Let's play catch up!

I know. I'm bad.  No updates in awhile.  I'm so spoiled with facebook.

So today marks my 5 month mark for living in Iiyama! Time has flown by oh so fast...In less than 2 months I'm going to have to decide if I'm going to stay another year! And it hasn't even really started to snow!

So much has happened since my last entry....

11/5 The welcome party was a hit! So much fun drinking with old men and my buddies! This is a picture of Kim, my supervisor Fujiki-san, me and Elissa! 

November-I enjoyed a nature walk with Alaina to see the 紅葉(kouyou), the leaves changing colors in the fall.  

November also meant my bi-annual urine sample health check.   I had to pee in that paper "cup" (more like an envelope), suck it up into the little tube (compare size to AAA battery) and drop it in a little box placed on the floor in the middle of the teacher's room. Weird.

11/11-Got invited to watch the middle school English demo lesson, as well as the after party! Here I am with my idol, Yumoto-sensei, Miyazaki-sensei, and Elissa!  Elissa had a really good time!!!!  

Thanksgiving--I made stove top green bean casserole! It was super yummy!!!!  

11/28--Karaoke for 6 hours...in the stage room!!!

My Christmas card photo shoot. lol Thanks, Mitzi!!!  This is the picture I sent out before I cropped it.

12/6-12/10--my favorite lesson i've done so far...the shopping lesson!

12/17--Iiyama gang dinner @ Trois Cinq (Surge was closed...again) before Kim left for the waaarrrm islands.  

12/19--Christmas caroling in Nagano, here is a link of us on the news!!!  We sang at the station twice and then once at a nursing home.  Patty did a great job organizing it!!!

Christmas at school entailed lots of hand trees and enough ornaments to make it look like Christmas threw up, ate it up, and threw up again...

Christmas eve potluck dinner with the girls sans Kim plus Mitzi' s neighbor Yuriko-san.

Christmas day--fishing!!!!!!!!  Crazy cool!!!! We went out to Nojiriko (lake) and fished inside a boat that had holes in the floor.

Lots of other things in between, but these are all things that  I can look back on and smile about!  Starting tomorrow I'm going back to Kanagawa to spend time with the mom and family for New Years and meet up with bff Masami!!!! 

Happy New Year, everyone! 

Today was a Wonderful Day

Today really was wonderful.  And this is one of the reasons why:

(Yes, another Kyushoku-related entry ^^;)

I walked into Akitsu today and found the November lunch menu on my desk.  To my surprise and excitement, the lunch for the day was tonkatsu!!!  The nutritionist had told me to look forward to this month's lunch, and I'm glad I did! :)  

But before I get into lunch, lets talk about the morning.  I found out I wasn't teaching until 5th period, which left me four periods before lunch to do whatever.  Luckily the 2nd grade teacher saw me sitting at my desk and asked me if I wanted to join the 2nd graders in making steamed bread cakes with the sweet potatoes they harvested.  Of course I said yes!!!

The second graders at Akitsu are perhaps the most well behaved class among all of the classes I have ever taught at Iiyama, including my regular 5th and 6th graders.  They are all polite and always excited to see me and participate in whatever I engage them in.  They did an awesome job with the cakes!

This is mushi-pan, or "steamed bread"(basically pancake mix) with chunks of sweet potato in it.  They put the batter int he aluminum cups and placed them in a frying pan, poured water around the cups in the frying pan, and steamed for 10 minutes.  It was delicious!

3rd and 4th period I spent studying kanji at my desk.

Lunchtime!!! 

Okay, so backstory.  Tonkatsu is basically a pork cutlet, but incomparable to any type of breaded cutlet you find elsewhere.  It is my favorite food in Japan, which is the first thing I told my students when I did my self-introductions when I first got here.  

As I headed to the lunchroom (with a big smile and a skip in my step) the kids saw me and made various comments about the lunch menu.  Lunch was served, and I took the snapshot you saw above...oh what the heck, here it is again! 

Also served: milk, white rice, a salad of cabbage, cucumbers & carrots with chunks of ume (sour plum) in ume dressing and veggie miso soup with daikon.

At Akitsu, Chika Sensei reads a "Lunch Letter" from the nutritionist that talks about one of the items on the menu.  Today she talked about tonkatsu, and which part of the pig the meat came from (it's called hire "hee-ray", the less fatty part of the pig).  Chika Sensei then asked the entire school, "Who do you think requested this lunch today?" 

A chorus of "CURISUTALU SENSEI!!!!!!!!" was shouted out from about 100 students as their eyes scanned the lunchroom for me and found me in the back of the room with the 5th graders.  It was quite embarrassing but incredibly cute at the same time!  

I then played janken (rock paper scissors) with the 5th graders to decide who would get the extra piece of tonkatsu that was leftover because of an absent student, and of course I lost.  But I was surprised with a pleasant gift from the 3rd graders who decided they wanted to give the extra piece that they had to me!!!  I was elated.

After lunch I taught the 6th and 5th graders, who were awfully participative today and really into the lesson.  I had three of the 5th graders cry during the lesson today, but two stopped when we played a new game, and one was fixed with a bandaid.  The kids even said the lessons were fun! 

Tomorrow is Friday, and they are finally having Mitzi and my welcome party!!! (only 3 months late) Should be fun! :D

給食-kyushoku-school lunch

Today at Togari I ate with the 3rd graders.  It just so happened that today's menu was chosen by the class.  Usually once a month one grade level can choose what they want to have in their "ideal lunch."  Here was today's menu:

Fried cocoa bread--bread that's fried once and then doused in cocoa powder
Kimchee soup--kimchee flavored soup with pork and vegetables
Grilled cod--with a mayonnaise, apple and onion mix on top
Sea vegetable salad--cucumbers and various types of seaweed mixed in a vinaigrette
Coffee Milk--no, not regular milk...delicious, sweet, coffee flavored milk!!!!!
Strawberry Jelly--almost frozen with real pieces inside!  It was kind of like water ice >3< yum

I must admit when i first saw my tray I was concerned , but by the end of the meal I was proud of the 3rd graders!  I asked the nutritionist later how many calories were in this meal and she avoided answering me for a bit... lol over 900 kcalories, 200 over the usual 700 they are allotted! hahahaha but it's all good.  As long as there's no shrimp, it's okay!

Rainbows and Butterflies?!

Most of the time I love being in Japan.  Other times I find myself in situations that I feel like I never would be in if I were in the US, which makes me uncomfortable, which makes me long for the comfort of home.

Most of the time I love working with children.  Other times I cannot find the patience within me to get through the day dealing with rambunctious students who don't want to pay attention in class.

Most of the time I am extremely happy with Japanese cuisine.  Other times I cannot hide the grimace on my face as I attempt to eat fried squid rings or slimy mushrooms in my soup.

This past summer I almost died of heat exhaustion.  As winter draws near, and the mornings and nights are now cold, I wonder how I'm going to get through the super wintery winter here.  

I spend most of my time trying to keep busy and occupied.  But I also spend many evenings alone with my computer, longing for my dearest of friends and wasting an immeasurable amount of time on facebook.  

I am here.  This is a decision I made.  I am here. 

The other day someone asked me if I was happy, and I immediately answered "yes!" without a thought.  I took a moment to think about my answer, and realized that I meant it... yes, I am happy. 

I also mean it when I say that sometimes living in Japan is a challenge for me.  Things are definitely not always rainbows and butterflies...but I think that's okay.  I know that I'm growing, and I know that I will look back at this experience years from now and be grateful that I took on this challenge. 

So to you and your adventure/challenge: Face it, take it all in, conquer it, and have fun in the process.  As Masami likes to say, "You're only (insert age here) once...just do it!"

ps. i miss you, everyone.

What do you do when...

You are riding on the train and minding your own business during rush hour.  A businessman in a sharp suit and laptop bag boards the train and takes a seat next to you.  He has probably worked a 9-10 hour day and still has work that needs to get done.  He has awhile to go until his stop, so he decides to pull out his laptop and use whatever portable wireless connection available and get some work done.  

But he's tired...oh, so tired...and he'll be on the train for awhile, so if he can just close his eyes until the next stop, he'll start working...

Or he'll fall asleep.  

He will eventually move into a more comfortable sitting position during his slumber and sigh a little sigh of content, maybe dream about a promotion or bonus at work, drool a little.  What he will not do is realize that his laptop is still open to his work intranet login page and is slowly sliding down the side of his lap. 

The laptop is inching its way toward you.  You glance over and notice that part of his hand is covering a letter that is causing the password section of the log in page to be full of XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXs all the way across.  You exchange glances with your friend sitting on the other side of you and giggle.  You whisper across the aisle to your other friends and tell them what you are seeing on the screen.  More giggling.

Uhoh.  The giggling must have woke the man up.  He glances down at his laptop and decided that right now, it's not worth working, he's just too tired.  So he closes the log in screen and stares at the blank desktop, maybe debating whether or not to actually just put the laptop away and...

He falls asleep again.  

The laptop starts to slide again, and you think he notices, because his hand shifts a little directly onto the mousepad to get a firmer grip on the laptop.  As a result, the cursor opens the windows list and is now scrolling up and down the list of programs as if it has a mind of its own.  The laptop is still sliding down.  You move your hand in position to catch it, just in case.  You are laughing so hard you are crying, your friends are laughing, other people around you are staring, some even on the edge of their seats, waiting to see what the gaijins do next.  A friend sitting across from you snaps a picture.  You keep your eyes away from the laptop screen because the scrolling cursor is just too much for you to handle at that point.

The laptop is now practically falling into your lap.  The man is still asleep.  What do you do?!?!!?!

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We laughed.  And then I tried to compose myself.   I tapped the man on the arm to tell him, but my friends started laughing, so naturally, I did too.  The man woke up with a start, and I told him in a low voice to try and hide the laughter, "Excuse me, this is about to fall..."

I  kind of felt sorry for the man, really.  I would be totally embarrassed to wake up in his shoes with four gaijin girls laughing at me.  He shut down and put away his laptop, and moved down to the other end of the train bench a couple stops later.  I think he even took a picture of us with his phone to probably cry to his wife through text that a bunch of girls were laughing at him on the train.  But we didn't really mind, cuz we got this one:

Photo courtesy of Kim :)

Let me take this somewhere else today...

So it's been awhile since I've read a book where I've felt compelled to rave about it in a public place.  I just reread Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins, and let me tell you...it's amazing.

**I'm not writing anything about what happens specifically in the book, just talking about why the series as a whole is good, and adding some quotes in case you're worried about spoilers!!!**

I strongly believe that one day the Hunger Games series will become literature that's discussed, analyzed and .  There are so many themes, symbols, and recurring motifs (woohoo, I paid attention in high school lit!) that would be great to talk about in a book club or classroom setting.  Towards the end, it gets a little too violent for my taste, but I guess in a way it was necessary.  You are constantly in a love-hate relationship with the protagonist, and almost every significant event in the series is a complete surprise to the reader.  Love, love, love it!

Here are some of my favorite lines from Mockingjay:

"I no longer feel any allegiance to these monsters called human beings, despise being one myself"

"We're fickle, stupid beings with poor memories and a great gift for self destruction.  Although who knows? Maybe this will be it..."

"You love me.  Real, or not real?"

"...I make a list in my head of every act of goodness I've seen someone do.  It's like a game.  Repetitive. Even a little tedious...But there are much worse games to play"

Pick up Hunger Games today and give it a read!!!

Undoukai: Kumi-taiso and Go! Go! Go!

All of my schools are eagerly preparing for their Undoukai, or Sports Festivals.  It takes place on a Saturday, and families and friends come watch the two teams, red and white, go against each other in various games and activities.  Now, when I say eagerly prepare, I mean practicing lining up for the event itself, learning marching band routines, dance routines, learning the team songs, practicing the relay race, and so so much more.  

Perhaps one of the most fascinating, impressive, and terrifying things I have witnessed is the kumi-taiso, or group gymnastics.  The 5th and 6th graders strip their shoes and socks off and walk barefoot across the school grounds (gravel/dirt) to do amazing stunts.  Some of the moves are yoga-ey, and some are group and pair efforts, including handstands, human pyramids, etc.  All of the poses are set up and made by the blow of a whistle, including formation changes.  Let me show you some examples I took from a website:

A yoga-ey move: 

The Saboten (cactus).  This is a pretty scary move!!! the bottom person is holding the top person by grabbing their knees and pulling back.  I've seen kids fall flat on their face a couple times because the bottom person wasn't pulling hard enough, or the top person lost balance. Yikes!  Not to mention that they get into this position by first sitting on top of the bottom person's shoulders!

Here you can see students doing the "bridge"  Also scary if they don't keep their arms straight, or the back person isn't steady!  I saw someone slide down straight to the floor, bringing the front support down too!

Here we see some human pyramid practicing...

My base school is doing this pyramid, only 4-3-2-1.  Today they tried for the first time, most of the groups couldn't support the top person...lots of painful backs I think... On a side note, our kids are required to wear pants while doing this b/c knees can get painful on the dirt!

Here is a another pretty cool pyramid!  Idk if my school will do this one, but I've seen a video of this, with more people...really cool!!! (see link below)

Here's a link to a really long kumi-taiso with many more students involved.  Skip around, but particularly go to minute 15 and see the final pyramid...CRAZY!!!  Minute 9 is pretty impressive as well ...and 13...hahahah 

I mentioned earlier that they practice the Undoukai Song.  The song they sing is called Go! Go! Go!  It's a really cute song about red vs white, which they each sing separately and then once together.  It's meant to be harmonized, but the kids are told to sing as loud as they can, so it tends to get lost in the shouting.  Here's a link that unfortunately you can only hear most of red:  here

I will probably take lots of pics and videos of my undoukai, and I can't wait to share!  Till then, I'm going to be practicing alongside the kids and learning more, I'm sure!! :D

I do the Shuuji

Yay! More calligraphy!

This is what it's supposed to look like:

  

This is what mine looked like:

I did this with the 5th graders from Togari Elem yesterday.  This is what all 5th graders nationwide submit to the annual Shuuji contest.  It says "hatake no sakubutsu" which means "things made from a garden/field."  I wrote my name in the bottom left totally incorrectly.  it's supposed to go up to down on the left with no heart mark. hahahah

I made 18 sheets and this was my best one. hahaha there were some pretty awful ones, i must say.  but it was a lot of fun!

School Days

So it begins!!!

Ive officially started my English lessons with the 5th and 6th graders!  My weekly Schedule kind of looks like this:

Monday--Iiyama Elementary
Tuesday--Togari Elementary
Wednesday--Iiyama Elementary
Thursday--Akitsu Elementary
Friday--Izumidai Elementary

I typically come in around 8:20 and am allowed to leave at 4:15.

My busiest day (Wed @ Iiyama) goes something like this:
Please keep in mind that all of the below take place in 90-95 degree weather + humidity... O.o

1st period, 45 min: Teach Class 6-2

2nd period, 45 min:　Teach Class 6-3

20 minute school break~during this time, students are free to roam the school, play outside, etc.  Teachers gather in the break room and eat snacks.

3rd period, 45 min: Teach Class 5-2

4th period, 45 min: Teach Class 5-3

12:30, lunch time, 1hr:  Students put on their lunch clothes (yes) this entails a white smock, a white cap and a white mask.  I put on an apron and a bandana on my head!  Half of the class walks down to the kitchen to pick up lunch in large pails and bins and bring it back to the classroom.  The other half serves the food on plates until everyone has a full tray.  Then a class representative will ask everyone to please put their hands together and be thankful for the food they are about to eat.  Any left overs that were not served are politely bargained by a friendly game of rock-paper-scissors. Everyone eats EVERYTHING on their plate, whether they like it or not.  Its amazing.  I watched a poor kid today who hates vegetables eat a whole salad. Music plays over the loudspeaker indicating lunch is over and that everyone should put their hands together and be thankful for the food they ate. Next, everyone brushes their teeth with water and checks their name off a list that the teacher keeps indicating that they completed the task.  Finally, the students take their dirty dishes and empty pails down to the cafeteria as a class, and bow to the cafeteria crew thanking them for the meal. 

1:30, cleaning time, 15 minutes: Who needs janitors when you have kids? Each student is assigned a different area of the school to clean including hallways, classrooms, and bathrooms.  Some sweep, some throw out trash, some weed the gardens, and others clean the floors with rags.  I stick to sweeping.  Everyone must wear a hat while cleaning.

5th & 6th period: Free periods. During this time, I prepare for my next lessons, check my email, make copies, meet with other teachers if they are available to go over things.  Sometimes in my free periods I join other classes and observe or participate.  Last week I got to sit by the pool while the 6th graders had swimming class and put my legs in the water...it was nice!

Here is a picture of my desk at Iiyama!

My prize drawer

The stamp card the kids need to complete to get a prize from the drawer (created by Kim and stolen by me!)

The teachers office (students must stand in the doorway and request permission to enter by declaring who they are visiting) and yes do you see that ginormous heater in the middle of the room?? Can't wait for winter!

Flashcards I laminated myself!! I start my animal lesson on Wednesday :D

I'll go more into detail about my lessons in a future post!

I teach the Chicken Dance, I learn calligraphy

Yay! Three days of fun team teaching and learning with Kim!  

I thought I would do a brief reflection before starting my first official solo teaching tomorrow! Yikes! 

Highlights of the past three days:

~ Learning how to write ビル in calligraphy

~ A student mistaking "fish" for the work "English"

~ An amazing lunch of salmon sautéed in peanuts and peanut oil

~ Teaching 5th graders the chicken dance

~ Sharing with the world my love for tonkatsu and Oguri Shun

~ Teaching kids that sheep  Baaahhhh in America as opposed to Meeeeeeehhhh in Japan

~ Making fun of a 5th grader who felt the need to talk every time his mouth was full of food

~ Participating in various discussions (with both boys and girls) as to who is the best Arashi member

Most of the classes were participative, nice, and a lot of fun! Today's 6th graders were a little...difficult...to manage.  But it's a class of 17 boys and 7 girls... kind of crazy.  Kim does a great job with the kids, I hope to do just as well!  

The thing that is worrying me the most is this HEAT.  Schools generally have no air conditioning in Japan.  And they serve some kind of soup every day with lunch. Kids walk the halls and go to class with little towels to wipe the sweat that's dripping down their faces and water bottles to keep hydrated (so do I!)  It's pretty rough. I have to admit that yesterday after school and felt miserable...dizziness, nausea, and delirium...it wasn't pretty.  Luckily it was heat exhaustion; I made sure to drink double the amount of water I usually do today.   

Here's my ビル。 I must admit I was disappointed it wasn't a kanji character...and that I had to really put my heart into writing "building" lol.  But it was fun! 

Wish me luck tomorrow in my first lesson! XD

A First of Many Firsts

Here we go!  Blog de la Crystal!


It's only taken me a month to finally get the ball rolling!  


I just finished cleaning half of the apartment and have been thinking all day what I was going to write in my blog.  As most of you know, I'm not a very creative writer...so I thought Q&A format might be the best way to start this thing off.  Let's imagine that Oprah is interviewing me.


1.  How are you?  I'm great!  Especially now that work has started I feel like I have a purpose and that I can make a difference...I'm super excited!


2.  What was your best moment in Japan so far?  Standing in front of the students at my base school and giving my introduction speech this past Thursday.  It was nerve wrecking, but I couldn't stop smiling and the kids were so responsive...proud moment!


3.  What was your worst moment?  On my birthday, I bought icecream and put it in my "freezer" to eat that night since I was spending it alone.  When I went to eat it, it had melted! I was so disappointed and alone I wanted to cry.  


4.  What is Iiyama like?  Beautiful, full of rice fields, surrounded by mountains, full of wonderful people, and HOT.  No AC is common


5.  What is your apartment like? Small, but cozy, and not too big for me to handle. and HOT.


6.  What is your favorite thing about living in Japan so far?  Every day is different, and there is always something new to learn.  People are kind, and much more conscientious about other people and the environment.  


7.  What is your least favorite?  Having to separate my trash five different ways and throwing it out five different ways.  You really have to think. lol


8.  What's the last meal you ate?  Last night I ate this amazing curry omu-soba, it's like lomein in an omelet with curry on top.  And for dessert, Baskin Robins! 


9.  What do you miss most about the US?  My friends!! And fountain soda pepsi.


10.  What's one of the coolest things you've done so far?  I had sushi delivered to me on a shinkansen.  (see video on facebook) 


11.  Who do you spend time with?  I hang out with the other JETs in Iiyama for the most part.  Kim from Hawaii, Elissa from DC, Alaina from Minnesota, Mitzi from Cali.  They are all wonderful, intelligent, super fun girls!  Tongiht, the music teacher at my base school who lives in the apartment downstairs is taking me out to dinner too!  


12.  Share some fun pictures you took!

Here is a picture I took of Iiyama when we were on a mini roadtrip tour of all the schools.  It was the same day we had a typhoon watch, which is why it's so cloudy! 

A fun day!  They released fish in a sectioned off part of a river and had kids catch the fish with nets...and their bare hands.  Then they cooked the fish whole on a grill.  Then we ate them. hahaha The Americans (L->R: me, Alaina, Kim and Elissa) + Ashley and Mitzi taught everyone how to make smores over the fire! 

Meeting the mayor (Shi-chou) of Iiyama and being videotaped for the local cable tv station with Mitzi...quite an adventure. 

In a shrine inside the Zenkouji temple in Nagano City.  It was sooooo hot this day T~T 


More to come soon, everyone!  Right now I'm off to buy rice! Maybe next time I'll talk about my cute little rice cooker!