 | Coverage Days: Sunday, November 15th and Monday, November 16th 2009
Schools Visited: JHS
Entry #265
Welcome to my blog, XENO said with hospitable warmth. There will be a lot of fun things to discuss in this installment, XENO said slight enthusiasm. The annual Autumn Festival that I enjoy so much was held this past weekend, XENO said with much fondness in his voice. Plenty of the Xeno Rangers were present, XENO said cherished emotion. Plus, I got a special role in this year's event, XENO boasted with pride. Also, a new-addition has been made to the Xeno Fanclub, XENO happily reported.
Wait, why am I talking like a MISAKA-sister from To Aru Majustu no Index, XENO wondered. It's getting rather annoying, XENO said with an aggitated voice.
Stop that, XENO cried at the omnipresent phenomenon!
Really, cut it out!, XENO shouted.
I'm going to punch you, XENO said while shaking a fist at his computer monitor.
I'm serious, you only get one more warning, XENO threatened.
That's it!!!, XENO exclaimed as he punched his com..........
.....
::CONNECTION LOST, XENOCRISIS0153 LOGGED OFF @ 18:35::
::CONNECTION ESTABLISHED, XENOCRISIS0153 LOGGED ON FROM NEW LOCATION @ 18:45::
Dammit, now I need to replace my laptop. Heh heh... well, at least the MISAKA-type talking is over. Now I can resume this entry as normal. I'll TRY to keep it short by mostly sticking to what was interesting, but then again, I've said that before, and we all know how that usually turns out.
As I mentioned earlier, this weekend was the annual festival in the center of my teaching village. I'm not sure what it's called exactly, but it's the event when all the villagers go to their local shrine, then carry the Mikoshi (God House) around the area like a parade float. The idea is that this is the local deity's one chance to actually leave the shrine (well, aside from the big annual God Meeting held at Izumo Taisha in Izumo City, Tottori Prefecture (fans of Kamichu! should be familiar with this)). So yeah, the God gets touted around the village in a giant golden dollhouse to bless the households, shops, farms, schools, etc within its territory. There is dancing and sorts for different age-groups.
I had gone last year when I was still relatively new to the community, and at that time, I was still a stranger amoung those who lived here. Only the Ball of Cuteness really had any ties to me at that point, which was more than enough back then. Now that I'm a celebrity amoungst the populace, it was a completely different experience for me. Immediately upon arriving at the parking lot where the elementary school kids were rehearsing their dance, I was greeted with long-distance waves and peace-signs. Cutest, however, were the three kindergarten girls who were free to run over to me and hang from my arms as their older siblings continued dancing. Having the parents around to witness how freely the children can interact with me demonstrates how trusted a person I must be... well, from a child's eyes, at least, haha.
The schedule this year was slightly off from last year. Last year, the kids went up to the shrine immediately at 10am (the time I arrived both years), however, this year they did a bit of "parading" around first, THEN went to the shrine. Since they were traveling by bus at first, I couldn't see where they were going, so I went to the shrine first, only to realize the new schedule set-up about 20 minutes later. I missed the first leg of the parade, but finally caught up just as they were finishing the first half. Hardly exciting, so fast-forward to when we finally headed over to the shrine.
It's at the top of a steep hill. The junior high school group was traveling in a convoy of pick-up trucks, but the elementary school group was using a bus. Only problem was that the bus wouldn't fit onto the access-road, so the kids were forced to run to catch up to the others. I was already walking up the access road when I noticed this, so I was basically down-stream as the flash-flood of kids came rushing my way. Leading the pack were Time-chan and Cuteness-chan... though poor little Cuteness-chan was getting way ahead of herself and ended up tripping as she was making a dash. When she finally approached me, I checked her hands to make sure she was alright.
No marks, no cuts, no blood... though her hands were mysteriously a shade of green, which I would have thought was a grass-stain, only she fell on concrete. Well, she's always been tough, so I guess it wasn't a surprise to see her shake it off. She did insist on holding my hand as we went up the steep incline, presumedly so I she could save energy by my doing most of the heavy step-climbing. And since I have two hands, Time-chan got dibs on the other hand. And no secret, Japan is home to plenty of ridiculously steep staircases. I wouldn't mind them so much, except the stairs are never even (or straight, for that matter), so it's very hard to adjust, XENO said while whining like a little bitch.
what the...!?!? Don't make me punch you again.
Anyway, last year being the new guy, I was strictly an observer. This year, however, I was given a very special bonus role. When the children dance, they dance in a giant oval. Marking the far ends of the oval are two poles consisting of a red-and-white striped rod with some kind of orament on the top. There are also long red-and-white streamers hanging from the top to give it more life and vibrancy during the ceremony. My job this year was to hold up one of the poles and bob it up-and-down and around to the beat of the music. I'm not sure if there was a specific way of doing it, as I was just told by Silent-chan's mother to "hold... up and down." Well, whatever gets the streamers fluttering about... I just copied what the guy on the far end across from me was doing.
The weather was gorgeous this year, as opposed to last year's gloomy skies. The temperatures were cool, and though there were thick clouds, there were enough gaps to let the sunlight through every once in a while. Not a drop of rain is the most important part. I stayed until 12:45pm this year, which is just about when everything was done. Well, the junior high school group was still around, but they were going on a different route. I tried to find out where they were when I left the elementary group, but the directions I was given didn't lead me to any dancing students. I was having lunch with Realtor-san at 1pm, so regrettably, I couldn't afford to spend any more time looking around.
Quick story about Realtor-san... I taught him the phrase "bros before ho's". Heeheeheehee... enough said on that matter, I think.
Monday at the junior high school was full of interesting stories. My day didn't really start until after lunch, as my first four periods of the day were spent doing prep work... no, wait, except 2nd-period where I helped with the 8th-grade class, but by "help", it means all I did was sit behind the video camera tripod and record their speeches (given in Japanese). I couldn't understand what was happening or what the deal was, but it was a serious-tone event, so nothing exciting. My first period was a waste because A-sensei didn't prepare any assignments for me by then, so I just used the time to clean off the stack of mystery-papers that amassed on the back corner of my desk.
English Club was only attended by two members: Blue-chan and Taisou-san. We were playing BINGO again, but since these two want all the stickers for themselves, they don't recruit others to come join. In fact, I have reason to believe that they actually tell their classmates NOT to come, as a way of sealing their victory.
Interested Classmate: "I think I'll join the English Club meeting today. Will you be doing anything fun?"
Blue-chan: "oh, no... just serious work. This week is... uhhhh... translating the ingredients in toothpaste."
Interested Classmate: "Oh, I'm thinking of studying dental hygiene. That might be interesting to me."
Taisou-san: "wait, no, not toothpaste... ummmm... she means... ummmm... chicken nuggets. Yeah, chicken nuggets ingredients."
Interested Classmate: "ooh, I love McDonald's. It might be good for me to know what's inside the food I eat."
Blue-chan: "ah, yeah, well... the way we do it... it's ummmm... not fun, not fun at all."
Interested Classmate: "maybe we can find a way to make it fun."
Taisou-san: "NOT FUN!!!"
Blue-chan: "TOP SECRET NOT FUN!!"
Interested Classmate: "what's top secret?"
Taisou-san: "nothing... nevermind... ummmm... actually, yeah, come join us. We'll be meeting at our usual place on the roof of the gymnasium."
Blue-chan: (to Taisou-san) "that's not where we mee... OWWW!!!"
Taisou-san: (pinching Blue-chan under the table, whispering) "shuuuut up"
Interested Classmate: o_____o;
I arrived at the 9th-graders' classroom about 5 minutes before the 5th-period English lesson was to start. I used this extra time to rush over to Omiyage-san to find out how her interview test went. She just kinda slinked into the corner and told me "no good." I asked her why, but she shyly told me "not loud voice." Gah, the challenge lives on. I've heard her talk loud before, so I know she's capable of it. It's just a matter of combining the moments of "when she does it" with "when she NEEDS to do." Of course, she could just be modest. We don't know if she actually passed or not. Hopefully I'll find out on Friday.
When A-sensei and T-sensei entered the room, we began the lesson. The boys were horsing around more than usual today, so they were all extra energetic at the start of the period, even still punching eachother in the shoulders as we all stood at attention. The normal greeting from the students is to address the three of us teachers in order of importance, bottom to top, so it's normally:
"Good afternoon, T-sensei, Xeno-sensei, A-sensei"
... only today, one of the boys up front decided that he wants to re-rank us to fit his personal views, and by this I mean, he wants to put me at the top. I kinda heard it slightly, but since he was closer to A-sensei, A-sensei noticed it fully. And I know he noticed it since he brought it to the boy's attention by pretending to be angry about this usurption (yeah, I'm making up words again, I think). And why is this boy putting me up higher? Well, it's all a part of my mission to gain 100%-approval amongst all my students. Last Friday was when we had free-talk group time, and during the "my favorite teacher is ~" segment, he was one of the boys to pick me as his favorite. Kind of impeccable timing since this would become the first time I could finally solidify the name-to-face connection in my mind, just in time to come in extremely handy for me.
And what do I mean by that? Well, on Saturday, I had made a daytrip for myself to Kurashiki to take some photos in the Bikan Historical District since the weather was so nice. It's not uncommon to see students in Kurashiki since it's a big local attraction, nor is it uncommon to see them in Takahashi since, you know, that's where we all live. In-between these two cities, however, is a city called Soja City. It's essentially my student-free "safe zone," since I wouldn't think the students would have much reason to go there.
I thought wrong.
I needed to make a potty-stop on the ride home, so I pulled into the big department store in the center of town here. I had never been to this store before, despite passing it so many times. I decided that since I was there, I might as well check it out.
Clothes... check
Grocery section... check
Cute girls at the ice cream shop... check
Bookstore with decent manga section... check
... and that's where I saw him. I swear, my "Internal Student Proximity Alert System" has been upgraded, because seriously, I only saw this boy out of the corner of my eye. At no point did I ever look directly at him, and yet, as I was continually browsing, I thought to myself, "I think I just saw that boy from my sannensei class... but we're nowhere near home, so it's not even possible." The boy I saw had left the area to go pay for his purchases, which was when I made my decision to head off. As I was stepping out of the store, I thought I had heard my name. Still believing it wasn't possible, I didn't even flinch... until I heard it again. I turned to see the boy rushing up to me to say hi. We talked for about 5 minutes, but long story short, I asked him what he bought ("Natsu no Arashi" and "Beezelbub"), then we parted.
I guess our encounter had an effect on him since he was in ultra "xeno is the coolest guy on the planet"-mode all day today. And if it that wasn't enough, then possibly what I had made for the class might have put him over the edge...
Today's in-class assignment was to make a 2-person dialogue skit based off the starter, "why don't we ~?" I used the example, "why don't we go to the AEON Mall?" for the worksheet I made. Though my example skit was perfectly done, my worksheet lacked life. A-sensei suggested that I add more interesting points to it, and well, what is more interesting that popular anime? I didn't have to think long before the idea of Pikachu came into my mind... but Pikachu, while recognizable and lovable the world over, is all played-out. What's new? What's hip? What's popular?
Oh, I know... To Aru Kagaku no Railgun has been an interesting project lately. I'm still stuck back in the To Aru Majustu no Index original (quckly caught up to ep #23 last night), but I know plenty about Railgun's main character, Mikoto Misaka, from her role in Index... and whatdayaknow!?, she actually has something in common with Pikachu...
they both spark electricity!!!
hahahahahahahha... too perfect!!! 5 minutes of google image-searching later and I had my masterpiece. I showed A-sensei my finished project, but he was just like, "bah, anime again? well, whatever," but little did he know was that THIS one was going to be a big hit. It was so funny to watch the reactions of the students as the worksheets were handed out. We spilt the pile into two, then from each end of the front row, the papers go across the front, spreading backwards as each front-row leader passes back the stack for their row. I watched as a wave of smiles and laughs rippled across the room. I saw kids burst into laughter, then quickly show their neighbors while pointing excitedly. Even the girls were doing it, though I'm not sure if it was because of Mikoto or Pikachu. Either way, it took about 3 minutes before the class calmed down from the initial reaction. They were talking to eachother and A-sensei about it all in Japanese, and it wasn't until they later on that I found out that it was all good things.
Even Dangerous-san got some enjoyment out of it, as she was working with the class' slow-student (the one who is always energetic and talkative in a polite, friendly way, but is just terrible at English). He just happens to be a big fan of the Index-universe, as I learned from him mimicking "Imagine Breaker" a few weeks ago. Anyway, as I passed their discussion, he called me over to tell me that Mikoto's coin-lightning attack is cool, to which I responded by pointing at the picture and saying "she's dangerous!!!". This prompted Dangerous-san to do her usual bit and exclaim "dangerous!! she's dangerous!!"
So, suffice to say, Mikoto won over quite a crowd. How about poor ole' Pikachu? Oh... there would be comedy there. I had assigned Pikachu to the "A" script and Mikoto to the "B" script. When A-sensei and I were doing our example presentation, I was given Pikachu's part. Together we read through the conversation, all the while the students repeating after us each time. When I got to my final line, I changed it up.
On the paper: "Great. And then we can see a movie at the theater."
Out of my mouth: "Pika Pika Pi-Pikachu!!"
From the kids: hahahahahahahhaha
Haha... I broke a cardinal rule of stand-up comedy, which is "never laugh at your own jokes," but considering the perfect timing and delivery, plus the befuddled and amused reaction of the crowd, I needed just an extra 10 seconds to regain myself. Well, I kinda sputtered my way through the final line of dialogue... eventually.
The 6th-period with the 8th-graders went alright. Plenty of small interactions, particularly with DollDream-chan, who was sitting in the front row. She was in a wicked good mood, which I could only enjoy to a certain point. She was telling me something, but it was in rapid-fire Japanese, so I haven't the slightest idea what it was about. Oh well, she's happy, guess that's all I need to know.
The end of classes was marked by a fire drill. Nothing worth getting much into. It was very orderly... that's all.
During cleaning time, I saw that two key characters were assigned to the teachers' room today: Blue-chan and that 9th-grade boy who's suddenly started talking to me. I called the boy over to my desk to show him the worksheet we used in class and I asked him if he knew who Mikoto Misaka was. He said he knew her from the new spin-off series. I asked him if he was watching it, but I can't remember his answer. I'm pretty sure he said he was. I used this moment to suggest to him a website where anime is streamed with English subtitles (no, I'm not turning my back to A-source... I just can't DL torrents from my current location). He was excited over the idea of learning English while watching anime, but then he hit me with...
"I don't have a PC."
o_____o; wha?
I was a little surprised as I stood there trying to think of a follow-up, but all I could get out of it was a set-up for a joke. I motioned toward my school computer on my desk and said to him, "oh, you can have mine, haha." He laughed, but then I topped myself again. I told him, " no no, wait... you can have A-sensei's computer," as I pretended to be reaching for the computer on the desk next to mine. Oh, I am a funny guy. Although, only now do I realize the best real suggestion: watch it over a friend's house. Oh well, maybe he'll figure it out on his own.
At that moment, it kinda turned to awkward silence. But I was saved. Whenever a certain girl is in the room, there is never silence. Not more than 5 seconds went by before Blue-chan was shouting for my attention from across the way. Earlier in the day I promised her that I would help her write her speech for the English Speech Contest. She was trying to figure out how to ask me what time we would work until in English, but she was getting caught up in her translation. Even with the help of either the school nurse or school secretary (I forget who it was), she wasn't making any progress. Luckily I knew at least that much Japanese, so I didn't need the translation.
Blue-chan: "what time... uhhhhh... nan jikan made? Finished? What time finished contest?"
me: "hmmmm"
Blue-chan: "5?"
me: "hmmmmm... 8"
Blue-chan: "ehhhhhhhh!?!?!"
me: (knowing she was thinking that that's waaay too late) "not 8? hai, okay fine... 9."
Blue-chan (and the nurse/secretary): "ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!?!?!"
me: "ehh? 10? Okay, 10 is good."
Blue-chan: "no no no!!"
me: (acting like I was giving in) "mouu~ XX-chan.... I'm tired... but alright, 11 should be okay."
Blue-chan: (whining and now punching me) "nooo, 5!! 5!!"
me: "no way!! 5 in the morning is way too late for me."
Oh, and I don't know what she thought we were doing, but she was all nervous the whole day. She had come up to me just a bit later to ask me again what we would be doing. I told her we're just writing the speech. She asked me "renshu dake?" (practice only?), which I was like, "yeah, that." She breathed a relieved sigh and let out a "yokatta!" (what a relief)... but I still don't know what she thought we were doing.
About 25 minutes after Cleaning Time ended and the bulk of the kids were at their various clubs, Blue-chan and I went to the 3A classroom. Some other students were in there, including 5-0-san and Omiyage-san. Blue-chan was all business, but I wanted to chat a little bit while she was getting settled. I tried to practice the police language dialogue I taught 5-0-san by holding a pen to Omiyage-san's neck (not too close though... and the cap was on anyway... Omiyage-san still played along), but 5-0-san needs to work on her police negotiating skills. Her response to this intense situation was to just shoot Omiyage-san, haha. I've heard of "shoot the hostage" situations when dealing with terrorists and such... but not with run-of-the-mill crazies, heehee. Poor Omiyage-san... will she ever be saved?
When I went to sit down with Blue-chan for some hardcore speech-writin', the other two followed me over. Blue-chan's topic is her favorite hobby, which is singing and dancing. Her intro needed a little work though... and luckily with her two classmates all giddy ad hepped up on whatever, there were plenty of suggestions. Considering that 5-0-san is very tough and scary looking, it had me falling over with laughter everytime she screamed out something cute. Her suggested opening line: "hello everyone!! I love you!!!" It just got funnier everytime she said it, and she probably repeated it about 3 or 4 times. Even the quiet Omiyage-san was laughing hard, though poor Blue-chan only gave a courteous chuckle, then cried "muri!!" (no way!!)
And thus begins the training of Blue-chan for the 2009 Takahashi City Junior High School English Speech Contest. I hope she does well when it comes to showtime, XENO said with modest sincerity.
ARGH... WTF!?!?!, XENO exclaimed with outrageous anger.
Now you've done it, XENO threatened with vagueness.
::pulls out revolver::
It's "go-time", XENO growled with menace.
::holds gun up to monitor, pulls back hammer::
Until next time... XENO casually delivered.
See y....
::CONNECTION LOST, XENOCRISIS0153 LOGGED OUT:: |
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