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.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Sara-Asagishi Elementary
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
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.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Patrick- "Road Race"
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.
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.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Catherine- Flooding
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.
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.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Salary
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.
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
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.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Catherine- The all Iwate English Speech Competition
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.
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.
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Catherine- My very first taihuu (typhoon)
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.
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.
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Sara- Victoria, Canada Orientation and Shitakouji English classes
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.
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.
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