Apartment

Before coming, many people warned me worried about the probable sardine size of my apartment, but it has turned out to be much more spacious and comfortable than expected. The system in the JET Programme works so that each new foriegner will take the place of the old one. With this set up, I was able to arrive to a fully furnished abode, that even included food! There have been 8 former ALTs to live in this apartment - from America, New Zealand, Ireland, South Africa, and the UK, so a lot has been accumulated over the years.

I spent the first week exploring all the closets and boxes inside the apartment, discovering new things every day. Did I need to wash clothes? No problem. Charge batteries? Covered. Practice calligraphy? Sure thing! I also received my my "predecessor"`s bicycle, and bought her car. For the first couple weeks, it felt like I was living someone else`s life. It was like being a guest in someone else`s house, but without them there. Two months later, it feels a lot more like home.

And, so, because the [second] best way to know a place is to see it (first is to actually be there), here is a nice long video tour. For those who would prefer the more instant route, I`ll also post some pictures.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aa6ctts9ljk

Driving

Do you see that dark blue car, nearest the road? It`s mine! It`s called a [Mitsubishi?] Carol, that I bought off of the ALT before me. And, boy, is it small!

I was really nervous about driving when I got here, knowing that the Japanese drive on the left side of the road. So even though I had the car the whole time, I only drove it twice in the first month of being in Japan. Not so good for practice. But it seemed to work out well in the end. During that time, I was somehow stripped of my right-side-of-the-roadedness. Now I`m able to drive quite comfortably, and no longer flick on the windshield wipers every time I try to turn. The only remains of American driving I have left in me, it seems, is an inability to remember to stop at railroad crossings, and the unconscious tendency to approach the left side of the car to get in.

Little Carol has served me excellently on rainy days, when my bike tire was popped, and on the weekly 40 km excursions to the Agricultural school. It will also enable me to go on those mountain climbing trips I`d like to attempt! However, there are a lot of extra expenses that come with car ownership. There is gas, repairs (I need to get the oil changed and tires checked soon), a monthly insurance bill - extra high because of my young age - and Shakken. Shakken is a [biannual?] check to certify that the car is in working order, and costs somewhere in the ballpark of $1000. Not looking forward to renewing it next year. >.<

Takoyaki Party

I hosted my first dinner party last night! How did it go? Excellently, considering I haven't had more than a couple people over at a time since.. my 14th birthday? In any case, it wasn't by my effort that things went so well. The company, 6 girls from Kitako, all drove over to my apartment sround 6:30 after school on Friday. There is another typhoon moving along near us, so it was raining buckets, and already dark outside. We jumped in our cars and headed to the supermarket to all pick up supplies together. The customers at The Big probably shook their heads at our troupe of girls wandering through the aisles, giggling as we discussed the oddities of Japanese food (fermented soybean, "devil's tongue", a zillion types of seaweed).


45 minutes later, we got back to the dry saftey of my apartment. Everyone commented on the spaciousness of it, remarking over how well furnished and decorated it was. There I got to explain that everything here is an accumulation of things that the 8 other JETs before me have contributed. A nice array, I'd say! It came in really handy for the evening, as it provided a neverending supply dishes, bowls, and utensils.

We soon got to cooking, each finding a job to contribute - cutting cabbage, making the dough mix, setting the table, and mixing ice cream for later. The main dish was to be Takoyaki, fried breadballs with octopus in the middle, and seasoned with mayo, okonomi sauce, dried seaweed, and fish flakes. We'd also gotten a lot of snacks to tide us over until dinner really started at 8.

From there we ate and chatted, ate and chatted, all on repeat for several cycles through the night. The food was delicious, the conversation self propellant, and the atmosphere a nice combination of warm lamplight and the sound of heavy rain falling just outside the screendoor. Just about everything was said in Japanese, but the topics were mostly simply enough for me to follow. We talked about the food, cultural differences, boyfriends (or lack of them), and about people at work. I got to try sake and beer for the first time, but couldn't get over the taste. However, I persevered throughout the night and finally got down a small mug worth of alcohol, with no noticeable affects on the body. A few others drank, too, but we mostly hit up the other beverages - Mommy peach milk, apple juice, green tea, and Aquarius, a powerade-like drink.

After several rounds of takoyaki, a couple girls bustled into the kitchen, turned out the main light, and came back with a cake on the table! It was an adorable white thing covered in fruit and candles. It was to celebrate Fukuyama-sensei's birthday and to welcome me to Japan. We blew out the imaginary fire, and then all dug in with our separate forks and spoons until the cylinder of cake became a simple circle cardboard plate. At the very last, we dug into the ice cream. It had not had enough time to really freeze, so became more of a vanilla shake, no less delicious.

We all cleaned up together, trying to think of good cleaning songs as we washed, dried, and put away dishes. They all left around midnight, with plans for another party when the weather got cooler. Nabe, anyone?

Start of School

The above is a picture of my main base school, Kitako.

It's been a while! Sorry for being so quiet lately. Things have certainly changed a bit since the lazy, drifting days of summer when I first got here.


School is in full swing now, and I have officially introduced myself to my 15 classes at the 3 different schools. It was kind of interesting to give the same lesson again and again and see how all the classes react. Some listened intently, eagerly answered questions, and whizzed through the quiz at the end. Others slept or stared in boredom and seemed utterly bewildered by the half-page of English on the quiz. Then there were those classes that thought it perfectly acceptable to talk and walk around the room during the presentation. As assistant teachers, we are not supposed to attempt 'discipline', so in those cases I just raised my voice and plowed through them until the end of the 50 minutes. Thankfully enough, those one are spread out enough that my voice will have time to recover.

Students and classes aren't the only variable factor in the lessons. The success also depends a lot on the JTE, or main teachers. Some of them have been very helpful in giving advice and helping with the preparations, and others seem to see the Team Teaching classes as a chance to sit back quietly and let someone else do all the planning/presenting. As time goes on, I'm sure I'll learn how to work with them, but for now I'm just trying to keep up with which teacher matches which class, and what's going on in them.

All of this is new territory for me. 15 years of school taught me how to sit through endless hours of classes like a pro, and how to economize my studying to get a satisfactory amount of effectiveness out of the least amount of time. Sure, lack of sleep as a result of procrastination left me tired, but the work really wasn't so bad. Now, though, I've jumped clear to the front of the classroom. Things look a lot different from up there! You wouldn't realize how much time it takes to plan new lessons, prepare handouts, and teach the material. It's draining. Three lessons a day is my usual fare, and that's been plenty. Already, though, I've noticed myself building up callous to the new type of work. Rowdy classes are not as disappointing, and I've discovered that you can do just about anything with the class and they will believe it was intended to be that way.

Well, that's all for now. In the next post I'll have to detail some of my activities outside of school, because there have been/will be a lot lately!

Typhooooon

Big news of the week? A typhoon is set to hit Tokushima this weekend!


I first heard about it on Wednesday when my main school, Kitako, talked about canceling the Culture Day festival this weekend on account of the weather. Since then, I`ve seen teachers with the storm radar window up on the browsers all day, watching the progress. Today the buzz has really begun. Every time I`ve talked to anyone today, we end up hovering around the typhoon topic. "This is my first time in a typhoon!" I offer, hoping they will give me some pointers or stories. With that method, I`ve gotten anything from "Aww, it`s just heavy rain, no big deal," to "You had better take a half day and go home early. Sometimes roads are underwater, cars blown around, and you could end up staying the night in your car!" So, what can I make of these mixed responses? There is an American maxim, "Better safe than sorry." Then again... ~

Another topic that people have been hot to bring up has been hurricane Irene that hit the states, uh, recently? "Yes, we will have a typhoon here - by the way, didn`t the East coast just have a big one?" The first time I heard that, I had no idea, and realized how out of the loop I am. No tv, no time to waste on current events with limited internet access, no English radio. And so, no real news input, other than whatever circulates around school (most of which I can`t understand). What else is going on out in the world?

In other news, many firsts this week! Had to give a speech in front of the whole assembly. It went over really well - thank you all for the prayers and encouragement! I just looked at the wall way across from me, and tried not to think about the 1000 faces looking my way. For my first class, Thursday morning, I made a powerponit to present pictures of America, Minnesota, U of M, my family, and my hobbies. After that a game and Q and A period. It went over pretty well, and just fit within time! Then I did the same lesson again today at the Science and Technology school (Kagiko), and.. well.. I`m going to need to learn to change the level of lessons depending on the schools. They were walking all over the room and talking the whole time, despite our trying to get their attention. Ah, well, we did our best! And it`s not so important for these students to know English.

No beach party last weekend. Just a long bike ride to Naruto, going to church (found one!), and cleaning up a temple/memorial site with the church folks. It was a lot of fun! I`ve been tired all week, though, so am looking forward to the weekend to rest.