Day 30: Unofficial Start of Golden Week

Today is Saturday, but again we had school. (Yesterday was a holiday, however, so we had the day off.) We always have school on the Saturday before Golden Week, because it's the day when the students go home for about a week of vacation. Since the parents (or guardians) have come to get their children, the school takes advantage of the situation to have a PTA day.

As you probably guessed, I had nothing to do today, but I still went to school. I actually didn't mind going to school, however, because I had a chance, as usual, to chat with some of the kids, which I really enjoy.

I even talked to a few parents for a few minutes, but I didn't meet some of the parents I was hoping to see. Some of the teachers refer to the parents as "monsters," which is semi-understandable, since here in Japan, in general, teachers have much more responsibility toward students than they do in America or Europe (in most cases). If you're a good teacher, though, I don't really think the parents will act like monsters. Maybe that's why I have a good relationship with some of the parents. :-)

Anyway, today two of the students who just graduated in March were at school. One came to pick up his little brother, while the other came to talk to some teachers. The one who came to pick up his brother is one of the two students from the Class of 2011 who did not get accepted to a university. I talked to him about that a little bit and heard some interesting stuff.

Since he didn't get accepted to a university, about the only way for him to do so is to try again next year, by taking the National Center Test again next January. To prepare for that, he is taking classes at a high school. From Monday to Friday, he commutes to the high school by train. It takes him about 1.5 hours each way. He is the only student in the classes, he pays for the classes, and he has to wear his school uniform.

As far as I know, the guy has several options with regard to getting tutored in whatever subjects he needs to improve in, but he has decided to do what he's doing because it's the cheapest option.

I certainly applaud him for going to all the trouble to get into a university next year, but I also feel sorry for him, mostly because he has to wear his school uniform. Basically, he's a fourth-grade student at a school with three grades, and that has to be embarrassing.

I think he'd be a bit happier if he could have transferred to another high school and simply started as a senior, so that no one would necessarily know what boat he was in.

I imagine the guy must feel like a loser at times, given his situation, but he really shouldn't. He has to be at least partially responsible for not making it into a university, but I also believe he was a victim of the system. The teachers simply don't do enough teaching and place the learning burden on the shoulders of the students, which just isn't fair.

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The students went home today and don't come back to school until Thursday night. Why? Well, since we had to come to school today, we get Monday, May 2, off, and since Golden Week (not really a week!) is from May 3-5, a string of three holidays in a row, we don't have school again until Friday, May 6.

I don't understand why we can't have next Friday off and just add on an extra day of school at some other point later in the year to make up for it, but that's the way it seems to always go with school systems, especially in a workaholic-filled country like Japan.

As for me, well, I'm taking Friday off so I can have a nice little vacation. On Monday, I'm heading to Okinawa for the first time, and I don't come back until Sunday.

I'm not Japanese. I'm American. I believe in the importance of vacation!

Day 27: Teaching

Today is Wednesday, so I got to teach an Oral Communications class. (If you ask me, every English class at my school should focus on speaking rather than grammar and memorization of words and sentences, but the Japanese simply don't believe speaking a language other than their own is very important, so they limit the number of Oral Communications classes to a whopping one per week and only offer the class to the high-school sophomores.) Oral Communications is probably my favorite class, because I actually get to teach, which is a rarity. Most of the time in the other classes I attend, all I do is ask the students some questions for a few minutes, give advice to students, answer a few of the teacher's questions, or do absolutely nothing. (I often wonder why I'm getting paid.)

Anyway, when I teach Oral Communications, I'm really in charge of the class, which is great, but I make sure to get whoever I'm teaching with involved in the activities. Unfortunately, however, no matter how successful my classes are, no matter how much the students' English improves as a result of what I do, and no matter how little Japanese is spoken when I teach, my English teaching colleagues refuse to adapt any of my methods to their teaching. As you can imagine, that is not only disappointing, but also unbelievable.

The other little bit of teaching I did today was about a 5-minute warm-up lesson for the new students. Because they are learning the alphabet, I had them spell some words, but I also asked some fairly easy questions, just to mix things up a bit. The warm-up went really well, even though only a few of the 40 students actually volunteered answers.

The lame thing is, as soon as I was done, the main teacher took over and switched right back into Japanese. He also did a bunch of useless activities, so the rest of the class was actually a big waste of time. That's life here in Japan, though, and there's very little I can do about it.

I was actually quite surprised when the main teacher asked me to do a warm-up activity in the first place, because the last two times he asked me to come to his class, I did absolutely nothing. I think the vice-principal, who is going to be teaching half of the class, might have told the teacher that he has to use me in some manner or other rather than have me just stand around in the classroom. 5 minutes of teaching is still not nearly enough, however, but I am pretty sure that's all I'm going to get.

Day 22: Hungry Menu/Another Welcome Party

Today is the one day of the month when the school lunch is fairly skimpy. All we got to eat this afternoon was a bowl of rice complete with a few specks of veggies and meat, as well as two tiny dried fish (with an umeboshi, which is a reddish/pinkish dried fruit that is really sour and salty and some tsukemono, which is a kind of Japanese pickle that comes in many different varieties).

I guess you could say the meal's official name is the "Thanks for our daily rice" meal, but I call it the "Hungry Menu." The main purpose of the meal is to remind everyone that we are rather fortunate to be able to eat a lot of food and that we should not complain when we are served very little. I think it's actually a pretty cool idea. The problem is, just like most days, the students and teachers are allowed to get seconds. That makes zero sense to me, but if you stay long enough in Japan, you'll find plenty of things that don't make any sense!

The other thing that is going on today is the final welcome party of the new year. This one is for the one new teacher who moved in to the apartment complex where I (and many other teachers and their families) live. This year, three teachers and one person from the personnel department moved out, but only the one teacher moved in, meaning there are now several empty apartments.

Anyone out there care to move in?

Day 16: Practice Run/Costco

Yesterday was another Saturday here in Japan, but lo and behold, I didn't have to go to work. That doesn't mean that I wasn't busy, however. Because I have a half-marathon coming up in a week, I did a practice run this morning today along 2/3 of the course. The entire course is mostly up and down all the way, which makes it pretty challenging. I've practiced a lot on hilly roads, though, so I thought I could do well on the course. Boy was I wrong.

Luckily, however, I think the main reason I couldn't run very fast was not so much that the course was tough but rather that I lacked the energy to run it. Last night's baseball game wore me down, and I hardly ate or drank anything afterwards or this morning, which certainly didn't help. Just before I ran, I ate a bunch of junk to try to fuel up, but I don't think my strategy worked too well.

Anyway, I ran part of the course about as fast as I wanted to, which is a good sign, but after about 10K, I really burned out. I just hope that I will have the energy, determination, and will power to run a fast half-marathon come Sunday. I've only run one other half-marathon in my life, and that was about one month ago. The problem with that race is, it was unofficial. What I mean is, the actual race got canceled, but I ran on my own anyway. Since I didn't know where the exact turn-around point was, however, I think I only ran 20.5K or so (of the 21.1). My time then was 1:32:41, which is pretty darn fast, but obviously not as good over 20.5K as over a full half-marathon.

My time to beat on Sunday is 1:35:07, because that's the time a buddy of mine in the US finished in a half-marathon one week ago. I have no idea if I can beat his time. Based on my practice times, I know I can, but practice is one thing and the real deal is another. Based on my run this morning, I'd say there's no way I can beat his time, on the course I'm running, anyway. We'll see what happens.

Even though the event on Sunday is technically a race, and even though there's really nothing at stake here besides a bit (a lot?) of pride, I consider the "run" a "race" and will therefore be incredibly nervous at the starting line. Regardless of my time, if I finish in one piece, I will be very proud of myself. Of course, beating my friend's time would be nice, but heck, this is my first half-marathon, so my goal is simply to finish. No matter what, I will be setting a PR!

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The other big event of the day was shopping at Costco in Fukuoka. A buddy of mine flew back from Europe today and originally planned to take the bus back home, but since we both wanted to buy food at Costco, I decided to pick him (and his bicycle!) up, instead.

So many people I know who, it is important to note, do not(!) live in Japan often tell me they are jealous that I get to eat such great Japanese food every day. Well, folks, you're dead wrong! The food here really is not "all that," so being able to shop at Costco, where I can get a ton of delicious food from home, makes life a whole lot better. Luckily, there are also a few websites that deliver food from Costco right to your door here, which saves the hassle (but not necessarily the expense) of driving all the way to Fukuoka, which is nearly 3 hours away.

Besides the great bulk food that I buy at Costco, I also love to buy a slice or two of their pizza, since it's also much, much better than any pizza I've had in Japan. The pizza alone practically makes the drive worth it.

In case you're wondering, here's a partial list of what I purchased:

Onion and cinnamon-raisin bagels
Tortilla chips and salsa
Quaker granola
Havarti cheese
Cheddar cheese
Colby jack cheese
Frozen ravioli
Cereal bars
Mixed nuts
Indian food mixes

Some of the stuff I bought, such as dark chocolate and spaghetti sauce, I can also get in Japan (or at least something quite similar), but the prices are usually much better at Costco and having familiar brands sitting in my kitchen simply helps me get by on some of my tougher days.

Viva Costco!

Day 15: English at 7:30

A student I know pretty well has expressed an interest in one-on-one English lessons, so we agreed to meet at 7:30 at school. Meeting a student so early in the morning is a bit crazy for me, since I usually don't even leave home until about 7:45, but it's not that crazy for a student, since they sometimes have extra early morning classes. Besides, since the girl in question usually gets to school at 7:30 anyway and is busy with basketball practice after school, meeting before school seemed to be our best option.

Until this morning, I had never left home at 7:00 to go to school. Even though I didn't enjoy getting up really early, I did enjoy seeing a bunch of elementary school kids walking to school. Way back when I first got here, I occasionally walked to school with a fellow teacher, starting at about 7:35, and back then we saw quite a few kids walking to school, too, so this morning's walk reminded me a bit of those bygone days...

I met the student and chatted with her for about 30 minutes. Her English is already pretty good, so my goal is simply to try to improve it as much as possible. The kids generally learn a lot of useless English, as well as a lot of Japanese English, so when I work one-on-one with students, I try to weed out all of that garbage and teach them "real" English... (to be continued)

Day 12: First Classes

Today I went to the first English class for the first graders (the first-year junior-high students). The class will eventually be divided into two groups, A and B, and each group will have its own teacher, plus I will help out one or two times a week in each class.

The class was pretty basic. Most of the time was spent on introductions. The teachers (including me) introduced themselves to the students first, and then the students introduced themselves to the teachers. The surprising thing was that the class was conducted almost entirely in English, which is a rarity. For whatever reason, the Japanese teachers of English who I have worked with do 95% of their teaching in Japanese. That, my friends, explains why most Japanese can hardly speak English.

Anyway, the teachers used the rest of the class to go over the syllabus and explain other matters such as what to bring to class and all that usual stuff.

After class, I had a brief discussion with one of the teachers who is in charge of the first-graders. He likes to do a lot of activities which I consider unnecessary, so I tried to convince him to run class more often using the communicative method like he did today. I also tried to convince him to jump right into things, rather than spend a lot of time on basics such as the alphabet and pronunciation drills. I don't think I will get through to him, but I'm going to keep trying.

(I'm 99% sure 99% of the students already know the Roman alphabet inside and out, yet the teacher wants to spend several weeks going over it. There's just no reason for that, and I hope the teacher quickly realizes that. These kids may not be rocket scientists, but they're not babies.)

About the only other thing to report is that after school, I practiced a little basketball with the basketball team, which was pretty fun.

Oh... And today I took a bunch of pictures of the sakura that is blooming. I've included a picture so you can have a look for yourself!

Day 11: Bombers Baseball

Like yesterday, I didn't do very much today, since I had the day off. However, there was one big event on the calendar: The first baseball game of the spring season.

I'd be willing to bet that the good majority of junior-high and high schools in Japan have baseball teams. My school counts as one of those, but not in the traditional sense. See, we don't have a team for the students. Instead, we have a team for the teachers.

When I first arrived in Japan, in August 2007, the baseball team, known as the Bombers (why the uniforms say "Bombs" is beyond me), was pretty darn good. We had fairly solid players at every position and, despite all of my experience, I felt a bit of pressure to perform. I did really well, however, and quickly established myself as one of the best players on the team. I had a blast playing and we won most of the (very few) games we had.

Unfortunately, the following spring our catcher was transferred to another school, and the team was never the same. We were still pretty good and we still won some games, but the magic of the previous year was gone. It's not even like the catcher was Yogi Berra or Johnny Bench, but as soon as he left, well, the whole composition of the team changed, for the worse.

A year later, about five more players were transferred, leaving the team pretty much decimated. Sure, we got new players (the new teachers!) in their place, but their level of talent just didn't match what we lost. I don't think we even won a single game that year.

The next year, last year, we lost a few more teachers as well as almost every game. I know we won at least once, however, and yes, that was reason to celebrate. I had completely forgotten what is was like to win.

This year, well, we just lost three more players and got pretty much nothing in return, I'm afraid, so it's not looking very good.

We lost tonight, something like 6-4 (or was it 7-4?), and I really can't see us winning another game for a long, long time.

Our defense simply sucks and won't be getting better any time soon.

Even I made an error.

I made up for that, however, by pitching a pretty good game. I think we played about 5 innings (we have a 1:10 time limit) and I struck out about 7 batters, including the final three that I faced!

The game got off to a horrible start when the very first batter hit a relatively easy fly to left that got turned into a home run. The worst part of that and all the errors that followed is that I had to keep pitching through it. I have no idea how many pitches I threw, but it was surely too many for the first time out. But that's just how it goes in this league, and I knew what I was getting myself into from the beginning, so it wasn't a big deal.

We have another game on Friday and I'll be pitching that one, too, unless my arm falls off. I'm really the only pitcher we have left. (Our ace was transferred two years ago, but because he moved to a neighboring school, he could still come play with us most of the time. He was just transferred again, though, and now he's nowhere close.)

Wish us luck!

Day 10: Time For Another Run

Because of yesterday's ceremony, my weekend got off to a late start. Today, however, I could finally sleep in and relax.

At school, as usual, there was quite a bit going on, especially for the new kids. For example, there was a "walk rally" in the morning, especially for the new students, in order to get them familiar with the entire neighborhood. Later in the day, at lunchtime, there was a BBQ for all of the students.

I showed up toward the end of the BBQ just to see what was going on and to talk to some students. I was actually on my way to kajika (the restaurant) again, so it made sense to stop off at school for a little while.

I spent most of my day cleaning up my apartment and making sure I had all the parts ready for when I start putting my bike back together again, which will be very soon.

In the evening, I went for a 15K run in Takachiho, the next town over. I've been running a lot lately because I plan to run my very first half-marathon in two weeks.

Usually after I run, I like to go to the onsen (a hot spring, or, more exactly, a bath house) to relax, but the onsen has been closed lately for a major cleaning and won't open again until April 23, the day before the race. There's another onsen not too far away, in Amanoiwato, but I was running late (pardon the pun!) and wouldn't have gotten there before closing.

Anyway, that was my Sunday!

Day 9: Welcome Ceremony for the New Kids

Even though today is Saturday, I had to go to school, because the welcome ceremony for the new kids was held today. The ceremony is always held on a Saturday so that as many of the new students' parents and guardians as possible can attend. Many of them have to drive as much as three or even four hours in order to get to the school, which is located in the northwestern corner of the prefecture.

In Japanese, the welcome ceremony is know as an "entrance ceremony." I consider it the exact opposite (or reverse) of the graduation ceremony, because the two ceremonies really are so similar. For instance, at both ceremonies, the students being honored march in and out of the gymnasium, down the middle aisle, at the beginning and end of the ceremony; there are a bunch of VIPs in attendance; each student's name is called; there are several speeches; a representative of the parents addresses the teachers; and there is some singing.

The entrance ceremony is really not that exciting. If it were held in the United States, I have a feeling it would be an exciting, happy event, rather than a robotic, you-can-hear-a-pin-drop event. At least it wasn't that cold in the gym, unlike at graduation (on March 3).

After the welcome ceremony, each of the six grades had a class picture taken, and then the teachers had a group picture taken.

The new first graders also went to their classroom for the first time (which was decorated especially for them), where a stack of books was greeting them on their desks.

When it was time for lunch, everyone sat with their "family," which more-or-less consists of one student from each grade, plus a teacher who is either the mother or the father. A family is either made up of all boys or all girls, except for the teacher. We always have bread rather than rice when there's a family meal, and we also almost always have dessert, which is pretty unusual for lunch.

Not much else went on for the rest of the day, but the returning students had the pleasure of getting to take tests. See, even though they were on vacation for about two or three weeks (only!) before the new school year started, they had tons of homework, including studying for today's tests.

The studying simply never ends in Japan.

Day 8: New Kids Arrive

The first thing on tap for today was, you guessed it, a meeting! This was just a short meeting, though, the kind that I attend. We sometimes have these short meetings in the morning, but more often than not we have them about once a week in the afternoon. They only last about 10 minutes and are mostly for making announcements.  Such meetings probably wouldn't take place in an American school, because in America most announcements are passed on to teachers via internal email. Here, well, where things really aren't as high-tech as you'd expect them to be, there is no internal email, so we get quite a bit of paperwork in our mailboxes every day. When the written notices do not suffice, for whatever reason, we have these short meetings.

A little while later, it was time for an assembly in the gym, so that the returning students could meet the new teachers and staff members. The newbies were given a brief introduction (name, subject, former school), and then the newbies introduced themselves. The students also found out what teachers were assigned to what grade.

Lunch was back to normal today, which meant it wasn't very good. Inevitably, I don't like one of more items that are served and today was no exception (I didn't take any rice, I didn't have my miso soup, and I gave away a big tempura mushroom.)

Immediately after lunch, the new students began to arrive. The new "second-graders" (the second year junior-high students) helped the new "first-graders" (the new students) carry their belongings to their rooms, and about 30 minutes later there was a welcome ceremony in the dorm.


The rest of the day was spent setting up the gym for tomorrow's (school, not dorm) welcome ceremony.

Day 7: Lunch at Kajika

Today was yet another slow day at school. The teachers had more meetings to go to, but I was free once again.

Because today was the last day that the school cafeteria would be closed for a while, I went to my favorite restaurant for lunch: Kajika (no sato), which is a 15-minute walk (or 3-minute drive) from school. The food is good, the prices are reasonable, and the owner is a cool guy. What's not to like about the place?

My "usual" used to be Chicken Nanban, which is a delicious local specialty more-or-less equivalent to fried chicken. Since it's not that healthy, I switched my usual to fried rice. I also sometimes opt for a dish called "oyakodon," which is basically chicken (the "oya" or parent) and egg (the "ko" or child) over rice (the "don"), with some other stuff thrown in to add some flavor.

In the afternoon, the kids started arriving, but for the most part they headed straight to the dormitory (I work at a boarding school), so I only saw a few of them.

Tomorrow morning we will have a short ceremony in the morning in the gym to welcome the returning students back to school and tomorrow afternoon the new students will be arriving.

Day 6: Medical Check

Today we had our annual medical checkup. The last one was in August, but for whatever reason this time it took place now, in the spring.

We've never had the physical in the same place.

My first year here, we had to go down to the local hospital both in the morning and then again in the afternoon. At least, that's how I remember it. I even think my supervisor told me I had to take an hour or two off to go down there, which I thought was a joke, so I didn't. (I'm not that stupid!)

My second year here, I think half of the physical took place here at school, but the other half was down at the hospital again.

Last year, for the first time, the whole thing took place somewhere (I don't exactly remember) in the neighboring town, which was kind of cool, because, even though that made the process a bit inconvenient, it was a good chance to kill some time.

Today, for the first time ever, the entire physical took place right here at school.

The medical checkup is pretty basic. They measure our weight and height (I've actually grown about 1 cm since I came to Japan!), check our eyesight and hearing (both very good), check our blood pressure, measure our waist, take a chest X-ray, administer an EKG, test our urine, and take our blood for testing.

The one other thing they do if you are over 40 (that would be me) is test you for gastric cancer. I took the test my first year here, but I skipped it the next two times. From what I understand, the prevalence of stomach cancer among Japanese is significantly greater than it is among Americans, so I just didn't feel the need to have my stomach checked year after year. I went ahead and took the test this year, though, for safety's sake. Next year, I am definitely passing again. (Apparently, part of the reason so many Japanese get gastric cancer is that they consume too much salt, too many preserved foods, and not enough fresh fruits and veggies, and I can certainly attest to that!)

One of the perks of my job is certainly the health care that I receive. The only other time I've had coverage this good was when I lived in Europe. American health coverage, for the most part, stinks, and is one reason I prefer not to work in the United States.

Day 5: Intro to School Lunch

Today, the teachers had some more meetings to attend, which once again meant that I was free.

Any time there are meetings, I am presented with a Catch-22 of sorts: I can go to the meetings and be bored to death, since I probably won't understand much, or I can skip the meetings and alienate myself from the group to some degree. I always choose the latter.

As far as I can tell, I'm not even expected or supposed to attend meetings, because the junior high vice principal always even goes so far as to ask me to stay in the teachers' office when the other teachers go upstairs to the conference room. To stay within the loop, however, I at least do my best to read through the handouts from the meetings. (Sometimes, whoever passes them out neglects to put a copy of them in my mailbox, but I have my ways of getting my hands on them.)

Besides going to the meetings, most of the teachers spent some more time organizing their "work stations." Space is really limited, so the teachers have to get fairly creative to find room for all of their stuff. Some of them have so much stuff stacked on, under, and next to their desks, that they barely have room for their laptops. The luckier teachers, like me (I suppose), are in the back (or the front) of the office. Since there is no one sitting behind us, we tend to place things along the wall behind us, even though that means we are blocking access to the mostly unused storage spaces there. Despite the semi-cramped quarters, no one seems to complain.

About the only other newsworthy event of the day was lunch. Lunch usually pretty much sucks, but eating in the school cafeteria at least gives me a chance to hang out with some students and either teach them some English or practice my Japanese.

Today's lunch was special, however, because it was the first lunch of the school year, which meant it was the first lunch for the new faculty members. I guess the meal is sort of like a "Welcome to The Cafeteria" meal, which is a good thing, but whenever we have it, I actually feel sorry for the new teachers. You see, the food that the cafeteria staff serve for this special meal tends to be much, much, much better than normal (with regards to both flavor and eye appeal!), so these poor souls probably think they're going to get similar food every time they have lunch in the cafeteria. Little do they know that, in fact, the food won't be that good probably until the same time next year. (I'm telling you, even the tofu, which I'm normally not really a fan of, tasted really good.)

Day 4: Yet Another Welcome Party

Not much went on at school today. For the most part, the teachers had two things to do: attend a bunch of meetings and change desks. I had to do neither.

On Friday, one of the things the teachers found out was which committee they were assigned to. That determined where they would sit in the main teachers' office and started off the annual game of musical chairs.

I got pretty lucky I guess, with regard to who I sit with. For instance, the nice teacher who was sitting next to me (on my left) for the past school year moved, but not very far. Now she's diagonally across from me. Also, the really cool teacher who sat next to me during the 2009-2010 school year moved back downstairs and he is once again my next-door neighbor. I haven't always been this lucky, however. Three years ago I got stuck across from a really annoying teacher. Life is so much better when one likes one's neighbors!

The other major event of the day was the welcome party for all of the new teachers and faculty members. The party is held at the same place every year, because there just aren't that many places to choose from around here. It's a fish place, so, naturally, just about everything we had was fish, fishier, and fishiest.

I didn't like the food very much and was especially disappointed with the dessert, which was just a slice of orange accompanied by a piece of some jello-like something. (Since the food that they serve is the same every year, I actually knew what the dessert was going to be. Nevertheless, I really was disappointed and kept asking the servers for the non-existent chocolate cake.)

Parties in Japan aren't all that exciting, primarily because they have a set starting time, in this case 7:00 p.m., as well as a set ending time, in this case 9:00 p.m.

You also never know what the seating arrangements are going to be like, but you can pretty much bet your bottom dollar that you're going to be sitting on the floor. No fun! The fish place is especially bad for tall(er) people such as me, because of the utter lack of leg room. I learned my lesson last year, however, and begged to be moved from my randomly assigned seat to one of the few seats with a pit for one's legs. Luckily, the organizing committee obliged me! This year, I made sure to ask for a choice seat in advance, and once again, my wish was granted! Thank you!

Anyway, last night's party agenda was basically as follows:

1) Someone makes the opening statement. (Yes, someone has to officially start the party. Otherwise it's not a party.)
2) We all raise our glasses and say kanpai! (Cheers!)
3) We start eating.
4) Half of the new folks are introduced to everyone and they then briefly introduce themselves. (Self-introductions are a big, big thing in Japan.)
5) We keep eating and have a chance to go up and chat with the newbies. (That mainly involves pouring beer for them.)
6) The other half of the introductions and self-introductions take place.
7) We finish eating and finish chatting with the new guys.
8) We sing the school song.
9) We do the ol' banzai thing. (3 times, of course!)
10) Someone makes the closing statement. (Otherwise the party can't end.)
11) We leave.

Exciting, huh?

There's always at least one after-party, too, however, for anyone who wants to go, but I almost always pass, since the after-party just means drinking more alcohol, eating more food, and doing plenty of karaoke, none of which is all that appealing to me. The after-party is sometimes even followed by an after-after-party. The after-parties (and after-after-parties) can get pretty wild, as I've heard and seen. (I've seen photos... Oh, my!)

Oh, and most of us take shuttles to and from such parties, since there is absolutely zero tolerance for drinking and driving. (That's the way it should be everywhere!)

Tomorrow will be another easy day, since about the only thing on tap is more meetings. In other words, tomorrow I'll go to school, but I won't really have any reason to be there. (That won't be the first time, nor will it be the last.) At least I won't be bored, however, since I always find something to do.

Talk to you again tomorrow,

Yama

Day 3: Painting my Bike

Once in a blue moon, I actually do have to go to school on a Sunday, but not this time. Since I have the day off and the weather is slowly getting warmer (but not quickly enough!), I probably would have gone for a bike ride today, but I couldn't. That's because I've completely disassembled my bike in order to repaint it.

I put the primer on two weeks ago and the color coat last week, and today I finally had a chance to put the clear coat on. I don't necessarily know what I'm doing, since this is the first time I've ever painted a bicycle. Nevertheless, I've watched several videos and read a lot about the process and am pleased with the results so far. Granted, there has been a bit of trial and error regarding my choice of primer and paint, but that's to be expected.

I've been very fortunate to be able to use the professional painting booth at my car repairman's shop. I guess the only negative about that is that I'm only allowed to use the booth on Sundays and holidays, so painting the bike has taken a lot longer than I had hoped. Ultimately, however, that's really not a big deal.

In case you're wondering, the color I chose is called "marine blue" and is for cars and trucks manufactured by Isuzu. Since blue is my favorite color, I'm happy I found such a nice shade to use on my bike. I'm using acrylic-based paint, rather than urethane-based paint, which I've read is more durable, because urethane paint is apparently too dangerous to use without the proper breathing apparatus.


When I had all the paint stripped off and was ready to spray the primer on, I actually considered leaving the bike as is, with the steel exposed for all to see. The plan was to paint the bike, though, so I stuck with the plan. Maybe some other day I'll go with the all-steel look.

Anyway, here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure. Take a look for yourself and tell me what you think!

Day 2: Another Party on Tap

Last night, I went to the welcome "party" for the new English teacher at a restaurant in a nearby town. (The party wasn't really a party; it was more like a dinner.) I had never been to the place, and, frankly, even if I had seen it before, I probably wouldn't have realized that it was a restaurant. A lot of eating establishments in Japan are like that, at least here in the boonies: just basically a building with some signs on it. It would help if there were windows and you could look inside, but that is certainly not the norm here for many of the smaller, hole-in-the-wall type places.

Anyway, the food was just okay, but I'm glad I had a chance to talk to the new teacher. Unfortunately, my Japanese still isn't good enough for me to understand everything that the teachers talk about, although I can usually at least get the gist. Nevertheless, I wish the topic of conversation would switch away from school and more to just about anything else. I also wonder why the wives and kids are never invited to such parties, so I'm inevitably in the presence of my male colleagues only.

In case you're wondering, the restaurant was an izakaya, which I can best describe as the Japanese equivalent of an Irish pub (I'll take an Irish pub over an izakaya any day!), and I paid ¥3000 for the pleasure. (Those who drank alcohol paid ¥3500.) All told, as there were seven of us, the establishment made a whopping ¥23,000 off of us, which comes out to $275 (EUR 200). That is utterly incredible, since for $35 I imagine I could have probably had steak and potatoes, along with a great appetizer, coffee, and a fabulous dessert. That's just how it goes in Japan, though: You pay a lot for nothing. I'm not complaining, though, since it's all included in my salary.

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Tonight, I have another little party to go to, at another pub, and I'll probably be out another ¥3000. The party tonight is a gathering for some of the local foreigners. If everyone shows up, I think there will be about 6 of us (including the girlfriend of one of them).

I think one of the new teachers might be moving in today, but I haven't heard anything specific so am not planning to help.

Otherwise, I'm just watching the Twins vs. Blue Jays live on TV. I guess the game is on because the Twins are one of the MLB teams with a Japanese player.

Since it's Saturday, I also plan to clean up a bit around the apartment and I will go for a swim this afternoon, before the party.

That's all for now!

Cya,
Yama

Day 1: First Day of School

It's April 1 here in Japan, which means the new school year officially starts today. Nevertheless, all of the students are still on vacation. In fact, the students won't be coming back to school until next Thursday evening, so their first day of school is next Friday. I wish the teachers had some time off, too, but that would be so un-Japanese.

This morning we were officially introduced to the new teachers and administrators. This time around, there are nine new faces: five teachers, the school nurse, the high-school vice-principal, the principal, and an office worker.

Of those who are leaving, I will mostly miss the out-going English and chemistry teachers, nurse, and principal, because I had good relationships with all of them. If I had to pick a favorite, however, I'd have to say it was the principal, because he made life at school so much easier for me. For instance, I could talk to him about anything, he often came to me for advice regarding English, I helped him write speeches, and I often chatted with him in his office. We even sat next to each other at most English department parties. When I first came here, I almost never talked to the principal who was here at the time (they switch every two years), and now that my buddy is gone, I expect to have nothing to do with the incoming principal, which is a shame.

Anyway, today will be filled with meetings, most of which I won't be required to attend. The only meeting I have to go to is coming up in a few minutes: the English department meeting. We have a new English teacher, unlike last year, so there will be some adjusting to do. Adjusting to new things is the norm here, though, so I don't think the change will bother me much.

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There were two surprising developments at the English department meeting. For one, the junior-high-school vice-principal will be teaching about 4 hours a week. That's the first time since I've been here that that has happened. For two, the junior-high-school English teacher will be teaching the high school freshmen (they would be sophomores in the U.S.), which is also a first. From what I remember, when I first got here there as only one junior-high-schol English teacher, and he taught all of the classes. Since he left, two of the high-school English teachers have also been teaching junior-high classes, but I've never seen that situation reversed.

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The English teachers just got back from lunch, which we had at a nearby restaurant, the one on the hill. I walked there with the new English teacher, so I had a chance to get to know him a bit better. The other teaches drove there, which I think is pretty ridiculous, considering the restaurant is visible from school and is a five-minute walk from here. To each his own, though, right? (I walked back here by myself.)

Yeah, so there's nothing much going on for the rest of the day. This evening, however, we have the welcome party for the new English teacher. I'll let you know how that went tomorrow.

Take it easy!

p.s. By the way, as you can see by the picture, today is nice and sunny. Better yet, it's getting warm. This winter is taking too long to end. I really, really, really can't wait for spring!