Random video of the day

Why Scott's back hurt on Tuesday morning... (this is so entertaining to us for some reason!)

Green tea party

We had a pretty busy weekend. On Sunday night, we were invited to a tea ceremony at a tea house one town over in Ariake. Every year they invite English teachers from the area to the ceremony. It was a beautiful garden with sculpted trees and soft, finely cut grass. I went with Scott and two other teachers, Anna from Ohio and our Brit friend Alex. We weren’t quite sure what to expect as it was our first time to a formal tea ceremony.



The women from the tea house were all dressed in beautiful kimonos. They were all so friendly, especially the older ones. One older lady said I was a very pretty person and then slapped Scott on the back and said “Nice job!” in Japanese. It was so funny! We were relieved that we didn’t have to feel so uptight and that they were so welcoming to us. The mayor of Shimabara also attended and was super friendly. He said in English to us, “Good evening. Welcome!” and then in Japanese said, “And that’s all the English I know.” Too funny!



There was a table set up in the front where you sit and are served a Japanese cake (sweet red beans wrapped in mochi) and tea. It was a little nerve wracking being up there and unsure of which way to turn the cup and how many times and all, especially when the local news was filming it all! But it was a great experience and the tea was nice. They whisk it so that the top turns into a soft foam. We also got interviewed by several local newspapers and the TV station. One guy kept trying to get me to say that the tea tasted like medicine! There were a lot of characters there.



After the tea, we headed back to Kunimi. 9/23 is Kunimi Day in the town because the name Kunimi corresponds to the numbers, 9,2, and 3. We got back just in time for the fireworks show and then walked through some booths at the festival. I bumped into a lot of students who greeted me with shock, horror, and giddiness. Some of my junior high students were kind enough to take a pic with me (though I’m not sure if those boys in the back are my students or not. Hooligans!).



The next day I had a holiday so we all ended up riding our bikes around town. We found this cool Samurai house/garden right around the corner from my house. We took the 200 yen tour by this older gentleman who spoke a few words of English. The grounds have been there for over 400 years. The garden was immaculate and had this steps to the top where you can get a clear view of the town, the ocean and the mountains. Those Samurai sure knew how to live. We plan to go back in the spring when the cherry blossoms are in full display.



The rest of the day we spent riding bikes and playing in the school yard behind my house. It was a fun day despite all the darned bug bites! Of course, the next day at school everyone said they saw me riding bikes around town and read in the paper that I went to a tea ceremony. But the day ended well with more autographs!

the perfect (non) storm

Well last week's impending typhoon was a bust. Despite all the warnings (there was even a truck w/ a loud speaker going around town warning about the storm), the storm passed by us and didn't end up hitting. Most people would be relieved but Scott not having seen a typhoon was pretty upset. We did get to see a really cool sunset instead. My mom says it's called "yuuyake" when the sky is stained with the sunset. It really did seem stained or painted. I'd never seen the sky that way before.



Despite the disappointment, Scott was cheered up because he finally got his own bike. We'd been searching around and talking to a lot of older Japanese men with bike shops and couldn't find anything. Finally we went by a shop near our house in the rain and the man said he didn't have anything new to sell but Scott pointed out an old slightly rusted bike and the man said if it worked, we could take it for free! I don't know if I've ever seen Scott so happy. It was adorable. He stopped this week to give the man some cakes and a drawing of the bike with the word "arigato" on it. Happy ending!



After the weekend, I kind of had a rough week of classes. I think I just got a bit tired out. I finally got through my round of introductions to all 6 of my elementary schools though so I'm happy. Hopefully things will start to smooth out now that I kind of know what to expect.

The elementary schools vary in size quite a bit. My smallest school has 28 students total from 1st to 6th grade. The largest has close to 40 students in each class. The lessons therefore have to be flexible even if I'm teaching the same thing at each school. It does make it fun but also requires a lot of energy and planning. I will continue to do my best though! The kids are so cute and energetic that I can't let them down.




The schools are also in various locations. Some are in the mountains, some among fields of rice and corn, others near the ocean. This one school had an amazing view of the ocean and Nagasaki city so I had to take a picture.



My junior high classes are coming along too. It's a totally different environment and I'm not sure what they like yet. This week I tried to make a skit more fun by making "gaijin" masks (the lesson was about giving directions to tourists/foreigners) but I think it might have made them more embarrassed. Most of them weren't too into using them. But it still got a laugh. The teacher liked the idea at least!

Mad respect yo

I had my first class of 1st and 2nd graders. They are a zany bunch but lots of fun. We played some games and hopefully they will at least remember "hello" and "good morning". Maybe even "how are you?"!

Right now all the schools are preparing and practicing for their big Sports Day event. I have yet to attend one but I've been invited to some coming up this month. I hear they have real races and competitions but also funny ones like a relay race with an all teachers team against students and something involving dunking people's faces into flour. Should be a treat!

I'm excited because Monday is a holiday so we get a 3 day weekend. It is in celebration of "Respect for the Elderly" day. It's like Mother's Day or Father's Day but for Grandparents, as I understand it. The elderly here definitely deserve respect because I see most of them working hard in the rice fields and riding scooters and carrying heavy things. It's no wonder they stay so healthy. They're so active and fearless!

Scott and I are itching to buy a giant coke and popcorn and watch a flick in the theater. There's this amazing Japanese spaghetti western that Quentin Tarantino seems to be involved with that looks pretty awesome. I think it's called Sukiyaki Western Django. They're speaking English in it but somehow it still kind of sounds like Japanese.


A typhoon is supposed to be on its way here this weekend. We're definitely getting more bugs and it's been humid and hot once again. Scott finally saw the giant spiders I've been talking about. Actually this one is just a baby version of the ones I saw when I first got here. They're baaack!

Cap-tivating exhibit

Catching up on bloggin here and I don't think I mentioned that last week Scott and I went back to Nagasaki City to see an exhibit at their art museum. It was the last weekend for a special exhibit on the life of Robert Capa, this photojournalist from the 1940s and 1950s.

The exhibit was really impressive and spanned about 20 years of his life. It was in chronological order and we were amazed at how much he captured in so little time. Most of the photos were from war and battle scenes. One of the most famous and graphic is a photo of a man shot at the exact moment he's being shot in the head.



He also had photos of famous icons he befriended like Ernest Hemingway, Picasso, Ingrid Bergman and John Steinbeck. The exhibit is moving around the world and is coming to NYC soon, so you NYers, check it out! It was pretty cool that it was in Nagasaki before NYC. The museum is relatively small in comparison to NYC museums but it is a lovely building and everything is presented very well.

Party time, excellent!

I had my first visitor from home this week. My buddy Masa! He came all the way down to Nagasaki to see me and to travel around the area with his girlfriend Maggie. As Scott said, "it was nice to see a familiar face." I almost forgot where I was when we were hanging out. I guess although I feel pretty comfy here, it still feels surreal that I'm living in Japan. We had fun catching up over a tasty dinner (Masa tried the famous Kunimi crab, fresh from the pond in front of the restaurant!) and I showed them around my little town and gave them a tour of my house. Good times!



I also went to my first Enkai party. It was a welcome party for new teachers thrown by my junior high staff. I had heard much of these parties and of what to expect. Mostly lots and lots of beer pouring and drinking and speeches and good food. But there are also crazier stories of debauchery and such. As they say, what happens at an enkai, stays at an enkai. Mine was pretty tame although there was definitely heavy drinking and slightly inappropriate conversation, but all in good fun. Hopefully I won't get in trouble for publishing this pic!

Welcome Jessica Sensei!

Whew! I just finished 2 days of nonstop elementary school classes. It's all been a blur , but I think it went well overall. Each class was so different in personality that I ended up improvising a lot of my lesson plans. I learned a lot in just these couple of days.



I kinda get what things work better than others but again, a lot of it depends on the personality and attitude of the home room teachers and the kids. Some classes were shy and quiet while others were zany and wild. Overall the boys are much louder and rowdier than the girls. The girls tended to be quiet in class but after class they were friendly and wanted to talk or hold hands. It was very cute.

In my last class, one boy asked for my autograph (maybe because I lied a little and said I'd actually met Matsui in NYC)! Then a crowd of kids swarmed me and asked for my autograph as well. One kid asked me to sign his scissors! Another girl looked like she was about to cry if I didn't sign her book so I let her be the last one for the day. It was pretty fun being a celebrity but it also felt so bizarre. I'm glad the kids enjoyed the lessons though. Hopefully some of it seeped into their adorable little brains.

Gone til September

Ooh, my first blog for September. Which means... I've been living in Japan for a month now! 11 more to go! Well, this month has gone by pretty fast and yet when I think back to my first days in Tokyo, it feels like ages ago. I was starting to feel a little homesick looking at pictures today but I must stay strong!

Today I had my first official class. It was the 1st year junior high students. They are a pretty rowdy bunch except when they're hot and bored. I was worried about them being bored during my little introduction speech but I also prepared a quiz about the US and NYC and that livened them up. They answered most of the straightforward questions easily (prez of USA, where is the White House, etc.) and they also answered my question about how long a flight from Tokyo to NYC is (14 hours, granted it was multiple choice). But when asked how long the flight from LA to NYC is after showing them a map of the US, some thought it was a 20 hour flight! I guess the map made it look really far, which it is, but thankfully it's only a 6 hour flight. Another question I asked and just found out the answer to recently is, how many languages are spoken in NYC. The answer is 170 and they got it right but I think they were just arbitrarily choosing a number. I think they finally understood the question in the end though. Ooh, I hope none of the other students are reading this and cheating!

Tomorrow I have another junior high class and then elementary schools for the rest of the week. I'm excited to meet the little ones but at the same time, it's going to require a lot of happy energy!