Archive for July, 2006
Another good but exhausting day exploring Tokyo. This morning we headed to my lovely alma mater, Waseda University, so I could show Niq around my ex-campus. Admittedly, it’s an ugly campus, and the most famous building (a clock tower thingy that even got printed on Japanese stamps!) was completely covered in scaffolding. There were a lot of college-aged English speakers that were kind of freaking me out, but I handled the situation all right by not glaring at them or pointing out the fact that they were talking unnecessarily loudly. Stupid Americans.
Lunch was ramen, which I normally avoid at all costs in Kyushu. Kyushu has a strange version of ramen made from pork broth, which radiates a smell so severe that you can tell more than a block away when you’re approaching a Kyushu ramen shop. Tokyo ramen is far more delicious, sans stink and cloudy brown broth. This stuff is GOOD. And cheap! The only thing missing would be any recognizable vitamin, mineral, fresh vegetable, lean cut of meat, or anything else nutritionally redeeming. But mmmmm, good.
Anyways, we’re headed off to climb Mt. Fuji tomorrow so if you don’t hear from me on Saturday then I probably fell off the top. Or it errupted, but you’ll probably hear about that. Gambarimasu!
July 27th, 2006
As my dear and wise friend Sarah told me, you never realize how many friends you have until you say goodbye to them all. I had the unfortunate experience of doing just that; saying goodbye to everyone I know, all the while knowing that I won’t see many of them again. At least for a while, but possibly ever. (I miss you already!) One notable exception, though, is the Horse.
Here is Dave and Uma, affectionately known to some as the Horse, as her name translates. Uma’s holding the ice cream, which means that Dave probably bought it for himself and Uma ended up taking it. This has happened at every meal so far and it’s hilarious in its predictability. They have kindly let Niq and I stay on their kitchen/living room floor in Tokyo while we explore the city and ease our way back into American life. For example, I’ve seen so many foreigners today that I didn’t even get the chance to stare at all of them. Soon being surrounded by white people won’t be so frightening for me. I can only hope. I also saw Americans in too-tight halter one-pieces and fluorescent windbreakers with awesomely askew trucker hats. Is this normal over there?
Today Niq and I wandered around Asakusa, home of Senso-ji temple most famously recognized by its giant lanterns. Since I am a lantern-lover myself, I really enjoy this temple. I’ve been here before, but I have a feeling a lot of this Tokyo trip will be me taking Niq around to places I wish we’d seen together the last time I was here. Plus I feel cool because it’s like I know my way around Tokyo, which is only sort of true.
From the temple we walked towards Kitchenware Town, a really fun district that supplies restaurants with everything needed to run a business. There was an entire store devoted to We’re Open signs! And I now know how much 10,000 yen will buy you in paper cups! The best place, though, was Maizuru– a sample food store. Japan is well known for its plastic food outside the restaurants, something very much appreciated by those easily swayed by the power of suggestion (yes, that would definitely be me). This store is apparently the place to get your fake food. The prices were incredibly high, about 20 dollars for a single piece of sushi. The meals on plates, like curry and rice or a serving of spaghetti, ran about 100 dollars and more.
July 26th, 2006
It’s 2 am, technically the day before I leave, and I have resigned myself to staying up all night. If I trade sleep for work, I’ve got a ton of time. Even time for this! Plus, I’ve received so much positive reinforcement (from family, so I think they’re obligated to say nice things) I am writing tonight with somewhat of a bigger head than usual. Pretty soon I’ll have to order my headwear from special catalogs like Dad. (Note: due to actual huge head, not ego-swollen huge head.)
On fifth period Wednesday, I said goodbye to Wakaki Elementary School. This is the only school I have taught at for three years, so it is especially near and dear to me. The first graders turned into third graders, and the older kids moved on to be my students in junior high. Also, this is the only elementary school that I eat lunch with, followed by a lot of running around on the playground. I learned a ton of little kid games, and I also devoted many a recess to learning how to unicycle. I’d like to think I have good balance, but I found unicycling to be IMPOSSIBLE. It is not my calling. The principal would sometimes come down to the playground with me and give me tips. He used two bamboo sticks like ski poles as he wobbled his way around the pitch. Hilarious, yet effective! Not for me, though, I pretty much sucked no matter what.
After Wakaki, I raced back to TakeoKita Junior High School for my goodbye ceremony. I was escorted by my favorite student (I know I shouldn’t choose favorites, but I can’t help it!) to the gym, where the entire school was waiting for me. Some of my third-year students gave some really touching speeches, I got tons of messages and flowers, and the principal astutely pointed out that I would soon return home to Iowa, near New York City. We went over the exact location of Iowa and North Carolina before the ceremony, but apparently the closest landmark he could relate to was NYC. Sure, why not? Anyways, after the official stuff, photos with each class, and a lovely song on the ocarina by the principal, the kids stretched around the perimeter of the gym and I went around saying goodbye to each of them individually. Took a long time, but it was really nice. Especially since they played “You’re Beautiful” in the background, a song that the third year boys always sang to me when they would pass me in the halls. Adorable. Plus the girls all gave me hugs– this is huge! It’s proof that I’ve internationalized! The whole ceremony was lovely, and then I came home and ate a cookie BEFORE WASHING MY HANDS! I’m pretty obsessive-compulsive when it comes to hand-washing, but I was so hungry that I totally forgot. It’s like I licked every student and teacher at the junior high! Germs!!
The next day, I had my goodbye ceremony at the other junior high, Kawanobori. Some third-year girls danced “Soran,” which is a traditional dance in the area that mimics some of the strenuous moves of fisherpeople hauling in the nets. Very cool, and the colorful “happi” were incredible. Then I horribly embarrassed myself by playing Chopin badly, followed by a very muddled and post-stressful-piano-playing Japanese speech. The brass band played a little tune at the end, so at least The Great Chopin Insult was not the last thing on everyone’s memories. Phew.
After school I met some teachers to play pachinko. I was ashamed to admit that I had never played and secretly wanted to, so the science teacher kindly took me under his wing and showed me the intricacies of his favorite pastime. You put the money in the top, and then you keep your hand on a knob. Then sit there until you run out of money. It is extremely not exciting. I feel that any activity that could be done equally effectively by me or, say, a piece of masking tape, is not something worth doing.
With school and most of the parties out of the way, I was left with my packing, cleaning, and errand running. I went into “the city” to transfer the title of my car when I saw this lovely vehicle. Rockin’! This little guy is Anpanman, a cartoon fellow with a head of sweet bean paste. Most of his friends are other pastry-heads as well, and then there’s BaikinMan (All-you-can-eat Man, no joke) in the lower left hand corner. I don’t know the story, but perhaps he is a bad guy trying to eat off all of their heads? I’m not sure, but all I can tell you is that this van’s US equivalent would most likely be airbrushing the cast of Duck Tales on the back of your van.
July 24th, 2006
Ah, the Banana and Donut Hotel, rural Japan’s brave crusader in the fight against population decline. This is a “love hotel,” and as the sign might suggest, it caters to couples looking for a private (and apparently tasteless) place to make babies. According to my memory, which is always full of interesting and highly accurate stories, the love hotel was born out necessity– couples living in multi-generational houses just couldn’t seem to find the privacy needed to make the grandkids. Generally smutty-looking and always rented by the hour, these classy establishments are commonplace all over the country. This is the best sign I have seen for one, though. And by the way, the little plus mark on the banana is the Japanese symbol for anger… makes the sign even more disturbing for me. Is this where banana bread comes from?
July 18th, 2006
Or so Niq would have you believe. Today was a national holiday, which for us meant two parties instead of just the one. Over lunch we had our final kids class party, which was so wonderful. I know I say that a lot, but this was the saddest group to say goodbye to. We’ve been teaching this group of kids for nearly three years, and in kid time that’s the majority of their lives. We’ve seen them go from babies to kids! Bald heads to pigtails! Drooling to singing! Each family made us an album page so we have photos and letters from each of them in a giant book. I’m sure I’ll look at it obsessively when I get back home. I cannot begin to say how much I adore these families– I’ll really miss them.
A few hours later we went to Niq’s dance people’s house for dinner. I talked for a long time with a man who was an air traffic controller and worked in Iwo Jima (post war), so that was certainly interesting. Got a lot fatter today, but at least I was constantly in good company.
A general note, I apologize for the repetitiveness of my posts, but this is what my life is like right now. Parties, ceremonies, and tons of cute kids. So if you can’t appreciate pictures of cute kids, then check back in a month or so. Or never, because I never thought I would know anyone who doesn’t like pictures of cute kids. Seriously!
July 17th, 2006
In the bucket, fool.
July 16th, 2006
As rockin’ as one might imagine at a neighborhood festival. Imagine asking your mother to dance on stage, and that’s pretty much how 80% of the evening went (no offense, Mom!). The remaining acts were quite interesting; there were of course middle-aged women in sparkly wigs doing the Numa Numa dance, and some sort of narrative dance that involved a mock wedding ceremony, Pe Yonjun as seen in Fuyu no Sonata followed by what I can only assume to be Korean prostitutes and pregnant people. That one is still sinking in. The kid dancing was the best, since it was quite obvious that the kids themselves had choreographed. Hilarious! There were many kung fu kick moves and a lot of running spastically in circles.
I’m a huge fan of neighborhood festivals, so I thought this was fantastically fun. Especially since I knew all the kids– got a lot of free french fries, candy, and bites of snow cones out of the evening as well. Possibly multiple strains of disease, but I’m trying not to think about that.
July 15th, 2006
Friday was another last, this time at Higashikawanobori Elementary School. This school is so special to me, probably because the kids are unbelievably wonderful. They high-five, hug, and squeal with delight when the see me, even after two years. And quite frankly, this celebrity-like status has really gone to my head. It’s going to be disappointing in the US when kids don’t even notice my existence. Hopefully I won’t try to hug them, because that would not only be awkward but could also spark some sort of lawsuit. I shall try to keep to my unfreaky ways the best I can.
After another wonderful ceremony filled with songs, games, speeches and presents, I was given a grand exit through a human tunnel (think London Bridge) made by all the students and teachers. Adorable. I’ll really miss this one! I’ve already gotten promises from a bunch of kids that they’ll write me letters in America, so at least I have something to look forward to! After school, while I was hanging around taking pictures (another activity to avoid upon return), some kids invited me to a local gion festival. Basically, a community dancing festival. More on that later! You can bet that it was adorable, precious, and cute– apparently the only adjectives I have been using lately.
July 14th, 2006
In lieu of my sarcastic musings about my super exciting job and life, I have instead provided pictures of cuteness. Possibly not as cute as Sarah’s swim kid, but since I know these ones personally I can attest to not only adorable faces, but adorableness in most everything they do. (By the by, it’s nearly impossible to catch them with the camera before they flash the obligatory Peace/Victory/I’m Posing sign. Alas.)
Cuteness at Higashikawanobori
Cuteness at Nishikawanobori
Cuteness at Takeuchi
Cuteness at Wakaki
July 13th, 2006
Two years ago when I arrived at Nishikawanobori Elementary school, a very confusing conversation took place in Japanese which resulted in me getting into the vice-principal’s car with him, driving past the “Welcome to Nagasaki” sign, over a dam, up a mountain, and stopping at a tiny one-room school house in Yahazu. And so I arrived at bunkou. There are only four students in bunkou, two first graders and two second graders, which is all the tiny village of Yahazu has. To save the wee ones from trekking to the base school, Nishikawanobori instead brings the resources to them, and once a month that resource is me. It takes a bit of getting used to, changing from teaching classes of 34 to four. Activities that used to take half an hour now take about 30 seconds. (Who wants another turn? How about another? Not bored yet? You want to go again, right?) It helps that the four kids are adorable and think that everything I do is hilarious. Though consequently I am terribly self-conscious about EVERYTHING now (and you would be too if seemingly randomly kids broke into inconsolable fits of giggles at you), including but certainly not limited to: my hair”style,” the way I say “ba-nya-nya,” how I give a thumbs up when I ask “OK?,” the way I sweep the floor with my midget-sized broom, the way I inflate beach balls, and oh how the list goes on.
Today was the last day at Nishikawanobori Elementary, and I was lucky to have been the honored guest at a truly lovely and heartwarming ceremony this afternoon. The gym was decorated, signs were painted, trivia quizzes were written, songs were sung, armfuls of gifts were given, and I ended it all with a very incomprehensible speech about how much I would miss them. Kindness followed by sadness, I suppose that’s how this whole Japan story’s going to end up eventually.
July 12th, 2006
Previous Posts
