These last few days have been relatively uneventful, hence the lack of blog posts. I've been at school until 5 or 5:30. I go back to the hotel, grab dinner from the trusty 7-11, talk to my wife, and go to bed. All of that has been great really! I don't mean to make it sound dull or dry, it's just not as exciting as what we've been getting into on the weekends. My school and lead teacher have been great though and they have all been very willing to let me participate in their classes.
I should take the time to mention the upcoming star festival here in Japan. You can find these bamboo trees everywhere: in schools, in businesses, and in homes. People write their wishes and hopes for the coming year on a small piece of paper and tie it to the tree. The holiday itself is this Sunday. I have written my wish that I hope to bring my American friends here to Tokyo to meet all of my new Japanese friends on about 4 different trees in 4 different schools. We'll see if it comes true...
On Tuesday I began the long dull drudge of conducting interview tests for all 200ish 7th graders. For the past three days, three out of 5 periods a day have seen me repeat the following questions:
1). Your name please?
2). What day is it today?
3). How is the weather?
4). Please pronounce these 5 words for me. (Hot, van, from, thirsty, Australia)
5). Please take a card. Who is that teacher?
6). Is he your music teacher?
7). Is he nice?
I caught myself halfway falling asleep in the middle of one the other day. It was warm and humid and I was on autopilot. The bell rang and I jolted upright. I'm sure if it had been 3 minutes later my head would have been on the desk and drool would have been coming out of my mouth and the poor student would have no idea what to do. Saved by the bell for sure!
After the interview tests I had two periods with no English planned. I had the option of any class I could think of. I love music so decided to join them. What a great decision!!
I came in to the room thinking that I would stand in the back and observe as I have done in the past. This was the exact opposite of what I did. I was immediately told, "oh, no, no! We have a 'special' seat for you!" I sat right in the middle of the 30-ish students right next to my new best friend Miyaji. He speaks English very fluently and has been my friend and guide around the school. He passed me his chorus book and we (yes, I'm including myself in the "we") began singing warmup exercises!! Well, that was unexpected, but "la, la, la" is the same in Japanese as it is in English so it was no problem. :) the song we sang afterwards was not however. I tried to pick up the syllables but mostly mumbled and tried to just hit the notes. That was challenging too because I'm a giant Gaijin (foreigner) and the "baritones" with whom I was placed sang almost out of my range. It was fun nonetheless!
I excelled at the next activity: recorders! I'm not sure if it is budget related but I've noticed that Japanese schools have a great fondness for recorders. I have not played a recorder since I was about 9 years old but as I'm sure you all know it is a pretty simple instrument. We played "Amazing Grace" and I was complimented by the senior music teacher! My compliment however came at the expense of one of the other students in the class. According to Miyaji, it was something to the effect that I "am way better than that kid." It made for a strange emotional mix of self-satisfaction and empathy for that poor kid I don't even know. With a very limited Japanese skill set and no wish to upset the teacher I had no option to comfort him.
For the final minutes of the final period of the day there was an earthquake drill. In America we have fire drills but in Japan, in addition to the fire drills, they have earthquake drills. I was lucky to get to see and experience one. A teacher came on the PA and said something about an earthquake and getting your helmets and heading outside. I followed the students in silent lines until we got outside and absolutely sprinted to the middle of the courtyard. There they sat with military discipline in perfect lines and listened to the assistant principal tell them what they clearly were painfully aware of: don't forget the earthquake from three years ago. It can happen any time and you need to be prepared. Make sure you have your helmet and that it is in good shape. The whole thing was very serious and somber but very interesting to see.
At the end of the day I joined the English club where we played Jeopardy! And I demonstrated my wonderful grasp of the English language but my sheer incompetence at anything related to Japanese pop culture. The only questions I could answer were, "when is your birthday?" And "do you have a girlfriend?" The whole thing was enjoyable and it was fun to be around students truly driven and interested in learning English.
Wednesday was a half day!! Yeah!! School consisted of more interview tests and one art class where I started my kirie which is Japanese paper cutting. It's taking forever but I'm pleased with my progress.
This one is mine but here are some other fine examples of student art here:
All of the Portland teachers got together and decided that I would show them around Ginza. We went back to the paper store where we saw this sign for delicious looking "milk flappes." We didn't want to spoil our dinner so we skipped them.
We also went back to the toy store and I made a tremendous discovery: it is not one floor, it is 5 floors!! Holy cow this place is awesome! If brookstone, Kay-B-toys, newbury comics, a hobby shop, and a video game store somehow had a baby it would be this store.
Hehe, "mashter" yoda. I remember when they made the Darth Vader version but I didn't know they made a Yoda version. Too bad it's $47.
R2-D2 soy sauce bottle? Why the hell not!
Robots you control with two controllers and they fight in the arena behind the screen. Like rock 'em sock 'em robots but better.
And Coco, God love him. Bless his heart. Not sure why he was $252 though. He's the size of a real cat and wasn't electronic or anything as far as I could tell. Can anyone read a little Japanese and shed some light on this?
We spent waaaaaaaay too long in the store and had to eat something. After being rather indecisive we took the bold step of flipping a coin and ended up in this basement bar. There was no English menu and very few somewhat blurry pictures so we basically just pointed and nodded and said, "beeru" and "sake koo-de-sai" and patiently waited for the food to come.
Well it turns out we were in a Japanese version of a tapas bar! This is what came for us:
Best deviled eggs ever!!
No idea! Everyone else thought is was pork. It was cold and had a delicious dressing. That's all I know. Oh, and those were tomatoes. I think...
At this point it probably goes without saying, but it was all delicious!!
Finally, I spent the Fourth of July here at school. There were more interview tests and more math lessons. Honestly, neither of those require further description. However, the subway ride in to school does.
Every day I take two trains to school. The first is wonderfully clean, empty, and efficient. The second is the most unpleasant place I have encountered while here in Japan. Every day I hold my breath waiting with dread for the train to come and everyday it is packed. This day my timing was slightly off. Normally, I get off the first train, get in line for the second, and board so I am right next to the doors and able to escape two stops later. On the fourth of July I showed up having just missed the train which means I was now in the front of the line to get the next one. That may sound like a good thing but with only two stops to go I really want to be near the doors. At the front of the line I am trapped in the raging torrent of commuters who all shuffle like a school of fish and pack themselves into the train until the cars are quite literally bursting at the sides. I was in the middle of the train, farthest from the exit, barely enough room to breath, with people pressed very uncomfortably and somewhat painfully on all sides. When we arrived at my stop and it was clear nobody else was getting off I did my best to calmly say, "su-me-ma-sen" (excuse me) as I violently extracted myself from the tightly packed train car. Never again friends, never again. I now leave 20 minutes earlier and that train is considerably less crowded. This is the best picture I can get of what this is like.
I'm somewhat prone to exaggeration sometimes, but please believe me when is say that this represents roughly half the density of the car I was on.
But, the end of the school day came like it always does. It was the Fourth so we had a little impromptu hallway party and waved our American flags that were mounted on chopsticks. After that we went to Thai food for dinner. :) America!
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