Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

This week marks the end of the school year, so it’s time for big changes. I’ve had to say goodbye to my ninth graders as they are headed off for high school. We had graduation last Monday, March 16th. It was a sad day for me – I really enjoyed the ninth graders. Most of them were pretty funny and I liked talking with them. It’s been a tough few months for them though. They’ve had to study really hard for their high school entrance examinations. In order to get into high school, they must pass pretty tough exams. There are different exams for public high schools versus private high schools. Most try and get into public high schools as they are usually higher level and less expensive, but of course, the tests are also more difficult. High school is not compulsory here, so a few students won’t even go on to high school, either because they couldn’t pass the test or their score wasn’t high enough to get into an affordable school. It’s a lot of pressure on the kids and they’ve been pretty nervous about it. The results for some of the examinations weren’t posted until after graduation, so on graduation day, many students didn’t even know what high school they were going to yet. The results were posted on Wednesday, March 18th, so many ninth graders came back to school to see the results board and get congratulated by their teachers. I was happy to hear that the students at my main school did much better than the teachers expected them to!

I’m also going to have to say goodbye to several teachers. Each spring, the board of education randomly transfers tons of teachers to different schools throughout the prefecture. Teachers never know if they are going to be transferred or not, they don’t have a say as to where they are transferred, and they only have about 2 to 2 ½ weeks between the time they are notified and when they start the new school year at a new school. They just started getting notified last Thursday, and the new school year starts on April 7th. Some teachers still don’t know if they are staying or going. Apparently on March 25 or 26th, all the changes will be printed in the newspaper. From what I’ve heard, younger teachers are usually transferred every year, older teachers about every three to five years. The vice principals and principals are also transferred around.

None of the teachers (even the ones that are staying) know what grades they’ll be teaching or what club activities they’ll be in charge of until around April 1st, when the new teachers start. They could get assigned to the soccer club, for instance, even though they’ve never played soccer and don’t even know the rules. I was under the impression that the teachers that get to stay will keep on teaching the same grade, but apparently, they get shuffled too. It ends up being hard on everyone – there is a lot of uncertainty towards the end of the school year. The ones who go leave the co-workers and students they’ve gotten comfortable with for a new place, leaving the ones who stay with more work – reassigning classes, getting the new teachers used to everything, etc.

I just don’t understand it. It seems like a lot of extra work and headaches for everyone involved. I’ve been really nervous about it because I like all the English teachers I work with. I’ve been very lucky thus far – they are all easy to work with and their English is really good – unlike some of the teachers other ALTs have had. As of today, I’ve found out that my mountain school English teacher gets to stay, but one of two of my Monday teachers is going, and two (maybe 3) of the 5 English teachers at my main school must go. Then, of course, several other, non-English teachers must leave my schools too. I’m really sad about it because they’ve all been so nice to me and I feel like I’m just getting to know them. Hopefully, the teachers replacing them will be good, too, but who knows?

Spring vacation starts this Wednesday, 3/25. My sister Liz and friend Becky are coming to visit me, so I’ll be traveling around Japan with them for a week. I’ll be back in Kanazawa for the farewell party for the teachers at my main school on 3/30. Then I’m headed to Okinawa until 4/6 to enjoy the sand and sun! I’m really excited about vacation, but I’m nervous about all of the new faces there will be when school starts again on the 7th!

Is Silence Golden? I Think Not.

I think this is the quietest I’ve been each day since I was in 1st Grade. Each report card from 1st grade used to have a comment about how I was doing well in school but didn’t talk very much. My parents were puzzled because at home they had a hard time getting me to shut up. My family used to call me “Yacky Jackie” – pretty great nickname, huh? I’m not sure why I didn’t talk much at school back then, but as most of you have experienced, it didn’t turn out to be a lasting problem!

Here in Japan, though, I’m pretty silent most of my day at school. I talk when I’m in the classroom, as that’s what I’m here for, but that’s only two to four 50 minute periods a day. The majority of my day consists of sitting in the teachers’ room, listening to the teachers talking in Japanese and laughing around me, wondering what’s going on.

This is a sharp contrast to my days at the WF, where I was almost constantly conversing with co-workers or clients. I’d spend my days typing and chattering away to whoever happened to be on the phone, in my cubicle, or within listening distance from my cubicle. (Probably to the annoyance of others within listening distance from my cubicle!) I’d talk while eating lunch at my desk or I’d go out to lunch with friends to get the latest news, happily a part of millions of conversations.

I do have occasional interactions throughout the day but the frequency and duration of these interactions are nothing compared to what I’m used to. On a usual day, Kyoto-sensei usually stops by a few times to make comments, my English teachers will chat with me to plan our next lesson and in the halls on the way to and from class, I’ll greet students while walking through the halls, and one or two students may stop by my desk after lunch to chat for a few minutes. I’d say that totals 10 minutes of non-classroom conversation per school day (at most).

Mondays I get in more conversation time because I eat lunch in the classroom with the students. When eating with class 2-1, I’m able to get in one or two questions or comments while the students quickly shovel in their lunches and try to avoid eye contact with me. Class 2-5 is a bit more outgoing though and they’ll ask questions and talk with me more. There are also two girls that always talk to me after lunch. At the end of the day, I’ll usually stay an extra 30 minutes to an hour, both so the English teachers have time to plan the next week’s lesson and with me and also to converse with the art teacher, who has great English. Those 30 minutes to an hour isn’t the conversation time though, for most of that, I’m waiting for the teachers to get back from meetings or other duties.

Wednesdays are also a bit different as there’s another ALT who works at my school. It’s nice to have someone to talk to all day, kind of. I like her a lot, but she doesn’t have anyone to talk to during the day the rest of the week, so it can be hard to get a word in. I’m also afraid it’s annoying to the rest of the teachers, either because they can’t understand all the English or because they can… I’m a bit torn about it because all the talking gets to be a bit much, but when she’s reading a book or over on the internet, it’s a bit lonely!

Luckily there are more opportunities for conversation after the work day is over. I’ll often talk on the phone or meet up with other ALTs in the evenings and weekends and now I have a language partner that I meet with a few times a week. Her English is almost perfect, so we spend most of the time talking in English, although she does try to get me to practice my Japanese too. Apparently these interactions aren’t quite enough for “Yacky Jackie” though… I’m talking to myself more and more when I’m alone in my apartment... At least I don't reply...yet.

I Fought the Slopes...and It Was A Tie

I went skiing in Hakuba in Nagano Prefecture (site of the 1998 Winter Olympics) the weekend of March 7th with four ALT friends (Ali, Leslie, Mieko and Ken). We rented a car (which was quite the hassle for Leslie and Mieko) and Leslie drove us up to Hakuba early on Saturday morning. We stayed in a really great B&B owned by an Australian guy, his Japanese wife, their adorable 2 yr-old daughter and friendly dog (B&B Santana Hakuba http://www.hakuba-santana.com/). I recommend it if anybody is planning on doing a little skiing or mountain biking in Nagano anytime soon.

The mountains were stunning, the weather was sunny and warm, and I was absolutely petrified. Before this, I had been skiing exactly twice in my life. The first time was for a school trip in 6th grade at Sundown Ski Resort in Dubuque, Iowa. The second and most recent time was sophomore year of college in Red Wing, Minnesota. That would have been about ten years ago. Needless to say, I am not very skilled at it. Also, these mountains looked a bit more difficult than anything I've ever seen in the Midwest!

My friends were all really good skiers and/or snowboarders. I definitely was the weakest link in our group. They were very patient with me though and were good teachers. I felt bad that I was holding them back, but they took turns baby-sitting me so they all had the chance to do more difficult runs. I fell some, but not as much as I had expected, even though at one point I got myself completely tangled up in a mesh fence! By the end of the first day, I had made quite a bit of progress. I was immensely relieved to find that I could take the gondola back down the mountain though, as there was no beginners' trail all the way to the bottom. Which, in my opinion, is really stupid. I was even more relieved when I heard about how icy the path down the mountain was. The others said that everybody was falling all over the place.

Although the views at the top were gorgeous and skiing was even a bit exhilarating at points, I think the best part of the day was when we were all at the bottom, enjoying Subway sandwiches! It was almost sad how excited we were - Japan is not well known for their sandwich-making abilities. A good sandwich is very hard to find. I think there are a few other Subways in Japan but I hadn't been to one yet. Although there are much better sub places at home (Jimmy Johns, Potbelly, etc.), I think that Subway roast beef sandwich was the best one I've ever had!

That night we went and relaxed at an onsen to help with our aching muscles, ate again at a delightful restaurant called Pizzikaya (Get it? Pizza + Izikaya. Pretty clever, huh?) that had really tasty food and used all homemade pottery, and fell asleep watching the absolutely terrible movie "Never Been Kissed".

The next morning was also warm and sunny and we headed to Happo-one Ski Resort, stage of the Olympic downhill race. Although I should have felt more confident, I was even more terrified than the day before. I somehow felt that it was a fluke that I hadn't hurt myself the day before and that I was definitely due for a serious injury. It didn't help that the slopes looked even steeper and icier than those at the previous resort. When we got to the top of the chair lift, I noticed that the map had no beginner trails reachable from that point. They were all beginner 2s or advanced ones. I was frozen in place for quite awhile and then started sweating profusely. The others all skied away so they could actually enjoy themselves, but Ali stayed to coach me down the hill. It probably took at least 30 minutes and much stopping and falling for me to make it down the one short but steep run. My body didn't seem to remember what it had done the previous day at all and I was freaking out a bit because I was so scared. Luckily, the others found an easier run for me which I went down several times and I finally became more comfortable. I was even able to make it down that first scary slope again without falling or freaking out. I started enjoying myself a lot more as the day went on!

It was a fun trip and I'm really glad I had the chance to go. The scenery was really beautiful and it was good for me to go skiing again. I do have to say that I was not sad to return the rental ski gear and climb into the car to go home though! Maybe I'll go skiing again... in another ten years.

Ping Pong!

Saturday, Jan. 17th was a Ping Pong Tournament for all of the junior high school teachers in Kanazawa. I had been invited by my main school to play with them in early December. I love ping pong so was pretty excited about it. When I was growing up we had a sort of ping pong table in our basement. It was a piece of slightly warped plywood on top of an old kitchen table with a net. It wasn’t ‘official’ by any means, but it was good enough for us! We’d play for hours at a time. I never got very good at it though and it had been quite awhile since I’d even played, so I thought I better practice up before the big tournament.

The teachers held a few practices but I wasn’t able to go to them. To try and improve my game so I wouldn’t shame the school, I decided to drop in on our table tennis team during their practice. Yes, we have a table tennis team at school – it’s an official club activity here. For some reason there’s a boy’s team but not a girl’s team. When I went to practice for the first time, I caused quite a commotion. A lot of the time, practices are run by the students themselves, a coach isn't even there. The boys didn’t really know what to do with me when I showed up and were a bit freaked out. There was a lot of group consultation and gesturing until I was finally directed to the boy in charge. He immediately put one of my 7th graders who’s really good at English in a headlock and directed him to translate for the entire practice. They helped me with my forehand and backhand and serve and showed me a couple other ways to hit the ball. I could tell they were a bit frustrated at times because they didn’t have the vocab to explain to me what I needed to be doing. It was still fun though. The other boys would come over to see how I was doing and other sports teams would wander into the gym and be completely amazed to see me there. They’d shout my name and an encouraging “Ganbatte!” which seems to translate into something like “Go, Fight, Win” and/or “Good Luck”.

The second practice I went to was even more fun since the students were more comfortable with me there. We did a little refresher on my hits? swings? (I don’t know what to call it in table tennis), then spent over an hour playing doubles. The students, mostly my 7th graders, would take turns playing with me but my little translator played at my table the whole time. Most of my 7th graders that are in the table tennis club are really small but they can really slam that ping pong ball! It was a bit scary at times – thank goodness I was wearing my glasses for eye protection! They were so funny – always making “intimidating” faces at each other and apologizing for missing the ball. They even let me win one game! I’m pretty sure they felt sorry for me and lost on purpose.

On tournament day, the Ishikawa Sports Center was packed with teachers and tables. I was really nervous, especially as almost all the teachers had matching sportswear (except for that one in the monkey costume - can you spot the monkey?) and I was in jeans. I felt a bit underdressed, and a bit foreign, as there were only three other ALTs there. I was slated to play women’s doubles on my school’s C Team (C for crappy). We also had a B Team (B for better) and A Team (A for awesome). (Also, I like calling it A Team instead of Team A because I really used to love that TV show!!!) Anyway, all my practicing paid off! My partner (one of my JTEs who's 23 and really fun) and I won our first match! Since the majority of C Team won our matches, we got to play another school. B Team fought hard but lost against their first school. Unfortunately, although my partner and I completely obliterated our next opponents (maybe a slight exaggeration), the rest of C Team didn’t fare so well, so we were out.

Round after round, A Team kept slamming the ping pong into their opponents’ faces. The gym slowly cleared out as schools lost and went home, but A Team just kept going. The rest of us were trying not to have heart attacks as we nervously cheered them on. And then, three hours after it started, the tournament was over. A Team won the whole thing! It was so exciting!!! There was a small ceremony and we got a cool trophy!! I had “We are the Champions” in my head for the rest of the day.

The fun didn’t end with the tournament though! That night I had my first enkai with my main school to celebrate the ping pong tournament and our victory. There was so much great food and drink and almost all the teachers came (about 40 of them). Some of the food was a bit strange looking, but I managed to choke it down, the whole time exclaiming how “oishii” (delicious) it was. The majority of it was pretty tasty, there were just a few things that I had a hard time with (some sashimi and something unidentifiable that was really chewy). It was also nice to get a chance to talk to the teachers in a more social setting than school. Quite a few teachers that had never talked to me before had small conversations with me and they’ve been friendlier at school ever since. Many teachers had quite a bit to drink, too, which I suppose made them braver with their English.

After dinner, about ten of us stumbled to karaoke for more snacks and drinks. One of the teachers made me sing Billy Joel with him, another rocked out to the Backstreet Boys, and everybody danced to the YMCA song. Most of the other songs were in Japanese but I still had a great time! After two hours of singing, there were about five remaining teachers that went for late-night ramen. I honestly don’t know how they were able to fit it in after all of the other food! I stayed at karaoke for another hour or so. Don’t worry though, I wasn’t singing alone. A bunch of my friends were there in another room for a going-away party for a Japanese friend.

I love ping pong, but I think I love karaoke just a little bit more!

Kyoto-sensei, My Kyoto-sensei

Kyoto-sensei means Vice Principal and Kocho-sensei is Principal. I’m lucky to have very kind administrators at all three schools that I’m at. I can’t say how effective they are at their jobs, what with my lack of Japanese language and culture, but I like to think that they do a pretty great job. I also don’t really know their names… they’re just referred to by their titles.

The Kocho-senseis sit at desks next to the Kyoto-senseis in the teacher’s room for the morning meetings, then retreat to their separate offices for most of the day. Mountain school Kocho-sensei is a woman, which is pretty rare from what I hear. She’s so nice and always handing out omiyage (souvenirs – usually small desserts) from business trips she’s been on and gave me some really nice chopsticks at the first enkai I went to. Monday school Kocho-sensei only ever spoke to me at the enkai we had but he’s a nice, older man who’s looking forward to retirement next year. He was also very pleased that I complimented his English as someone had told him once that he spoke English like a Russian, which he took to mean poorly. Main school Kocho-sensei used to be a really great volleyball coach. He always wishes me a good morning when we meet each other as I’m walking onto school grounds and he’s going to lock the school gate I just went through.

Kyoto-senseis all sit at desks in the middle of the teacher’s room so they have a good view of everything that’s going on. It’s a bit disconcerting as my desk is pretty close to them at every school. My mountain school has two Kyoto-senseis as the elementary and junior high are combined. They are both jolly and can speak English well. At the last enkai we had, one of them told me he loved me and wanted me to stay in Japan forever. The other one left for awhile to go play Pachinko, then came back with his winnings to help pay for the enkai, so it was free for me! I’m not sure my Monday school Kyoto-sensei speaks much, if any, English as he hasn’t really spoken to me. He seems like a nice guy from what I can tell with his interactions with other teachers and students though.

Someone told me that Kyoto-senseis are the busiest people at the school, but I’m not sure what all that entails. I’ve had the most chance to observe Kyoto-sensei at my main school. He will usually run the morning meetings. The rest of the day he spends on his computer at his desk. Occasionally, he’ll yell out someone’s name and they’ll yell back “Hai” from wherever they are, sometimes from out in the hallway or the adjoining room where the school secretaries are. If they don’t hear him the first time, he’ll just keep yelling their name until they respond, then they’ll have a conversation. Sometimes, he’ll get up and wander around the room, peering over people’s shoulders to see what they’re up to and commenting, even if they’re just eating lunch. It doesn’t ever seem to be in an annoying or an ‘I’m trying to catch you doing something bad’ sort of way although I found it a bit off-putting at first. He also sweeps the teachers’ room every day during school cleaning time.

Kyoto-sensei likes to practice his English so he’s always coming over and explaining things to me, like the schedule changes and so on, which is helpful as my teachers are sometimes too busy to do so. He’s pretty funny, too and likes to joke around with me and the other teachers. He’s the one who told me this summer that “You sweat much,” but I’ve totally forgiven him for that. I’m sure he didn’t realize it wasn’t the nicest thing to say.

The day I left for my winter vacation, he completely saved the day for me. At lunchtime, I realized that I didn’t have my cell phone. I had checked the time on it while I was walking/running to the train station in the morning, so I knew it wasn’t at home, but I couldn’t find it anywhere. He had overheard me asking my JTE if they had a lost and found at the train station and came over to investigate. He asked me a few questions about where I thought it might be and started making phone calls. He called my phone to see if someone would pick It up (it rang, but no one did) and then he called both train stations (where I get on and where I get off) to see if someone had turned it in. He decided we needed to retrace my steps so he walked all the way to the train station with me, in the rain, to see if we could find it along the path. No luck. He then spoke to the station attendant to see if it was there and got him to let us search the platform and tracks. Once again, no luck. On our way back to school, he told me to leave school early and take the next train back into Kanazawa so I could continue to look for it. I packed up my stuff and headed out into the even heavier rain back to the train station. I was pretty dejected at that point, seeing that there was a very slim chance of ever finding my phone, and if I did, it was probably in a puddle somewhere, completely ruined. Then, it started to hail.

I was a few steps away from the station when I heard someone shouting, “Jackie-san! Jackie-san!” from behind me. It was Kyoto-sensei. He had run all the way from the school to catch me. The police station near my apartment had called to let him know that someone had found my phone and turned it in. They got the school’s number from when he had called my phone. He offered to drive me to the police station to help me fill out the paperwork, but then asked one of the English teachers, who normally takes the train anyway, to leave school early to go with me as he was too busy. Kyoto-sensei told me he was a little sorry he couldn’t go with me though, which I thought was pretty sweet.

With my teacher’s help I filled out a few forms at the police station and got my phone back. It was so nice of him and of Kyoto-sensei to go to so much trouble for me. I was also amazed by the fact that someone actually turned in my cell phone in the first place! In any other country, 9 times out of 10, I’m sure it would have been stolen. That’s a nice thing about Japan, about the only thing that ever gets stolen is the occasional bicycle. I’ve heard stories of people leaving keys, wallets, and bags at restaurants , in stores, on trains, etc. and they’ve all been found with all money, cards and passports still inside! Makes me feel pretty lucky to be in such a safe country and work with such great people!

Home Again, But Not Really

I’ve decided that the most difficult time for me to be living in Japan is when I return from any sort of trip, even if it’s just a short weekend trip. I just returned from my two week vacation in Vietnam and Hong Kong. I had a fantastic time, but I was looking forward to being back. Back to a country where I didn’t have to worry about my belongings being stolen, back to a place where I could safely drink the water, back to a place where I could do laundry and where I had a varied wardrobe, back to the familiar. Although Kanazawa has all that, I’ve found that it’s not quite enough yet.

Most of the time I love it here, but the past few days have been a bit rough. It may be the slight cold I got from Japan as a welcome back gift. It may have something to do with the weather – it’s about 20 degrees F colder here than it was in Hong Kong, over 40 degrees colder than Vietnam. Now, I know it’s nothing compared to the cold the Midwest is experiencing right now (it’s still above freezing here), but everything’s relative, and my apartment is colder than your houses.

It may also have something to do with being a bit lonely. When traveling, I’m constantly surrounded by people. Although some alone time is welcome after 2 full weeks of that, I can only take about a day, day and a half before I get a bit desperate for company. I suppose that’s not a great thing to admit, but I can’t help it, I’m a people person! I’ve had four days between the time I got back and when school started and I’ve only been able to meet up with friends one afternoon/evening. A lot of people were still out of town or busy or too tired to leave their apartments the rest of the time. I was also expecting to have the chance to call family and friends in the states to catch up on their holiday activities that I missed. Since I didn’t have to go in to work, I thought I’d actually be able to catch them at a decent time. Alas, my internet stopped working, so my skyping activities were brutally cut short…

The biggest reason I find coming back so difficult though, even (or especially) from trips within Japan, is that I have the expectation that I’m coming home. Then I get here and it dawns on me that I’m still in a foreign country. When I’m traveling I expect to be surrounded by languages I don’t understand, people that are new and different, different ways of doing things. It’s exciting, I learn a lot, and it’s why I love to travel so much. My difficulty comes when I get “home” and I’m still surrounded by a language I don’t understand (except a few phrases, of course), people that are different than the ones I’m used to, different ways of doing things. When I get back from traveling, I really don’t want that extra layer of stress that living in another country causes. It’s then when the differences between Japan and the Midwest really stand out and I tend to focus on the negatives. Those are the times that I get homesick the most and wonder what in the world I’m doing here.

But, enough with the pity party! I’ll shake it off in a day or two. I know that it takes time for a place to feel like home – I just have to be patient.

It's Beginning to Look a Little Like Christmas

I'm sorry that it's been over two months now since my last post... I have a lot to get you caught up on, but that's going to have to wait until January.

So the Christmas season has been in full swing here in Japan for awhile now. Decorations went up around Kanazawa right before Halloween. I thought things started too early in America, but I think Japan is even quicker on the draw! It’s interesting to me that they celebrate Christmas at all since only about 2% of the country’s population say they are Christian. It’s a purely commercial holiday. The Christmas “traditions” here include eating fried chicken and Christmas cake with strawberries. Most people seem surprised when you tell them that’s not what we eat on Christmas in America. I’m not sure how their fried chicken tradition started, but there’s speculation that it’s because Colonel Sanders looks suspiciously like Santa.

I’ve started getting into the holiday spirit as well. I found some Christmas decorations (and old cards) that my predecessors left. Some friends and I decorated my apartment the weekend after Thanksgiving. My favorite decoration is the photo card from a family that I don’t know! (You may not be able to see it very well, but it's to the left of the tree.)

On Saturday night, a big group of JETs went caroling at the train station to raise money for a little girl who needs an operation. I spent the rest of the weekend baking cookies... way too many cookies... I've spent the last few days eating cookies... way too many cookies...

The weekend before last was filled with holiday activities as well. Two of my friends work at an after-school program with elementary kids and needed volunteers to sing carols in English with the kids at a local hospital. The kids were cute and it was fun to sing. As a bonus, the teachers threw a party for us with lots of delicious food and ume-shu (plum wine… mmm…). We also got our first snow that day along with some loud thunder! The snow was more like mini snowballs than flakes though and it didn’t stick around for very long. It was long enough to put me in a festive mood though!

At school, we’ve been making Christmas cards and letters in class and having Christmas-themed activities. One of the 8th grade classes made Christmas cards for me as a surprise. Here are a few of my favorites:

Looks like I have a bit more work to do...

Yes, that says "Peace on English". Awesome!

I think this one is my favorite because it's so bizarre. Not sure if you can read it or not, but smoking Santa is asking how old I am. Here's a closer look at Santa and his dirty habit:

Tomorrow night I’m off to spend the winter holiday in Vietnam and Hong Kong. I’m traveling there with my friends Kate and Katherine. Winter vacation doesn’t actually start until 12/26, (yes, there’s school on Christmas as it’s not an official holiday here) but I’m taking several days off. We’ll be in Vietnam for Christmas (12/19-12/30) and Hong Kong for New Year’s (12/30-1/2). It’s supposed to be in the 80s in Vietnam, so I’m not counting on a white Christmas. I’ll be thinking of all of you at home and I hope you enjoy the holiday season!!! Peace on English!