cute class click here:Where's Spot