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 | Coverage Days: Friday, April 1st
Schools Visited: SPECIAL
Entry S4.0 - Ep01
At last, this is what is feels like to finally live like most Japanese do. Finally, an urban area to call my “home,” even if it is just a temporary assignment. This could prove to be quite the interesting experiment. Actually, this is my first time to live in an urban area in all my life. I mean, it’s no metropolis, but this seaside community of 75,000~ residents is the closest I’ve been to big-city life.
Check it… I got a Mega Super Store, a KFC, a McDonald’s, a MOS Burger, a Gusto/Skylark, a Book-Off, and some number of little ramen shops all within a 10 minute walk of me. Just a little beyond that I have another Gusto family restaurant, a Yamada Electronics store, a department store, an Off-House (used house wears and stuff), and a bowling alley. Not to mention that I have my choice of three train stations within 15 minutes by foot, two bigger urban cities, the highway… oh, and did I mention… the friggin’ seaside!?!?!?
Yeah, of course visiting the beach was one of my first stops once I got here. I’m a little disappointed to say that it wasn’t quite so… how should I say… picturesque, but then again, it’s the off-season, so the sand is gross and the sky ain’t so lovely to behold. There’s also the breakwater to contend with, keeping a lot of the waves away and blocking the probably more majestic views of the open sea, though I think it IS open for public walking. Later on in the season, I may have to take an evening stroll with camera in hand.
Maybe I’m going a little too fast for some readers here. I tossed up a quick announcement on the front page yesterday as I was almost running out the door. What happened to me is that my request to stay in my Fukushima assignment village schools (known here in blogland as “North JHS” and “North ES”) was honored by my company and my superiors at the schools, however, since the village is in the evacuation-zone due to its proximity to both Fukushima Nuclear Power Plants, school will not be resuming for quite some time. As a favor to my company, I will be filling in for a high school position in Niigata Prefecture, as many ALTs have fled this area because of the radiation concerns.
Gah, where’s the love? Where’s the spirit? Those guys are missing out! Obviously not disciples of GTX.
Everything happened pretty quickly. My company had been asking me of my intentions and if I had preferred to be transferred to a safer area, but I told them that my dedication to my students doesn’t die just because of a little nuclear meltdown disaster. They were quite impressed as I told them each time they offered a new location that I wasn’t budging. I even had a part-time job lined up through a friend to keep a little money coming in. It wasn’t until they begged me to help them out with some of the abandoned positions that I became more open to the idea of moving elsewhere, and even so, it was only because they promised me that they would allow me to go back to my village just in time for classes there to resume…
which they’re thinking now may be around June. The news announced today that the kids from my schools and neighboring schools have been enrolled in various schools around the country… including here in Niigata. Oh man, how terrifyingly odd would it be if I get one of my graduated 9th-graders as a high school student!?!? Haha, not that I hate any of them, but it would just be weird for us. Oh, and before I forget, my Japanese friend who I stayed with in Shirakawa City for 3 weeks translated the cute little memory-book the kids made for me. One of the girls said I was “fushugi,” which means “strange… in a good way.” “Peculiar” “Mysterious” “Intriguing” “Ruggedly handsome”… something along those lines, but I digress.
So anyway, about my new assignment. I was told I would be having 3 high schools; 1 as a base school I go to two or three times per week, another one just one weekly or so, then another I just go to occasionally. Sigh… why do I always trust ALT companies to give me the right data. I found out today that really it’s FOUR schools, and it’s more of a 1.5, 1.5, 1, 1 day per week schedule, which is sooo lame. It’s gonna keep me so busy, meaning I probably won’t have any opportunities to attend P.E. classes or join in on any of the athletic clubs. Even if a school does have an English Club, I’ll only get to join it once a week (twice at just one school). Grrrr… I’ll have to talk to my friend* who’s been doing high school ALTing for a few years now about how he managed. Well, on the bright side, I’ll get to meet a LOT more students and get to explore a lot more schools. More sports days and more school festivals… though I’ll probably have to come back later in the year for those events.
* super lucky!!! We both got new assignments, both within an hour of each other. We met when we worked out West. I came East last year while he stayed out there, now we’re both going to the same area for this year.
Today I just explored the city a bit on my own after driving 4 hours on nearly deserted highways (I love the Japanese expressway system, haha), then got settled into my new place. The city is kinda hard to describe. Like… it’s big as in there are people* and shops EVERYWHERE, but it’s also kinda small, as in if you’re driving, you’ll probably miss your turn if you’re not paying precise attention. Yet things are spread out far enough that walking is a pain. I was promised a bike by my company, as my schools are not far from here (and they don’t want to pay for gas), but I didn’t see any bike.
* sooo many kids and teenagers around. For someone who's been living in Old Lady-ville for the last 3 years, you have no idea how strange this is for me. And what's worse (better?) is that chances are extremely high that every teenager I've passed by is one of my students.
As for my apartment, it’s not bad. It’s small, but it’s just me here, so it’s fine. Problem is, there are no supplies or amenities whatsoever, and how do you stock a place for “just two months”?? Like, I probably want to cook for myself some nights, but do I really want to buy pots, pans, bowls, silverware, etc for just a few weeks? Trash can, clothes hangers, bath mats… can’t even think about wall décor. Sigh… guess I’ll just raid the Off-House and see what I can get for like 50 cents.
But lastly, I must cry about not having working internet here. Damn “LeoPalace BB.” Anyone who has lived in Japan is probably familiar with LeoPalace, as they own like 80% of all the apartments in this country. This is my first time with them, so it’s my first time trying to figure out their internet system. Apparently I need to hook my laptop up to the giant VCR-looking thing which passes for a modem, my friend tells me. But with just one LAN cable here, it means I gotta hit the electronics shop in the morning. Grrrrr… this means I can’t post this exciting entry until sometime later this weekend. For you guys, you won’t care ‘cause you’re reading it… right now!! For me, it means trying to keep my dates of posting from getting piled on top of each other. Haruhi knows things are going to get interesting reeeeeaaallly quickly.
Stay tuned to see what happens. School starts Monday!!!!!!!
Until next time… see you!!
P.S. As you can see, my internet works now. LeoPalace BB is a bit of a bitch, and requires many wires, but I got it going through now! So happy!
P.P.S. I scored a ticket to the Mami Kawada concert in Shibuya on May 4th!!!!!!!!!!! Another item to check off my list of “Nerdy Things to Do in Japan” :D |
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| reposted from the front page article for blog continuity
Coverage Days: March 31st
Schools Visited: n/a
Entry S4.0 - Ep00
The first season was packed with cuteness and comedy as xeno explored the wonderous and strange new land of anime and geisha and green tea and pencil cases shaped like bears.
The second season increased the cuteness by adding two addition elementary schools, and a whole new batch of adorable characters.
The third season swirled everything around after the most dramatical of drama occurred, forcing our hero to move completely across the nation of Japan.
The third season ended with international disaster, putting our friend and his beloved students in the middle of harm's way.
And then... an unanticipated new opportunity arose for the Great Teacher Xeno. You're guarenteed to like this one. Read on for the full announcement.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Season Four has been official greenlit!!
But not in a way anyone expected. After the Great Tohoku Earthquake rocked Japan, battering the coastal towns near xeno's mountain village and slamming the nuclear plants into a meltdown condition which continues threatens the livelihood of every one of xeno's Northern school students, GTX swore to his company and village officials that he would stand by the small community through the chaos. Grand praise was given... with a special contract.
North Xeno Memorial Junior High School and North Xeno Memorial Elementary School have been put on hiatus until the radiation situation clears up. The students have been spread far and wide, many unsure if they'll ever return "home, " but right now, the outlook is hopeful that most will be back in their normal classrooms by June. But what is there for xeno-sensei to do until then?
TEACH HIGH SCHOOL!!!!!!!!!!!
No, that is no typo there. Xeno is really being asked to teach the level of students in which like 95% of anime is aimed at. And in the true GTX spirit, of course a special exception was made: the contract is reserved for April - July, but the schools and the company understand that GTX is 1,000% devoted to his original schools. Given that, the high schools and the company agreed that GTX will be permitted to abandon his temp assignment instantly in order to be back in his Fukushima school on Opening Day.
So what does this mean for all of you? It means more wacky and crazy stories of anime-come-to-life, bigger schools with hundreds of students, working with multiple English teachers for a change, and teaching with students with a much better understanding of the material. New clubs, new uniforms, new location!!!
GTX heads to Niigata Prefecture this weekend!!!! Please look forward to the blog entries, posted multiple times per week in the "blog" section of Anime-Source.com (front page and right-menu for easy access to the latest entries)
Nippon, ganbarre!!!!!!!!
SPECIAL REMINDER - please continue to donate to the Red Cross to send relief to Japan. The media attention has died down quite a bit, but the devastation here continues to affect people's lives!! I will be posting photos soon.
SUPER SPECIAL THANKS - our users are awesome!! Everyone please thank user bobspelledbackwards for his supreme generosity in not only donating a geiger meter for temporary use to my village, but also for donating the cost of shipping. I know it's not gonna be cheap sending something heavy internationally express... something that emits radiation, on top of that. :) |
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| Coverage Day: Saturday, March 26th and Sunday, March 27th
Schools Visited: SPECIAL EVENT
Entry #S03, Ep68
Yes, it's true. Even in the face of true post-apocalyptic disaster, my inner geek cannot stop from taking over my mind. I had myself my first true meal in weeks yesterday afternoon after I learned that the Gusto/Skylark family restaurant had finally fully reopened (90% of its menu was available again). Next door to that restaurant was a place called Super Books, which, like most bookstores in Japan, had a decent-sized area set for manga and anime books. I was disappointed to find that their art books/fan books section was just two shelves about 3 feet long each, but I miraculously still got lucky.
I had seen on the internet a few weeks ago three new books that came out that I really really wanted. I hate browsing for what's new online because it means I have to actually LOOK for the books, which isn't always easy. Seeing as how this store's art book section was smaller than most, I wasn't very hopeful. But, as you can probably already guess, since I've been building up to it so much, I DID get lucky and found 2 of the books I wanted: a fan book for Mayoi Neko Overrun and an art book collection combining my two favorite things about Japan, cute anime girls and trains.
The other book, if you were curious, is called the "MoeMoe Time Travel Series: Edo Period," heh heh. And, like any otaku, I couldn't resist a quick impulse buy, this time being the latest edition of Nyan-Type magazine featuring Madoka Magica on the front cover.
In earthquake-related news, the aftershocks keep coming, but not as often and intense as last week. All I see on the tv news anymore is about the nuclear plant reactors, which I guess have been bursting into flames off-and-on throughout the last few days. The people in the tsunami and earthquake areas can start restoring their lives now, but the people who live within 20 miles of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (like me) have to continue to wait on stand-by before we can even think about going anywhere near our village.
Well, for most people...
I spoke to the junior high school kyoto-sensei on Friday and he said that there will be an expedition team going to the village on Monday to check to see if our community is livable. I had been trying frantically all week to get a hold of a radiation detector by asking everyone I knew from Face book (even the people I barely know, cause you never know who has a cousin of a roommate who once went to college with a guy who is now the lead radiation expert at the state's nuclear research facility). I want to use it to check the students daily for a little bit at the start of the year to make sure all the families are living in safe environments... and, you know, check my own apartment out for glowing green globs.
Also on this trip, I hope to use 15-20 minutes doing a quick raid on my own place, grabbing the irreplaceable items I've collected throughout my time here in Japan, particularly my yearbooks and the photos given to me by students and their families. Plus, you know, a few of the more expensive souvenirs and otaku-ish items I've procured. My plan for the rest of the stuff is to throw plastic bags over them and hope they made it through well enough where I don稚 have to wait 30 years before I can touch them again.
Anyone know how to decontaminate paper? Oh man, how cool would it be if, like, the radioactive matter made the characters in my art books come to life. That would be... no, wait... I have like 50 books of 80-120 pages each. That would be a loooooot of girls to take care of. D:
Stepping out of my fantasy world for a bit, some other news from the earthquake zone. My friend and I went to the local park that has one of the city's most famous shrines. Despite being over 75 miles away from the epicenter of the original earthquake, the shrine here took massive damage. Stacked pillars and figures toppled over, some crushing other items. The stone staircase was rattled something fierce, causing a lot of the stones to loose up. Cracks and land craters formed everywhere throughout the shrine grounds. And saddest of all, the main torii gate (those beautiful stone arches you see at the entrance and throughout the shrine) fell completely apart. In fact, the main crossbar fell with such force that the ground below it now has its own divit.
Heading home, we found a sidewalk that was completely caved in. I hope to post photos soon, but it's difficult because I can't use my own computer with the internet and FTP server to access the internet (something screwed up with my laptop's connection... even CAT-5 doesn't work; my programmer friend is completely baffled).
As for supplies and general living, now that the highway is reopened and the freight trains are running again, we're starting to find food and other things are become much more accessible now. For me, this means I can get my hands on Coke a lot easier, heh heh. Gasoline is more plentiful now, but there is still huge demand for it. Lines at the few gas stations that are open are a mile long (literally). We did luck out and get gas yesterday, but it was at 1 o'lock in the morning and we had to wait for an hour. Oddly enough, they were the first station we've seen offering tank fill-ups, whereas other places before had placed 20 liter limits.
More importantly, restaurants and stores are reopening. Around here, this is what we have for food (in order of how much I like them):
Saizeriya - CLOSED
Gusto/Skylark - OPEN (last week was 25% limited menu, this week was 90% limited menu)
McDonald's - OPENED 3/26
MOS Burger - OPENED 3/22
Mister Donut - OPEN
Denny's - planning to open 3/28
Big Boy - OPEN (last week was dinner-only, this week is lunch and dinner... 35% limited menu)
Doutour (sandwich shop, never been there) - semi-open... some days it's open, others it's closed
Then there are the family-owned places like ramen shops and izakaiyas (small bars), but they all have totally random hours and who knows what their menu options are.
"But xeno, you're out of work now, your contract expired (more on that in a bit), and who knows if you're even getting paid for this "time off" you've unexpectantly been given," is what I'm sure you're all thinking. And you're all so kind for worrying about me, but fear not, for fate works in strange ways. A few months ago, I made a friend through a Japanese-English language exchange friend site who actually works in Shirakawa City at a small eikaiwa (English tutoring school). She is the office manager at the small branch. Some of the regular teachers there fled because of the disaster, though business has resumed as usual this week. Since she knew I was just down the road with nothing to do, she offered to float me some freelance work. Not bad... not bad at all.
Well, then again, the world of eikaiwa totally totally sucks!! As expected, their office is really small, cramped, and dirty. There are just two classrooms... sorry, I mean, "classrooms," but the walls are so ridiculously thin that you can hear what anyone says anyone in the building. It was quite annoying trying my hardest to tutor this nice engineer on his way out to Singapore when I can hear what's happening in the front lobby better than I can hear the man sitting next to me. It just got worse when the children's class started in the other classroom. Can't say much about the other gaijin who works there, either. Let's just say, if he wrote "professional, polite, business attitude" on his resume, he'd be a rotten dirty liar.
Oh well, I made 50 bucks in two hours, haha.
I don't want to alarm anyone in this next section, but I did get really incredibly sick two nights ago. I wasn't sure what was happening, but all of a sudden, my throat just got really swollen to the point where moving and swallowing were very painful (breathing was fine, though I was afraid it wouldn't last throughout the night). Having read the symptoms of radiation poisoning a few days prior, I knew the first sign of trouble was a swollen thyroid gland, on account of the radiation nesting itself there. As any paranoid individual would assume, having a sore throat suddenly during a time of a radiation emergency, I could only panic thinking the two must be related. The only thing that could save me would be Potassium, as it's the element the thyroid is meant to absorb, and by being full, the radiation would have no choice but to pass safely by and make its way out through the digestive system. But what food has Potassium? Bananas? Yuck. Special K cereal? Ugh, not Japan. My friend did a quick internet search, then compared that list with what she had readily available at 12:30 at night. What did she have?
Tomato juice.
Uguuu~ Tomato juice? Blah... I've never had tomato juice in my life, but... I mean... I like ketchup, and I remember eating tomato soup once when I was a kid and not hating it too too much. How bad can it be?
Put it this way... I learned something about myself that night: I would rather die than injest vegetables, even in liquid form. Just can't do it. I'll be dead before I hit 40, haha.
Well, if I know I won't be living long enough to make it over the hill, then I might as well share all my mighty wisdom now. And wouldn稚 ya know, a great opportunity has surfaced. Apparently a World History teacher at a high school near my hometown in Massachusetts USA read the article written about me last week. She actually assigned it as a reading project for her class of 126 students. The kids had just finished their chapter on Japan, then moved on to the next unit. After the earthquake hit, they decided that they loved learning about Japan so much that they decided to revisit the chapter and do a fundraising project for the effort. They chose me as their contact person to discuss the events and want to not only do a Skype interview with me, but they also want to adopt my schools as the recipient of their fundraiser. Instead of just blindly sending money to "Japan" they want to see where their money is going and communicate with the people they've helped. What an awesome idea!
I don't know much about what is going on, though I know they've been making banners and paper cranes to sell at their school. Their goal is to make and sell 1,000 paper cranes, which will be used to make a Japan flag and an American flag for the front lobby of the school. I can't wait to see how the progress goes along. Maybe I can even get a link to some kind of contact person at the school where you guys can add donations, since you know it will be going directly to my schools. ^____^V
Lastly, regarding what is happening with my contract for what I hope to be my final year in Japan, my company is understandably in a panic. I desperately want to stay in my current village, as you all know how much I love my students and the teachers I work with. To my company, it's completely head-spinning because what person in their right mind, if given the perfect chance to escape, would actually CHOOSE to stay in an area that is not only completely secluded and boring, but also possibly in great danger of becoming a radioactive wasteland. Well, company... you hired the one and only G.T.X.
Email sent to my company liasion in response to his suggestion that I let them transfer me somewhere else:
But, before I decide about it, I really really want to discuss things about (VILLAGE). Maybe you can understand my feelings that (VILLAGE) is my home now and I don't want to abandon the students who are there. I love the students and teachers I work with and want to help them because of this difficult time. I really hope (VILLAGE) and (COMPANY) can make an arrangement where I can continue to live and teach there, even if the schoolyear has a late start. I want to fulfill my duty to this community. Please tell this to the BOE and maybe they will make a special deal. Even if I don't work in the classroom for April, I can do other kinds of work to make the village return to normal. It's the Japanese way, deshou?
He responded by saying how surprised he was by this attitude, and that I earned his full respect. I'm hoping the village leaders will share that view.
Until next time... see you.
P.S. oh, and as for that throat problem I mentioned earlier, it went down enough for me to sleep with the aid of an ice pack and the little bit of tomato juice I managed to choke down. Found out the next day that it was just the same bug that everyone else in this house had the week before I came. They had some leftover medicine to give me that's basically fixed everything up... just in time for me to head into the radiation zone, haha. |
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| Coverage Days: Monday through Wednesday, March 21st - 23rd + Friday, March 11th (morning)
Schools Visited: SPECIAL + North JHS (late entry)
Entry #S03, Ep67
Sorry, I haven't grown any third appendages so far as I had promised, though I am sporting a pretty killer beard right now. Is it an effect of the gamma-rays spewing out of Reactor #3 at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant*? Nah, it's just an effect of my not packing a razor blade as I dashed out the door on the evening of Saturday the 12th. Damn, I hope all my anime books and TCG cards will be okay. Yeah, I know they're not important on any level, but I did spend a LOT of time collecting them all... not to mention hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars on them.
* nuclear power plant in Japanese is "genpatsu." What a strange word-of-the-week for me to learn.
Not much has gone on since the last update. Just been watching tv on the internet and checking my Facebook. For a lot of people, life is going back to normal, even in the tsunami area, but not here. The frickin' hype over the nuke plants has kept everyone at bay, meaning there is no one here to get things running again. We're lucky just to have grocery stores open. Only just today has the first fast food restaurant around where I'm staying resumed operations. It's unbelievably annoying how slow the recovery has been, even way out in Shirakawa City, a full 50 miles from the plant・the plant that poses no threat of explosion and hardly even a threat of radiation exposure.
I've been keeping a clear head this whole time, not buying into any of the hysteria. Well, it's not like there is panic in the streets, but a few people here and there have expressed their fears of things facts have already proven untrue. I was most appeased by an article given to me by a long-time GTX reader, Chesire, here in the comments section of the last entry (Fukushima Friday). I agree totally with the fact that the biggest damage in all this has been the unnecessary evacuation order, making people flee their homes to wander aimlessly in a world of uncertainty and limited supplies. Believe me, being in a school gymnasium in the middle of winter is the place you LEAST want to be.
As for the radiation itself, even if it were to contaminate my home, the type of isotope floating around has a half-life of just a few days, meaning I could be back living my normal life after just a week. Of course, I still need to be sure of things, so I've asked my dad who works for the power company in Boston, and my friends at the fire department I used to work at, if anyone could send me a radiation detector. I figure that our small village won't be high on the Japanese government's list of priorities, so I might as well use my own connections to ensure the safety of my students and their families.
More so, I'm afraid of some parents freaking out after this whole thing and taking their kids to live somewhere else. I've mentally prepared myself to accept that probably at least 10% of my students may not be joining us next year. Even now, my company is preparing me for the chance that the school year may not start for some time, and possibly moving me to a new community. Sigh... I suppose if I have to accept it, I'd want to try a high school, since starting over at a new elementary school would be too painful for me.
In other news, another disappointment to share: I had been soooo excited about the idea of going to a eufonius concert being held in Tokyo on May 3rd, but just like in the US, event tickets sell out nearly instantaneously. Within 9 minutes of the sales-open time, they were completely sold out. Ugh... next Saturday, I'm trying for the Mami Kawada concert that is also coming up. Wish me luck. I already have the hotel room booked since it's during Golden Week. This will be my first time staying in Akihabara.
In an attempt at getting back to my normal blogging, here is the entry I had prepared a while back, covering what happened with the junior high school graduation ceremony...
Friday, March 11th: JHS Graduation Ceremony (morning)Should I feel like a jerk for wanting this day to come? Maybe I should, but at the same time, part of me is relieved that this class is finally going to be moving on. I tried all I could to get through to them, but no matter how much headway I made with them, by the next time I saw them, they'd be back to their usual selves. They're not bad kids in anyway, but they don't seem to be friendly on any level, nor do they have much desire in academics. As a teacher, this is a 2-strike class, which is enough to be unpleasant to work with. (if you're curious, the 3rd-strike would be if they were outright mean or rude)
But, their day has finally come, and at least I can smile knowing they'll be someone else's proble... uhhhh, I mean... they'll be moving on to the next stage of life. Maybe as individuals they'll each fare better. Having a chance to work with new classmates might wake up something inside each of them, since Haruhi-sama knows they've just been holding each other back all this time anyway.
The ceremony began at 10am. It came quickly enough for me, but once it began, it just lumbered on and on and on. I guess I've seen enough graduation ceremonies, and this one was no different from any of the others I had been to. Students, teachers, parents, village officials... everyone there to watch diploma acceptances, speeches, songs. Seen one, seen 'em all. Question was: would anyone be tearful? Would I be tearful? Honestly, I thought I would have been hit with SOME emotion, but I guess having the whole thing lost in translation just kinda put me in more of an "is this thing over with yet???" mood. Well, maybe during the final "good-bye" walk they'll do at 11:45 might evoke something deep within me.
Heh heh... well, I can always count on the 7th- and 8th-graders to make life interesting for me. Being in a suit for today's special occasion, this made some of the students a bit surprised to see me in such a way. As we were outside getting ready to see the graduates off, one of the 7th-graders said to me "salary man xeno," to which I instantly retorted with "nooooo way, FBI Agent xeno!!" as I reached in for my imaginary pistol to shoot the instigator, heh heh. I don't know if it was because of me, but for the rest of the time, all the boys were running around trying to shoot and "arrest" each other, haha.
When the graduates finally appeared, everyone snapped into line. I was down on the far end with a few of the teachers. I hadn't thought ahead of time what to actually say, as with my other graduations, there were so many people there that we didn't all necessarily have to say anything to every student. Here, however, the numbers are small, so every graduate had a moment with every student and every teacher.
Okay... keep it simple: "rai-nen ganbatte kudasai (please try hard next year)" for the boys, "good luck in high school" for the girls. Everyone was very kind and courteous to me... even the girls, for a brief moment, letting out a quick "thank you." The only real love I got was from the two boys I enjoyed joking around with, plus one of the tough boys always seemed like he wanted to get to know me more, though I'm sure he felt the social pressure not to, heh heh.
Of course, I had a good conversation with the Chinese transfer student after things settled down. He wanted a photo with me, and also my email address. He wanted to know when I would be going back to the US, but I told him that I didn't know yet. Also, apparently he got accepted into the advanced class at the school he's going to. He will be the only boy in a class of 9. Wow, lucky!!! Can I trade spots with him?
Another staple in the graduation day is taking photos. First, the graduates posed with their homeroom teachers and the principal. Haha, they were slow to assemble, so one of the more lively parents started shouting "Hurry! Hurry!" I chimed in "hurry up!!!" to which she and the others found amusing. Damn, why can't the students be as friendly as their parents? Anyway, next up was the graduates plus all the teachers together photo. As I stood there, I was getting the most attention from the 7th and 8th-graders watching off to the side. Haha, am I really that popular? Why don't the 9th-graders agree with their underclassmen? Surely at some point they must have wondered what the others saw in me. Oh well, their loss.
Speaking of losses... I did say that that last photo was with the graduates and ALL the teachers, yet for some reason, the JTE didn't join in. She's weird... very anti-social. No one else probably even noticed because she went to go hide in the back with the 7th-graders.
The rest of the time was open for personal photos. I only had that one request from before. Oddly enough, there wasn't any love from any of the clubs. Heh, I guess even the underclassmen were happy to see this class finally leaving. Most of the kids chose to talk with me instead of their departing schoolmates. I guess this is the memory you leave of yourself when you're grouchy and mopey and unsocial all the time. The only club that even bothered with photos was the Baseball team, and that's mostly because they had a big team. Volleyball and Tennis did nothing.
Everyone cleared out shortly after. All the kids were gone, leaving the teachers to a special sushi lunch... but not for me, apparently. Okay, since there is no lunch for me, I might as well leave then. I bid my farewell to the principals and headed out the door. I only got as far as the lobby before I was stopped... by some of the graduate boys. Huh? I thought you kids left. What do you want? Oh... yearbooks? You got your yearbooks already?? Hey, sure I'll be happy to sign. I signed maybe 5 or 6 yearbooks, though I'm kicking myself now for just writing "good luck in high school." Crap, I shoulda went with "I had fun playing soccer and basketball with you." Ya know, a little something they'lll remember me better for. Ugh, well, whatever.
Wait... where's MY yearbook??? >_____<#
Ugh, I'll figure that one out later. At least it will be safe from the radiation, haha.
Until next time... see you!!
NEWSFLASH!!!! Last-minute add!!!!!
I actually made an American friend here a few months ago when I ran into two guys at McDonald's during a weekday I had off for some reason. These guys, one being an American from Louisiana, worked for TEPCO and the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. We exchanged phone numbers at the time, but we haven't spoken since. Well, he called me tonight to check up on me, and I got some great inside information. Unfortunately, it doesn't sound good.
First off, the tsunami. The two towns near me are Tomioka-machi (where I can do small my grocery shopping, eat at McDonald's, and use the JR trains) and Okuma-machi (where I do my bigger shopping at a "super center", which is unfortunately just a block away from the nuclear plant). Well, the train station has been completely destroyed, with the roof having floated 100 yards away. The McDonald's and the smaller shopping store seem to have survived the wreckage, though apparently a lot of cars got swept into the river near there. As for the bigger super-center near the plant, well, my friend's only explanation was "haha, it's toast." The cute seaside village a bit South of us has most likely been completely obliterated.
Second, the radiation. I'm not sure exactly what this means for my village, but he says the two towns at the base of the mountain are in big doo-doo. What I believe this means is that the air is fine and there is nothing to worry about as far as breathing in radiation, but the ground and water contamination in the areas on the coast are too heavy.
If my dad cannot get his hands on a radiation detector from the US for me, then maybe this guy can. Man, what a lucky connection. Comes to show it pays to make friends in all walks of life. |
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| Coverage Days: Friday March 18th - Sunday March 20th
Schools Visited: Special Event
Entry #S03, Ep66
Still no sign of Godzilla yet, but the radiation scare continues. Each day, the Japanese government assures us that the levels in the air around the Tohoku area are safe, while the international media is frantically screaming that everyone who only so much has ever seen a photo of Japan is going to die. I'm not sure who to believe. The Japanese are famous for brushing away big concerns, while the Western media is renowned for blowing things out of proportion for the sake higher ratings. I would just like some honest data without the bureaucratic/capitalistic BS. I know the rest of the world has pretty much moved on from this tragedy, but for me, it's a continuing problem.
This morning I had to be up before 7am in order to go wait in line at the gas station down the street. We're lucky to be in a neighborhood that has a few supermarkets and restaurants (not that they're open yet) within a 5 minute drive/20 minute walk, but we still need gas for our cars. However, with the fuel shortage going on right now, we discovered that getting up so early was a useless effort. We were 20th in line (with a line disappearing around the bend behind us) and waited for 3 hours before the police finally showed up and investigated why no one was at the station. I guess the first few people who lined up were so concerned about getting gas that they totally ignored the posted "closed" signs hanging up all over the place. Seeing people already waiting, anyone who got in the line further back just assumed everything was happening on-schedule. FML.
Well, sitting in a cramped, cold car for 3 hours had one benefit: it put us in front of the area's biggest supermarket at precisely 10am, the time it opened. Only problem with coming right at opening time was that many many many other people had the same idea. Oh great, another line to stand in. Well, at least this one got us supplies, though we were outside for 30 minutes before finally being allowed in.
Meat, fish, and vegetables were plentiful, and there were even some specialty kinds of bread left. Milk, soda, and juice were completely sold out. Most of the aisles with the basic food supplies were also hit pretty hard. I did find one bin of some kind of instant ramen. I grabbed one for myself, then went to find my friend. She saw what I had and said she wanted some, too. I went back to the bin not even 3 minutes later and saw that the 40 or so that had been in stock were down to the last 10. That's evidence of just how quickly food is disappearing here.
At least there are some improvements to share. First, and most importantly, I heard from the kyoto-sensei of the junior high school yesterday morning. I am happy to report that all teachers and all students have been accounted for (well, at least of the JHS, as far as I know). Second, I saw on the news that my village and a few of the towns that are around me have all set up temporary town hall operations in locations around the prefecture. This is good because finally I can start to get some solid information on what痴 going on with my schools and my job.
I wonder how my apartment is faring these days. I guess I made the mistake of cleaning it just before I left. The aftershocks have reduced in number, but not in severity. And not only that, but some have moved closer and closer, at least two occurring on dry land. As for radiation, I'm a little more hopeful since it seems like the radiation threat, even if it were to hit my place, would probably die down after a week or so.
Sigh... I just want my normal life back. We haven't done the 6th-grade graduation ceremony yet, nor have we started preparations for welcoming the new class of 1st-graders. I was sooo looking forward to seeing the kids' reactions to my staying for another year. Well, maybe this will make them even more ecstatic.
Plus, next year I'll have superpowers!!! I'm really hoping I'll be able to move things with my brain. I could have soooooooo much fun with that one.
Until next time... see you!
P.S. oh, and for the anime fans, you may be interested to hear I've FINALLY been able to watch anime on Japanese cable. However, it's not as up-to-date as I thought it would be. The late night sampling I saw had Mai-HiME, Black Lagoon: Second Barrage, and B Gata H Kei. The MOHS movie was playing non-stop on some other channel. I guess my friend needs to subscribe to a more updated channel service in order to get the stuff from this season. |
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| Coverage Days: Sunday March 13th - Wednesday March 16th
Schools Visited: SPECIAL EVENT
Entry #S03, Ep65
Sorry I haven't been updating this blog as much as I should have. I've been busy between watching the news, keeping in touch with friends/family back home and in Japan, and trying to survive in general. I did write some short entries for my Facebook blog, so I'll post those here now so you can all be caught up to speed.
I also read all the comments from the last two GTX entries... I love the support I've been getting from everyone. I hope to respond to those soon, but as you can imagine, we're living day-to-day here, so it's difficult to plan anything.
Sunday, March 13thHow weird is it to be eating in a restaurant with a broken stove and limited menu options as the lights flicker on and off through their crooked lampshades? The aftershocks just keep coming, each one a terrible reminder of what I've been through. I can't even watch the news anymore. My friend has cable which shows me CNN from the US, and all I could see was bickering and finger-pointing. Hey, guys, I know you love your jobs, but PEOPLE ARE SUFFERING right now.
Not much has changed in my situation. My phone is still out, though I did manage to send emails to my social studies teacher friend, who luckily escaped his town to head out to Fukushima-shi, and leave a message with my company liaision telling him I made it out. Doctor Teranishi, my friend from Okayama, was also kind to contact me.
Still no water here, but I did get to take a shower at my friend's sister's place.
Today I went out shopping with my friend. The grocery store was completely out of bread, though meat was surprisingly plentiful. Restaurants had staff members scrambling to get their places fixed up, but only about quarter of the dozen or so I passed were open for business by evening. Earlier in the day, we went to a home center for dog supplies. With aftershocks still occurring, the store wasn't letting customers inside. Instead, they could staff members what they needed, then wait as the staffer donned a hard hat and ran to the shelves for each item.
To kill some time, my friend and I walked over to Kominejo Castle with her 2 year-old nephew. Unfortunately, the historic castlegrounds sustained quite a bit of heavy damage. I'm not sure about the castle itself since no one was allowed near it. I have photos, but those will have to wait.
Trying not to sound like a drama-whore, however. My life may suck right now, but believe me, I am aware of how lucky I actually am. My thoughts and prayers go out to the JHS kyoto-sensei, the JHS science teacher, the ES 4th-grade teacher, and the English JTE, all who live in the affected areas but I haven't managed to speak with yet!!! Also, I know one of my students was in Koriyama City at the time of the big strike, so I hope he's doing okay.
I also heard something about how they upgraded the magnitude from 8.8 to 9.0. Not sure what that means, however.
I'll keep everyone posted. I thank you all sincerely for the kindness and concern everyone has shown me over the last few days. Messages are just pouring pouring pouring in, and each one melts my heart. I've been holding in the emotion for the last 50+ hours, trying to keep strong, but really, it's terrfyingly scary not knowing what the next day is going to bring. Helicoptors and fire trucks surround me non-stop, and every minute there seems to be some new update on the news. Just know that I've read every word sent to me, though I wasn't able to respond to each one. Please know that it meant something to me.
Tuesday, March 15thI don't even know what day it is anymore. Time has stopped for me. I go to bed at weird times, I wake up at weird times, I don't have my school schedule to let me know what day it is anymore. The aftershocks keep harrassing me, making sure I never get back to normal. Helicoptors and fire engines continue to flock around everywhere I look.
I am still in Shirakawa. We have electricity and internet and gas, but still no water. Now that the nuclear disaster has escalated, we're not allowed to go outside anymore. In fact, we can't use anything that would circulate air from outside into the house, meaning we can't even use our air-con heater for the rest of the week. When I packed, I only thought I'd be gone for 2 days, 3 days max, so I didn't bring enough clothes or snacks. I did bring my laptop and my external hard-drive, but now I'm worried about my apartment being ruined by the radiation. If I had known this was going to be more serious, I would have brought my yearbooks and other souvenirs. Ugh... I hope my apartment will be alright... I have collected so many cool things from every corner of Japan in the last two years that it would be such a waste to lose them all now. Most are special items made for me by students. How disappointed I would be!
Gotta stay positive, gotta stay strong.
I got an email from Greg Hill of the WAAF Hillman Morning Show in Boston. I've been a long-time listener and frequent emailer of the show. They instantly thought of me when they heard about the disaster and wanted me to come on the show to share my story. Quite an honor, I must say. Too bad they weren't able to get a hold of me, however. I was listening to the show when they tried to call me, but apparently they can't make international phone calls from their studio. They were pretty upset by it. Ah well, at least I got mentioned and sent some loving support.
My sister has gotten in touch with a reporter from a newspaper back in my hometown, so maybe I'll be able to share my story through that... though I'm not sure how interesting my tale is. Really not trying to be modest, but when the people 30 miles up the street had their whole ENTIRE TOWN swept away by a giant wave, it makes me feel silly for mourning over the potential loss of a few souvenir shop knick-knacks.
Today I went shopping with my friend. The supermarket was full of people, but lacking in food. There was a surprising amount of beef and chicken, but milk and bread were absolutely gone. One thing I must say about the Japanese people is that they take these things quite well. There is no panic or pandemonium here whatsoever. People are not trampling eachother at the doors or elbowing old ladies to get the last bag of Cheeze Curls. Everyone here is keeping calm and staying polite. It's a group-oriented society here, as opposed to the "me! me! me!" type thinking we have in the West.
What else? Hmmmm... I finally got a hold of the people in Okayama working at my favorite elementary school. My vice principal from there had been calling all week, but I was never able to connect with his cell phone. Then I remembered that I seem to have better luck when I call a landline, so I dialed the school directly. Kyoto-sensei wasn't there, but I did get to talk to the school nurse who was so unbeliveably kind to me when I was there. I gave her my update, so I hope she shared the info with everyone later that day.
Oh, I should share the latest on the nuclear plants... based on what I know.
Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant in Okuma-machi (20kms from me):
* Reactor #1 had a hydrogen explosion on Saturday at 3:36pm that did NOT release any radioactive materials
* Reactor #3 had a hydrogen explosion on Monday at 11:01am that did NOT release any radioactive materials
* Reactor #2 I believe now has experienced some kind of explosion this morning that may have released some radioactive materials. The government expanded the evacuation area to 30kms Tuesday morning, now saying Reactors 1-3 have leaked radiation.
* Reactor #4 had caught fire on Tuesday morning, but the fire was put out.
Fukushima Dai-ni Nuclear Power Plant in Tomioka-machi (10kms from me):
* no news, though a 10km evacuation zone has been issued around this facility since the earthquake
The radiation is scary. As one woman said in an interview I read online, the destruction caused by the earthquake and tsunami can be easily seen, but the threat of the radiation cannot... scary! I did go to a local clinic doing radiation scans yesterday morning. They said I passed.
What would be nice to have right now would be a timeline of when I can go back to my apartment, when I can see my students again, when we can finally finish out this schoolyear, and what's going on for next year. I was supposed to be having my contract renegotiation presentation yesterday to decide my fate for the upcoming schoolyear, but that's been understandably re-scheduled. Maybe this will help my case since I'm sure the village has bigger things to worry about than selecting a new English teacher.
Hey, he WANTS to stay in a nuclear fallout zone? Sure, why not? That guy has guts!!... and 3 arms.
Wednesday, March 16thI was in tears when I saw my cell phone light up telling me that I had a missed call from the vice principal of my junior high school. It's frustrating that my phone can't pick up his signal strong enough to connect the call, but at least I know he's alive!!! It's the second contact I've had with any of my friends and co-workers along the coastline. I called him back franctically, knowing he must be in a place that has SOME kind of signal. It wouldn't be until 20 mins later that my phone rang again.
God, never before have I been so happy to get a phone call. This man has been my closest friend here and it means a lot to me knowing he's safe. Apparently he relocated his family from Namie-machi (in the affected area) to someplace North near Soma. He's been going to the junior high school to help with the shelter operations all throughout the week. I guess not everyone in our village did evacuate, though most of them did. I would love to be helping right now, but my car only has enough fuel for one more trip, and with gas supplies unreliable right now, it would probably be foolish to waste it.
He did say that the village has been relatively safe, and with the CNN Weather team saying the winds are working perfectly in our favor, I'm hopeful that things will be back to normal soon. School has been cancelled for the rest of the week, but there does seem to be a chance we'll be back in operation next week. You have no idea how happy I am to hear that.
Gas, water and electricity seem to be working fine back home, but internet and phones are out. Things are still unstable with the conditions of the nuclear plants, so really until that issue is resolved, there is no point in heading back home just yet. Last I heard, they were having problems with Reactor #4 continually catching fire. If radiation were to spew into the atmosphere, it would most likely affect the soil and water, but as I said before, CNN said the wind is blowing the air out to the best possible place. Reactors #5 and #6 are now causing problems, too.
In other news, my friend's family had been in a huge panic about the nuclear situation, despite our being further away. I guess Japanese people have built-in fears of atomic explosions from what happened at Hiroshima and Nagasaki during the war, and what they read about Chernobyl. However, I explained to them that nuclear power plants are built differently now than from how they were when they were built in 1970s Soviet Russia, and even if they were to explode violently, they would not be at atomic evisceration levels, but rather just contained to the facility grounds. My rationalization seemed to work enough for my friend and her mother, but we all agreed it would be wise for her sister to take her 2 year-old son to safer land.
My friend, her father, her grandmother (who is too old to move), and myself are going to stay put for now, but if the situation worsens, we've already arranged for a place to stay in Sano City, Tochigi. If things get insanely critical here, TravelAgent-san has said I can stay with her for a few days, though I'm still hoping a friend in Tokyo or Himeji can accept me, too, since those places are closer.
Water is still a problem here, and it's getting colder and colder each day. Food and car fuel are in short supply, and my phone continues to prove unreliable.
My sister, Kelly, had an interview with the local newspaper yesterday. They posted some interesting stuff in the early online edition. We're hoping there is expanded text in the print version, as well as some of my photos. I was happy to see they also spoke to my old friends at the FFD. Thanks, Sue! :D
Franklin man in Japan tells tale over computer
The aftershocks subsided a bit yesterday, but today they've begun to grow in intensity again. There was a 6.0 tremor West of Tokyo last night, which we felt. I didn't think it was a big deal since 6.0 quakes are common where I am, but then I realized that those ones are typically at the ocean floor. Last night's struck the mainland, meaning it could be felt a lot more and cause more immediate damage. I haven't heard much on the news about it though, so maybe it was just enough to rattle people's nerves.
Lastly, about my future here, I know a lot of people are saying I shouldn't stick around just let Japan deal with it. Technically, I could do this easily since the schoolyear is ending on March 22nd, however, I feel like I have a duty here. I am a part of the community; the fact that I am an American and not authentically Japanese has no impact on that. I love my students and I would only live my life in regret if I abandoned them at a time they needed support the most. Japanese eduation has a system where teachers change schools every 3-5 years, so starting in April, the kids will have a lot of unfamiliar faces to deal with, which is scary enough. Dealing with a new foreigner teacher is 10x more scary to them. And with 95% of the teachers not living in this village, they will have their own problems to worry about. I NEED to be here for my kids. My family is supporting my decision, as is my company. I want to ensure that my kisd get through this. It's part of my personality and no amount of persuasion is going to change my mind. To everyone here, I ask for your understanding and support.
Keep the comments coming... the more reminders I get from people that people are still looking out for me, the easier it is for me! I am grateful for everyone's kindness.
P.S. based on what I'm seeing on CNN, it seems like the international media is having trouble with describing places. This list of suffixes added to community names might come in handy:
-mura = village
-machi = town
-shi = city
-gun = district/county
-ken = prefecture (or "state")
Until next time... see you!
P.S. And yes, I am aware that people now know my village's name. I figured since it's become international news, it's worthy of mention (plus I couldn't help that it was printed in the newspaper). I hope no sickos are planning on coming to hassle my kids. If I find any pedo bear wanna-bes lurking aroud my schools, they'll be getting a close personal tour with the inside of Reactor #2. ): | |
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| Coverage Days: Saturday, March 12th
Schools Visited: SPECIAL EVENT
Entry #S03, Ep64
It's been a full 24 hours since the initial earthquake. It`s 7:22pm now as I'm writing this. My internet had been on long enough this morning to let friends and family know I was alive at that time, but as I'm learning now, I知 far from out in the clear.
The big concern right now are the two Fukushima Nuclear Power Plants. A reactor at the First plant in Okuma-machi had exploded this afternoon at 3:36pm. I can't understand Japanese, so I'm just basing this on what I can piece together, but it looks like the immediate area within 10kms has upgraded to forced evacuation while the area within 20kms is now on recommended-evacuation. Apparently I'm in the 20km radius since my village was mentioned in the listing, though Japanese news totally fails and did not provide an actual map*.
* or, at least one with a scale and landmarks. A plain blue and green map with two red circles tells me NOTHING!!!!
I got an offer from a friend in a nearby city to stay with her, but now my phone is out and I have no idea where she actually lives. Figures. Gas is out, too, meaning I have no hot water to bathe and no range to heat up food. Figures (again!!), I lucked out at the grocery store, being able to actually complete my shopping list despite the mad rush, but now I have no way to actually COOK the food I fought for.
Ah well, at least my neighbor came by with some fried rice to get me through the evening. I'm counting on her to pound down my door should the radioactive poop hit the fan. I'm really glad now that I gassed up my car on Thursday night. Though the prices only went up slightly, the lines at every station I passed were ridiculous. Convenience stores were hit just as hard.
Watching the news from around the area, it looks like all the areas North of where I am got hit the worst, most of the damage coming from the resulting tsunami. Many houses, cars, and boats were propelled forward by the massive wave, crumbling into fragments before our very eyes. A terrible sight to behold. Now I can't complain about living in the mountaintops. I have yet to visit the town on the coastal side of me, so I wonder how close the devastation has actually come to me.
When I did my shopping, I chose to head inland... far far away from those nuke plants. The damage didn't seem too bad, but what there was was noticeable. Some roads had gaping cracks, some buildings had crumbling shards along their bases, and many many roofs had been torn to shreds. Traffic was understandably thick, and crews were out in force directing traffic. I was asked 3 or 4 times where I was heading.
I feel bad for the people who have been trying to get in touch with me all day. My phone is being weird; it's letting me know anytime a person calls, but it`s not letting me answer or make outbound calls. Poor Blue-chan has called me 18 times in the last 8 hours, and I still haven't been able to connect with her. I can't even call my other friends to pass messages along. This is awful, however, compared to what I'm seeing on the news, I should be counting my blessings.
And no, those terrifying aftershocks still have not stopped.
P.S. Heads up to all the terrorists out there... instead of trying to steal nuclear secrets from the Americans, just watch the Japanese news. If I could speak Japanese, I'm sure I could put together my own plant by now, thanks to all the diagrams and facility photos I've seen on tv. -______-;;
UPDATE 2:00am - I've evacuated my village, per order of the government, pending what will happen with the three out-of-control reactors. One has already exploded, though it seems like the radiation leakage has been minimal. I had to drive over 2.5 hours through mountainside roads in the dark, fighting a maze of road closures. My friend was nice to let me stay with her and her family. Not sure how long I'll be here... don't want to take advantage of their hospitality, though at the same time, I may not have any choices if the evacuation order lasts into the new week.
My apartment, ironically enough, never lost power, but cell phone service and my internet were down. I had food, but no gas to heat the stove. Water was fine at my place, but my friend's is without.
I've reconnected with most of my friends online, including Blue-chan. A lot of kind messages were awaiting me on my Facebook page. School has been cancelled for Monday and Tuesday. I hope all my students are doing alright.
Until next time... see you |
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| Coverage Day: Friday, March 11th
Schools Visited: SPECIAL EVENT
Entry #S03, Ep63
(I wrote this yesterday when I didn't have internet access. It's a break from the usual storytelling of my daily life. I'll update on the rest of the week and the graduation ceremony later this weekend).
I have yet to get a full report of the situation as it’s currently happening, but what I do know based on what I saw my self, Japan has been hit by a massive earthquake. It’s 5:06pm right, and even over 2 hours after the first major jolt, this place is still shaking violently.
I was sneaking a short nap after watching an episode of Conan since I had nothing else to do this afternoon of freedom I had been granted courtesy of today’s junior high school graduation ceremony. Maybe the timing was perfect since I was rested up enough to deal with what happened shortly after I awakened.
The shaking came out of nowhere. Usually we get a little buzzing feeling, maybe some rumbling off in the distance, before something worth concern bubbles up. Not this time. Almost instantly, my 3rd-floor apartment was shaking immensely. I was already sitting down in a safe area, so I had nothing to do but ride it out. Literally.
The floors were bucking, the doors and windows were rattling loudly, light fixtures were swinging without restraint, and all my various knick-knacks and household items were finding their way to the floor. The shaking usually subsides after about 10-15 seconds, but this one just kept getting bigger and bigger!! I was beginning to panic, wondering if the building itself was going to hold up structurally. Haruhi-sama knows I had run out of things on my desk and shelves to watch fall.
When the initial blow finally ended in what felt like 2 minutes later, I was able to finally stand and check things out. (ugh, even now this place is shaking like Hell’s fury!! But at least I know aftershocks are never as bad as the Big Daddy.) My apartment was in a total shambles. My living room looked like a tornado came through (luckily nothing was actually broken), and my kitchen was no better. The refrigerator danced its way out from the wall probably about 20 inches, and the poor toaster oven that had been set atop was now on the floor…
… and now I regret not cleaning the base tray as much as I should. Welp, it’s empty now. -_________-;;
I made the mistake of trying to start setting things right nearly right away, but I learned soon enough that any effort to do so would be futile. Big Daddy had brought some of his friends to kick the place around, forcing me to flee to the doorway for safety. I could see outside that a lot of my neighbors were outside; probably a good idea. I made a beeline for the door once the shaking stopped, though stupid me forgot to bring my cellphone (and my camera…. Hey, I‘m a photojournalist and this is my first mass disaster).
Walking around the neighborhood, I saw plenty of damage right away. A big crack had formed in the parking lot outside my door, as well as a few bigger ones down the driveway. The garage door to the volunteer fire station had bent outward, rendering the door unusable. I showed this to the neighborhood men. They said something Japanesy that I couldn’t understand, but oh well, whatever, I let them know, so they can deal with it.
I decided to go to the elementary school to check up on things there. Walking down the road, I saw that many houses had sustained roof damage (those typical Asian ceramic tiles… they don’t seem to hold on too well). In another place, a huge hole had been torn in the wall of a house, and even scarier, along the pathway where I walk to get to the school, an old brick wall had completely crumbled, filling the path and nearby stream full of concrete shards.
As I walked across the street to the elementary school, I remembered that this place also counts as the village’s disaster center. Haha, didn’t seem to be working though, since most people were outside in the parking lot. I ran into a familiar face there who asked me if I was all right and stuff. Good to have someone concerned with my well-being. And if that weren’t sweet enough, Kamikaze-chan had also arrived at the evacuation center as I was walking up. She ran up to me in a panic. I was going to give her a hug to calm her down, but she knelt down on the ground at my feet. I’m not sure what she wanted from me, but it was nice to see students feel some comfort with my presence.
From the outside, the school looked unaffected. I had considered just walking away, assuming all was fine, but I decided to walk the perimeter anyway to check for roof-damage. As I turned the corner facing the playground, I saw that all the students had been brought outside to stand in the center of the athletic field. I guess that would be the safest place. Before I could decide where to go from there, I heard people calling my name. All the teachers were outside on the porch. They all greeted me with concern and asked how were things “out there,” haha (well, not so dramatically, but you know). I told them that my apartment was totally trashed and that there were many cracks in the ground all around the neighborhood.
The school buses arrived not too long after I arrived. The kids were shaken up a little, one girl crying her eyes out, even this long after the onset. Many were surprised to see me, and when I told them that my apartment was a wreck, they were genuinely concerned. Haruhi-sama only knows what they’re all going home to themselves.
I came home and tried to log onto the internet, but I can’t get a connection. Even my phones won’t work. I can’t email my neighbor and friend, SocialStudies-sensei, nor can I call my friend who lives in one of the inland cities. I did turn on the news to see that Japanese standard “earthquake intensity” map… pretty much the entire Eastern seaboard is flashing red. Even Okayama and parts of the North coast are yellow, which makes me wonder how much they felt there.
Judging on the video feed, it looks like the biggest problems have been flash-flooding (one entire airport was completely submerged) and boats breaking away from their tethers. There is one massive factory fire happening in Miyagi Prefecture, and the newswoman just said something about “Koriyama”, which is the city closest to me. I still have yet to hear where the epicenter was and what the magnitude was, but considering that there have been literally non-stop earthquakes coming from off the coast of Sendai for the last 2 days, I’m willing to guess that that’s where this was centered. My friend told me that this week we were all on full-alert for an earthquake.
Ugh…. Another big one….. Ffffuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu… with my final words… I curse Zoooooiiidberg!!!
UPDATE (after internet access restored)
It’s morning now. The aftershocks are still coming frequently. Phones are out, but internet is back on. The gas is off, meaning I have no hot water here.
My MSN homepage was bright red with newsflashes about the incident. I could only get a scope of this incident from the Japan perspective, but I guess this was big news internationally, as well. My Facebook page had dozens of panicked pleas for news of my well-being, and my email box was full of the same. Even AmazingEnglish-san emailed me to check up on me. Awwwww…
I still can’t get a pinpoint on the epicenter, but I know the official magnitude was about 8.9 on the Richter Scale. The concern now is the stability of the local nuclear power plants. There are three on the coastline where I live, one of which was having cooling problems last I heard. A 6km evacuation order had been issued. I think I’m about 35kms from that facility. Gulp.
Family and friends told me that Sendai City got hit with a tsunami. I'm high in the mountains, so tsunamis are the least of my problems, but thoughts and prayers go to all the people affected.
Until next time… see you.
PHOTOS
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| Coverage Days: Tuesday March 1st - Tuesday March 8th
Schools Visited: North ES, North KS, North JHS
Entry #S03, Ep61
Well, I was lucky to be let out early from the junior high school on Wednesday afternoon, on account of this awful pain in my stomach combined with an off-and-on headache. However, now I'm stuck at home with absolutely nothing to do and no one to talk to. Might as well do some bloggin'... hopefully I can stay conscious long enough to finish this.
Owww... I just sneezed. Ever sneeze while you have a headache? Unpleasant.
Tuesday, March 1st: North ES, North KSI don't know what it is, but the attitudes of the kids in general are so inconsistant. Once I feel like I'm finally make some headway with certain groups, things seem to tumble downward soon after. Well, the opposite is also true, so I guess it's just one of those things I'll have to deal with. You'd think I'd be used to this by now. At least I can look forward to next year. If this school is anything like it was in Okayama, once the kids learn that I'll be with them for a second year, their opinions of me wildly change.
The reason I make mention of this is because pretty much anytime I saw them in the hallways, the 6th-grade girls were running and hiding in terror, as if I had some communicable disease spread through direct eye-contact. It's a bit disheartening when one girl does it, but when there are like 3 or 4 of them together, it's just... ummmm... worse than disheartening. Sigh, and to think how much fun I had with them last week in their Art Class. Maybe they don't like my new haircut. Haha, is it true that when you cut your hair, the kids can't remember your face just as well anymore? Who else would I be?
What I found ironic about today, however, was that the girls who are usually pains to me were extra sweet and friendly. Namely, Tsundere-chan, DevilSister-chan, and one of the 4th-grade girls who is a hyper-bitch to me. Stratos1-chan was also in a wonderful mood, but she's usually 60-40 when it comes to chances of her being an adorable cutie.
What I can conclude about today overall is that the girls were all in bitch-mode today while the boys were in super-happy, super-friendly mode... a lot more than usual. At rarely any point today did I not have swarms of them latched onto me, pulling me, pushing me, trying to ask me a jillion questions (most of which I can't understand). Going to the 4th-grade PE lesson in the 5th-period and attempting to watch the basketball game (no invite to play, WTH?) only gave the boys more opportunity to jump all over me. And sitting with the 2nd-grade boys at lunch gave that group more chance to soak up my awesomeness.
As for the things I actually did today, my day started off kinda weird. My phone rang at 7:13am, nearly 30 minutes before I ever actually climb out of bed. The only reason why I would ever think my phone would ring that early would be because it was a snow day, only I didn't think about that as I ignored the call, half-asleep. Though there was a reasonable amount of snow outside at the time, there was no message, so I was left to believe the day was to happen as scheduled. But this little incident make me realize something. To students, the words "snow day" mean "sledding, snowforts, snowmen, snowball fights, etc;" to teachers, the words "snow day" mean "ah crap, this is totally gonna screw up my schedule for the week!!!" Having been an American student for 12 years of my life, never had I ever considered any of the effort teachers had put in to filling the day with activity and making things flow so smoothly. Looking at school-life from the other side, I can see what a headache even the tiniest changes can be.
One of the major reasons why this day being cancelled would have ruined my life was that today was the final English lesson that the 1st-graders would have. Unfortunately for me (them, too?), I didn't really plan it out too well. I had them do a quick review of Schools Supplies, then we jumped right into our lesson on Body Parts. Thinking that they had the whole "head, shoulders, knees, toes" thing down, I taught them how to play Simon Says. I figured that they would enjoy it (since all my other classes loved it), so I scheduled it for 30 mins. Turns out that they hated it, haha. Too bad, cause I didn't prepare for anything else, so deal with it for 30 mins, kids.
What was a little upsetting about it being their last lesson, despite the fact of it being a low-energy borefest, even with the group photos at the end, was that no one seemed to care much for the fact that this was, in fact, their last lesson. As far as the kids know, this is not only their last English lesson as ichinensei, but also their last lesson with me!! However, the love was just no there, I'm disappointed to say. Of course, there's also the awkward fact that there are still 3 weeks left in the schoolyear. I'm sure it would be pointless and premature of the kids to get all emotional at this point considering that I'll still be playing with them in the afternoons and seeing them between classes at least 4 or 5 more times. I mean, this is the explanation I'm assigning to reassure myself that I'm not some pathetic fool who's just been clowning around for the last 11 months.
Speaking of classes gone wrong, I was greatly annoyed with the 3rd-graders today, too. They just talk so damn much... and their HRT does nothing to control them. In fact, she often times goes and talks to the kids DURING my lesson. WTF? It's something that has irked me for months now, but I've been holding my tongue not saying anything. Counting today, there are only two lessons left, so I'm really really hoping that this class is paired up with a teacher in this school who actually knows how to control a big class... which is essentially any OTHER teacher. I feel bad for whichever class gets her next year, though I'll be starting off with the advantage, having had undergone lessons with whichever class a year in advance of her. Oh man, I hope she doesn't teach 1st-grade next year... I'd hate for her to undo the perfection of my current kindergarten class.
Anyway, there wasn't much to be angry at over the talking issue for the simple reason that most of the talking was relating to the topic (we were playing Flashcard Basketball in groups, so the kids were just discussing answers to prepare themselves for their upcoming turns). However, one of the problems with their talking is it distracts the kids who are up next, meaning they waste so much damn time just getting up to the front for their turn. In essence, we should be able to play the game where every kid gets two turns, but they're so slow that we often barely just make it with one kid. To battle this, I borrowed a stopwatch from the HRT and told the kids that they would have to come up front, give their answer, select their shot-type, then make their shot... within 1 minute. Heh heh, worked excellent. Not only did I have kids front-and-center almost immediately, but it eliminated a lot of those "ohhhhh... ummmmmmmmmmm... uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...." time-wasters where the kids take their sweet-time responding. Either you know it or you don't. Stop wasting everyone's time!!
And yes, I'm quite sure that every kid did get to go twice. Nice. I am pleased.
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okay, apparently that's as far as I made it before I passed out or something. It's actually the afternoon of Tuesday, March 8th now. I just got sicker and sicker as the week went on. Though I did go to school on Wednesday and Thursday, it was only for just long enough to attend the classes I needed to attend (the afternoons were scheduled for graduation ceremony rehearsals). Easy enough for me since the 9th-graders were just watching only the greatest movie ever made: Back to the Future!!!
Yes, Part 1. Classic masterpiece. Everyone's seen it, especially everyone in Japan. Or... so I thought. I guess the current generation hasn't quite yet caught up with it. Sigh... well, okay, so much for this being the perfect way for them to focus on English dialogue without worrying about the story. I mean, aside from a few obscure words like "plutonium" "flux capacitor" and "gigawatt*", they should have had no real issue piecing the story together. By having the English subtitles along with the English audio, it would give more of a chance for them to catch what was being said and allow it to sink in. This is the recommended method of all my best English-speaking friends here.
* although I would have liked if at least one kid stood up and screamed "wait, what the hell is a jiggawatt!?!?"
But of course, Captain Killjoy had to butt in and ruin my amazing plans. I did get away with showing them the first 36 minutes in English/English (this is to the part where Marty first arrives in 1955 Downtown Hill Valley), but on the second day, the JTE insisted on switching over to Japanese subtitles. Ummmmm... this isn't a free-time. We're not doing this purely for fun. This is an ENGLISH activity. You're telling me that the kids are going to listen to the English with the Japanese answer right in front of them? Ugh, fine, fine, whatever. I can't argue with you anymore, you drive me insane.
Well, whatever. I'm sure the kids were picking up at least a few phrases or words. And it was nice to enjoy a bit of the amusing parts with them. In the scene where Doc is testing the time machine for the very first time at the Twin Pines Mall, there is the tragic Libyan terrorist ambush. If you remember the scene, this is how Marty hurriedly jumps into the DeLorean and speeds off, inadvertently jumping through time. If you also remember, the final trick-up-their-sleeves the Libyans use is a rocket launcher. The students were all watching with undivided attention (especially since this sequence required no English understanding). When the terrorist pulled out the rocket launcher, one of the boys (that I like) said outloud to himself, "haha, rocket launcher." The randomness of his muttering made the whole class laugh, haha.
They also liked the part when 1955 Doc Brown was showing Marty his plan to harness the bolt of lightning using the "crude, unpainted and not-to-scale" model of Downtown Hill Valley. This is the scene where the little toy car catches aflame and drives off the table into the pile of oily rags. Doc's expression is golden.
D:
Unfortunately for me, the last day to finish up the movie was set for Monday, but I was forced to take that day off. Now I'll never know how the movie ends!!!!! Oh wait... I've only seen it 8 times before.
Ummm, the rest of my week had a few key notes, but there's no way in hell I'll be able to segue them all, so bullet points to the rescue!
- I visited the doctor on Friday afternoon. I thought I was already on the road to recovery by then, thinking I'd be 100% by the end of the weekend, but something around lunchtime nailed me hard to the gut. I went the doctor feeling quite dizzy, not even sure I'd make it there intact. Of course, once I get to the clinic, the first thing they ask me is "kaze?" (do you have a cold?). ARGHH!!! No, Japan, there are other illnesses besides colds. Who the hell goes to the doctor for a cold, anyway? Suck it up!! Orange juice is all you need.
The doctor in this village can speak enough English to understand me, plus he has a few books with English explanations he can use to find what he thinks I have to explain to me. In a 10-minute conversation, I told him that I started off a sore back and unexplained chills/heat-episodes which soon changed to vomiting and... other things. Apparently this was enough for him to diagnose me with "norovirus (US)"/"nova virus" (UK). Ummmmm, but no labtest to be sure? I could have alien parasites building a fortress in my large intestine for all we know. Ugh, thanks, socialized medicine. Way to be thorough.
One other thing he noticed threw me way off-guard. Apparently I was dehydrated, which was why I was dizzy. I hadn't even noticed how dry my mouth was until after they laid me down and inserted an IV drip into me for 2 hours (gah... 2 hours!). I'm not sure if I fell asleep or not, though it did seem to go by quickly.
Anyway, I won't get too much more into my actual illness since I know no one wants to hear about health crap. I know I certainly don't.
- So what DID I do this week while quarentined to my tiny place?
* watched tons and tons of Futurama
* watched most of the last season on Monk... I hadn't even realized it ended... such a good show
* picked up a new show I had only heard of, 1,000 Ways to Die... so gross!!
* slept... a lot
* ate... a little... this is one of those lame sicknesses that requires you to eat to expel the virus, but the virus makes you lose your appetite. I did find popsicles at the store (but no cherry-flavored!!! booo!!!), and plenty of toast and cereal helped me early on.
* talked a lot with this "local" Japanese girl (well, 90 mins away) I met online... she's pretty Westernized, so she's easy to talk with
- What am I missing at school?
This sickness came at THE worst possible time. The JHS is counting down to the graduation ceremony (scheduled for Fri Mar 11th), so really this is the last week that the 9th-graders will be around (maybe it's a bittersweet goodbye anyway since my relationship with them isn't so strong). I should be healthy enough by the time the ceremony happens.
Friday and Tuesday were the final two lesson days for the 5th- and 6th-graders. I'm not sure if I'll be given make-up time or not later in the term. I had planned on doing Review Quiz Game with them to wrap up the year. I would at least like to have photo sessions done with the two groups. The 2nd-graders were also supposed to have their final lesson. The kindergarteners will lose one lesson, but it doesn't matter since they have two more left and I hadn't planned on teaching them anything new anyway. The 3rd- and 4th-graders have been completely unaffected. The 1st-graders had their last lesson well before any of this started.
- Miscellaneous Stories
* Huge thanks to the local ramen shop in my neighborhood. The kind couple that runs that place not only made a special bowl of my "gaijin-version" ramen (no vegetables, haha), but they also DELIVERED it to my apartment. Now that's hospitality. And thanks to my social studies teacher pal for making the arrangement.
* I got a call from my old kouchou-sensei at ES-1 in Okayama. I guess he was out drinking with O-sensei and they got into talking about teachers who were really super-awesome, and naturally my name must have come up first, so they decided to call me to check up on me. Of course, though I was dying over here, spewing substances across the mountainside, I had to tell them that I was doing fine and everything was wonderful. O-sensei wants me to come visit him, so I'll have to take him up on that... definitely will.
I was a little annoyed by something they asked me. They wanted to know if I was still working for Intercrap. Wuuuuuuuhhh??? GOD DAMN HELL NO!!!!!!! That's the company that destryoed my life and brought chaos and sadness to my students. Why the hell would I go back working for those assholes!!?!?! Knowing those sleezy f*cks, they probably lied and told my schools that they worked out a nice little deal with me so I could keep my job. Apparently kouchou-sensei forgot his own words: "they are heartless."
But oh well, good to know they still think of me.
* I decided how to spend my Golden Week 2011. One of my goals in Japan is to see an "otaku" music concert. I'm super lucky this year. With my Westernized friend helping me, I found not one, but TWO of my favorite performers putting on shows this spring in Tokyo. Eufonius and Mami Kawada will both be playing on back-to-back nights this April. Now I just have to figure out the ticket-buying machine at 7/11 the day the tickets go on sale. ::dies of nerdgasm::
* I finally heard an update on what's going on with my contract. Apparently my company has to do the standard "contract bidding presentation" to the Board of Education, as ordained by Japanese law. Other ALT agencies must be given the opportunity to offer their sales pitch, or something, I dunno. All I know is that I should have an answer on whether or not I'm coming back here by the end of next week. This village has chosen my company for the last 19 years, so the chances are in my favor. Or, here's hoping.
Sorry for the delay in posting this. As you can see, you didn't miss a heck of a lot. In reality, the one who missed a lot was ME!!! I'm really hoping now to spend another year here, not only because I've gotten things figured out around here now, but also because having been so sick in the final days of this contract year would really be a bummer of a way to spend my final days in Japan.
Until next time... see you!! |
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| Coverage Days: Friday, February 25th - Monday, February 28th
Schools Visited: North ES, North JHS
Entry #S03, Ep60
I was lazy all weekend long. I didn't blg about Friday despite having an abundance of free time mainly because I had left my notes in my car and I couldn't get myself worked up enough to put on shoes, go downstairs, open up the ca... zzzzzzzz. I'm getting tired just thinking about it. Shame, really, too, because it was unseasonably warm outside (lower/mid-50s) both Saturday and Sunday. Now that it's Monday morning, it's back to being wintery... in fact, it's snowing right now.
Sigh... I don't think I'm ever going to get used to mountain weather.
Friday, February 25th: North ESI did take notes from every period, but I'm still feeling lazy, so I'm just going to write about the ones that are actually interesting (you're welcome, haha).
The 5th- and 6th-graders got their lesson on Sports today. It's not really much of a lesson since the Japanese words for many of the sports are almost the same as in English. I mean, "tennis" is "tenisu", "running" is "raningu", etc. Some are a little disconnected, like "basketball" is "basuke" and "volleyball" is "bare-," but they seem to know the English equivilents anyway. Given how ridiculously easy this topic was, I just used the vocabulary as a basis for a lesson on reading/writing. Oh, what a clever super-teacher I am, haha.
For the 6th-graders, they started their lesson on JHS-style, as part of my plan to integrate them into their next school. I was hoping they'd be a little more amused by my impersonation of their future JTE, especially considering that they found it hilarious on Tuesday when I visited their Art Class, but nope, not so much. Maybe they were being super-serial considering it was now classtime. Okay... yay?
And I feel kinda dumb. I had planned on my lesson being "review, game, new lesson, writing activity, game", but I completely forgot to run their review game right at the beginning. I blame this on the fact that the school photographer was in the room at the time taking pictures for the yearbook. Haha, I was too busy trying to maintain my stunning good looks (aka, not do anything goofy, which is hard when you're acting out "action verbs") to concentrate on the lessonplan. Oh well, I was able to fit it in at the end of the period. They seemed to enjoy it either way.
For today's lunch period, I sat with the 4th-graders. Apparently they had had a rotation since the last time I sat with them. I was expecting to be sitting with Arsenal-kun and AngelSister-chan, but they were moved elsewhere. Ah well, I got to sit with one of the more friendlier boys who I play with sometimes at the village's central park. He likes to bombard me with questions. He started off innocently enough asking me about "Gran Turismo," which is apparently his favorite game. But it didn't take long for the conversation to escalate (degrade?) into talking about "s e x."
Yes, he spelt it out like that, haha. Well, at least 4th-graders know how to spell. -_______-;
During the lunch-break recess, I ended up in a small game of kickball with a few other 4th-grade boys. What bothers me is that the 4th-graders and the 2nd-graders all play kickball, but not together. Ugh, of the 4 elementary schools I've worked in, this is the only one that divides by class. They need a little more integration. Even dealing with the age/size/strength difference is better than trying to play 3-on-3 kickball.
Of course, it doesn't help that when they all pitch, they try to throw the ball as hard as they can. It's not much fun watching kickers trying to chase after a practically unkickable ball. We spend more time watching bad pitches than actually playing the game.
Oh well, my best moment was when I kicked the ball straight up into the air (I punted it after a bad pitch). It went up about 300 feet, kicked perfectly straight up so that it returned down to exactly the same spot I was standing in. This gave me the perfect opportunity to hit it again... with my fist. Haha, I wasn't sure if punching a rocketing ball would hurt my hand or not, so I kinda held back on my power, which was kind of a shame since I hit it so sqaure on that it went back up in another straight line. Heh heh, well at the kids who saw that were highly amused.
Usually the cleaning periods go by with nothing interesting to ever mention. In the ES, because of how my schedule goes, I only actually clean with this school on Fridays. I typically just tend to scrape the lint and dust and whatnot that collects on the bottom of temporarily over-turned chairs. They're usually dirty enough to gather up a fist full of guck and yuck. Haha, the kids get to learn the phrase, "eww yuck" plenty enough.
Anyway, today I went to the 6th-grade classroom because I hadn't done my routine in that room in quite some time. Usually the groups are made up of a mix of students from different classes, but the group cleaning this room was mostly 6th-graders. Hmmmm, I suppose that kinda makes sense. But whatever, that's not my point. One of the girls cleaning in this room was the pretty, popular, smart girl who I think gets nervous around me. She's been opening up to me little by little over the month, volunteering to speak more in class and not running to the hide in the corner whenever I enter a room. She's the one who was asking me all those weird questions through the boys' question-filter at lunch last week.
As we were cleaning, I heard a commotion going on outside on the deck. Apparently she was sweeping outside when she came across a big bug. Her screams attracted the attention of the others in the room who went over to see what the fuss about. I stayed where I was and kept cleaning. I kept hearing the word "kamemushi", which is what the Japanese call those small beetles that I guess smell bad or something. I've never smelt anything, so I don't get what the deal is. The kids were still fighting over who should be the one to get rid of it when I decided to go over. I asked them what they were arguing over, to which they repeated "kamemushi!"
Again, not caring about the supposed smell, I just continued over to where the bug supposedly was, and made a joke saying, "aww, kawaii" (awww, cute) followed instantly by "ooh, oishii" (delicious). Hahah, they couldn't understand why I would say something like that, but at least they played along, looking at me and pointing at the bug, "eat! eat!"
hahaha, okay, good. They're learning English. ^_______^V
The 5th-period was an event I had been looking forward to all week: 6th-grade PE, specially scheduled to accomodate me, giving me some extra bonding-time with the students who will moving to my junior high school shortly. Apparently they start PE super early, almost immediately after cleaning time ends. This was good for me since I was able to make a grander-than-usual (aka disruptive) entrance. As I passed through the gymnasium lobby, I could hear the "ich, ni, san, shi.... go, rko, shich, hach" count-off being chanted for their stretching activities. The group leader says the first 4, then the class as a whole is supposed* to say the last 4. As I put my hand on the door handle leading into the room, I waited for the group leader to finish, then I screamed "GO, ROK, SHICH, HACH" loud enough to be heard through the metal.
* they often don't, cause they get lazy
Sure enough, as I flung the door open, the kids exploded in excitement. Haha, I felt bad for disturbing the routine, especially since all the boys stopping stretching to turn to talk to me. I was wearing my "Red Socks Gumi" t-shirt, written in Chinese Kanji... a quite literal translation of "(Boston) Red Sox Team", which is amusing to Asians since most of them don't realize that the "sox" in the team name means "socks." Oh, and "Daisuke", as in Japanese ace pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka, is written as "Dice-K"... cause Americans suck at reading Japanese.
Today's game was basketball. I was kinda hoping for volleyball, but I'll take what I can get. I was assigned to the team with the super athletic, super smart girl (the one who I kept stealing the ball from last week cause she took too long to line up her shots), one of the girls who is friendly to me, the boy who annoys me sometimes yet seems to generally like me, and the boy who is always always always friendly and hyper around me*.
* I'll nickname him "USA-kun" cause he always chants "USA! USA!" whenever something awesome happens, haha. Plus, he seems genuinely interested in America culture.
In the actual games we played today, I did alright. My shots were terrible (doesn't help that the afternoon sun effectively blocks out 1/4 of one of the courts), but my steals were pretty good. In one instance, I got a nice clean steal from the super-tall, super-fantastic homeroom teacher. I guess the key to stealing the ball is to sneak up quietly and quickly behind them, then stick your hand in-between their hand and the ball on a precisely-timed dribble. I was able to dash off with the ball before he even realized it was no longer in his possession. Heh heh.
My crowning achievement didn't even happen during the gameplay, but instead after the period was over and half the class had already cleared out. I was doing some last minute free-throws with the remaining 3 or 4 boys when I asked one of them to pass me the ball as I stood at half-court. I made the perfect shot from where I was... nothing but net. Swish~
Only one boy saw it, but he was blown away by my awesomeness... as he should be. As they all should be, haha. As they all should be!!
Friday evening: Special Super Secret EventOkay, so it was just drinking with the JHS kyoto-sensei and the Science teacher who can speak English. I was supposed to be in this little restaurant a few towns over by 7pm, which I thought I had plenty of time to get to after running a few errands in another town off in another direction. Sigh, this is where having google maps with directions would help me. I guess I shoulda planned better. Of course, no matter what, I would have been late thanks to a major car accident that required no less than 4 ambulances, blocking the road. Just so you understand how rural this place is, when a road closes, you don't get around by just "taking the next road over, a block or few away," but rather, you need to go back the way you came and go through a completely different TOWN!!!
Now that's mountain living. Sigh... and I was 45 minutes late. Gomen, kyoto-sensei.
The food we had was pretty good. Roast chicken (on a stick), roast steak (on a stick), rice (on a stick... no, that one is a lie... a dirty rotten lie). There was also chicken liver, which I was brave enough to try, but nearly died on. Ugh... it has to have been the worst thing I have ever eaten in my life. It was like paste... no structure to it whatsoever, pretty much disintegrated in my mouth, smearing its terrible taste all over. I knew it it touched anywhere near my throat, I woulda thrown it up. Tissue, please!!
Luckily for me, the kyoto-sensei was in the restroom at the moment that happened. Haha, not that he was fully coherent anyway. He was 4 beers in before I even arrived, working on sake by the time I sat down. I hope this means he wasn't flubbing through all the kind things he said about my wonderful work ethic and hard-earned success as an assistant English teacher.
Wait... all I do most of the day at the JHS is sit at my desk and read articles on the internet. In fact, I'm sitting at my desk writing this blog during what should be club time (though the clubs have been cancelled due to snow). He's never seen an English lesson, and if he was looking through the data of the students' test scores, he couldn't possibly be satisfied with the results. So... yeah, he likes me despite all this. I dunno... I smile a lot when people ask me things, and my IDEAs are pretty inspiring, but I don't see how that's enough to earn me the praise I get. If anything, it should be the elementary school erecting statues in my honor.
Probably the most shocking, yet complimentary, things he had to say was that he felt like my talent as an ALT was being wasted in such a miniscule school system. I did explain to him that part of my success comes from being able to relate to such a small group of inidividuals, but I'm not sure if my sentiments had the effect I was hoping for. Oh well, at least he's on my side... or one hell of a showman.
Saturday & Sunday, February 26th & 27th: WeekendI didn't do anything except watch Futurama, Conan, and Grown Ups (it sucked). Well, I did get through another episode of Mahou Shojou Madoka Magika... one of the very few anime I'm following this season. I love anything by Studio SHAFT. I finished High School of the Dead earlier in the week. It wins the award for Weakest. Ending. Ever. >_______<#
Well, I did do ONE productive thing during the two day break: I updated my anime music collection. I was beginning to lose hope in this season when I previewed a few of the first songs I found on the list, but then I saw releases by Lia, Eufonius, Yui Horie, Mami Kawada, and KOTOKO to save the season and keep me happy for the next 2 or 3 months.
Speaking of which, my new friend helped me search the listing of upcoming concerts. During Golden Week, not only will there be a Eufonius concert in Tokyo, but also a Mami Kawada show the day after. Sweet... now I REALLY REALLY hope my contract gets renewed so I can fulfill my goal of seeing a Japanese concert, not once, but twice. Plus, it will give me a reason to visit Tokyo again this year.
Monday, February 28th: North JHSIt's 6th-period right now as I'm typing this. The students are leaving early because of the snowstorm that's been hammering us all day long. I'm in the teachers' room during what is apparently a teachers' meeting. Usually I'm dismissed early to avoid disrupting these meetings (as well as not overhearing private information about the students), but for some reason, I'm still here. Ugh, well, whatever... guess I'll finish up my blog duties.
Not much happened today, as usual. The 8th-graders had an uneventful English lesson in the 2nd-period. The 9th-graders just played a quiz game made up by the JTE. I was to read off hints describing vocabulary words to groups of students hovering around an assorted collection of words. The girls were their usual snobby selves; I found it amusing when the boys there were playing against would beat them in some rounds, haha. Yeah, I'm terrible, but sometimes ungrateful smarty-pants kids need to be put in their places. They were being annoying and aggravating anytime I asked them to verify their answers, but I don't know if it was because of me or if because of some inside joke they were making with eachother. As the game went on, I was leaning more to the later, but I was still annoyed from my original assessment, haha.
In my preparation periods, I used the time to prepare the final adjustments to my Back to the Future listening quiz that I will give the 9th-graders on Wednesday and Thursday. I had to write the whole thing from memory, making sure everything I asked was within the scope of their understanding. These two factors combined made this task a bit more difficult than I had anticipated. Oh well, maybe I ended up making it too easy. Whatever. As long as I made SOMETHING to put in front of them during the movie, the JTE will be happy.
For the lunch period, I was given permission to attend the elementary school's teachers versus 6th-grade graduating class basketball tournament. I wish they had told me about it from them intentionally, but I kinda had to find out about it on my own. Don't they ever consider the fact that my schedule can be a lot more flexible... it's not set in stone that I HAVE to spend every minute of my JHS days at the JHS, and vice versa. One of the things the drunken kyoto-sensei said to me during the evening on Friday was that he'd like to see me used to my full-capacity. Well, this is one of many ways to do just that.
Anyway, as for the tournament, it was as I expected. The 6th-grade team was broken into a rotating group, as were the teachers. All the teachers participated, but I guess they had pre-assigned the games or something, since the school secretary approached me before the event and told me that I could have her spot, haha. And also as expected, the kids from the younger classes were there to watch... though it apparently wasn't mandatory since I'd say only about 40-50% of the general student population was there. Oh well, big enough crowd.
I was put in the 1st and 4th games (out of 5). In the first game, all the tall and athletic men were up some of the better 6th-graders. To no one's surprise, the teachers dominated. I take that back... the teachers annihilated the student team. I wish I could say I was a big part of that, but I had a few errors right at the start of the game, mostly based off my missing really easy grabs. The 2nd-grade girls were amused by my baffoonery, but I showed them up in the final minutes of the game where I made two beautiful 3-point sinkers.
My second game went alright. I was much better on defense than I was on getting anything in the net. Maybe it was for the better since the other teachers were doing much better with their shots, including many beautiful slam dunks, heh heh. As for the kids playing, I hope they learned something about "fundamentals" and the importance of not only shooting under pressure, but knowing when to give up an attempt and pass to a player in a better position.
Final toal of the 5 games combined:
teachers... uhhhh... actually, I lost count around 50
students... big fat 0
too bad, so sad
I came back to the junior high school just in time for the start of 5th-period 8th/9th-grade PE. Oh great... more basketball. Well, at least I was warmed up now, though the first 20 minutes were just drills and warming up. Super lame. Ah well, at least I was amused when the Chinese transfer student, for whatever reason, decided to "pass" the ball off of one of the more goofy, disruptive 9th-grade boys... right in his private areas. Hahah, I'm certain it was an accident, knowing these two, but it was highly amusing watching the victim do the "stop, drop, and roll" while grabbing his crotch. Hahah, doing it wrong.
And as I said before, the kids were dismissed early due to snow snow snow! Note that I said the "kids" were dismissed early. As for me and my fellow teachers, we were stuck there until contract-time. Hmmmm... I wonder what contract-time is for the other teachers. I know the other assistant teachers get to leave at 4pm, as does the groundskeeper (heeeeey, wtf? why do I have to stay until 4:30?), but I don't know when everyone else is technically allowed to leave. I know on club days, they're out at like 6:30pm, but what about the days the kids leave early? Oh well, whatever.
My last activity before bed tonight is to write out a graduation card I made for my graduating 8th-grade class from Okayama. Sigh... it pains me to think of how I'll missing out on the final days of one of my favorite classes. I just hope this card makes it to them in time. Better get to it.
Until next time... see you! |
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