Falling asleep to a DVD is absolutely terrible because once the content has finished, the disc goes to the menu and that plays on a loop. On Season 3, Disc 4 of "The Office", there is a 30 second cycle of everyone yelling about a bat that was let loose in the office. After battling through about ten minutes of half dream/half real audio, I woke up discombobulated...gathered myself and found that I need some awake time to restore some sanity. I've turned on the TV (it's about 4am); this generally is the only time I'll even watch tv because there is a slight chance of American sports. Last week I randomly woke up around 5am and watched the Wimbledon men's final but it was about 7 at its conclusion and couldn't sleep.
I feel severely disconnected from the world because Japanese television is...well, in Japanese. Not only that, it's not your standard American format. I have 12 base channels and one of them never works. The others, at all times, include 4 home shopping networks, one that plays mostly game shows and anime, and one nature/travel channel - which doesn't seem to have anything but a panning camera with elevator music. Right now, we're taking a boat tour of some eastern European city...maybe in Greece - if it had narration or even subtitles, I could attempt to figure out but nope. The nature show right now is profiling this Japanese animal (I don't remember what it's called) that looks like a hybrid of a squirrel, rabbit and rat. Another of my staple channels is a 16 square grid showing channels that I cannot access. I wonder if this is an advertising tool. If so, it's great because there is some version of a Fox channel and, right now, one program is making abrupt cuts between a few people eating sushi and a topless woman pouring water on herself at an onsen (hot bath which is similar to a day at the spa). I suppose it's better that I don't have compelling television because I'll go out and do more. But on Tuesday, I'll have the internet set up in the apartment so I can bridge some gap back to my reality. I really thought I could pilfer someone's wireless connection but everyone in my building (including me Tuesday) has a high-speed connection by cord. Oh, and my apartment building is on the same block as Onion Soup (which has 'Classy Clothes' - or prom dress disasters as I'd describe it. It would be popular for a fashion movement here called Yanki...which looks girls going to prom at an insane asylum), a reggae apparel and souvenir store and a cabaret club. No such internet options. So I've likely been kicked out of the international center for the last time (only 2!!).
Someone must've been playing a huge prank on me because when I received my schedule during training, I had 25 teaching hours for the week. That is supposed to be the standard amount of hours and the rest would be used for planning, marketing initiatives and cleaning. I've just finished my first solo week with 29 hours and there are randomly two more hours added for next week. Our schedules vary because students have three options - private lesson (1 on 1), semi-private (2 students) or group (3-8 students) - but the private lessons can also be purchased a la carte and we're encouraged to upsell those. Along with those, we have seminar lessons and trial lessons for prospective students to mix in. Compared to the horror stories I've heard from my fellow teachers in training, I've had it really easy. I've not been hit, kicked or spit on by any children. One little girl cried through class last week but only shed a tear or two this week and became really interested. Another of my new favorite children is named Hikaru; she's three years old and has the most adult judgmental glares. The first time I taught her in class, I was running around the room with bubbles or acting like an animal, and she fixed her eyes on me - and they were a little squinted...conveying to me that she thought I was a jackass and had no idea how to teach children. Amazingly my perception of her stares is totally accurate...I'm not self-conscious or anything. But this week, she gave me the eye for about five minutes and then it was time to gallop like a horse and that brought her back to what a three year old should be. Nothing in this entire week beat my class this afternoon with a bilingual girl named Seina. She's six years old and just moved to Japan from Ohio. Since I was clueless (even more than usual) how to teach a bilingual class, I decided to create a story. We drew penguins, houses, penguin parents (dolphin and tiger), a school house and some things the penguins would learn in school. Other than that, we played freeze tag and a weird game of fetch. I feel strange every time I do this in class but it's fairly effective. Basically we'll put props or cards around the room and the kids will have to find the appropriate prop/card and bring it back. It's teaching, technically, but the activity could be interchanged with a dog and a park and work exactly the same. Anyhow, Seina smiled the entire time...she knew English...and was whole-heartedly into everything. I contemplated keeping her but there were too many obstacles. This week I've received a really nice picture of me, the teacher I replaced (Sarah) and two of the children we teach, an origami crane and an anime action figure that my student actually constructed from a kit. I couldn't make this thing at 26 but he's 13 and probably finished it in ten minutes while eating and taking a cat nap. My feet kill after each day but it's worth it...just like every other population of children...some are really smart and energetic, some are smart and apathetic, some are not so smart but energetic and some are not so smart and apathetic but, overall, a wonderfully positive experience so far.
Tomorrow afternoon, Lauren and I are going to Softbank to get her cell phone. I got my phone last week so, apparently, I can be of some assistance. That's absurd because I understand nothing in Japanese and was accompanied by one of our Japanese teachers. Thankfully the store we went to has a girl that speaks really good English and made everything easier. Also, the Softbank worker is gorgeous so I volunteered my support/assistance to Lauren. Maybe she'll come to beer garden! Beer gardens are magical - I don't remember if I've written this already but Himeji has a few rooftops which are converted to little gardens with unlimited beer and food - four hours for like $29. Tomorrow's beer garden visit marks the inaugural gathering of the previously mentioned IAABP (International Association for the Advancement of Beer Pong) - last week didn't work out but we're all set for tomorrow! My last trip to the beer garden resulted in running down a line of 50-something year old people with my friend, Mike, giving Kampeis (Cheers!) to everyone, arm wrestling random people, being recruited to a tiger drumming troupe and talking to a few Japanese hippies whose main philosophy centered around something like 'we may have different eyes but we're all the same people'. The best part of this was I did not have that much to drink...it's just kinda what happens when you're the crazy foreigner and people want to talk to you. We're a little worried about the reception we get once we start beer ponging; if we make it past 30 minutes without being asked to leave, we'll consider the night a success. For this reason, we're bringing a few teachers that speak Japanese who can explain, in effect, that we're just idiots. Our Japanese teachers are more than happy to translate when they can freely tell people that the Americans are just being stupid.
My time in this country is going to fly by. Next weekend, there is a giant party called Suma Beach Party near Himeji - it's a big festival with different musical and dancing acts which is going to be so fun! The weekend after that, I am going to visit a training teacher friend in a city called Tokuyama and we're going to Kyushu - which is the southernmost of the five main Japanese islands (we're on Honshu). And my birthday is the weekend after and I've been promised beer pong by the river and party. I couldn't ask for anymore - except for the karaoke afterwards. I cannot wait for people to come out and visit - even if it's only for karaoke! Why doesn't it get old to me!? It's drinking and singing..I'm not really good at either but I enjoy both. Well, I've spent an hour of what should've been sleep time writing and produced a mini-novel so it's time to get to bed. I'll leave you with some random pictures I've taken this week and please keep leaving comments so I know you're reading!! I'm shameless.
6 comments:
Hi Matt,
Boy, what a process you have to go through to leave a comment!! I typed one out (and thought it was pretty good) but lost it because I had to set up my account. What do you want from an old fogie. Jake had to lead me through Best Buy yesterday--way too many electronic gizmos.
Love the pictures and the commentary. Tell more about your typical day on the job. Sounds like most of your day is wrapped up in Karaoke (sp?) and drinking! Well, I guess that's natural considering you're half way across the globe from what you know best. (Only kidding, glad you're having a good time.)
Just wanted to let you know that Jake won the MVP medal for one of his travel games. Hit 2 triples and had 6 RBI's. Maybe someday he'll be playing baseball in Japan?
Love Auntie Poobs and Jake
PS Love the new Ab's you're sporting
So once your internet is up and running you'll have to let me know if Japanese internet porn is better or worse than ours here. My guess is better for you, not so much for me! Email me with the dates around the New Year that you are off work, so I can start looking into that.
In 3 short weeks you are transformed from a retarded Sargeant Schultz (old TV reference) to a constipated muscle head. . .Japan . . what a country. Can't wait to see what's next!
When is your dragon initiation? I'm waiting for you to tell us how you ended up in a festive dragon costume running the streets of Himenji. Also, have you been accused of child molestation yet or are you just making the kids cry? Glad you have discuvered many of beer gardens for the visit in April! Only 290 days!
When you sing Karaoke, is the only song option "Turning Japanese"? I hope so. I wouldn't want you to sing anything else there. Sounds like teaching is fun. Have you gotten to finger paint at all? You should work that in somehow. It'd be worth it.
Hey Matt
We are having a blast reading your adventure .The boys are very interested glad to hear you are doing well .
Brett
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