Teaching English in Morioka, Japan

Sara - Rice Planting

2009-06-12T22:29:00.003+09:00

On May 31st, Patrick and I went to plant rice. In Japanese it's called Taue (Tah-oo-eh)田植え. We were invited by our friend, Mr. Kamura, who is the owner of a restaurant we frequent.

Patrick had done it last year and I was unable to attend because I had fractured a bone in my foot. I was very happy to go with them this year.

The rice field was for making sake and it was being maintained by a group Mr. Kamura's friends. It was a very friendly atmosphere. I've never planted rice before but it was really fun. I took off my boots and went into the mud barefoot. The mud was warm and felt pretty good under my feet. I was almost knee deep in it.

But before we went into the mud, there was a tractor that planted rows of rice. We were to plant to remaining rice plants between the rows. Planting rice was pretty easy. You don't plant seeds, but the actual plant. This is because the fields are flooded with a lot of water and a seed would just wash away. Instead, the rice are grown elsewhere until there are several inches tall. Then you take the plant and gently place it in the mud. You have to give it a slight twist when you plant it to make sure that it stays in the mud and not just be sitting on top of it.

After we planted the rice, we went and had a great lunch that included great sake. Here are some pictures that I took of the rice planting.

This is the field before it was planted.

This is the rice tractor.

These are the rice plants in bunches.

This is the field after we planted the rice.

This is a close up of the rice.

Sara - Tea Ceremony Luncheon

2009-06-12T21:16:00.006+09:00

On May 23rd, I went to a luncheon with my tea ceremony class, for class. We went to a sushi restaurant that had a tea room in the back. We were served many delicious by Ms. Obara.

Ms. Obara is an advanced student in my class and was practicing a tea ceremony luncheon. Part of the practice included writing out invitations. There are specific things that had to be written and she went through several drafts before giving us the final one. My teacher, fellow students, and I practiced being guests. There a few mistakes made by both host and guests, but it was the best lesson.

The food was amazingly beautiful and delicious. Unfortunately I was unable to take any pictures because I was concentrating so hard on the eating order that I forgot to take out the camera. I had to keep track of where I placed lids, chopsticks, sake cups, and which way to pass serving dishes.

Each food item had a meaning and reflected upon spring. The flower arrangement on the wall also reflected upon spring. The flowers also have meanings, but I was a very bad student and didn't keep track of that.

I did put together a quick video of what I was able to capture of the ceremony. I didn't get all of the moves, but you can watch Ms. Obara make Ousu (light green tea).

Sara- Time Warp to September 2008 (Yabusame Festival)

2009-03-16T20:16:00.004+09:00

Well I finally got the video put together. I hate Apple iMovie and this may be the last movie I make with it.
Anyway, back in September 2008, Patrick and I skipped work to go see Yabusame which I believe is part of the two or three day Hachimangu festival...

Yabusame is archery on horseback. The ground for the event is blessed by the Shinto priests, and if I remember correctly, horse archery was not used only for warfare in Iwate, but it was also used as a way to scare off demons and so there were also priests at the event.

Sara - Kitamatsuzono Graduation

2009-03-16T19:49:00.003+09:00

Well we finally had our graduation on the 13th and everything went well. We had a lot of speeches, and some singing. Graduation took up half the day and I was lucky to get out at 3:30 instead of 4:25. I made a movie of the event so that you can sort of see what goes on. I skipped the speeches. The music in the movie is called "Tsubasa wo Kudasai" which translates to 'Please give me wings'. The words, roughly translated, are:

If I could have one wish granted now, I would wish for a pair of wings.
Upon my back, like a bird, I wish you would give me a pair of white wings.

I want to spread my wings and fly through this wide blue sky.
Through the free heavens where there is no sorrow, I want to soar and fly far!

When I was a child, I used to have this dream, and even now I still dream the same dream.

The girl who waves towards the end of the movie is Misa. She comes by every day to talk to me in English. Her English ability is very impressive. She went to Indiana on a two week abroad program so we often talk about her friends in America and American culture.

Sara - Spring Ballroom Party 09

2009-02-26T20:15:00.006+09:00

Last year I went to a ballroom dance party that my dance studio held and had a great time. I went again this year, just yesterday, and was just as amazed. This time we had a couple from the US come and perform. They are placed as 2nd in the world in the category of Latin dancing. But they won 1st place at the Osaka Asia Open on Feb. 24th. Riccardo Cocchi is actually Italian and Yulia Zagorouitchenko is Russian, but they now compete as a couple for the US. (Since 2007)
It was really great seeing them as the performed show dances. It's still ballroom, but a lot flashier since they don't have to worry about getting points etc.

Here is a brief collection of the dances they performed. I thought Yulia's costumes were especially fantastic.

Sara-2008 recap

2009-01-19T20:57:00.005+09:00

I said I would write about all my previous adventures, but I never quite got around to it unfortunately. So instead, I mashed up all the things I did into one movie. There is the all city track and field meet, Yabusame (horse archery festival in Morioka), the school festival and my trip to Yamagata with my teachers. I got the perfect music for the movie for Christmas from friends back home, G and Ryan. A big thank you goes to them since I wouldn't have done it otherwise. The music really sums up my feelings about 2008 I think.

Sara-Gyms, Nanowrimo, JLPT, General catchup

2008-11-25T21:32:00.003+09:00

Well, sadly I have many things to post but I haven't. One day I promise I will. Since August I have seen and done many things, that I will later put up, but for now I will just give a very brief update of a few things that I have been doing.

I have changed schools. I am now at Kita-Matsuzono JHS in suburbia. It's about a 45 min bus ride with a 15 min walk to the bus station. That said, I shall now skip over to a briefing of the most current events.

Over the months, I have come to face the fact that I need to exercise. This became more clear when one day I was acting out the story of Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree to third grade elementary students. As I read and acted out the picture book, I realized that Pooh and I had many things in common. One, we like food. Two, we always are thinking about food, and three, we often find ways of getting that last dessert that might turn out to be a disaster.

After having read the story three times, I was beginning to feel a little guilty. Pooh, after all, went out and exercised...or tried anyway. So I went out to look at some swimming pools and gyms.

There are several swimming pools and gyms around Morioka. There's a gym called WoW'd, that stands for something like World of Workout'ed or something strange like that. That is in the new AEON mall that is close to us. However, the entrance reminds me of some sort of posh lounge for a restaurant. The walls are black and they have white leather back like couches and chairs. The people weren't all that friendly either and it was rather expensive. So my travels went to a gym called Central.

Central is not even a five minute walk from the train station bus center. And since you can hop on a bus to the station bus center from almost any where, it is very convenient. It has a swimming pool and gym with two studios where they have yoga, Pilate's, aerobics, Taibo (For those who remember the fad) and other fun lessons. They go by different monthly plans so you get to pick the plan that best fits you. I decided to go to Central because the bus from work ends up at the bus station. It was also cheaper than WoW'd and the people are very friendly. The plan that I got was about 9,700 yen a month, but this meant that I could use the gym or pool any time day or night (between 10am-11pm) Mon-Sat. as well as on Sundays and Holidays and they give me a towel for the shower so I never have to bring one. I can also join in any of the classes for no additional charge, and I can come and go to them as I please. They also have a squash court and lessons, but I never was a big fan. Anyway, more on the Gym later.

Besides the gym, I am participating yet again in Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month-www.nanowrimo.org). Right now I'm at 28,043 words and roughly 40 single spaced, times new roman, 12 point font, pages. So for future ALTs who want to do it, it is possible...I'm just very lazy. Also, there are several other people participating in it around the Tohoku region, so it is also possible to meet up and do write-ins or word wars, though the timing may be difficult.

Besides Nanowrimo, I'm also doing the JLPT. Last year I believe the choices were Sendai or Tokyo. This year, however, Iwate University (that's not more than maybe a twenty minute bike ride?) will be hosting as well. So, though Patrick and I were getting ready to go down to Sendai on Dec 7th, we have been assigned to the University site.

Next on the things to write about:
A trip to Yamagata (where they sell pears that are over 600 yen)
Archery festival thing (Held back in Sept. and may not be written about till next year...)
Schools (May not be written about)
And other events that I have, at the moment, forgotten about.

Travel

2008-11-24T13:27:00.003+09:00

Dear All,

So this year, after listening to a great deal of nagging from my various family members, I decided to go back to the states for Christmas. This is my first trip back since coming to Japan. I am looking forward to it mostly for the food. Chunky peanut butter, those Reese's chocolate Christmas trees, turkey sandwiches to name a few. I am also looking forward to getting some shopping done as I have had to resort to using safety pins to keep my pants up. This is all beside the point though as I really wanted to tell you all about making travel arrangements.
When I originally thought to buy the ticket I first shopped online to compare prices but because buying anything online can be problematic I also visited two travel agents here in Japan. Namely H.I.S. and JTB. Both are known for international travel. The prices they offered were in line with those online at the time and had the additional benefit of being easily accessible to me so I decided to go with JTB. On the whole I am pretty happy with the interaction. The service, like most of Japan, was impeccible. They kept ahead of problems, including six time changes and a necessary one night layover in Toronto, for me admirably. I was also able to purchase my buller train tickets from them directly.
Some interesting things I noted about the travel agents were these. All of the agents at the counters are women but the manager is usually a man. Women are considered more desirable for service oriented positions like being a travel agent because they are considered to be friendiler. The agency also offered numerous travel packages broken down into three categories: travel within the country, travel abroad, and weddings/honeymoons. These categories are further sub divided. I have to say that I don't know how such things are divided up in the states but I was impressed with how orderly it all was.
That all being said I have to say that sometimes it was all too much. I recieved numerous additional phone calls about issues that seemed unimportant to me but they just wanted to tell me about just in case.
In order to travel out of the country and return legally I had to get a re-entry permit. I filled out a form bought a 3000 yen stamp from the post office and had my permit in about six minutes. The immigration officer took a moment to point out to me the expiration date on the permit and tell me to have a nice trip home and I was off. It was wonderful.
The last or the first thing I had to do involved filling out a form from my school and the board of education asking for a special leave to go out of the country. I had count up the number of days I would be gone, surrender my flight information, provide contact information for when I would be in the states, provide a reason for the travel, and collect three stamps to officiate the document. Then from there it was sent to the BOE to do whatever they do with it. Of all the things I had to do for going home taking the time from work was the most personally involving.
Well that's the story of leaving Japan with the intention of returning.

Patrick- Update for the past few months

2008-11-04T22:13:00.002+09:00

Here are some old things I wrote a few months ago but forgot to post to the blog.

Recently, I have been studying like mad for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test that will take place on December 7. If I pass this, I can quit working so hard and be able to casually enjoy life again, in addition to making more frequent updates here on this blog.

***

Impressions of Switching Schools

Since the students are taking semester final exams all day today, giving me eight hours to sit at my desk, I have some time to update.

So, in August, we all switched schools. I switched from the strictest, oldest school in the prefecture (which was also one of the smallest) to a school that is rapidly growing and near the bottom of the pack. What they both have in common is that neither are pulling from affluent neighborhoods.

At first I was surprised because I jumped from 369 students to nearly 600. But, after having worked here nearly two months now, the far bigger difference is working with new teachers. At my previous school, I worked with some of the most experienced, best teachers. This often let me with little to do, as they didn't need an assistant for most things. At my new school, however, the teachers have much less experience, and so I end up doing a bit more work. This is good, except when the work is correcting papers, since instead of 100 per grade there are now 200, and the students' abilities are lower making the corrections much more frequent.

The other big difference is that students at this school are much more friendly. At my old school, only a few students would talk to me freely. But at this school, many students often crowd around my desk. One reason for this is the difference in discipline. At the old school, students could only enter the teachers' room with special permission, but at my new school they need no reason and so come and go freely.

Japanese

I have been continuing to study Japanese. Sometimes I wonder if I'm even getting better, but then I look at what I did a few months back and realize that I am at least making some progress, slowly.

Weather

Suddenly it has gotten very cold. It went from too hot most days last week to me having to wear my winter coat this week. It seems we have skipped the nicer part of fall.

＊＊＊

In front of many stores are little gardens. What often makes for interesting morning scenes is that the employees, not professional gardeners, maintain them. For example, in front of a real estate agency is this elaborate pond, about two meters by six, filled with some flowers and a fountain. Yesterday, on my way to work, I observed a man in his normal work suit and boots taking a net to the pond to clean out the trash.

Another thing that's new on my commute are the unmanned vegetable and flower stands. There are several farms along the way, and by the road are little sheds which included vegetables and flowers and a money box. The items all have prices and you can simply take what you want and then put your money in the box.

In one stand, the money isn't even in a box. It just sits out on a tray. I'd seen this arrangement before in temples but this was my first time to see it on the side of the road.

Catherine-A Note About Public Bathing

2008-09-15T13:48:00.005+09:00

Dear all,

I was reading Sara's last post about Akita and her mentions of onsen (hotsprings) and I thought I should write a note about public bathing in Japan. Japan, being a mountainous country absolutely riddled with volcanoes, has several thousand onsen（温泉). Japan, also being an island country with limited natural resources and therefore a need to conserve fuel, has always used these onsen as places to bathe. Because the onsen were communal traditions concerning the use of onsen and the proper way to bathe developed. Certain days were for men, others for women, and still others were "mixed" days for whole familys to enjoy bathing together. In the past before one entered an onsen one used a bucket full of water to wet oneself down. Then one scrubbed oneself down from top to toes or toes to top with soap and a scrubby brush. A second bucket of water was applied to remove any suds and then one was ready to enter the bath. All of this is accomplished sitting down on a low stool or crouching. Japanese do not bath standing up.
By bathing outside of the bath ancient Japanese were able to ensure that the communal waters of the onsen stayed cleaned and fresh. The bathing traditions that developed as part this outdoor bathing in naturally occuring hotsprings were carried over into private baths in family homes, ofuro（お風呂), and into public baths, sentou（銭湯). These bathing traditons are continued today and while private family baths are typically used by one person at a time public baths and onsen are still communal. Going bathing now, as it was then, is a highly relaxing and friendly event. Friends and families go to the baths together. They use the time to talk, catch up, gossip and in general reconnect with others. During the cold winter months baths are especially nice for getting toasty warm and relaxing muscles tightened by the cold.
During the time I have lived in Japan I have visited onsen, sentou, made use of a private family bath and I have enjoyed them all. I have to say that one of the things I will miss most about Japan when I returned home is trips to onsen and sentou during the fall, winter, and early spring.

Well cheers,

Catherine

Sara-Akita trip

2008-08-12T16:55:00.008+09:00

This past weekend, Patrick and I went up to Akita as part of my birthday celebration.
Patrick took me to the aquarium there. I really love aquariums, and this one was really fun. So I put together a little video.

After the aquarium we stayed at a very nice onsen (public bath house, one for men, one for women). An onsen is also a hotel.

We had a very spacious room with a good view of the ocean. The room was actually bigger than our apartments!

We had a great dinner of fresh sea food that they brought to our rooms.

The food was incredibly good. And the bath was very relaxing after you get over the shyness.
After dinner and our bathing, we met up again to go to a taiko drumming performance that was at a small community theatre down the street. I can't particularly remember the troupe's name, but they dressed up as Namahage (A type of demon/god of Akita). People usually dress up as these beings for various festivals in Akita. This troupe performed as Namahage as a way of preserving tradition and teaching their culture in Akita. Namahage are beings who would punish/take away bad children so when they performed, the Namahage would wander the audience yelling "Arrgh! Are there any bad children here today?? Are there lazy, or rude children?" Parents were told to hold tightly to their child to protect them from these gods. It was a really great show. The drumming was amazing and it was free. It is a must see for anyone going to Akita.
This is a brief video I put together of the performance. The last piece they performed, I believe they composed themselves. For anyone who is familiar with taiko drumming, you may notice the more modern sound.

The next day we had another wonderful meal. Breakfast was served in their dinning room. It was a traditional tatami mat room. We were the only ones there but it was nice to have a quiet and relaxing morning. After breakfast, we checked out and wandered around the small town and then took the train to Akita city, in Akita. We went to a small art museum and wandered through a nice park. We ate dinner at the train station and then took the shinkansen back to Morioka. Though it was a brief trip, it was a lot of fun.

Sara-Sansa Festival '08

2008-08-11T15:14:00.003+09:00

From August 1st to the 4th, Morioka has it's Sansa Festival. Sansa is a type of traditional dance here in Iwate. There are many different dance troupes that perform during this time. Companies and neighborhoods put together troupes of dancers, drummers, and flutists. They parade down the main street of Morioka in their summer kimonos (yukata). Children and adults take part in the parade. Many families perform together. I saw some of my students participating as dancers for their neighborhood troupe. It's a very festive parade. Everyone dances, even the drummers and flutists. They also have an announcer who announces each troupe, and when the troupe gets to the finish line she announces "Thank you for your wonderful performance."
I have put together a brief movie with the original sound so you can hear the music. The dancers are chanting something like "Sakkora Choiwa yasse!" I'm guessing that this is from their local dialect, or something much older or a mixture of local and old Emishi. (The Emishi were the natives of Tohoku) I have heard that there are about 20,000 performers and around 5,000 drums. In the video you will also see performers wearing large flowers on their heads or a straw hat. Those are the traditional Sansa costumes.

Catherine-Long time no see

2008-08-07T18:53:00.004+09:00

Hello all,

I'm sorry that I am a terrible blogger. I just tend to forget that this is here which is why it's fortunate that Patrick and Sara are such good bloggers. I could tell you all about the various things I've been doing since my last post but as it's been several months I won't. Instead I will talk about all the recent events.
For our job we work at one school for one year. The catch is that we start work at the beginning of second term rather than first term. Recently, meaning the end of July, we all ended our last term at our old schools and prepared to head to our new ones. For me this meant cleaning out my desk, saying goodbye to all the teachers and students at Josei during various events. To say a proper farewell to the students I gave a speech in English and in Japanese telling the students how much I loved working at Josei and how much I would miss them all. I cried two lines into it but I had come prepared with tissues. After my speech a student of mine gave me one in return. He had written in both English and Japanese and though the English was not perfect I was very impressed and moved by what he had to say. I was also given a bouquet of flowers. It was very nice.
At the end of the day, after my farewell to the students, I went to a nomikai with all the teachers from Josei. There I gave another speech that was much shorter and ended with the line, "Please drink a lot." I am happy to say that they had no trouble complying. This nomikai was a chance for me to say goodbye and thankyou to the people I had worked with for a year. I really loved being and Josei for a lot of reasons but the staff that sat around drinking and talking with me was a big part of it. I miss them already.
The next major event for me was actually a series of events, namely Board of Education seminars spread out over the course of this past week. These seminars included the four new AET's: Rylan, Alicia, Kim, and Dan. These four were all SICE students and had been to Morioka before for four months on a homestay program that included two and half days a week teaching English but I still felt a little like a senpai. We spent time going over teaching methods for both middle school and elementary and talked about living and working in Morioka. We had a contract ceremony to start the year off right, visited our new schools to introduce ourselves, and attended workshops with other teachers about teaching English.
Tomorrow is the first official day at school for all the AETs but Rylan. He is in the Tamayama area and will be visiting all five of his schools tomorrow. I am looking forward to starting at my new school, Kuroishino Jr. High, and I hope that it will be another great year.
As I think back over the past year at Josei and in Japan I feel like I have learned a lot about Japan and Japanese culture but I also think that I will always be surprised. I know that I have learned a lot about being an English teacher because I had three amazing role models to learn from and I'm glad but I also think that I will still make a lot of mistakes. Teaching may be a process of learning everyday how you can mess up and then never doing that again.
Well that's enough.

Until the next time I remember or am reminded,

Catherine

Everyone- Earthquake OK

2008-07-27T00:25:00.003+09:00

So, a few days ago there was the worst earthquake since we came to Japan. Fortunately, though it was quite strong, and we certainly felt it, no one was hurt, and as far as I (Patrick) know, no property was damaged.

More updates soon, but I figured the safety announcement should come first.

Sara-Fourth of July and Wanko soba

2008-07-09T22:31:00.005+09:00

So this past weekend Risa and Jura came to visit us. On their first night, Friday, Catherine, Patrick and I took them to eat wanko soba. Wanko soba is basically a soba eating contest. My record best is 100 bowls, but that night I could only eat 90.

All together, we probably ate around 400 bowls.
Then on Saturday, Catherine organized a Fourth of July picnic dinner for us and our other ALT friends in the neighborhood.

We had a lot to eat and we had a lot of fun. After the picnic, we then went down to the river and lit up some sparklers.

Catherine is holding a 'senko' sparkler. You have to keep it very still and it is very pretty. As Martin said, it looks like a sparkling holly.
Then to finish off a fun night, we all went to a local Karaoke and sang for three hours or so.

Sara-Miyako

2008-07-09T21:51:00.004+09:00

This past weekend our Earlham friends, Risa and Jura, came to visit from Tokyo. During their time here, Patrick and I went to Miyako with them. Miyako is a small town on the coast and it's about 2 hours away by bus. We got bus tickets for 5,000 yen that was round trip and it included lunch, a boat tour, and local bus fair to get to the boat tour. Unfortunately I believe that this is just a limited summer deal. The food was great and the boat tour was amazing. It was an overcast day, but we had a lot of fun on the rocky beach and wandering the beautiful town.

Patrick- Pictures from the International Symposium

2008-07-07T15:36:00.006+09:00

Here are some pictures from the International Symposium described in a previous post.

In this first picture, my principal is introducing the school:

Here, I am explaining a video that describes the day to day activities of the students:

And here I am actually teaching class:

And in this picture I am accepting a gift on behalf of the school from the representative from Vietnam:

Patrick- Field Trips at the Junior High

2008-07-02T14:39:00.002+09:00

This week we had several field trips at the school. First, on Monday, the whole school went to a nearby park to draw and paint pictures of the landscape. They were given the entire day (8am-2pm) to do this. All students take art class for all three years of junior high school, and they had a brief trip to the park the week before to help them select what particular scene they wanted to sketch and paint and what perspective they wanted to do so from.

Then, today, first year students (and I) went to the river near the park to do basic botany. After identifying and cataloging as many plants as they could, they went to the park to study some more. Meanwhile, I and another teacher hid plastic animals by the river, which they were supposed to find. The catch was they had to stand on the sidewalk and look for what was fake; they couldn't get close to sift through things. They also only got ten minutes for this particular "game." Out of the 11 items, the best students could do was 7.

Meanwhile, the second year students visited various companies to see people working and learn about jobs. Both first and second year students only had morning trips; third year students, on the other hand, are off to another prefecture to plant trees as a service project and then study the relationship between the forest and the ocean.

ALT BBQ

2008-07-01T20:19:00.004+09:00

Sara- This past weekend, Patrick, Catherine and I went to an ALT BBQ over at Iwaizumi, a town that's about 2 hours away by car/bus. There we met our friends Shannon, who is on Earlham's program, and Martin. Then we met the ALTs who were hosting, Caitlin, and Jeff. We had a great time. Patrick brought chips, Catherine made mac 'n cheese and sangria, and I made coleslaw. There was a lot of food and later we enjoyed lighting small fireworks. That night we spent at Jeff's family house.
The next morning, everyone but Jeff, who had work, went to Ryusendo Cave. It was very exciting and fascinating. I made a short video of it. After the cave, we went to another one just down the street. It was the science cave. The cave was real, but inside they painted some fake cave paintings from different parts of the world and there was a part where they had cavemen from Japan with Native American paintings in the background. It was very fun. Then on the way back we went to an ice cream shop that had very unusual flavors. I had Rose and Cherry blossom. It was delicious. Patrick had wasabi and pickled plum (umeboshi). The wasabi tasted like wasabi, just sweet as well-but it still burned in my opinion.

Patrick- International Lesson Study

2008-06-30T08:09:00.003+09:00

Last week, a delegation of 26 teachers and principals from 25 countries visited the junior high school where I am teaching. They spent an afternoon at our school, during which we had a presentation, followed by an opportunity for them to visit the students' classes.

The countries represented included about 5 teachers from Africa and the Middle East, 10 from Europe, and 10 from Asia. The program is paid for by the Japan Foundation, which is a generously funded government institute that, for example, can host $100/head dinner parties for these 26 and another 75 guests, plus cover the flights, trains, and a weeklong stay in Japan for all participants. Of course, if your country doesn't go to war and maintain a standing army then perhaps you have money for other things.

It was interesting for me to get to meet and talk to many of the visitors. Also, when asked "Where are you from?", it was nice that people actually knew where Indiana was. Aside: It gets a little tiring when Japanese teachers ask, "Where are you from?"->"The US"->"Where in the US?" but when they ask that second question they maybe only know one or two cities in the US, such as LA and NY, and can't put them on the right coasts. Unfortunately, US and Japanese students are about the same when it comes to total ignorance of maps.

For me, perhaps the most interesting part is hearing what people expected to see when they visit a Japanese school for the first time. Since I've been working here, and I studied the Japanese educational system, I have forgotten some of the things that people expect, for example an absence of chalkboards (and in turn LCD screens/smartboards/something fancy in their place). In fact, nearly every school in Japan still uses chalkboards, and not just for classwork but to collect the attendance for the day and other mundane things.

In fact, Japan uses very little "high tech" equipment in the schools, and that includes not just computers but TVs.

Aside from that, probably the other biggest surprises for people were the inability to fail and suspend/expel students. "Without those punishments, how would we maintain order in our classes?" one teacher asked.

One does wonder sometimes.

Sara-Baseball finals and horse festival movie

2008-06-16T22:16:00.005+09:00

Today I had a surprise at work. Instead of classes the whole school went out to the big ballpark because our team went into the finals. (We lost, Catherine's school won. 0-1) So when I got back to work, I didn't have a lot to do to fill the time. After 3, I finished studying Japanese and by 3:30 I was getting bored of reading so I made this little slide show/video of the horse festival I went to on Saturday. Hopefully it gives a better idea of the main street. Unfortunately I was stuck to one place so it's not much. I replaced the sound of all the bells on the horses with music. If anyone really wanted to hear what they sounded like, just think of 100 cow bells, and hooves.

Earthquake

2008-06-16T07:11:00.003+09:00

Yesterday morning there was a relatively powerful earthquake in our prefecture. Some roads collapsed. But, the four of us are fine-- we all had dinner together last night-- and are all safe.

Although we certainly felt it here in Morioka, we were far from ground zero.

Sara-Chagu Chagu Umakko

2008-06-15T21:40:00.003+09:00

Yesterday Patrick and I went to the Chagu-chagu Umakko festival. The festival celebrates the horses of Iwate/Morioka. 100 horses came and walked down the main street to a temple. The horses were elaborately decorated and children were riding them. Before the horses there were a few bands and other parade festivities, including a super hero. The horses rested at a river and there you could see them up close. However it was raining and there were thousands of people so Patrick and I left before seeing them close. The horses were really beautiful and it's definitely a must see for horse lovers.

Individually wrapped everything, PS3

2008-06-12T11:10:00.003+09:00

Despite many good efforts to reduce waste, it seems like everything I buy comes individually wrapped. Usually there are packages within packages within packages. For example, when I bought yogurt the other day, it came in a three pack. So, the three little yogurt containers were supported by a cardboard base, which was then again wrapped in plastic. When I purchased the yogurt, it was put into a bag, and the ice cream I purchased along with the yogurt was put into a separate, smaller bag, which was then inserted into the yogurt bag, which was then taped.

I didn't really need a bag at all. But if you don't say it quick enough, you can be triple bagged before you know it.

Also US economic intuition doesn't work here. For example, it's cheaper to buy five individually wrapped ice cream cones than a box of five ice cream cones-- of the same brand, in the same store. It's cheaper to buy several regular chocolate bars than a single large one. (Why all my examples are desserts I don't know...)

Second, it's cheaper to buy things out of vending machines than convenience stores. This one gets me every time. I'll go into the convenience store, buy a bottled drink for $1.50, and then walk right outside the convenience store and in the vending machine right outside the same drink is selling for only $1, and it's colder.

But it's not just the little stuff. I bought a PlayStation 3 the other day, because I wanted to play Metal Gear 4. Well, for Metal Gear 4, there is a special bundle that includes the PS3, the game, and a special controller. There is also a special edition bundle that's very expensive, but the regular bundle is intended for the mass market and is supposed to be a value (it's not a limited run). However, it was still cheaper for me to buy the game, the system, and the controller separately.

Buying individual parts instead of packages is hard to get used to, and my fear is that as soon as I become accustomed to it, I'll go back to the US and get confused all over again.

Sara-Nihon Buyo (Japanese Dance)

2008-06-03T16:34:00.006+09:00

On June 1st I went to a Japanese Dance rehearsal/performance. My teachers are of the Wakayagiryu School/branch of Japanese dance. The students of my two Japanese Dance teachers performed at the Morioka community theatre. The event was from 10am to 7:30pm. I stayed for most of it and had a nice time. The costumes and sets were very beautiful and the dancers were amazing, especially since 30 students were between the ages of 50 and 80. There were 2 high school girls, and 4 girls between the ages of 3 and 7. I have two movies to show. The first is a sampling of the variety of dances and the second one is a longer version of three of the 4 little girls (the 3 year old is not with them.) It is also the dance that I am practicing at the moment.

Sara-Taikusai (Sports Day)

2008-06-03T16:14:00.006+09:00

This past Monday was Shitakoji's Sports Day. On that day we went to the large track and field stadium in the Sports Park. It was from 9am to 5pm and between 7am and 9am, students and teachers were getting everything set up. Parents came and watched. It was a big event. Basically it was a very big mini Olympic for those who had mini Olympics in the JHS. I did when I was a middle school student. But for the junior high students in Japan, Sports Day means a lot to them. The different classes in each grade competed against each other. So Class 1 of grade 1 vs. Class, 2, 3, 4, and 5.
To try and recreate the atmosphere of the event I made a short movie with music so please be aware of where you have your volume set.

Patrick- Planting Rice

2008-05-28T22:50:00.003+09:00

So on Sunday I went rice planting. These days, most rice planting is done by machine, not by hand. However, because of the lack of good farmland, most fields are still small enough that you could do them by hand if necessary.

I was invited by the owner of a restaurant that Sara and I frequent, and we took the bus over to the paddies, about a fifteen minute ride, well within the city limits.

When you plant rice, it turns out you don't plant the seeds first, as I would have expected. Instead, you grow the seeds somewhere else, until you get little shoots, and those you plant in the paddy. So in our case, the shoots were already grown, and we just walked through the paddy and stuck them in the mud, more or less.

Except, of course you have to measure this so that it goes in an orderly fashion. And for whatever reason, it took four men about an hour to take two pieces of string the width of the field and make marks 60cm apart. This wouldn't have been so bad, except there were about forty people waiting on them, with more showing up all the time.

All told, the planting proper only took about two hours for an area about half the size of a football field, but we had more than sixty people helping.

So, in practice, planting the rice meant holding a huge tray of the shoots in one hand, walking through the mud, and then sticking them in rows as neatly as possible.

Afterwards, there was an attempt to drink all the sake leftover from the previous year, but even with sixty people there was too much.

Patrick- New Faces, Website, Studies

2008-05-24T10:12:00.003+09:00

So it's been awhile since the last update. In the interim, I have been working on a "learn the Japanese language" website, and in two months I received over 10,000 visitors, so unfortunately the blog has taken the backseat for a little while.

However, the plan is to now return to weekly updates going forward.

The Japanese school year starts in April. Recently I've been very surprised at how incredibly well behaved our new students are. At first, I thought their good behavior must wear off very quickly, since they get behavioral cues from the older students and many of them behave very badly, but for whatever reason, after about two months at school our kids are still trying to do what they're supposed to, actually upset when they forget their homework or fail a test, etc.

It's a nice change of pace, since the second year students have nearly the opposite attitude. Unfortunately, the teacher who returned from sabattical, who is now responsible for the second years, isn't very assertive, and it's much more difficult now to keep them under control. We have about six students in one class who haven't brought their textbooks to English since April. Of course, they will probably fail the class. But, since the system is automatic promotion, it's very hard to motivate them that hey, actually you shouldn't fail the class if you get the chance.

In other news, I've also been studying Japanese a lot, more than before. I finally finished reading my first book in Japanese. Which is not to say it took me eight months; it only took me eight days, but up to this point I have been so busy learning vocbulary, grammar, etc. I hadn't bothered to actually read any books. Well, since none of that is so interesting in and of itself, I finally couldn't take it and decided to read something.

But of course, the reason I was studying the vocabulary and grammar was because I didn't want to read just any book, and go back to being ten years old. So I read a book on Hegel and Marx that was intended for new college students, which turned out to be a little disaster, but I got through it, and I looked up every single word I didn't know as punishment, which I have discovered is the real key to reading success and not turning into a moron later, when I half remember words but have no idea what they mean because I never bothered to learn them.

Tomorrow I will go rice planting. I don't really know anything about growing rice, so I hope it's a good experience.

Patrick- Another comment about credit cards

2008-04-23T12:39:00.002+09:00

When shopping online, I'm not eligible for a Japanese credit card (they don't give them out like candy here), so I have to use the "pay at a convenience store" option. In Amazon's case, that means after you order, they send you a number by e-mail after about thirty minutes. You walk down the street and show the people at the convenience store the number, then pay them, then Amazon ships the product to you.

This is pretty simple and about as good as it gets.

But for Apple, if you choose the convenience store option, they physically mail you the number, causing you to wait two or three days, which you then take to the convenience store and pay. Why a US computer company feels the need to physically mail payment numbers for online purchases is beyond me.

Sara-Bone Fracture

2008-04-10T21:02:00.001+09:00

On Monday, I went to the hospital because my foot had been hurting since the Tochigi trip. I went to the prefecture hospital and after about 3 or 4 hours, I learned that I have a small fracture in my foot. The cost of this was 4,000 yen. I also received pain killers and another medicine for my back pain for only 730 yen. So I have crutches from the hospital and I’m learning how to walk to school and move around the apartment with them. The teachers and students at my school have all been very nice and helpful.
I keep telling them that it just looks worse than it really is, but it’s been really nice to get the help. Juggling two crutches and two lunch boxes is not a skill I have. The great thing about the injury though is that I’m now working on my abs. Maybe after the crutches I can do 200 sit-ups without breaking a sweat. :)

Sara-"Spring vacation" in Tochigi and Saitama

2008-04-10T20:55:00.005+09:00

From March 27-30th Patrick and I went to Tochigi and Saitama prefecture to see two friends. First we went to Tochigi to visit our friend Jura who is studying at a university there. Then Jura joined us to visit our friend Risa in Saitama. There, we walked up a mountain, but only a little way up because I had injured my foot earlier. Then we walked around the Tokyo area. We had dinner in Shibuya, and looked at the cherry blossoms. The following day we said goodbye to Jura and then Risa, Patrick and I went to the World’s only Parasite Museum. It was interestingly disgusting. We had a really great time and the Shinkansen one way was 13,000 yen from Tokyo station to Morioka.
Here are a few pictures from our trip. The fist is Patrick (green jacket) and Jura (red jacket) going up to see a Shrine while in Utsunimiya city (Tochigi). The next is an Izakaya (bar/restaurant) that we went to. We went to the one on the right that has たこ which is Octopus in Japanese. The next pictures are of cherry blossoms and a view from the mountain that we walked up while around the Tokyo area.

Patrick- Here's a hilarious thought

2008-03-19T11:26:00.002+09:00

Kids in the US coming to school over their summer vacation to sweep the halls.

Patrick- Recent events

2008-03-07T08:35:00.003+09:00

For my third year (ninth grade) students, we had a farewell party last week, which lasted two hours. They called it a party but it included one hour of singing, choir style (each grade to each other), half an hour of cheering (thank god the cheerleading system is completely different), and video and pictures of the kids from their first year to their third.

Also much to my surprise, the teachers "sang" a song which included changing into ridiculous costumes, busting out an electric guitar, and rapping.

Also, we had a special end-of-the-year ceremony for our three deaf students. We have one in each grade-- first, second, and third. Two things surprised me: first, there was no sign language. The teachers and principal spoke to the students almost as if they were no different from any of the other students. As part of the ceremony, the students each had to deliver a speech about the year. When one of the girls didn't see/hear the principal call her name, he gave her a two minute lecture on not paying attention right in the middle of the ceremony. It seemed a bit absurd to me, but the principal runs the whole school like that.

Lastly, we've been doing the year-end cleaning, which runs about forty minutes each day. It mainly includes scrubbing the floors with sponges and little rags-- instead of mops, we use the large number of students (and teachers) to get the job done.

Sara-Ballroom dance party

2008-02-29T22:08:00.006+09:00

On Feb. 26th, I went to a dinner/recital/dance party that my ballroom dance teachers held. My teachers are Mr. and Mrs. Hakoishi, their son,Nobu, and Ekaterina, a Russian student who is about 24. It was at a hotel and other teachers from other schools were there as well. I believe most of the ballroom dance schools had one or two of their students perform. Then the teachers performed and we also had a world champion Italian couple perform. They are good friends with my teachers so they had agreed to come and dance at the party.
There was also a Chinese course dinner on a Lazy Susan.

I filmed a little bit of the event and broke it up into sections. I was able to film Ekatarina's performance with Nobu, but not Mr. and Mrs. Hakoishi. I used my digital camera and it was not able to handle the lighting very well. There was also dance time, where a live band played and anyone could dance on the dance floor. I danced the jitterbug once. I kept waiting to see Humphrey Bogart burst in after some woman he just offended. (Also, there is sound, so please be careful of where you have your volume.)

Sara-Field trip with Special Ed. Students

2008-02-29T21:58:00.005+09:00

On Feb. 15th, I went out with the Special Ed. students because it was a test day and I didn't have any work to do. We first went to a small museum that had artifacts from the Jomon period which was from around 10,000B.C. to 300B.C. We made necklaces out of a soft stone that reminded me of chalk. We sandpapered the stone down until it looked like a tadpole. The man who was teaching us how to make them said that some have said that they might have been a charm of some sort, perhaps fertility, since they are also the shape of a fetus.
Then after the museum, we all went and ate lunch at a Karaoke restaurant. We had our own room and we sang and ate for a good two hours. We had a lot of fun.

Patrick- Patrash

2008-02-19T09:21:00.002+09:00

So my students were joking around after cleaning time, and one boy comes up to me and says, "My nickname is 'Slow Pikachu,' because I'm like Pikachu but not as fast." What's your nickname?

I replied I didn't have one and he said he'd make me one. He thinks for a second and says, "Ah! Patrash!"

Now if he had arrived at that name because I was always after him about picking up the trash (which I am, since he's the only boy able to make the room dirtier during cleaning time), I would have been impressed, but he didn't know the word "trash."

Later nickname suggestions included "Patri", "Patr" "Pa" and "Patrick." When I explained to him Patrick was my name, and therefore could not be a nickname, there was a brief pause, an epiphany, and then a sudden running away.

Patrick- Worship by means of self deprecation

2008-02-19T09:12:00.002+09:00

Last week my school had a coming-of-age ceremony for the eighth graders, in which they each chose a phrase to represent themselves, presented calligraphy of said word, and made a thirty second speech. That was quite interesting.

But after that was a speech by a retired principal of the school. Now, as the oldest school in the prefecture, and counting a prime minister among its students, my junior high is a little heavy with history. Also, of course it is a stereotype that Japanese are abusive to themselves when expressing humility. But in my time here, I hadn't really encountered the kind of scenes that give rise to such stereotypes-- until this event.

So the principal started his speech by saying, "My speech will probably be boring, but..." This is a fairly common way of opening and unremarkable. However, he proceeded to say: "you can put the kinds of speeches on a grid, with one axis being interesting/uninteresting and the other good content/bad content. Of course, good content and interesting is the best kind of speech. Some examples of such speeches are x, y, and x. Second best is good content but not interesting. Examples include a, b, and c. I used to know a person who did such speeches." Etc, etc. Six minutes pass this way. "In conclusion, my speech will be neither interesting nor include good content, but it cannot be helped. You see, the teacher who invited me to speak knew this fully, and yet he still invited me..." Etc., etc. Three more minutes pass.

Now, the speech went on 80 minutes after that, but at least he started speaking about something other than the fact he wasn't good at speeches.

It amused me quite a bit, though, that as he enumerated the different types of speeches, of course I thought, "Well, his will definitely be in the last category," but when he concluded so himself, at length, I took some bizarre delight in the absurdity of the situation.

Patrick- Why did the US invade Iraq?

2008-02-15T21:36:00.002+09:00

Written on the chalkboard when I entered the classroom today:

wanted to get oil

needed to demonstrate US military superiority

decided to strike back against a government the US didn't like

I'm not sure about my translation of the last one, but I'm fairly confident about the first two.

Patrick - Cheap Shot and Patrick Shock

2008-02-14T15:26:00.004+09:00

So periodically students ask me for words that aren't in the textbook. About a month ago, a boy pantomimed the motion of being punched in the nuts and asked, "What's this?"

I said, "Oh, that's a cheap shot." But then the boy started going around asking, "Cheap shot ok? Cheap shot ok?"

I decided I would try to explain to the boy that "cheap shot" meant that it wasn't a good thing to do, so I pantomimed punching someone in the back and said, "This is also a cheap shot." But that didn't work, so I said, "Cheap shot... like cheap hamburger" hoping to draw attention to the meaning of "cheap." Instead, the boys (there were several of them by now) heard "cheap shot", thought of punching each other in the crotch, and then thought "cheap hamburger"... Well, as you can imagine, it was a disaster.

***

Also, somewhat unrelated, my students are fond of making words of their own. Today, though, we had a real winner-- "Patrick shock", which refers to the process (and feeling?) of almost crashing into me as you too fast around a corner. Which is, in fact, an ever present danger for several students who seem to be in the habit of running without looking.

Patrick- "Hello, please try hard to get to school by 9 o'clock"

2008-02-12T08:57:00.000+09:00

One thing that is a big difference from the schools I attended is that teachers call truant students in the morning-- and later, if they still haven't shown up.

School starts roughly at 8, but the first class isn't until 8:50. So, before that, there are some meetings for students and teachers etc. During these meetings, if the student hasn't arrived, their homeroom teacher calls home and the conversation will go something like this:

T: "Hello, is this student x?"
S: "Yes."
T: "Why aren't you here at school?"
S: Excuse.
T: "Forget that and come to school in the next thirty minutes."
S: Mumbles something.
T: "I'm serious. You better be here by x o'clock."
S: "Ok."

I find it amusing, but maybe I shouldn't. Actually what's surprising is that despite the relative lack of penalty for truancy (you can't get expelled, for example), most students still come to school on time every day.

Patrick- Random Observations

2008-02-07T22:19:00.001+09:00

It's been a while, but I'll be posting much more soon. I've been doing really well and I have been working on various Internet projects in my absence, most of which are coming along quite nicely.

Today I'd just like to share some interesting little things.

First, about a week ago on the news was an interview with Senator Obama's grandmother, who lives in Kenya. As far as I can recall, I had never seen a candidate's grandmother interviewed for any office.

Second, I am getting tired of listening to Avril Lavigne every day for lunch. The kids are allowed to play whatever they want over the PA system for 10 minutes a day so about half of the time we are listening to her.

Third, I passed level 2 of the Japanese language proficiency test. This clears me to go for broke this December to try for the final grade.

Fourth, it is more expensive to buy ice cream bars in bulk than individually at the grocery store. To be clear, it is cheaper to buy six individually wrapped ice cream bars rather than one pack of six (same brand). In the same way, it is cheaper to buy several small containers of salad dressing rather than one large container of the same.

Sara-Need a tutor?

2008-01-27T11:19:00.001+09:00

Though I don't know much about expensive private tutors, you can get free private tutoring at the Aiina international center. (I'm sorry if this was posted before, I just can't remember at the moment) You have to fill out a form that you get at Aiina and you can fill it out in either English or Japanese. You write a little bit about how much you've studied, what you want to focus on, and when and where you would like the lessons. They will then find a teacher for you and get back to you. It usually takes between one or two weeks.

Aiina got back to me within a week, so now I will meet my teacher on Feb. 13th and I will report back on that. :)

Sara-Things to do other than study in Japan

2008-01-27T10:31:00.000+09:00

Since it is the New Year, I decided that I have too much free time and that I can't stand sitting around doing nothing after school. So, I took out the binder that I got during our orientation in August and flipped to the page that had information on the various cultural centers in Morioka. Unfortunately some of the information was wrong, and there were no addresses. Luckily, one of my teachers(the assistant PE teacher) knew where one place was, and I remembered Japan's Yellow pages. It's called Town pages and you can find them in Aiina which is the international center. One B&W copy of a page is 10yen and color is about 50. However, you can't just pay and copy. You have to go to the librarian, ask to copy the page, and they will hand you a form to fill out. I learned then that it's better to find ALL the pages you want first before going to them.

The town pages were not easy to navigate through, but after a while, I sort of had an idea as to how it was organized. I found the cultural centers, ballroom studios, Traditional Japanese Dance classes, and calligraphy schools for Paul.

These are the three that were in the book:

JEUGIA- This center is in the new AEON mall. It's the furthest from me but, it is easy to get to because you can take a bus there for a cheep price from the train station. The classes here are not too expensive, many are for 4,200yen, and you pay only for the month so it is easier to quit classes. I plan on taking Flamenco here.
http://www.jeugia.co.jp/new_culture/centertop/mkcentertop.cgi?cid=27

NHK Bunka Center (Bunka means Culture)-This is a cultural center that is close to where I live. It's in the downtown but it's not really easy to find because it is a small building. However, they have many classes both in the building and outside. They are more expensive, and the classes are not for one month. Many are spread out, so you would take 6 classes in 3 months(2 classes per month).
http://www.nhk-cul.co.jp/school/morioka

Terebi (T.V) Iwate Academy-This is a small school and they don't have many classes, but this is next to the city hall and in the downtown.
http://www.tvi.jp/academy

Town pages website- http://www.itp.ne.jp

But the cultural centers and the town pages were not my only resource. My kyotosensei's (Vice Principal's) wife knows many people. She introduced me to her tea ceremony teacher (and so now I take classes there) and when she heard from her husband that I was looking for a Traditional Japanese Dance school, she introduced me to her friend's mother who is a teacher. In other words, teacher's at the schools probably know many more people in the city you live in than you, the centers, and the town pages.

And aside from knowing people, they are very friendly here and they like and want to help me. When I asked my third grade English teacher about how to make a polite phone call to see a ballroom dance class but not make any commitments, he quickly said "Oh don't worry, I'll call for you." I then said that I didn't want to trouble him etc. he just laughed and said "Really, don't worry. I enjoy calling people and I don't get to do it enough."

So, with all that said and done, you can look at the various pages for the centers and look at the various pictures for the classes. And the really nice thing is that whether you want to take a class at a cultural center, or at a private school,studio,etc. you can and probably should ask to just go in a see a class. The teachers are all very nice about it and you can easily bow out by saying "Thank you, and I will think about it. I just don't know what my schedule at my school will be for this year."

Catherine-Long Catch Up Blog

2008-01-11T17:18:00.000+09:00

Dear all,
Sorry I have not posted in a really long time. The quick version is that three days after our Thanksgiving extravaganza I broke my wrist in an accident and so I haven't written. Here is the list of things that I need to tell you about: my school's staff trip to Hakodate, the broken wrist itself and all the connected hospital goodness, the winter here, my new computer AKA major electronics purchase in Japan, the New Year, and the transfer in and out of two American girls to and from my school.

Hakodate

Hakodate is a port city in the southern part of Hokaido. It is a beautiful city and I really enjoyed my visit there a lot. We went up to Hakodate-yama and saw the night view which is one the three most famous in the world.

While in Hakodate I also did a lot of shopping. I even bought a fish. The hotel we stayed in was very nice and we were in Japanese style rooms with tatami mats and futon. The hotel also had a nice salt/sea water bath with really nice views. I got to spend a lot of time with members of the staff other than the English teachers and after this trip I felt like I knew them all a little better and that we had a better relationship.
Also I got to ride on the shinkansen there and back which I love.

Broken Wrist

I broke my wrist, as stated above, four days after Thanksgiving and the day after I got back from Hakodate. It was a Sunday so I had to go to the emergency hospital because none of the others were open. I was riding down the hill in front of my apartment when a car sped out of a parking lot. I tried to stop so I wouldn't hit the car and I flipped over. I landed on my wrist and my bike landed on top of me. When I got up the car was gone and I had to call my friend for help. Apparently Japanese people really don't want to get involved in things so no one stopped to help. At the emergency hospital I first had to wait while they put a folder together for me. Then I waited in at #2 for a while and I was asked a few questions. Then I was sent to wait at #4 where I got some x-rays taken. It hurt a lot. Not so much as an ice pack was offered to ease my suffering. I was sent back to #2 to wait some more then I got called in to see the doctor. She put me in a temporary cast, told me I had to have surgery, and asked me if I wanted the medicine that you can drink or the kind you "use from the back." As you might have guessed I went for the drinkable kind. I got referred to a second hospital where they were going to do the surgery. My school was called and the next day bright and early my Kyoto sensei and the head English teacher, Nakano sensei, met up with me at the hospital to wish me good luck.
Hospital number two had a similar process to the first one. We gave them the referral and they made a folder for me. Then we waited some more. Then they cut the temporary cast off and took some x-rays with a significant period of waiting between those two things. Then we waited again to see the doctor. This doctor was amazing and worth the wait because he told me I didn't have to have surgery and he found the second break in my wrist. Thus began my four week long cast adventure. It is off now in case you are too lazy to count. Add in three more doctor's visits( all the waiting included), a lot of inconvenience, some pain, and a terrible need to wash my arm and you have the whole story. Here's a picture.Winter in Morioka

In a word, horrid. It's cold. There's a lot snow and a lot ice. It drops below freezing almost as soon as the sun goes down. I have been told by several people that this is the coldest winter in Morioka's recent history. I have gotten so used to being cold that my room seems warm when it's fifty degrees F inside. Sixty-five is positively balmy. I have slipped and fallen on the ice twice already and I have a sneaking suspicion that I am not done. I'd put up a picture here but there's no need to be depressing.

New Computer

So I had been saving for five months to buy a new computer and I saw one on sale at a good price so I got my friend and fellow AET Paul to come have a look at it. He used to be a CS major need I say more. It had all the whizzes, bangs, and whirls it was supposed to so I bought it. I relaunched the OS into English and everything has worked out great for me since. This was a fairly bloodless process for me. I have to say though that I am not technically minded and have a very limited range of needs from a computer so that probably helped. Also I got Paul who one understands computers and two speaks better Japanese than me to talk to the sales guy. If you are like me when it comes to computers and you have a Paul you'll be fine. Something to note though is that electronics here are much more expensive than in the states and I actually got a good deal on my computer because I took advantage of a New Year's sale.

New Year's or oshogatsu

In Japan oshogatsu is the major holiday. Think of Christmas in the states as example of the fellow feeling and rigmarole. There are sales in shops for the days before and after. The country practically closes for five days. There are special foods made and eaten, families are visited, and everyone makes a visit to the shrine for luck, good wishes, and to buy new omamori(protection charms). I did all of these things. I visited the relatives of a teacher at my school and I ate a lot of really good food. His mother-in-law is an amazing cook. I went to the Sakurajima jinja to make my New Year's wishes and to buy new omamori with my two friends.
Later on that day we went to the public bathes and then went out partying to celebrate oshogatsu. We went to dinner and drank a lot. We went to karaoke and drank a lot. We then went to an after hours bar and drank a lot more. It was a lot fun and I feel we did oshogatsu proud.

Two American Girls

This pair of sisters came to Morioka and my school about a month. They are nice girls and very smart. Their mom is Japanese and their father was an American. They lived in Japan when they were very young but neither one of them had ever been to school here. The older went to yoichien only. Their coming was a big surprise and caused a lot of concern in the teacher's room because we knew very little about the girls. Only their names and that they didn't speak Japanese. I was surprised myself and worried and glad that I was there to help them transition all at once. They were at the school a little over two full weeks before winer vacation began. I began giving them basic Japanese lessons to start with and Kyoto sensei was able to set up extra Japanese lessons for them three times a week. I found myself acting as a homeroom teacher to these girls. The other teachers came to talk to me about their progress in classes and their concerns for the girls' welfare. I also gave them guidance and pushed for keeping them in the classroom with the other students despite their lack of Japanese ability. When the social studies teacher wanted to start catching them up on their work I found English language articles of the same information and made worksheets asking after important information and teaching related Japanese keywords. I gave them daily Japanese assignments and did my best to help them. I really enjoyed that but I have to confess that I was glad when break came because it gave me a chance to slow down and deal with the stress. Now the girls are moving again to Chiba and today they came to school to exchange the last few papers, return the uniforms, and say goodbye to class mates. I will miss them. I was both glad to help them and pleased to be considered capable of doing it. At the same time I'm not sure I was ready for the responsibility. Their leaving has taken the uncertainty away. I won't have to go up to the other teachers and admit it was too much for me but I now no longer have the chance to prove that I could do it. I don't know if I am more disappointed or relieved. I am can certainly say that it has been a learning experience and has pushed the boundaries of my inventiveness more than a few times. Wonderfully enough they have been expanded.

Well you are now all officially caught up on the major events.

Best of,
Catherine

Patrick, Sara- Trip to Sendai for Japanese Test

2007-12-09T17:50:00.001+09:00

Last weekend Sara and I went to Sendai for me to take the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. I may or may not have passed. The beginning (vocabulary) was great; the middle (listening) was ok; but the end (reading comprehension) was killer.

We didn't have a guide, but near as we can tell, Sendai is a city full of (expensive) shopping and bars. Still, we have a few interesting pictures.

A Comfort Inn in Japan (significantly more expensive than US counterpart):

Behold, the clean toilet:

Great place to buy clothes?

To get to this statue we walked a vertical mile:

The night view:

Sara about to get reaaalllll happy:

The horde of taxis outside the train station:

Wanko Soba Eating Competition

2007-11-28T08:16:00.000+09:00

On Monday night Sara and I attended the wanko soba competition. Soba is a type of noodle that tastes pretty delicious (the first thousand, anyway), and wanko soba is sitting at a restaurant and eating bowl after bowl after bowl. If you eat more than 100 bowls, you get a little wooden plaque.

This was, technically speaking, the SICE farewell party. SICE is the program that Earlham College runs here that I attended three years ago. When I was on SICE, I ate 145 bowls, the top for the evening.

Well, I am happy to say this year I won again, setting a new personal best of 161 bowls. Carl's record from last year, however-- over 200 bowls-- remains utterly amazing.

The all time record, however, was just set this summer by a 24 year old woman (that's all I know)-- over 500 bowls.

Sara ate a quite respectable 100 bowls. Two days later, I think we're both still reaping the consequences.

Patrick- JLPT Practice Test Passed

2007-11-25T15:53:00.001+09:00

Also, the other exciting news from this weekend is that I passed the practice test for the Japanese language exam I will be taking next Sunday, 15% over what I needed. This is good because a month ago I failed by 5%.

Since this particular test is only offered once per year, there are no second chances.

Patrick- My Birthday

2007-11-25T15:44:00.000+09:00

I would like to thank all of you who sent birthday greetings. I am very glad to have the Internet, as it vastly simplifies the process of staying in touch.

My birthday was rather low key because we had the big thanksgiving party the next day, so Sara and I went to a buffet that features Chinese, Japanese, and Italian dishes. It was quite excellent, and the whole day would have been rather swell and without incident had I not broken Sara's bike in an attempt to put air in the tire.

When I unscrewed the air nozzle, it simply came apart in my hands. So I carried the bike to the repair shop about two kilometers away. Thankfully, he was still open, and put it back together in about five minutes. It's the same bicycle shop where I got my bike repaired several times on SICE, and indeed where I would go the next day when my own bike's shift got frozen.

Patrick- Christmas Shopping Complete

2007-11-25T15:42:00.000+09:00

This year I vowed to do all of my Christmas shopping in a single day-- deciding, purchasing, and shipping. That day was November 23, and amazingly, I succeeded.

In large part, this is a result of Japan not having suburbs and all of the stores downtown being within a few blocks of each other.

So, you can expect your Christmas stuff in the mail sometime next week.

Thanksgiving (Written by Patrick)

2007-11-25T15:39:00.000+09:00

The four of us had Thanksgiving together with the Earlham students on the SICE program, their host families, and many other people who have some tie to Earlham.

When I was on SICE, we only had four students, so the Thanksgiving was rather lacking. This year, however, with about a dozen students on SICE, we had a comprehensive selection of both Japanese and American cuisine, including cranberries (!!!) and mashed potatoes. Chicken took the place of turkey, but that's just because turkey is outrageously expensive here.

Unfortunately, there are no pictures of the feast because I think that in our hunger we all forget to bring our cameras.

And although Thanksgiving is not a holiday here, we had Friday off, as it was some variety of labor day.

Patrick- Lake Takamatsu

2007-11-19T19:14:00.000+09:00

Inside Morioka, this is my favorite place, at least as far as fall is concerned. Iwate Park is a close second.

But as you can see, the ducks are a little too domesticated:

Patrick- First snow of the new season

2007-11-19T19:12:00.000+09:00

Last night it was melting on contact, but when I woke up this morning (the view from my backyard, as it were):

Sara-Busy November

2007-11-18T13:19:00.001+09:00

I must apologize for the very very late updates of my various travels. November has kept me busy. I am participating in Nanowrimo (National Novel Writer's Month) and I have been spending most of my time writing other than posting. I have also been writing up a Thanksgiving menu for my Junior High students and translating it into Japanese. They are having somewhat of a hard time understanding Pilgrims though. They're surprised to find out that Americans are not Americans but Native Americans are.

This makes me a little worried about Christmas though because I never had a traditional Christmas until I went to Patrick's home and had Christmas with his family. I keep having to explain that I'm not Christian so my Christmas is very different. This makes me wonder what would happen if someone who was Jewish became an ALT. I'm sure it must have happened before, but probably there weren't many to talk about Hanukkah.

I often feel like I'm in a Star Trek episode. I'm part of an away team and I'm supposed to teach the alien race about Starfleet and the idea that the Federation of Plants really means, all planets and that even among humans, there are differences.

Anyway, I will probably write about Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Ramadan. So, unfortunately that means hearing even less from me and my school.

Happy Thanksgiving though!

Sara-Hakodate, Hokkaido(More catching up)

2007-11-18T12:59:00.000+09:00

On October 27th, I went to Hakodate with a few of my teachers as a teachers only field trip. Hakodate is a port city in the south of Hokkaido. It is the port that Commander Perry arrived at and he wrote about it as being one of the safest ports for ships to enter. When we arrived it was a cloudy day and it reminded me of Boston. You can see a lot of cargo ships and fishing boats. Just down the street is an open fish market where you can get fresh crabs and other sea food. I bought some as a gift for my mom and some friends back in Kobe.
Hokkaido is famous for it’s seafood (like Boston) particularly their crabs and other shellfish. On Saturday night, we had a really good dinner that consisted of raw fish and clams. We also had grilled lamb which was a Korean dish that they call Genghis Khan, and a seafood Nabe. Nabe means pot in Japanese. Nabe is a pot dish that has a lot of vegetables and fish cooked together in boiling water. Soy sauce is added for flavor, but the soup stock comes mainly from the fish that gets cooked. As for the Genghis Khan, I couldn’t get an answer for the reasoning behind the name.

Hakodate is also famous for its various western European buildings, and for being the last stand for the Shinsengumi Army, and the place where the famous poet Ishikawa Takuboku wrote many of his poems and taught at a local elementary school . There are many catholic churches in Hakodate and a French nunnery (They make really good ice cream!). Since it was my first time to Hakodate, I explored the city a lot. One attraction I went to was the old warehouse. It used to be for storing cargo and fish, but now it is a shopping mall with an army of Santa Clauses. The other fun place that I went to was the rope way. It takes you up to a high mountain and you can see Hakodate at night. It was very beautiful and the picture that I have doesn't do it justice.
All in all, I had a lot of fun and it's a great place to go if you're already up north. The trip only cost me 30,000 yen (about $300) which was the round train trip and one night at the hotel. I heard that it was through a special deal through JR travel agents.

Sara-Hiraizumi (Catching up on things I did in October.)

2007-11-18T12:45:00.000+09:00

I went with Patrick on October 20th to Hiraizumi, which is a small town in Iwate, just south of Morioka. Hiraizumi is now a National Historic site because of it’s many temples and other preserved historical ruins. We were able to get a day ticket for 2,200 yen (about 20 dollars), which allowed us to go anywhere in Iwate and get off at as many places as we wanted to within the day. We left around 10am and got on the local train. It took about an hour and a half to get to Hiraizumi, but the scenery was very beautiful.
Once we arrived, we first ate breakfast at a local soba noodle shop. I had learned earlier from one of the English teachers at my school that there are a lot of soba (buckwheat) noodle shops because long ago, people in the Tohoku region (which includes Iwate prefecture) couldn’t grow rice because the soil wasn’t rich enough. So instead, they grew buckwheat and millet. Thus, a lot of buckwheat dishes.
After breakfast, we went to a temple that was just a couple of miles from the train station. It was very beautiful. There was a brook that ended at a lake and many various small Buddhist shrines.

We then continued on to the main attraction for us, which was Chusonji (Chuson Temple). However, before getting to Chusoji, we took a detour and went to see the grave of Yoritomo’s wife and child (Yoritomo was a great Feudal Lord). Then, we decided that it was a good idea to continue up a long road that ended up to be a very very steep hill that was almost a vertical climb. Once we arrived at the top, we were rewarded by a shrine.
After our very tiring walk up the hill, we went down and continued to Chusonji. This temple is well known for it’s golden pavilion. It is like the one in Kyoto but unlike the one in Kyoto, Chusonji’s pavilion was preserved in its original state. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take a picture of the pavilion, but it was very beautiful. We also found a statue of Basho, the great haiku poet, and paintings of the other famous shrines and temples in Japan. After Chusoji, we went to the shrine and grave of Yoshitsune the great samurai warrior who was the younger brother of Yoritomo, the War Lord. However, no one knows for sure where Yoshitsune died. There is a legend that Yoshitsune escaped with the help of the Buddhist priest Benkei (who is buried in Chusonji). We also found a stone slab of one of Basho’s haikus. The view was also very beautiful. We were able to see the wide river, and the fields.

After the temple, we headed back to the train station and had lunch and then had a late dinner.

Patrick- A Strict Elementary School

2007-11-18T12:09:00.000+09:00

Usually visits to the elementary school bring lots of chaos. The kids are generally very excited, either at getting to study English or not having to study (whatever), so it's quite disorderly and entertaining. But for my own part, I have mostly visited smaller elementary schools and taught only one class (20-30 students) at a time.

On Friday I visited an elementary school that was extremely strict. If students talked when they were entering the room, they were severely scolded. Previously I have not really noticed students being scolded just for talking here.

When it came time for questions, the students had already been selected who would ask-- and what they would ask.

I read The Very Hungry Caterpillar to the fourth grade, and after that they had a ten question quiz on whate he ate and when.

But even more surprising was lunch. Usually I eat lunch with a class of students and just talk to them. But this lunch was scheduled and choreographed to the last. Three students do greetings, three students ask questions, three students show special tricks (rolling eyes into the back of his head, backflip, stuffing his ear inside his ear?- hard to explain), etc.

Then, even more bizarrely, when I get back to my junior high school, one of the English teachers tells me that at that elementary school, they have actually been really teaching them English every year (usually elementary schools just get a visit or two a year from someone like me for "English instruction"). Well, I actually thought their English ability was lower than the other elementary schools.

I'm not really sure what more to say about this school. Sorry if you read to the end hoping for some resolution.

Patrick- Everyday Disasters

2007-11-18T12:04:00.000+09:00

Since coming to Japan, living on my own for the first time has not been such a challenge, but the experience has also been not without its share of accidents. So far, I have:

spilled the entire container of laundry detergent- twice

broken three glasses

forgot about several food items which rotted quite nastily

lost my gloves somewhere

accidentally left hot water running for a full day which resulted in a $100 gas bill

lost my Japanese dictionary and kanji-studying game on a train

broken my chair

This list excludes minor problems, such as losing my keys or my wallet, which happens nearly every day.

Still, despite all these accidents, things are quite good. So far, my own stupidity has only cost me about $100/month, so it could certainly be a lot worse.

Patrick- In Case of Emergency...

2007-11-14T17:31:00.000+09:00

Today, we had an earthquake drill. This is like a fire drill in the US; all the students calmly line up and exit the school and are timed to see how long it takes them.

But a few weeks ago we had something different-- a fire drill. This "fire" drill assumed that the students would not be able to evacuate the building via the stairs because of immense flames. Instead, students would slide down giant chutes from the fifth floor to the safe ground below.

Of course, the students enjoyed it tremendously. But I am not sure as to its practicality. First, the school is largely concrete, and would likely not quickly burst into flames. Second, although many schools have a balcony running the length of the school, where students could escape safely, mine does not. Instead, students would have to travel the entire length of the hall to the opposite side of the building-- past both sets of stairs-- in order to reach the chutes. Third, it took us forty-five minutes to evacuate 100 students. At that rate, if the flames were that strong...

But anyway, we had fun, and isn't that what matters during safety drills?

Patrick- Japanese Language Proficiency Test

2007-11-14T14:44:00.000+09:00

So, for the past three months I have been studying for the Japanese language proficiency test, which I will take the first weekend of December.

There are basically two versions of the test; one for moderate proficiency and one for fluency. I am taking the easier of the two.

I decided to do this when I arrived here because I knew that if I didn't have something to motivate me I probably wouldn't make much progress. Instead, I've been studying between four and six hours a day and learned to read a few thousand words.

Unfortunately, despite studying Japanese for three years at Earlham (but not at all my senior year- very unfortunate considering my position now), I had crap reading ability when I got here, a result of two factors. First, Earlham's program focuses on conversational proficiency. Second, I didn't study Japanese all that hard.

Well, in the past few months I've made up for that, mostly, and am fairly well prepared for next month. SuperMemo has made most of this possible.

SuperMemo is a computer program that shows flash cards that you make. The only difference is after you see each card, you grade yourself 0-5 (0=terrible, 5=great), and then it shows you the card again based on how well you have done historically with that card. So, instead of you scheduling your own reviews, it schedules the reviews for you. So, in preparing for this exam I have accumulated almost 13000 flash cards, but I only see about 800 per day, which still takes a few hours, but isn't unbearable.

I start using SuperMemo this summer, and at first I was skeptical, but after three months I can read an enormous amount of material that I could not begin to process before, so I'm very impressed. I would caution anyone wanting to try it, though, with these two caveats: one, it has some horrendous bugs, and can sometimes behave erratically. Two, the interface is terrible. But for what it does, it's amazing. The real test, of course, will be to see if it helps me remember the language for years to come, as it promises.

Patrick- Afghanistan

2007-11-04T22:04:00.000+09:00

Saturday at 6o'clock instead of the normal national news (similar to BBC) they have children's news, once per week. This is like the adult news but they use simpler language, spend more time on each story, and focus on positive things.

This week's main focus was Afghanistan-- how are the people, why does it keep appearing in the news, and would you want to travel there (assuming you are a Japanese child). I was surprised to see that in thirty minutes the children's news gave more information on the history, culture, and actual living conditions of the people of Afghanistan than I saw in six years of US mainstream news coverage.

Of course, it was very brief. For example, the history consisted of "after World War 2 the US and Russia turned the country into a battleground because they couldn't make peace with each other. Then the Taliban rose to power, which lasted until the US invaded after September 11. Now there is a new government, and a few people are much richer, but most people are still very poor and it's still a very dangerous place."

Despite being myopic about some of the country's own problems, at least the news takes the time to cover international affairs even as they do not immediately pertain to the economic interests of the country.

Patrick- Teacher Evaluation Days

2007-10-21T16:18:00.000+09:00

On Thursday we had subject evaluation in English, which meant that I taught two classes with my three English teachers, and we were observed by the school principal, the English department head from the board of education, and two teachers from the school. After the classes, we met for two hours to discuss what they thought we could do better.

Although in general it has been my experience that teachers refrain from criticizing each other, the point of these meetings is apparently to take a hard look at what can be improved, and that they did. I won't go into specific details, but it was a long, productive discussion.

Of course, the main teachers glamoured up the classes a little, as we did more creative things than we would usually do, but this actually backfired, as it became apparent that the students could not (in the second years' case) compose a newspaper article from scratch in 50 minutes.

Anyway, I was surprised at the accountability and seriousness of the meeting. I thought that the accountability was generally handled through test scores, which in each subject area are administered and passed along to the board of education every few months.

Patrick- Hospital Part Two

2007-10-21T16:15:00.000+09:00

So, on Friday I went to the hospital again and got new medicine for my eye, and also had my wart frozen off. This time I managed to see two doctors in four hours and receive treatment and medicine at a cost of $20, which I don't think is too bad.

Although they also used liquid nitrogen here to freeze the wart, rather than a spray can the doctor used a jug of liquid nitrogen with a Q-tip and painted it on. While it took a lot longer, and was a bit more painful, it was also more accurate, as my blister now surrounds the wart only rather than the wide area that the spray can usually inflamed.

This is a Kotatsu

2007-10-13T09:46:00.000+09:00

Dear all,
I talked to my brother earlier and was unable to accurately describe a kotatsu so I took some pictures to use as visual aids.

This is a whole and complete kotatsu. It's made up of a table, a futon, and a zabuton which is a futon that goes under the table on the floor.
This is a picture of the zabuton with a cushion on top of it that you sit on and the large futon lifted up. You sit on the cushion and cover yourself with the big futon. It's very snug and warm.
This is a picture of underneath my kotatsu. The heater's is on the bottom of the table. The cord leads to a switch.
This is the switch. You can turn the heater on and off with it. The temperature control for the heater is on the side of the heater itself so you can control the temperature from just warm to really, really hot.
This is a better if slightly sideways picture of the heater. You can see the temperature knob.

The heater shoots out heat which is then trapped by the encasing futons and then you can put your feet and part of your legs under the table and get all toasty warm.

I hope that this has been a helpful description of a kotatsu.

Cheers,
Catherine

What Morioka Castle Once Looked Like

2007-10-10T17:22:00.000+09:00

Since Morioka still advertises it as a castle town, though the castle was destroyed, I was always curious what it looked like. Well, thankfully, I found these posters at my school during the cultural festival which give one some idea:

Patrick- Cultural Festival

2007-10-10T16:59:00.000+09:00

This past weekend we had the cultural festival, where the students spend two days having an open house with many performances. They decorate the classrooms, rearranging everything:

In the classrooms, they displayed projects they had created in most of their classes.

For example, all of the students in the school painted different pictures of the Prefectural Park which is about a five minutes' walk from the school:

And here's one of the school itself:

Some of the students also made anti-drunk driving and anti-bullying posters:

Third year students had to paint self-portraits. Some of them gave themselves blue eyes:

Third year students also made enormous banners for their classes:

Second year students had to sew cargo pants together. When I took home ec, we only had to make a bag:

Students also showed off their calligraphy skills:

Second grade students wrote their dream in English. Third years wrote a poem. These are some of my favorites:

I'll add more about the performances and such when I am able to get some of the video and audio recordings up here.

Patrick- Hospital Visit

2007-10-10T16:39:00.000+09:00

So unfortunately, I had a repeat of two bumps growing on my eye, and so I made a visit to the hospital.

Here, the hospitals generally don't take appointments, and the prefectural hospital (the biggest, and the only one guaranteed to have nearly every kind of treatment one might need) only takes patients between only 8:30 and 11:00, so I had to get up early. I got there at 8:45 and there were countless people already there. I had been told that it would probably take all day.

Well, filling out the initial paperwork took about forty-five minutes. Then I was sent to the eye treatment area.

There, I waited about another hour, and then taking the different tests took an additional hour. So, I was out before lunch, which made me happy. Apparently it is another infection, so I was prescribed some eye drops.

Thankfully, most doctors have fairly comprehensive English knowledge of the names of various conditions and problems. But for the paperwork, I was saved by my Nintendo DS, which I thought was hilarious. I would have had trouble getting medical treatment if it were not for my Game Boy, which now sports a comprehensive Japanese dictionary.

The hospital visit only cost $25, half of which was the "first time at this hospital fee." Getting the medication had a me a little scared though, because I was told that medicine is where the doctors make their money. However, I got two bottles of medication for $5, which is probably the cheapest I've ever gotten a prescription.

Sara-Asagishi Elementary

2007-09-23T15:56:00.001+09:00

This past Friday I went to Asagish Elementary. This is my second elementary and while at my first school I taught over 100 students at one time, at Asagish there are only 10 students in the whole school. Asagish is very far and as some of my Shitakoji teachers have said 'In the middle of nowhere.' The elementary school is surrounded by beautiful mountains and it is a very quiet rural community. The first and second grade were together, 3rd and 4th, 5th and 6th. The children were all very friendly and the school reminded me of the rural Japanese school I went to when I was in the 4th grade. My school was much larger, but had a similar feel.

This picture was taken after recess. Unfortunately, it was also after a little accident. We were playing Freeze tag (Koori Oni-Ice Deamon)and the little girl in the pink tank top (a first grader) got hurt. Someone or some kids hit her too hard when they were tagging her. By the time I had to leave, we managed to get her to smile again. They all were saying "Goodbye" and "See you" from the windows as their principle drove me back to my Junior High School.

I gave the kids bookmarks and stickers, so the 3rd and 4th graders gave me an acorn and the 5th and 6th graders gave me a little paper doll they made. I was supposed to teach them directions in English using the doll and going to places on a map...but it was a little too difficult for them so I taught them, left, right, straight, behind.

Sara- Hachimangu Festival

2007-09-23T12:34:00.000+09:00

Patrick and I went to the Hachimangu festival on September 15th. The festival is for three days, from the 14th to the 16th. The 16th was also a national holiday (The day would roughly translate to 'Respect the Elderly day'.) so it was a day off for everyone.

Hachimangu Festival is the festival of Hachimangu Shrine which is of the Shinto religion. (Shinto-shrines, Buddhism-temples)
Unfortunately I don't have any information about the festival but it was very fun to go to and beautiful to watch. They have an evening parade of floats down the main street, and on the 16th, they had an archery on horseback ritual performance. Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out the time for it and missed that but hopefully I will see it next year and post about it. The archery is called Yabusame and it is a very traditional and time honored practice.

Here are some pictures that I took.

The floats are very elaborate and you can see the male kabuki like figures in the front and the women figures were on the back of the floats.

The large orange gate way is called a Torii and it is the gate way for all Shinto shrines.

Inside the grounds of the shrine, there are many food and game vendors. As you can see, you have the typical cotton candy vendors, but you also have game booths such as 'Kingyosukui' which translates to 'Goldfish scoop'. You get to scoop up live goldfish and you can keep the ones that you catch. If you have the bad luck of not getting any, you usually get to keep one. Unfortunately, I couldn't take a picture of such a booth, but there's also the 'kujibiki' booths where you pay to get a scrap of paper with a number. Then you get the prize according to the number.
There are also food booths so Patrick and I had dinner there by going around and trying out different foods. Here's a yakitori booth (shishkabobs-usually chicken).
As you can see, there were a lot of people there, but that's only half of the booths and people at the shrine.

At the shrine, there are many places to pray. This is a little shrine but I'm not sure to what god it is dedicated to. Then there were the Zodiac shrines which are the tiny round stones that are hollow inside. Inside you would see the figures of each zodiac animal. Patrick and I went to see the Rat shrine.
Then this is Hachimangu. It is very big and perhaps you can not see, but there are long thick ropes that hang down. These ropes have bells attached to the top and you throw in some money into a collection box, then ring the bell, clap your hands three times and pray or make a wish to the gods.
There were also dancers at the shrine.

Patrick- "Road Race"

2007-09-20T18:17:00.000+09:00

So today I had written on my schedule for the afternoon "road race." Not being thoughtful, I decided to bring my video camera and tripod to school to tape this vehicle-based competition.

But of course, it's a junior high school, and there are no vehicles. Instead, "road race" means "run down the street and back" for 3 km if you're a girl and 4 km if you're a boy. So instead of taping I ended up running with the students.

It was actually a race, too. All students (of the same sex) started at the same time and then were all timed and ranked upon their return, from 1 to very last in the school. So on the recommendation of one of my English teachers, I ran with the girls, because he was concerned some of the boys who weren't such good runners would kill themselves trying to keep up with me, and also he didn't think I could make it with the boys anyway.

Well, having run around the track with fourth graders the week before, I forgot how much faster kids get when they're in junior high (also junior high goes up to the ninth grade, which adds to the pain if you're trying to keep up with them). So I ran down the not-quite-so-flooded river with the girls and finished after about a quarter of them. But, as it turns out many of the first year/seventh grade girls had the same "problem" as the boys and worked a bit harder than maybe they should have to beat me.

When I returned to the school, all was good, but there was no water anywhere for any of the students. I said, "Hey, where's the water?" and they said, "Oh, we don't have any. Maybe we should have some." But at least we had a good breeze.

Anyway, I was still feeling ok, and I have to admit it was a little awkward running with the girls but not the boys. So, when the boys were about to start I ran with them too (at the time, I thought they were going the same 3km, not 4km, so that last kilometer was a bad surprise and I had to walk part of that off). But, I finished with the last quarter of them, and I got in a good exercise on this very hot day.

So, instead of getting to sit around and tape something interesting I ran 7km in pants with a button-up shirt. I realize now I should've asked the day before, and then I could have had the wonderful relief of being able to use the appropriate clothes, but I'm glad I got to do it. Because we have a rule that I only use English with my students, it's hard to have a relationship with the ones that really hate English, which is maybe about 1/3 of each class. So every day like today I think is a great chance to meet them on more level ground.

Catherine- Flooding

2007-09-18T18:06:00.000+09:00

So for the past two and a half days it has been raining pretty much constantly. The rivers no longer have banks. They are now wide and high. I stopped on the bridge by my school today to look at the river. The river has risen by 2 and 1/2 to 3 meters in the past two days. It's amazing. The water used to be very clear but now it is muddy and opaque. There are trees partially covered by the water from the rising river. There have been floods all along the Kitakami river and in one place the river overflowed and ate a bicyclist. They are still looking for him now. There are businesses with a foot of water on the floor and floating trashcans. I've never seen anything like it.
Catherine writes in addendum:
So I never heard back about the bicyclist one way or another but I just wanted to update you on the river. The banks have now fully returned and dried out. The pathways are once again seeable and the steps that led down into the river for summer waders and swimmers are back. The water is clear and slow moving again.

Salary

2007-09-12T21:14:00.000+09:00

Here is a basic rundown on our salary. Those who are considering working in Morioka will probably find this quite useful.

The figures are all in yen. To make it easy (and about 15% inaccurate in your favor) you can simply think $1= 100 yen.

Annual Salary: 3,600,000 yen

Monthly Salary (gross): 300,000
Health Insurance: 12,500
Pension(*): 21,000
Unemployment: 2,500

Apartment Rent: 42,000
Water: 3,000-4,000
Electricity: 3,500
Gas: 5,000-8,000 (**)

Cell Phone: 2,000-4,500 (at the low end, I use only two or three times a month; the high end assumes fairly frequent use but no excesses like TV, etc)
Internet: 3,200-4,500 (price just depends on where you live and the services that are available)

Transportation: 0
Bicycles are wonderful. However, you may be up to an hour or so by bike from your school. When it gets really cold, this can be bad, so thankfully there are some buses. One can apply for reimbursement for the bus expense to and from the school.

School fees: 0-5,500
Some schools have a snack fee that you can optionally pay to eat snacks at the school. Other schools-- well, mine only actually-- collect large fees each month for, well, it's not exactly clear, but you may not be able to avoid paying it.

Net after rent, utilities, and mandatory deductions: ~190,000-210,000 yen/month

Water, electricity, and gas usage assume conservative but frequent use. My apartment has slightly higher rent than some of the others.

(*): The government returns the pension money at the end of the program, assuming we complete our contract, which is a nice little bonus at the end of the two years.
(**): Gas price is confirmed after a few months of being more expensive than originally posted. Hot showers of even moderate length are expensive. The monthly fee (for any use) is about 2000 yen; after that, it's what you use.

Final note: nearly all bills are paid by direct deposit (it's set up as part of your orientation) so the only way you'll screw up payment is if you overdraw your account.

Patrick- Photo: $100 in coins

2007-09-12T21:04:00.001+09:00

The stack of coins in this photo is valued at 10,000 yen, which is roughly $90 right now but has been between $80-100 in the past few years. Japan has the highest valued coin currently in circulation in the world, at 500 yen (about $4.50). That means there are no bills under 1000 yen (about $9). So you have to be extra careful not to let all the change spill out of your pocket.

I will use this stack of coins to pay for part of my rent tomorrow. It's a little bizarre to think I will be paying for ~25% of my rent in change.

Catherine- The all Iwate English Speech Competition

2007-09-11T19:04:00.000+09:00

Catherine writes: I'm sure that my fellow AET's will have a lot to say about this but for my part I have to say this was pretty intense. The competition draws students from middle schools all over Iwate. There are two kinds of speeches; recitations and orations. A recitation is a student reading a story from one of the textbooks or the textbooks supplemental material. They are judged on pronunciation, clarity, and the use of gestures and facial expressions. An oration is a student reading a speech that he or she has written and prepared themselves. They are judged using the same criterion as the recitation. This part of the competition is the more prestigious of the two and the awards are literally larger.
The students are ranked against each other rather than some outside criterion the only marker they have to follow is for time. The speech cannot exceed five minutes or it is penalized. For the orations the choices of topic are limitless but the for the recitations the stories must come from the textbooks so there is a lot of repetition. The students went based on their year in school and which story they picked. This means that the judges could and did hear up to twenty recitations of the same story over and over again.

I was there to support two students that I have been helping for the past weeks. They both conducted themselves admirably but did not take top prizes. When the kids and I started working their pronunciation was so bad I had trouble understanding them, they made many mistakes many times over. By the time we were done they had both improved by leaps and bounds in terms of both clarity and pronunciation. I'd say they improved by at least %50. I was very proud of their efforts. I know that not taking a prize was disappointing for both of them but they went so far in a very short time that I can't help but feel good about them. When I started this job I was told that there would be students who just didn't want to learn or who really wanted to but just couldn't for some reason. That the biggest impact I was likely to make was in terms of international understanding. Today what I did in the classroom and my abilities to teach English made an impact. I know that they are both better English speakers because I was able to teach them and I'm glad. That's kind of a self-centered attitude but I hate feeling like I'm being paid to speak my native language rather than teach it. Today was the proof that I taught English rather than just spoke it.

Patrick writes: I actually did not attend the speech competition, but I'm glad it's over. I was drilling students for about two hours per day for the past three weeks, and you can only hear the same five minute speeches so many times before you start to lose it. I couldn't believe they wanted to practice so much (of my three students, one didn't want to practice, and two did very much; of those two, one hated going to track and field and the other actually enjoyed English). I am happy that one of my students won fourth place in the speech contest proper.

Catherine- My very first taihuu (typhoon)

2007-09-09T09:11:00.000+09:00

So Friday was the very first typhoon I have ever experienced. I went to Kita Kuriyagawa elementary school to do my very first visit. When I got up that morning I just thought it was raining however I was mistaken. In Morioka it rains a lot. Almost everyday but in a typhoon it rains for 10 to 12 hours straight and it's a consistently heavy rain.
The kids got sent home early because of the rain. The kyoto sensei or vice-principal coordinated with all of the teachers and students over the PA system. First everyone got dressed in their rain gear and got out their umbrella and then the the students were organized and sent off with a teacher based on where they lived near to the school. The teacher walked the whole crowd of students to their home street and saw them safely off. During this whole time the vice-principal made announcements as to which street was going when and answering phone calls from parents. I waited while all of these machinations took place. Until every student had made it home safely and all of the teachers had returned I could not go home. I had been given a ride to the school by one of the teachers and none of them were able to even think about me until the kids were home safe. I really admire this attitude and the way the teachers and vice-principal handled this situation. They all knew what they were doing and they all worked together for the best interests of their students.

Sara- Victoria, Canada Orientation and Shitakouji English classes

2007-09-08T17:42:00.000+09:00

Morioka has a program where they send a few High School students to their sister city, Victoria, Canada. In the beginning of August I volunteered to help with the orientation meeting. That meeting was today. It was only about 3 hours and I and another ALT, Alicia (This is her 6th year as an ALT and 3rd year working under Earlham's program) taught them how to place an order at a restaurant, tipping, how to shop for souvenirs, and how to introduce yourself to the host family. The students seemed to understand a great deal and it was fun working with them. Showing the students how to use English in a practical setting however made me a little sad about my classes at Shitakouji.

This past week the 7th grade students were to memorize this skit:

Mike: Two hamburgers and two colas please. (In Japan, they say Cola instead of Coke or soda, or pop)

Waitress: Large or small?

Mike: Large please.

Waitress: For here or to go?

Mike: To go.

Waitress: Here you are. That's five hundred and fourty yen, please...Thank you.

The skit is fine, but when I mean memorize, I do mean memorize. Each student was to remember the entire script. The sad part was, only a few of them understood what was going on. To me, it seems that students are only learning the sounds at my school and only a few will realize that some of the phrases can and are used in real life dialog.

Sara- Morioka Sports Day

2007-09-08T10:36:00.000+09:00

On September 4th, Morioka had a Track and Field competition for all the junior high schools. It took place in a very large stadium and 23 out of 26 schools participated. My school, Shitakouji came in 1st place for the boys and 2nd for the girls.

The track and field is what one might expect, except for the cheering. Each school groups together and not only do they have set cheers that all the students have to say, but they also change their uniforms to form various writing. These cheers are usually led by three boys who are the leaders of the cheer squad. Look for them near the end of the video.

Patrick writes: You may not believe it at first, but cheerleaders are not only male, they actually all wear clothes here. They don't do any slutty dances, either. Instead, they actually lead cheers. I was taken aback at first, too.

Patrick- Elementary School Lunch, Another Visit

2007-09-07T20:43:00.000+09:00

Today I visited the elementary school of my fellow English teacher's daughter. It was a good trip, but we are receiving the rain from the typhoon and so I biked for half an hour straight uphill and got completely soaked despite my rain suit.

But, the school itself was quite fun. I spent two and a half hours with each of the two fourth grade classes. We did basic greetings, they introduced themselves, and played some games. Unfortunately, the pressure was a little too much for one girl and she burst into tears when it came for her turn to say "My name is ____/I am ___ years old."

The most chaotic moment of the day came at recess, which the students have for twenty minutes after lunch. Most students appear to be free to go mostly where they want, and I joined about 100 students in the gym for a game of dodgeball. There were no other teachers at first, and then other teachers stopped in to check only infrequently, which worried me a little, but we didn't have any injuries, despite all of the kids trying to bean each other in the head with the ball. They did nail several girls who weren't paying attention, but everyone was able to shake off the pain.

In their version of dodgeball, when you get hit, you have to go over to the other side, and your teammates have to throw you the ball so you can get someone out from their own side, at which point you are released. If you catch the ball when it's thrown at you, nothing happens. I remember it differently, but then it has been many years.

Anyway, here are some pictures of the school lunch:

students serving themselves lunch; no one can eat until they finish, so if one kid gets too excited serving as happened today, they can recall the first plates and redistribute the food

a close-up of the lunch; maybe I got a little bit more than your normal fourth grader... the lunch includes hayashi rice (peppers and onions and beef with rice), a fruit salad, and a cucumber-type salad, plus milk with some amount of fat

yours truly and one of the fourth grade classes

Catherine- Adjusting to Life in Japan

2007-09-06T18:55:00.000+09:00

I don't know about my fellow AET's (assistant English teachers) but some of the things I am having the most trouble adjusting to are not related to the fact I'm in Japan. I live alone for the first time in my life. I don't have a roommate, house mates, or family around to make noise and be there when I get home. I am saved all the hassles like dirty dishes in the sink that aren't my own or the washing machine being in use every time I want to wash clothes but I am left with a totally empty house. There is no one to say, "I'm home" to or to say "good morning" to; there's no one to fight with. My things are never moved from where I drop them but there is no one to help me clean up.
I have always been an independent person completely comfortable with my own company but now that I know it is not possible I really miss having someone around. I have great friends. My job is a lot work but has many compensations. I love being in Japan meeting new people and seeing new things. At the same time I really miss arguing with my mother in person.

Patrick- The Somewhat Crappy Banking System of Japan

2007-09-04T22:48:00.000+09:00

Rather than giving a lengthy explication of the banking system, I will here simply list several points of interest:

* Japan does not have national bank chains; instead, if people need nationwide access to their money (and often even if they don't), they use a post office savings account. The Japanese post office is, or rather would be, if it were to be privatized, the largest bank in the world.

* If you are signing up for a bank account and make one mistake on the form, you can't white it out/cross it out/edit it at all. You have to start over.

* Ditto if the bank employee makes a mistake for you.

* It is difficult for foreigners to get credit cards in Japan, mainly because it's hard to prove residency.

* Further, credit cards are very different from the US versions anyway. There are two basic kinds: one that you charge to and then the full balance is debited from your account at the end of each month (glorified charge card) and another that you specify how many installments at the time of payment. In other words, I buy a PS3 (hypothetically) for $600 and when I charge it the clerk asks: "how many times do you want to pay?" I'm feeling masochistic so I say "twelve" and then for the next twelve cycles the installment plus interest is automatically deducted from my account. This is not easy to adjust.

* Debit cards are not really available, although the Japanese credit cards are similar to the US debit cards.

* Most people do not have a checking account. Nearly everything is (or can be) paid in cash.

* This absence of ways to pay for things (particularly online) is somewhat alleviated by the fact that you can take your utility bill or some online store bills and other notices to one of the many convenience stores and pay off your balance there. It's convenient, but perhaps not quite as convenient as automatically deducting it from your account.

* Thankfully, you can automatically deduct your bills from your account. But, it takes two months to set up. No joke. You write down all of your account information and then for the next two months you have to pay at the convenience store until they "set you up." Apparently there is nothing like the EFT system in the US.

* On the plus side, when you withdraw or deposit money, whether at the bank or through an ATM, if you haven't forgotten it you can insert your little bank book and automatically get all transactions since your last visit (including those processed automatically, like debits for utilities and rent and whatnot) printed on it. This is much nicer than a bank statement because it keeps your whole history right there in your pocket, and tells you exactly how much you have saved/left.

* If you screw up when you put in your pin number at the ATM (two or three strikes and you're out), it eats your card. Then you have to wait two more weeks for a new one.

* The bank is open only when we are at work. It opens at 10 and closes at 3, Monday through Friday only.

All in all, the banking system isn't terrible, but it's not nearly as convenient as the US system. On the other hand, Japan's health insurance system is much better (cheaper), which is probably more important.

Patrick's Thoughts on Food

2007-09-04T22:31:00.001+09:00

Here I will touch briefly on some of the issues related to food; in the coming weeks, I will bring a camera to dinner and take some pictures of the various beautiful little dining items that can be found everywhere.

So, for my own part I have been eating out twice almost every day for lunch and dinner. For breakfast I have cereal (corn flakes) and milk, which is basically the same as in the US except that the milk isn't pasteurized and the cereal box is a little smaller (about five bowls per box) and a little cheaper (about $1.75).

For lunch, I stop at a convenience store. They are everywhere in Japan. They stock various lunches which are sort of made fresh every day, and you can usually choose from something like: hamburger with rice, fish with rice, spaghetti, Japanese noodles, etc. They aren't the tastiest in the world but they are reasonably healthy (though thoroughly washed in preservatives and completely fruit-celibate) and very cheap (between $3-5). If you are going to eat it right there, they will even heat it up for you in about twenty seconds.

You can also get little lunch boxes from the grocery, which are a little cheaper, have a little more, and are generally a bit healthier.

Thankfully, I was told today I would be spared having to make a run every day to pick up the lunch, and instead would be able to order with all of the other teachers who do not bring their lunch to school. Since the kids all bring their lunch, and eat in their homerooms, there is no school cafeteria, so restaurants cater for the teachers. Thankfully, this only costs me 450 yen (~115/$1) each day, so I am excited.

Finally, dinner. The question is: why am I not cooking dinner? Well, there are two equally great reasons. One, the food is reasonably cheap, and if I don't order a drink and imbibe only the provided tea and water, I can eat at many restaurants for between 600-1000 yen. It is very hard to cook for the low end of that price, and at the high end you have to factor in the trouble of preparing it, cleaning up, trying not to waste all the extra crap I bought, etc.

Also, I have been spending my evenings when I get home from school studying. I am trying to memorize about 6000 words in one month, and to do that seems to be taking a fair bit of effort. So, since I can't really memorize anything after dinner for about an hour or so, I delay dinner until I get it done, but by the time I get done, I am too hungry to cook.

My favorite restaurant that I have discovered in the last month is Kappa Sushi (Turtle Sushi), which is a conveyor-belt style sushi restaurant where two pieces of sushi costs 105 yen (about eighty cents). So, the little sushi plates circle around the restaurant, and every time you see one you like, you grab it and pay eighty cents. It is much more fun than it sounds. And it tastes delicious. I have been there about twelve times in thirty days. Unfortunately, although many restaurants like it have a point card (for discounts), it's too cheap to have one. But then that's one less thing to worry about.

Stay tuned for more detailed summaries (and pictures!) of the many wonderful dishes in Morioka.

Catherine-My School

2007-09-02T14:59:00.000+09:00

So I just finished my first real week of teaching at my school and I will be starting week two tomorrow and I have to say, "Wow." Teaching is hard work. It's not the standing in front of a class imparting knowledge part but all the others that make this so a difficult job. Prep work, talking to students, extracurriculars, staff meetings, grade meetings, parent-teacher meetings, and the list goes on. Having spent a week in school from the teacher's perspective rather than the student's I can now fully appreciate what a pain in the butt I was for my teachers. I also say this with the qualifications that I was a decent student who was reasonably well behaved and who liked school for the most part. Despite this I really like teaching. I like being able to help kids become adults and realize their goals. I throughly admire all of my the teachers I work with and I think that I very lucky to be where I am.

Patrick's First Day at an Elementary School

2007-08-31T19:36:00.000+09:00

Today I visited an elementary school for the first time. Over the course of the next year, I will visit about six elementary schools for two days each. The two visits will often be months apart.

Last week I met three of the teachers to prepare for my visit. As they told me, I mostly played games with the kids so I didn't have to prepare much.

Of course, I expected the kids to be loud. But they were extremely loud. At the beginning of class, they all have to stand up and say good morning. Except they liked to yell.

Today I worked with the second, fourth, and fifth grades. I sang "Head, shoulders, knees, and toes" about thirty times. I helped them learn names for animals, foods, and sports.

I was quite a celebrity. I signed my autograph about seventy times for the fifth graders. I signed all sorts of things, including folders, bookmarks, pencil cases, and lunch boxes. When it was time to go, the second fifth grade class physically blocked the door and forced the objects they wanted signed upon me. It was a little strange.

By contrast, when I walked down the hall by the first grade classrooms, many of them screamed, ran, and hid. I get this reaction sometimes when I'm riding around the city, as well. But then, I also get the reverse-- little kids run up and say hello, goodbye, and then run off.

But the most surprising event for me was the school lunch. This is the first time I had seen a school lunch in Japan. The students eat in their classroom with their teacher. So, all the food has to be carted up the stairs, which is especially hard for the small students since even the lightest cafeteria trays full of food for about thirty kids weigh several pounds.

But, the good news is, (I believe) the lunch is completely free, and kids are allowed to eat as much as they want. Today, we had peppers and cabbage with chicken over rice, boiled vegetables, vegetable soup, and an orange slice with milk. It tasted pretty good, and the bowl of boiled vegetables reminded me of Grandma Carroll's vegetable soup that I like so much. It's also served without any Styrofoam or plastic, and even the chopsticks are (the durable kind of) wood. And, being mostly vegetables (there was very little chicken) with nothing fried, it compares very favorably with what I was fed in junior high.

So I ate lunch with the fifth graders and then I stayed in their room for the post-lunch recess. During recess, they wanted to play card games with me, but I didn't know any of the Japanese games (or I did but I didn't recognize the games) so I taught them slapjack (Egyptian ratscrew) and war. Those are probably not the best two games to teach little kids (slapjack being the game where you flip cards until you see two of the same and then the first one to slam their hand down on top picks up the cards) but they are very simple and I was able to explain them in about thirty seconds and get the kids playing. I made the mistake, however, of telling them the latter game was called war and immediately one little boy started attacking the other players.

After that their teacher had left so at their request I held my hand in the air and they would run and jump and try to head butt it. I guess I found dumb shit like that entertaining when I was little too.

Anyway, despite feeling a little weird from time to time it was a very fun day. And although I generally prefer older children over younger ones on account of their greater knowledge, I can see at least one reason now for teaching elementary over junior high school: the elementary kids actually like most of their teachers, and you don't have to do much to be cool to them, while with junior high at best it takes a lot of effort.

The worst part was it poured for five hours straight, and I got completely soaked on the way home.

Catherine, My apartment

2007-08-29T19:46:00.001+09:00

Dear everyone,
People have been bugging me to provide pictures of my apartment so here are some. They are in no particular order and could quite possibly be backwards. Anyways enjoy.
This is my closet. I put stuff in it on hangers. I wear those slippers a lot.
This is my futon. It's more comfortable than it looks. It also has sheets on it normally but at this time I was washing them like a responsible adult (who sleeps with a stuffed cow every night).
This is the ladder that leads to the loft where I sleep every night. I have to climb up and down it to go to bed at night and to get up in the morning. Some night (probably soon) I will fall off this ladder on my way to have a pee in the middle of the night. Wish me luck.
This is my main room. It is actually pretty spacious and as you can see has lots of light. It's a lot cleaner now I swear.

This is the view from my front door. My "kitchen" and hallway leading to the main room.

These are my washing machine, refrigerator and microwave. The microwave makes toast and you can bake a cake in it but I can't reliably heat up food. Ah the joys of Japanese living.
This is my "kitchen" I can make a mess in it and that's about all. The cart you see before you is the only prep space I have.

Sara's school

2007-08-28T22:18:00.000+09:00

I am the ALT for Shitakouji. I work with five teachers and sit by three of them in the teachers' office. My fist day of classes was on the 28th of August and since there are around 600 students, the grades are broken into 6 classes each. The grades are 7th, 8th, and 9th and are labeled 1, 2, and 3. In one week I will teach 17 classes. I had 4 classes my first day. The first was with class 2 of 8th grade (labeled 2-2). They were really quiet and shy to speak. However now, all the students in all the grades seem to have gotten used to me and often say hello or try to have a conversation with me.

Right now, when I don't have class, I am in the teachers' office and at my desk. I have to correct around 100, 4-sentence essays. The topic is 'My Dream' and the most common dreams are:

Boys: baseball, soccer, or tennis player.

Girls: nursery school teacher, or nurse.

One thing that I notice is that the Japanese textbook treats infinitives as prepositions. This is a little painful to correct since out of the 100 essays, only 10 have correct grammar.

Then after classes and correcting papers, I help a student practice for the Morioka speech contest. Most schools are participating in it and while Patrick has a lot of students to help, I’m lucky and only have one.

The contest is focused on being able to speak English. I don’t really know what the judges will be looking for in particular, but I have been trying to help out my student’s pronunciation.

Catherine's school

2007-08-28T18:03:00.000+09:00

At my school, Josei Jr. High School, everyone is pretty excited to have an AET. The students see me in the hallways and do the walk by "Hello" and then giggle when I respond. It's nice to be appreciated. At the same time it seems silly to me to be admired for being able to speak my native language. I do have a few smart alicks who mimic their teacher's praise by saying "good job" or "great English" to me. On the whole the students are well adjusted, interested, and excited to learn. I'm really glad to be teaching.

Obon

2007-08-26T15:33:00.001+09:00

Obon is in the middle of August and is a holiday lasting several days where families visit the graves of their ancestors. Obon is a celebration of the Shinto religion and the belief behind the celebration is that the spirits of one's ancestors returns to Earth to visit. For this reason, lanterns are often light out side of houses to guid ancestors back to homes. At the end of the week, special lanterns are lit and are released into a near by river to guid the spirits back into the spirit realm. In many places in Japan, this special event at a river is called Toronagashi.

In Morioka, however, it is called Funekko Oroshi. This is because part of the celebration involves setting aflame boats (about twenty, one for each neighborhood) full of fireworks on a river. (In Japanese, the word for boat is fune). Although bad for the environment, it is quite a spectacle.

As the people (mostly men, and a few women) who pull the boats down the river are nearly naked, it is also I imagine quite dangerous, since the fireworks and debris could be seen spilling out of the boats.

At the end of the festival, several hundred fireworks were shot off as men set paper lanterns out to float down the river.

Watch the video (about three and a half minutes long, no sound) below. The people are a little compressed because the original video is widescreen but on the internet it has to be a square rather than a rectangle.

Patrick's School- Shimonohashi

2007-08-26T14:42:00.000+09:00

This past Monday the term opened and I began to teach at Shimonohashi Junior School. Shimonohashi is the oldest school in the city, has a small museum inside (very rare), and counts among its alumni many famous people, including a poet and a prime minister.

The school has about 300 students, divided into three classes per grade, plus one special education class and one class for deaf students.

Each week, I will work exclusively with one grade of students, and at the end of each week I will switch down a grade. So, this first week I worked with the third year (ninth grade) students; next week I will work with the second year (eighth grade), and the week after the first year (seventh grade) students. From time to time I will also visit the special education students and the deaf students' classroom.

There are three English teachers at my school. Mr. Miura teaches the third year students, and Mr. Suzuki teaches the second year students. Mr. Miura and Mr. Suzuki share the teaching of the first year students. They are assisted by a third English teacher, who has no classes of her own. This means that sometimes I am working with two teachers, and other times I am working with three.

Unfortunately, at my school the vice principal is very ill. The vice principal is generally responsible for handling a lot of the scheduling and activities preparation of the school; since he has been gone for at least several months, and they are not seeking a replacement, it means that all of the teachers are under significant additional stress.

I have a desk in the teachers' room with the group of second year teachers. I sit next to two of my English teachers, which is helpful.

In Shimonohashi, students must ask for special permission and declare a reason to enter the teachers' room. This is slightly more strict than most junior high schools. Of the six ALT junior high schools, mine is ranked (by test score) highest.

In addition to team teaching classes, I have been visiting Mr. Suzuki's homeroom and talking to the kids during lunch and cleaning time.

I am also helping prepare students for the speech competition (which is in English). There are actually two contests- one for the best speech a student has written, and one for the best recitation of a story from the textbook. This means I have to show up at school at 7:45, which is a little painful. However, I am finished each day around four o'clock, which gives me plenty of time to relax before dinner.

For the term opening ceremony, I had to introduce myself in English and Japanese to an assembly of all of the students and teachers. Having done this before when I was on the Earlham study abroad program in Morioka three years ago, I was ok. I was not prepared, however, for what followed-- 300 students doing a prepared, choreographed dance for me. That sure surprised me.

The first week of lessons for the third year students centered on a story about a young girl who comforts a little boy after the atomic bomb hit Hiroshima, and that night despite their best efforts they both die. It was a little awkward to start with, but thankfully Mr. Miura made it easier.

Of course, it has only been a week, but so far I really enjoy working at my school.

Morioka Weather

2007-08-26T14:40:00.000+09:00

Our first few weeks it was quite hot here, but thankfully it has cooled down significantly. I have found that this week leaving the windows open is sufficient to stay cool.

Although Morioka is inland enough that we are not particularly at risk for typhoons, they do significantly increase the precipitation. In the past two weeks, it has rained on perhaps ten days, usually for an hour or more.

Morioka Junior High Schools

2007-08-26T14:20:00.001+09:00

In Morioka, there are about twenty public junior high schools. As an ALT (Assistant Language Teacher), our job is to work at one of those junior high schools for an entire year as an assistant/team teacher. During that time, the job also requires that we visit several elementary schools once or twice each. Our contract is for two years, and at the end of our first year (next July), we will switch to another junior high school.

Thus, Catherine, Paul, Sara, and I do not work together, but rather separately at individual schools. There are also three other ALTs on the Earlham program in Morioka in the same situation (they arrived last year).

There are a few major differences between Japanese and US junior high schools. First, all Japanese junior high schools include seventh, eighth, and ninth grade. There are no 6-7-8 or 7-8 schools.

Second, all of the students are required to wear uniforms. This does not mean they have to wear a certain kind of clothes like a dress code, but rather they must all wear the exact same shirt, dress, etc. This includes shoes, which are color-coded to the year of the student. It follows that jewelery and such are also not permitted.

Teachers, however, can dress fairly casually. In fact, as long as you show up looking somewhat decent, you can get away with changing into gym clothes and wearing shorts and a tshirt for the rest of the day.

Third, and perhaps the largest difference and the one most important to understanding our jobs, is that students stay in the same room with the same group every day and teachers move from room to room. So, the same group of students are with each other all day. This is called a homeroom. Each teacher is responsible for one homeroom, and they meet together at the beginning of the day and the end of the day. This is a chance for the teachers to really bond with a specific group of students. Of course, as assistant teachers, we do not have a homeroom of our own that we are responsible for, but we can visit other homerooms.

In addition to their daily meetings, students eat lunch in their homeroom. Some schools have a (very healthy) school lunch, while other schools require all students to bring their lunch and provide only milk. But since there is no cafeteria and there is one teacher eating with thirty students or so, there is not such an opportunity for delinquency that a cafeteria allows.

Further, students are responsible for cleaning their own homeroom. This generally means they are maybe a bit more careful to avoid causing a mess.

Because teachers rotate rather than students, and students all have the same classes, it allows for very flexible schedules. Students often have different classes in a different order each week. This simplifies taking field trips and doing special activities, since all classes can be rescheduled and one need not worry about penalizing one class consistently if the activity is late in the day, or early in the morning.

In the teachers' room, all teachers have their desks. Teachers are grouped by the grade they teach, and they sit in order of the length of time they have spent at the school. Many teachers transfer (or are forced to transfer) from school to school after four years.

Also, there is a national curriculum. This means that all the schools use similar textbooks and are covering basically the same material within a week or so of any other given school. Further, textbooks then need only include what will be taught, and since there are no optional materials, the textbooks are a good deal thinner and lighter than their US counterparts.

Lastly, the Japanese school year begins in April, and the first term ends sometime in July. Summer vacation stretches from July to August; thus, as we begin teaching at our schools, we are fortunate to be able to join them at the beginning of the second semester, a logical entry point.

Patrick's Apartment

2007-08-26T13:44:00.000+09:00

My apartment is in Nasukawa-cho, about five minutes north of the downtown area. I am living directly below Catherine in the same apartment building. To Sara's apartment is about seven minutes by bicycle, and to Paul's it is about twenty minutes. The apartment is situated at the intersection of an expressway, a major road, and a train crossing, so it is a bit noisy but it is also very easy to find.

I am very fortunate that Charlie, the ALT who lived in the apartment before me, left it in excellent shape. In Japan, there is a practice known as "key money" whereupon one who wants to lease a new apartment presents the landlord with a gift-- not a deposit, but a gift-- of three to six months' rent. Thankfully, the Morioka Board of Education leases several apartments for us ALTs in perpetuity so that we are able to avoid this fee. As a result, however, we have no choice in where to live. Also, we are/were expected to purchase the belongings of our predecessor (furniture, pots and plates, hangars, etc.). So I am very glad that Charlie not only cleaned the place up well but kept all of his stuff in good shape.

The Board of Education also provided some basic furnishings, including a refrigerator, stovetop, washer (clothes need to be hung out to dry), television, and bicycle. After paying Charlie $300, I inherited a couch, a desk, several shelving units, a table that can heat itself, cooking and cleaning supplies, and fans. I also have an air conditioning unit, though I have used it only a few times. Plus, Charlie also left me all of his teaching supplies, which were fairly organized and will no doubt prove helpful in the months ahead.

As for the apartment in general, I really like the hardwood floors. It is a bit narrow but this is mostly alleviated by the high ceiling. The loft where I sleep is the most spacious I have seen, and I can sit up in it. Because of the little guard wall, I think it is also completely secure, and the ladder is extremely sturdy since it locks unto a metal bar that is bolted to the wall. There is plenty of space for all of my stuff now and I doubt I will be collecting many large items over the course of the next two years.

Ok, now for the pictures:

the view from the inside

the kitchen; the little counter is actually a cart that pulls out, very convenient

the bathroom; unfortunately, my toilet can only do strong flush and weak flush; more sophisticated toilets have control panels... it does have a sink on top, though, so you can wash your hands in the water after you flush as the water recharges for the next flush, which is efficient

the sink; it has a nice medicine cabinet and storage area

the shower/bath

the bath tub is a little small, but it's ok for a shower

the main room... it was my idea to bring the fridge out here next to the computer

the couch, computer, and refrigerator

my bed is above the closet

the futon... it's not as uncomfortable as it looks

all of the storage stuff I have squirreled away next to the bed

the king's view (from the bed)

Welcome!

2007-08-26T13:30:00.000+09:00

Sara's Birthday- 11 August 2007

From left to right- Catherine, Sara, Paul; front- Patrick

Hello, everyone. In this blog Catherine, Paul, Sara, and I will write about our experiences as Assistant Language Teachers (ALTs) in Morioka, Japan. We arrived in Japan on July 30 and will be teaching English in junior high schools in Iwate prefecture for two years.

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