And then it was just me

So they won't be replacing Nathan. And what's worse is that when I asked if we will change schools in September they told me it was possible. I don't wannaaaaa switch schools. I love my schools! Even the school with the crazy "will you come and record a listening test at 5:30 or maybe on Saturday" English teacher. And I especially don't want to leave Tobu ES whose has the nicest, genkiest, sweetest school nurse and head teacher who force feed me medicine when I'm sick and give me back rubs and insist on me going home when I am done with classes. And I love my fifth graders who write things like "It's always fun when Jennifer-sensei comes" and think chicken is the funniest word they have ever heard.

And I would hate to leave Takatmatsu ES where Urara in the fourth grade gives me a sheet out of her memo pad after every English class, (I have tons of papers and little origami creations from students tucked in all of my files,) and the third graders call me Jenny-chan. I would hope they wouldn't move me from Tahara JHS and Tobu JHS but they might and then I'd never get to see Miyu dance Saturday Night Fever or hear Nanami ask "what's up?"

I shouldn't really whine. It's unprecedented that I have stayed at these schools as long as I have. Before I got here the ALTs moved around every 6-12 months. This was mostly because there was one idiot ALT that none of the schools wanted, so they juggled everyone around so no one school was stuck with him long-term and eventually he wasn't allowed to teach in elementary school at all because of a slight overreaction to a playground kancho (where students poke you in the butt with their two index fingers.) And by overreaction I mean apparently he grabbed a kid and shook him pretty hard.

But he's gone now! And I'm here and my schools love me and I love them and I really see no need to change them. Nathan has five schools like me but two of them we share, so really that's only 3 elementary schools or 4 days a month to cover between the remaining 4 ALTs. Surely the schedule can be manipulated to where none of us have to switch. Now I know what Japanese teachers feel like every year in March when they aren't sure if they will stay where they are at or be transferred to another school. And it sucks.

I'm praying that I get to stay where I'm at. If I have to deal with being by myself all day with no other Americans to talk to after work other than Vanessa (who is often not around) then I don't want to have to do it with brand new teachers and students as well. It takes time for me to work up a real rapport with people, even longer when it's in Japanese. I keep trying to tell myself that next year is going to be just fine, but I'm not very hopeful. Nathan will be gone. My friends are too busy to see me. And now my schools might change. Ugh, ugh, ugh.

Erin in Japan Pt. 2

After three days in Tokyo, Erin and I escaped to the inaka of Tahara. By the time we arrived it was pouring buckets of rain and it wouldn't really let up until it was almost time for her to go home. But we didn't let that ruin our fun. Armed with umbrellas and smiles we headed to Irago where we caught a ferry over to Ise in Mie prefecture in order to see the most beautiful shrine in Japan according to my Lonely Planet guide.







We visited the Inner Shrine which is supposed to be prettier than the Outer Shrine. The rain added a mysterious aura to the place. I think I preferred it that way actually. It was very mystical. Of course, we couldn't see most of the shrine as it is off limits and surrounded by a huge wall. Apparently only the Japanese emperor and his contingent ever get the honor.

After the shrine we walked through the touristy area nearby and had lunch. I saw a man handing out free samples of dried squid, or squid jerky as I like to call it, and made Erin try some. She had liked the sashimi we had eaten for lunch so I wasn't 100% sure she would hate the squid. But still I was probably 99% sure she wouldn't like it, and really she should know better than to eat something just because I tell her. It's not like that's worked out for her in the past. (I am not the nicest big sister.) It did, however, make for an awesome photo op.


She didn't like it.

The Japanese people around her insisted that squid was delicious. "Oishii-yo!" one lady told her. She threw the rest in the gutter and we continued on our way, eventually finding something she did really like - taiko drummers.



These guys were amazing!

On our way back to the ferry station we noticed the Mikimoto Pearl Island. My mom has been joking with me about buying her pearls since she visited Tokyo and saw the Mikimoto Pearl store in Ginza. So we had to go. Although the whole time I felt really bad about not taking my mom there when she was in Tahara. I bought her some pearls to make it up to her, (the really small inexpensive seed pearls not the gorgeous and thus incredibly expensive pearls she was lusting after last year when she was here.) We learned about how pearls are cultivated (technique invented by Mikimoto) and harvested and then we tried on a very large and even more expensive pearl and diamond crown. Afterward, we headed outside to see the pearl diver demonstration from the luxury of the Foreign Visitor's Lounge.


Erin and I learn about harvesting pearls.


I'm trying not to move in case I break it. It's worth about $10,000!


Every hour they had a pearl diver exhibition.

The next day the rain increased from occasional shower to a never ending downpour. Erin came to school with me and listened to some pretty embarrassingly bad show and tell speeches from my eighth graders. After the speeches they interrogated her with questions like "how much money do you make?" and "who is cuter, Mr. Nathan or your husband?" (Answers: none of your business and her husband.) Then we attempted to see some sights in town, but because of the rain we didn't make it very far before we were soaked and we retreated back to the apartment.

"I'm singing in the rain!"


Erin vents about the weather on my fridge.

Despite the typhoon sitting off the coast and trying to ruin our fun, we braved the rain and headed over to local karaoke place with Nathan. I learned a lot about my sister on this trip. For one thing, she eats slower than a sloth. And second, she has a crazy love for 80's music that I never knew about. She learned a few things about me too. I'm pretty sure she had no idea that I could rap, something that amused her to no end.

Still in my school clothes and rappin it out.

The weather finally broke on Friday and we were able to rent some bikes and head down to Long Beach and then because we'd already biked 16km and what was a few more, we headed over to Takigashira Park too. Then it was back to the apartment for a nap before a party held in Erin's honor.

Biking along the beach.


Erin, Me, Clinton, Bob, Sue, and Miwa

I put her on the train back to Narita Airport the next day. I was really worried she would get lost, something she excels at, but a few hours later she called to let me know she had made it all right. We had a great week together. If you want to read her account of the same trip you can find it here

Erin in Japan Pt. 1

This post is a little late but better late than never. My sister came to visit in early May during the Golden Week holidays here in Japan. I took her around Tokyo, Kamakura, Ise, and Tahara. While we had fun sightseeing the whole week was really about having fun and seeing just how many crazy pictures of ourselves we could take.


Kaminarimon

We started out in Tokyo since that's where she flew into. We stayed in a ryokan in Asakusa just off the main street by Kaminarimon so that's where we started our sightseeing. We headed out really early due to Erin's jet lag so we were able to see Asakusa, Tokyo Tower, Meiji Shrine, Harajuku, and Shibuya before we came back and fell into our futons from exhaustion around 8pm. I had originally planned for us to go out to sing karaoke that night but since it was all I could do to keep Erin from falling asleep before 9, we decided to nix that idea. We did find plenty of geocaches while we were out though so we declared the day a success despite the lack of karaoke.





Our awesome room at the ryokan or Japanese style inn.



Erin is excited by Tokyo Tower.




At a temple near Tokyo Tower.


At Meiji Shrine this old guy gave us cake and pictures and took a ton of pictures with us while his friend kept saying "hazukashii" which translates to "you're embarrassing me."


A traditional Japanese wedding procession at Meiji Shrine.


Random cuteness in Harajuku


Drinking coffees in Starbucks while watching people cross the street in Shibuya. This may sound boring but clearly you have never seen this intersection. It's insane!


Erin meets samurai!Col. Sanders.

Day two we got up early again (thanks again to jet lag) and headed to Kamakura to see the Daibutsu, or Big Buddha. We decided to get off the train at the Kita-Kamakura station and hike the Daibutsu trail. On our way we hiked over a mountain, saw a few shrines, including one where people wash their money for good luck, had lunch at a cute cafe on the side of a hill, and argued over whose dumb idea it was to walk so far.

Zeniarai Benten shrine is in a cave.


People wash their money in the spring inside the cave. They believe that when they spend the washed money it will come back to them several times over.


Hiking was all Erin's idea.

The guide said it took 90 minutes to walk the trail. We took 3 hours but we finally made it to the Buddha. After finally making it, we searched for a few more geocaches. Erin also got to try on a one piece kimono, which while it's true that it is easier than putting on a traditional kimono it still required quite a lot of maneuvering to get it on her. But she sure looked pretty in it.

Back in Tokyo we went to dinner near the hotel in a little streetside restaurant, where Erin wanted to play menu roulette by randomly pointing out some things on the menu. Luckily with the help of a kind woman sitting near us we were saved that ordeal and we ended up enjoying everything we ordered.

Our third day it started to rain but it didn't matter since our plan was to go to Oedo Onsen where after waiting in line for 45 minutes we enjoyed 17 different kinds of baths. Erin is a champion bath taker back home with music, candles, and cold cloths for her neck so she was in bath heaven. Even being naked in front of a hundred other women (it was Golden Week after all so the place was packed) didn't phase her for too long. After a relaxing few hours, we caught the shinkansen back to Tahara where our adventures continued, although unfortunately with a lot more rain than either of us wanted.

In our yukattas at Oedo Onsen.

Kite Festival

A few weeks ago around the end of May we had the Tahara Kite Festival here in town. I didn't get to go last year because of a choir concert and for the same reason I wasn't able to attend very long this year but luckily the concert ended early and the festival ended late so I was able to see some real kite fighting action, which mostly consisted of me trying to figure out who was trying to cut who while avoiding being hit by kite strings lined with sharp glass.


A team shows off their kites.

There is another larger and more famous kite festival in the nearby city of Hammatsu. The kites there are a lot bigger and a lot more colorful. Although the ones in Tahara aren't shrinking violets either. By the time I got there around 12, everyone had stopped for lunch. But when I came back after the concert they were having the final showdown. Even the mayor was in on the fun, fighting with a kite that had the city hall logo on it.


Here they are getting ready to launch the kites.

The way it works is that each team has a kite that is sponsored by different families or businesses. They try to cut the other kites strings with the ground glass on their own string. On this day all the kites were either blue or red and they worked together to take down kites of the opposite color.


The festival is held behind Jusco in the rice fields.

People hang out all day on their tarps and under tents, picnicking and watching the kites fly. They handed out small kites and free drinks at the library across the street from where the festival was held. We had to be very careful to not get caught in one of the kite lines that moved up and down the main street. It was bad for the kite and bad for us if we got in the way. One man in our group got hit with a line and he said it really really hurt.


If you look closely you can see the kite line in this man is managing.


They look so small up in the air.

It was a really good time. I don't have pictures of the group but a mix of Japanese people and foreigners showed up from Toyohashi and Nagoya to hang out with us locals and enjoy the kite festival. All of these pictures were taken by my friend Mako since I was busy traipsing off to choir to bother taking any. Now that I've seen the real deal, I'm very interested in going to Hammatsu's festival next year. And coming back to Tahara's again as well of course.

I'm a dinosaur

I got confirmation this week that Tahara is not replacing Nathan with someone from Georgetown. I'll be the only Sister City ALT left and Vanessa will be the only JET left. There are two possibilities for next year. One, they don't replace Nathan with anyone but leave me alone at the two junior high schools and divide up his elementary schools among the rest of us. Or two, they replace him with yet another private from the nearby big(ger) city.

Option one is cheaper but leaves the schools with one less ALT, which they won't like. Option two lets them keep the same number of ALTs at a lower cost than hiring someone from Georgetown, but it carries some risk too. The dispatch company keeps sending ALTs who are not only not native English speakers but don't speak English well at all, and one guy who made the kids cry. They didn't renew that guy's contract but instead replaced him with a Nigerian who doesn't speak English OR Japanese well, making it all almost impossible to plan lessons with him. So option one might be looking attractive at the moment.

But it would make my job a lot lonelier. I'm already dreading September when I get back and realize that Nathan is gone for good. Even if they replace him , it won't be the same. And all of this makes me think that they won't replace me when I leave either and then the Sister City ALTs will gone forever. It makes sense when you think about it. I've known for awhile that Aichi is phasing out the JET program and since my contract is really just a photocopy of the JET contract then it makes sense that we would be phased out too. I'm a dinosaur, according to Nathan, the last of my kind. And that makes me sad.

Eigo Noto

As of last year in Japan there was very little in the way of organized English instruction before junior high school. In my town, the ALT showed up once a month and organized a lesson that mostly included games. I actually had a principal tell me to please teach words only. Sentences were too hard. My students learned very little if any English from me. If they were good it was because their parents sent them to eikawa.

This year the Japanese government rolled out new textbooks for 5th and 6th grade called Eigo Noto (literally English notebook.) A lot of people think they suck. I definitely don't think they are great but the material they cover is much more advanced and it means the teachers can no longer shut me down because something is too hard. I can point to the book and they now have no argument.

I'm not sure how other cities are handling the new weekly requirement, but I think some are just having the homeroom teacher teach the lesson while others are increasing the ALT visits. In my city, they've actually hired what they call ATs, assistant teachers, who visit the schools each week. They are Japanese natives (most of them anyway) who speak English very well, (I know this because I interviewed them.) They plan the lessons, meet with the homeroom teachers to go over it, and then they team teach with the homeroom teacher once a week. I still only show up once a month. I jump in and follow the plan for the 5th and 6th grade but I still teach my regular "fun" lessons with the younger grades the rest of the day.

The two ATs I work with are very different. One hates the textbook and asked me to plan and teach a separate lesson last time. This time I haven't had an email from her so I'm not sure what to expect when I get to school tomorrow. I'll have a lesson waiting in case she didn't plan anything. I'm not a huge fan of hers. She's not very genki and she's a whiner. She actually wanted me to leave my flashcards with her last time and looked put out when I explained that I have three elementary schools and my cards travel with me. I've given her websites where she can get her own cards. And the board of education gave her a CD-rom that has materials on it as well; all she has to do is print them out. She's also lost her 5th grade textbook already and says that makes it hard to plan. Uh yeah...

The other girl is awesome and I want to hang out with her outside of school. Her lesson plans are a little schizophrenic though. I like to spend more time on activities but she flits around from thing to thing, often even changing from grammar point to grammar point. But she's always on top of things so I don't complain. Especially since she gets results. Today in my 6th grade class the students could answer questions like "Can you play baseball?" and "Do you like to swim?" with very little trouble distinguishing between "Yes, I can" and "Yes, I do." Some of my junior high school kids still can't do this. Eigo Noto isn't the best, but with some supplemental activities I think the students will benefit.

The other thing my schools are implementing is the "Let's Enjoy English" cheer at the beginning of each class. Four students come to the front and lead the group, going over what they need to remember during English time. They are: big voice, big smile, eye contact, and big actions. I love it and have started doing it with my 3rd and 4th graders too. If they start to slack off, I can just yell out BIG VOICE or BIG ACTIONS and they immediately perk back up. Not surprisingly most of the sixth graders hate it but at my really genki school all the students are excited to come to the front to lead the group. And the fifth graders at all my schools are pretty okay about it.

I was worried about this new year and how things would change, but overall, I am liking it. Although my legs are really sore today from dancing the Hokey Pokey with the older kids and to the Genki English "Hello, How Are You" song with the younger ones. Friday I am back at the junior high and even though I love my ES students I am looking forward to something more sedate. I don't think I could survive if I had to do elementary school all the time.

How do you say "wakarimasen" in English?

Today the third grade teacher at Tobu JHS decided to teach some classroom English so that while the students wrote essays about their school trip they could ask me and Nathan for help. The first phrase she taught them was "How do you say _____ in English?" She didn't take into account though that Nathan and I both speak very little Japanese. So yeah, I spent 4 hours today saying "Uh....I don't know. Sorry." I am not a dictionary!

I am a spelling bee champion though. (Sharonville ES 1994 oh yeah!) And it's a good thing because the second question was "How do you spell ______?" So I wasn't completely useless today.