I had a pretty involved email mostly finished about how Christmas in Japan is similar to the US but there are little things that make it strange and weird and maybe a little unsettling, but I had to go and throw all that out the window. Here's why:
It might have been enough to have Christmas lessons at both elementary schools and a full-on Christmas party at the kindergarten, but there was more. Before you ask though, yes I did dress up as Santa Clauss for the kindergarten and no, I do not have any pictures. Seeing Christmas lights on random houses definitely helped, especially in the face of all the ridiculous consumerism that started the second week of November (gasp!), but that was not really it either.
No, it was Nagao-sensei and his family that really made everything just too nice to be down about Christmas. We had off this past Monday (12/24) and I had asked him last week about borrowing his vacuum to clean my heater, but I forgot to set up a time. I stopped by earlier in the day on Sunday to see if I could borrow but he wasn't home. Later, around 830pm or so, I get a call from someone with a deep voice speaking in English.
-- This is mumble mumble.
-- This is Carlo?
-- This is Nagao.
He was calling me to ask if I still wanted to borrow the vacuum, and doing it in English no less! I really appreciated the effort too, because if you don't know it can be damn intimidating to try and speak a foreign language on the phone. He asked if right then was okay, and I said sure, I'll be right over, but he said that he would come drop it off.
Well, when he got here there was some confusion because you have to manually turn the lights on outside my apartment, so I'm sure that they were a little creeped out. Yes, "they", because not only did Nagao-sensei come, but his wife and his two daughters came too! Nagao-sensei had on the Santa hat that his older daugher had made in (my) English class, and he handed me the vacuum.
He wasn't done yet though, because then he held out something in his hands with a "Merry Christmas". It was a little fake tree, about a foot tall, and decorated with swirling silver garland, white cotton snow, and a big yellow pipe cleaner star on top, secured with ample amounts of red yarn. I was so touched that I didn't even know what to say, I just kept bowing and saying thank you. It was so sweet, I was completely caught off guard.
Really though I should not have been so caught of guard, because that has been my experience here pretty much from Day One: unbounded kindness and friendliness, especially from the people I work with. The kindergarten teachers in particular are really sweet and are always looking out. They gave me this really cute woven Totoro basket from a bazaar they had and Kawaminami-sensei, the head teacher, got me a bilingual origami book for Christmas!
Even though the gifts are nice, it really is the fact that they would even do these things that makes it special. I am not one to often pull the sentimentality card, but this is one occasion where anything else would fall short of the warmth that I feel here. So much love. Wherever you spent the holidays, whatever you celebrate, even if it's nothing at all, I hope you spent it with people that are important to you.
mad love,
-greg.
ps: please enjoy pictures of Oshima elementary school students. adorable!
(flickr)
as always, check the album on the right-hand side.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
ippon! [2007.12.12]
If you were to walk through the hallways of a primary school in Japan in the time between periods, you would think that there is no such thing as order or rule in the schools here. You would not completely correct, but it certainly does seem that way sometimes. Students are all over the place, running and playing and roughhousing around, doing things that would certainly get them a bit of a scolding back in the US.
After getting over my initial surprise and confusion though, it started to make more sense. Those breaks between periods give the kids a chance to use up a lot of the energy that might otherwise get let out during class time. That is not to say that during class all of the kids are perfect little angels, because that is definitely not the case, but overall I think it helps the situation. And since the rules with regard to roughhousing and physicality are a bit relaxed, sometimes that even extends to the teachers getting in on it too.
Like just yesterday, for example, when I went downstairs after cleaning time and came upon some students and their homeroom teacher, just closing up the room that they were cleaning. The students kept messing with the teacher, and I jokingly said "judo?" to the teacher, since I knew he was trained. He kind of laughed and the one student started to back away a little.
Two seconds later the kid was on his back in the hallway with the teacher on top of him saying "ippon!" (one / winning point) and the student repeatedly saying "bad teacher! bad teacher!" It was pretty hilarious.
After the teacher let him back up the kid just kept saying "bad teacher!" and joking around. In the US the teacher could easily face a lawsuit and termination but here it is not even a consideration. Maybe there is a balance between the two extremes, but I feel like maybe that balance ought to be a little closer to this side of the Pacific rather than the other.
Regardless of any pedagogical debate though, watching the two of them go flying through the air and hearing the students English (protests made my day, and what more can you really ask for?
judo chop!
-greg.
After getting over my initial surprise and confusion though, it started to make more sense. Those breaks between periods give the kids a chance to use up a lot of the energy that might otherwise get let out during class time. That is not to say that during class all of the kids are perfect little angels, because that is definitely not the case, but overall I think it helps the situation. And since the rules with regard to roughhousing and physicality are a bit relaxed, sometimes that even extends to the teachers getting in on it too.
Like just yesterday, for example, when I went downstairs after cleaning time and came upon some students and their homeroom teacher, just closing up the room that they were cleaning. The students kept messing with the teacher, and I jokingly said "judo?" to the teacher, since I knew he was trained. He kind of laughed and the one student started to back away a little.
Two seconds later the kid was on his back in the hallway with the teacher on top of him saying "ippon!" (one / winning point) and the student repeatedly saying "bad teacher! bad teacher!" It was pretty hilarious.
After the teacher let him back up the kid just kept saying "bad teacher!" and joking around. In the US the teacher could easily face a lawsuit and termination but here it is not even a consideration. Maybe there is a balance between the two extremes, but I feel like maybe that balance ought to be a little closer to this side of the Pacific rather than the other.
Regardless of any pedagogical debate though, watching the two of them go flying through the air and hearing the students English (protests made my day, and what more can you really ask for?
judo chop!
-greg.
Monday, December 10, 2007
it's turkey time... [2007.12.09]
Okay, so this is a bit after the fact, and way after Jess' wonderful piece (with pictures!):
euphemistical kashi
but better late than never, I reckon.
Jess K., Nathan, Christina, and I all met back in New York during the course of various pre-departure events. We all bonded even more during the (extended) wait to get on our flight to Tokyo, chilling on the floor at the terminal. Tokyo had the four of us thick as thieves, with several people thinking that Nathan and I actually went to college together, rather than meeting two days prior, much to our amusement. It was in Tokyo that we all decided that three months later, we would get together for Thanksgiving.
Now Jess and I live about three hours apart in Nagasaki Prefecture, and Christine technically lives in Nagasaki but way off on an island north of here, so it's a bit of a trek. Nathan though, he lives alll the way up in Miyagi Prefecture, which is quite a bit north.
Despite the distance, we planned it out over the months, and come the Sunday after Thanksgiving, three out of four of us were sharing table space at Jessica's house along with her father, her husband Scott, and her neighbor Alex (Christine couldn't make it). It was glorious!
While we didn't eat any actual turkey meat, we did have a pretty serious spread otherwise, with mashed potatoes, candied yams (WITH the marshmallows), green beans & bacon, salad, barbecued chicken, REAL Stovetop stuffing (thanks to Jess' parents), and gravy. We still had some turkey representation though, with an adorable (and soft!) plush turkey that Christina sent me (thank you!) and the bottle of Wild Turkey Kentucky Bourbon that Nathan brought. I'd never had Wild Turkey before, but we sure had some that day!
It really was a wonderful weekend, and it was really nice to be able to spend some time with good friends to make being away from the US for such a family-centered holiday not so bad at all.
sentimental *BRURRP* future love,
-greg.
ps: with apologies to Azad, Jim, Matt, and anyone else who has ever seen the movie Gigli. gobble gobble.
pps: man, that last one ("tie game") was positively littered with grammatically [wow, that is horrible] mistakes. i shouldn't write these at like one in the morning anymore...
euphemistical kashi
but better late than never, I reckon.
Jess K., Nathan, Christina, and I all met back in New York during the course of various pre-departure events. We all bonded even more during the (extended) wait to get on our flight to Tokyo, chilling on the floor at the terminal. Tokyo had the four of us thick as thieves, with several people thinking that Nathan and I actually went to college together, rather than meeting two days prior, much to our amusement. It was in Tokyo that we all decided that three months later, we would get together for Thanksgiving.
Now Jess and I live about three hours apart in Nagasaki Prefecture, and Christine technically lives in Nagasaki but way off on an island north of here, so it's a bit of a trek. Nathan though, he lives alll the way up in Miyagi Prefecture, which is quite a bit north.
Despite the distance, we planned it out over the months, and come the Sunday after Thanksgiving, three out of four of us were sharing table space at Jessica's house along with her father, her husband Scott, and her neighbor Alex (Christine couldn't make it). It was glorious!
While we didn't eat any actual turkey meat, we did have a pretty serious spread otherwise, with mashed potatoes, candied yams (WITH the marshmallows), green beans & bacon, salad, barbecued chicken, REAL Stovetop stuffing (thanks to Jess' parents), and gravy. We still had some turkey representation though, with an adorable (and soft!) plush turkey that Christina sent me (thank you!) and the bottle of Wild Turkey Kentucky Bourbon that Nathan brought. I'd never had Wild Turkey before, but we sure had some that day!
It really was a wonderful weekend, and it was really nice to be able to spend some time with good friends to make being away from the US for such a family-centered holiday not so bad at all.
sentimental *BRURRP* future love,
-greg.
ps: with apologies to Azad, Jim, Matt, and anyone else who has ever seen the movie Gigli. gobble gobble.
pps: man, that last one ("tie game") was positively littered with grammatically [wow, that is horrible] mistakes. i shouldn't write these at like one in the morning anymore...
Friday, December 7, 2007
tie game [2007.12.06]
You know, I have generally tried my best to avoid what I perceive to be the cliché things to write about when it comes to my experience as an English teacher in Japan, but I am going to forego all that and just come out and say it:
Japanese squat toilets are damned difficult to use.
It has been said a million times over, and really it is just the fact that most "Westerners" (Euro-centric?) did not grow up using one, but it is really rather annoying to be in an elementary school trying to squat over this little elementary-sized hole in the floor and get done what you have to get done before your next class needs to be underway. And that's not even taking into account the necessary cleaning maneuvers afterwards!
The potential difficulties of this somewhat (personally) confounding method of waste disposal are thrown into even starker relief in the case of Oshima Junior High, where one is situated in a stall immediately next to another stall containing a Toto Washlet 3000 Super Waste-Matic Hyper Plus, a contraption privy to the most modern amenities, including but not limited to: bidet! spray wash! variable water pressure! heated seats!! Truly quite the contrast.
On the up side though, the other day I was shopping in a department store and was offered a sample of some udon and soba noodles. I took my noodles and hungrily started slurping away, downing them in no time. I heard the woman remark to one of her co-workers on my skills, not with chopsticks, but with the slurping itself! It is actually quite polite to slurp your noodles, as it not only has the practical effect of cooling them but also is just good manners.
So if you come to Japan, make sure to practice slurping up your noodles with a minimum of splashing, it'll have everyone suitably impressed. Just don't forget to strengthen those leg muscles up plenty before you come too, just in case. Ah the wonders of cross-cultural exchange.
future i-feel-like-i'm-in-the-past love,
-greg.
ps: was it too subtle? did anyone catch it?
pps: oh, and of course get your legs ready if you go to Morocco, or India, or....
Japanese squat toilets are damned difficult to use.
It has been said a million times over, and really it is just the fact that most "Westerners" (Euro-centric?) did not grow up using one, but it is really rather annoying to be in an elementary school trying to squat over this little elementary-sized hole in the floor and get done what you have to get done before your next class needs to be underway. And that's not even taking into account the necessary cleaning maneuvers afterwards!
The potential difficulties of this somewhat (personally) confounding method of waste disposal are thrown into even starker relief in the case of Oshima Junior High, where one is situated in a stall immediately next to another stall containing a Toto Washlet 3000 Super Waste-Matic Hyper Plus, a contraption privy to the most modern amenities, including but not limited to: bidet! spray wash! variable water pressure! heated seats!! Truly quite the contrast.
On the up side though, the other day I was shopping in a department store and was offered a sample of some udon and soba noodles. I took my noodles and hungrily started slurping away, downing them in no time. I heard the woman remark to one of her co-workers on my skills, not with chopsticks, but with the slurping itself! It is actually quite polite to slurp your noodles, as it not only has the practical effect of cooling them but also is just good manners.
So if you come to Japan, make sure to practice slurping up your noodles with a minimum of splashing, it'll have everyone suitably impressed. Just don't forget to strengthen those leg muscles up plenty before you come too, just in case. Ah the wonders of cross-cultural exchange.
future i-feel-like-i'm-in-the-past love,
-greg.
ps: was it too subtle? did anyone catch it?
pps: oh, and of course get your legs ready if you go to Morocco, or India, or....
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