I Love My Kids!!!

Wait now, nobody panic.  I haven’t gone and done anything silly; I’m merely referring to the kids I teach at school.  I didn’t get a chance to post about my first school visit to Yutagawa Elementary School on Friday, but as Naganuma (the farthest trip I’ll make all year, apparently) doesn’t need me until tomorrow afternoon, I’ve got some time to catch up a bit.

So Yutagawa was on Friday, and I’d heard it was quite a hike by bike, so I made sure to look up the directions on Alex’s internet connection (remember that time when I didn’t have internet?) before I left in the morning, and I got up extra early to allow an hour to get there, as it’s 20 minutes by car (10 km from my apartment, do the conversion to miles as you will).  Good thing, too, because in my attempt to outsmart the directions (I saw a shortcut I could take that would get me headed in the right direction faster than Google Maps’ route) I got totally turned around in Tsuruoka, and spent the first 40 minutes of said hour trying to get back in the right direction.  Finally, I found a sign pointing toward Yutagawa, but just to be sure I would end up on the 345 going in the right direction, I stopped at the Koban (police box) across the street.  The cop on crossing guard duty probably thought I was dumb, given that I pointed to the sign with Yutagawa written on it and said I could read the kanji, but he motioned for me to come inside for a map.  It was already 8 a.m. at this point, and I figured I had to make it to the school in time for the 8:20 a.m. meeting, so I was really sweating it.  The cop got me pointed in the right direction, and I called Ishikawa-sensei to tell him I might be running late.  He assured me I would make it in time now that I was headed for the 345, but he called ahead anyway.  It turns out that I don’t really need to be there for the elementary school morning meetings, but nevertheless I made it at exactly 8:20, and was warmly received by an older woman who told me to take my time next time (and in this case I think she genuinely meant it; I was drenched in sweat and out of breath).  I was ushered into the little tatami waiting room, apart from the other staff, and the lovely school (helllooooooooooo) nurse served me some tea.  It was officially go time!  The first teacher came in and gave me a quick run down of the lesson, and then sent a student to come get me when class started.  I had the third-years first, and of course they were all shocked at how tall I am!  They were so genki (energetic) though that all the first-time jitters went right out the window, and we got right down to the English lesson.  They were learning about animals, and of course the monkey was the biggest hit.  It’s good to know some things transcend cultures!

The sixth-years (elementary school runs for 6 years in Japan) were pretty quiet…they seem to be gearing up for their angsty phase in middle school (yes, there’s a designated angst phase, I forget the word for it).  The teacher and I dutifully worked through the lesson, revolving around “I can…” and “I can’t…”  They clearly know the words, and can understand what I say, they’re just not that talkative.  Such is life!  Some of the other staff members (namely, the vice principal) came in and walked through the class to see how the sixth-years were doing.  I wasn’t sure at this point if this was normal, so I got a little nervous, but it was fine.  I headed back to the little tatami room in the teachers’ office, where the fan was still fixated on the spot where I sit, blowing a relentless stream of air squarely at my face.  It was a little annoying after a while, but I was so grateful to have my own fan and moving air that I didn’t let it get to me.

And then, the first-year teacher came and talked to me about her class…of four little girls.  That’s it!  One of them came to lead me to the class room, where three other equally adorable girls all sat waiting for class to begin.  I’ve never had so much fun!  They were doing a coloring exercise in which they had to match the number I said to a balloon.  The balloon had a color written in English, and the girls then had to select the right crayon and color the balloon.  The best part: there was only one mistake throughout the entire class!  These girls are SMART!  According to their teacher, they’ve been learning English at home as well, over the summer break.  They’re so freaking cute I could go on for days about how awesome it is to be able to teach them, but I’ll spare you.

The second years are similarly energetic, and their teacher had a game all lined up for them.  We reviewed a bunch of items on cards (clock, pencil case, schoolbag, etc.) and then spread the cards out on the floor, at which point we broke the class into two teams, each with their own special pointer that they held when it was their turn to play.  They said the lesson’s title phrase: “What’s that?”  And I would respond with “It’s a clock/schoolbag/computer/unicycle,” at which point they would rush toward the cards in an attempt to find the item I said.  It got VERY physical very fast, but it was really fun to watch!  I had my first school lunch with the third-years, and finished out the day by teaching the combined fourth- and fifth-year class Rock, Paper, Scissors in English (using “Shoot!” as the final count…mistake?).  They loved using it to play Snakes and Ladders (move one space for winning with Rock, two for winning with scissors, and five for winning with paper), and they put a smile on my face as I left for the day.  Since I was so rushed getting to the school, I had to wait until I left to take some pictures of the area, and so I won’t keep you waiting any longer!  No pictures of the kids, I’m afraid, as I don’t have any yet.

The front of the elementary school. So tiny!

Same school, but from a wider angle. The guy here is waiting for one of the students, I think he's a grandfather.

Did I mention Yutagawa is nestled in the mountains? MOUN-tains. Sorry, that was my teacher side coming out.

The entrance to the Yutagawa Spa, as it's called on the signs leading to town. Hooray for traditional-looking hot springs! I'm going to check it out soon.

Before I left town completely, I decided to take a quick bike around the place.  Looking at my photos, I realized that I did not take enough photos of the town itself, because I’m totally in love with it and want to move there.  I think.  This is all after one visit, mind you.  Anyway, I stopped in at a local grocer/convenience store that is not called 7-11 or Lawson’s (two of the big chains here) because the woman running the place had some interesting postcards in the window.  It’s totally in the touristy, this-is-what-Japan-looked-like-back-in-the-day feeling, but I think Yutagawa has some legitimate history behind it, and the buildings all seem quite old, compared with the relative modernity of Tsuruoka.  I was bowled over by the beauty of the surrounding mountains, as well.  I think in my haste to look around the town more and then get back home to relax, I forgot to take decent pictures.  But I will soon!

A shot from the store where I bought some postcards. I have not adequately captured the town's brilliance yet.

On the return trip, I kept stopping to take pictures of the gorgeous green expanses.  And my god are they beautiful…

I love this little dirt path. I want it to be my driveway. Is that weird?

Liquor Shop Abe (ah-bay). I don't even think it's open anymore, but it's cute and situated in front of a gorgeous rice paddy. *click!*

Like, holy crap. Could there BE more green in this photo? Love it!

Oh wait, here's more green. The rice fields are especially beautiful right now, but I hear come winter they'll be barren, as you can imagine. Too bad!

Take me hoooooome / country roooaaaaads / to the place / I beloooooong! / Yutagawa, mountain mama / take me hooooome / country roads!

Along the way, I caught a shock of red in someone’s garden.  Not sure exactly what kind of flowers they are, but they sure are pretty!

Look at that! I should be so lucky to one day have all this cool stuff growing right near my house.

As I approached Tsuruoka City Center, I came across this oddity.  I’d been told by Gavin that some of the trucks in this area get unusually large by Japanese standards due to the snow and whatnot, but I admit I didn’t fully believe him until I saw this.

Huh...I'm amazed that this thing fits down some of the narrow streets in this area!

Keep in mind that this isn’t even the biggest I’ve seen, it’s just the biggest one I’ve seen while carrying my camera at the ready!

Is there no end to the vast green expanse? So pretty.

Just as I was about to make the turn to head right into the heart of Tsuruoka, I stopped to wait for a traffic light to change.  I heard a wooshing sound, and turned around to see a crane flying RIGHT AT ME.  Okay, so it was overhead, but I was still in shock at never having experienced such a thing, so I kind of froze before my brain said “Idiot, at least try to take a picture, this would be perfect!”  So I settled for a picture of the crane after he landed on the house behind me.

He's a bit hard to see, but I wasn't about to go back to get a closer picture. Not in this heat.

So that was my odyssey on Friday.  I spent the weekend catching up on cleaning and laundry after three days of being away, and consequently missed a hell of a time at Zao Rock, which is a three-day rock and DJ music festival at the foot of Mt. Zao.  I shall catch it next year!  People camp out at the base of the mountain and go to concerts all day long, and it’s paid for by the city.  There’s an admission fee, of course, but it’s relatively low.

HOWEVER.  Not going to Zao meant that I attended the final session of an English Conversation Club taught by one Charles, a Canadian who is returning home after 18 years in Japan.  I will be taking over his conversation club, which is full of intermediate-to-advanced Japanese people who come to converse in English in order to practice.  It meets twice a month on Saturdays, and it’s going to be pretty sweet, as these people are all really engaged, and love discussing world issues and politics.  After the class was over, Charles mentioned that he’d be leaving by September 1, and that he was still looking for a buyer for his car.  Long story short, I was that interested buyer, and I now have his car!  It’s a nice little Daihatsu Move, a kei car (light car) with tons of headroom, room for 4 (comfortably), and even some sweet storage in the back.  Most importantly, it’s an automatic!  I was not looking forward to learning how to work a manual transmission with my left hand while driving on the opposite side of the road.  The insurance just got finalized yesterday (Sept. 1), so I haven’t taken it out for a spin just yet, but needless to say it was quite the investment, so don’t expect any more posts about things I have bought for a good long while.  Overall it represented a great deal though, even though the insurance is a bit expensive relative to my budget (I’m 23 with no driving record in Japan…they’ve got me where they want me).

Say hello to my little friend!

As you can see, it's remarkably tall for its size. I actually have more headroom in this car than I do in many cars in America. Baffling.

The back of the car. The back hatch opens to the right.

Winter tires included. Huzzah!

As you can see, there's plenty of head clearance. No, the steering wheels are not upside down in Japan; I was turning in the driveway.

The back seat. If you slide the front seats forward a tad, there's plenty of legroom for passengers.

Tour complete!  It’s short and sweet, but I’m pretty happy with it.

Monday and Tuesday were my first days at 三中 (san chuu), Tsuruoka’s Third Junior High School.  Tsuruoka has at least five Junior Highs, and they keep it simple by just numbering them all.  So I am at the third, Alex is at the first, and Gavin is at the fifth.  I’ve met the majority of the English teachers at the Third Junior High, and I have yet to meet one who cannot string at least one English sentence together.  I count myself lucky on that front, as I’ve heard stories of Math teachers who are better able to speak English than the actual English teachers.  I count myself even luckier to have some truly intelligent students in my classes!  One asked me what I know about Futenma, the ever-controversial American military base located on Okinawa, the southernmost island of Japan.  In English!  I wanted to say, “You’re 12, stop worrying about that stuff,” but I was genuinely impressed.  Special thanks go out to Washida-sensei, who has been my caretaker of sorts up to this point.  He’s lived in Canada before, and thus his English is pretty close to perfect.  He’s been showing me the ropes, and helping me when I’m wandering around the halls wondering if the morning meeting is going to be in the gym like it was the day before (answer: no, that was for the students, the teachers’ meeting obviously takes place in the staff room).

Speaking of!  The staff room, bless it, is air conditioned.  The rest of the school (and this goes for Yutagawa as well) is not.  It is consistently above 30º Celsius every day, with humidity that I can only imagine is near 100%.  Take the predicted temperature for Sept. 2: 33º C.  That’s 91º F, and some places have set record temperatures of 34º C, which is 93º F.  Blugh.  I’m still sweating through everything I own, and some days I save money on the water heating because it feels better to come home and take an ice cold shower to rinse off and reset my body’s thermometer.  I dread having first-year classes at San Chuu because they’re up on the fourth floor, and it doesn’t take a middle schooler to tell you that heat rises.  The kids are all sweating bullets, and I’m never really sure if some of the kids are just making faces, or preparing to go face down on their desks from heat stroke.  They certainly didn’t cover THAT subject at any of the orientations.  The students at San Chuu love coming in to talk to the teachers, though, because it means they get to take a short respite from the oppressive heat.  One of the girls actually said “Ooh, it’s cool in here!  I want to become a teacher!”  When I thought about it, withholding air conditioning might be a good enough incentive to get people interested in becoming educators.  Or it might be totally misguided.  Either way, I love break time, because it means I get to stop sweating for a couple minutes.

Which is a great segue into my schedule!  San Chuu has me for a full day every time I’m there, from about 8:30 until 4:30 (and beyond at the moment, as I’m helping three girls prepare for a speech contest—I hope they win!).  There are six periods on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Wednesday and Friday there are only five periods, but I have to be there until school is over (or until club activities finish, but I have yet to join any of the clubs).  I’m not teaching every period, and as such I have a few blocks of about 45 to 50 minutes to prepare more lesson ideas, practice Japanese, or what have you.  I’ve got a computer at my desk, but I won’t use it to check Facebook or update this blog, as that would send the wrong message in any country.  I usually try to strike up a conversation with one of the teachers nearby (Watanabe-sensei and Kato-sensei are both pretty awesome when it comes to English—and Kato-sensei checked out Florence + the Machine because I mentioned it in class!) just to build up some good will.  I can already tell I’m going to miss some of these teachers if they change schools at the end of the academic year.  The school year in Japan ends in March, and that frequently means the entire staff of a school can change since teachers don’t belong to a particular school.  Ah well, we’ve got to enjoy the time we have, right?

If this post seems long on elementary school specifics and light on middle school details, that’s just because of the sheer size of the middle school and the little progress I’ve made so far.  Every day, I have a different class level (first-year, second-year or third-year) and a different section (1-about 6 or 7).  There are a total of 25 classes, and each day I have to perform my self-introduction at the beginning of class.  I’m usually a hit because of my height, and the fact that I have to duck under EVERY doorway on the way into EVERY classroom.  I’ve bumped my head twice so far, if you’re keeping score at home, and today I tripped over a bucket of water in elementary school, which dampened my pant leg for a class or two.  Nevertheless, I’m not doing much more than introducing myself and talking about the wild turkeys that roam my backyard while my father is fishing and my mother is riding horses.  I’m going to make an effort to learn the students’ names, but considering I’m already shaky when it comes to kanji, and the kanji used in names can have a totally different reading compared to everyday use, the odds are stacked against me for sure.  Nonetheless, I have yet to encounter a class that doesn’t have at least one student eager to answer a question or speak English, and I haven’t been approached by any students asking me how big I am (and they don’t mean height).  Yes, the students will get rowdy every now and again, and I’ve only been there two days to date, but I have to say I’m feeling pretty lucky.  I think I’ve got some really smart kids who are going to learn quite a bit from me, or at least I hope they will.  And before this post gets too dewy-eyed, I will say that I believe one student at elementary today called me by my predecessor’s name.  On the flip side, he did remember Rock, Paper, Scissors, which I taught him in English last Friday.  Another student came up to me during game time in the gym, put his finger right in my face, almost touching my nose, paused, and blurted out “Your nose is big!” in Japanese before scurrying off to his friends.  It was goofy and funny and probably something I would have done as a child his age.

I must say, I feel like I’m living a pretty charmed life.  Remind me of this post when I come home grouchy because a kid with the flu puked on me and I can feel myself contracting the disease by the minute!

Mata, ne!

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