Live from Japan!

If you would have asked me how I felt on Tuesday morning (Monday we didn’t work, it was a national holiday) I would have told you that I was totally, completely filled with dread. There have only been a handful of times in my life when I have felt this way and Tuesday morning was definitely one of them. As Aaron and I ate breakfast that morning, I looked at him and with big deer-in-the-headlights eyes and said, “This week is almost over, right?” As much as he wanted to humor me, he simply couldn’t. “No, in fact, it hasn’t even started yet.”

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The week before winter vacation I had a group of three students (all boys) come up to me in the staff room. One of them, the designated talker had a video camera in his hand. All three boys had obviously worked very hard preparing what they would say to me and they did an awesome job communicating.

After about a minute it was clear that they wanted me to play a part in a movie they were making. It sounded like fun and I was definitely up for participating so I asked them when they would be filming.

They looked at each other and back at me, “Right now,” one of them responded.

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We had to take a class photo for a school newspaper issue about the study abroad student, from Oak Park, at Gifu Kita High School. When I finished teaching in that students homeroom, we explained to the students that they would be getting their picture taken and we asked them all to stand up at the chalk board. I was amazed that without even being told or instructed they immediately separated themselves by gender. It was almost as if the boys had cooties. Since I had no clue what was going on, I ended up standing on the boy’s side and they totally got a laugh out of that!

Friday was the last day of school for the students before Winter Vacation. Once classes were over for the day, there was an all school assembly in the Gym.

When I left the warm, heated staff room I glanced at the thermometer in the hallway outside of the room. It was a balmy 8 degrees Celsius (46 degrees Fahrenheit), which meant that that was how warm the gym was going to be. Perhaps even a touch cooler. And we all had to go sit there, for an hour, with NO jackets, hats, or mittens.

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It is interesting, I have been emailed on several occasions by different people saying that our blog is inspiring, that we manage to be so positive about everything that we are experiencing. That is not a result of everything being perfect and wonderful and shiny here, I assure you. It is a result of the fact that we have made a conscious decision to make this a mostly positive place. It is a little space on the internet where we write and reflect on the interesting and enjoyable moments that we have experienced. It is a place where I, also, look to remind me of all the good things that I have experienced as a result of being here. I reread posts, especially when I am having a particularly bad day, and it helps me refresh and focus on what I have learned. As a whole, we have made the choice not to rant about bad things that happen, complain about our work or our lives, because, honestly, it is just not always that helpful and those are not the things that I want to remember and focus on ten years from now when I reread all these little essays.

That being said, today’s post is going to be a bit of complaining. One, because sometimes it is necessary to get it out on paper, reflect and move on. Two, because it may be interesting for you to hear about some of my frustrations and difficulties with being here. And, three, because I think there is something interesting and significant at the root of my troubles, something worth thinking about and considering.

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So last week I spent three days at the Gifu school for the deaf. I had been very nervous about this visit for several weeks. When I joined this program I had no idea how to teach english to students who could hear me speak english. I was somewhat terrified of trying to teach it to students who could not necessarily hear me. However, all my nervousness was not as important as I thought, for several reasons, and I ended up having a great time at the school.

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A few weeks ago I did a lesson with all the first and second year students (17 classes total, over 800 students) about food. The focus of the lesson was getting the students talking with one another and describing various foods. In order to get them started, I told them about one of my favorites, brownies.

Most of my students, and cooperating teachers, had never heard of brownies and it was fun to tell them a little bit more about this food. Even with my vivid description and gestures, very few of them really understood what a brownie was, despite my best efforts.

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Yesterday, there was an announcement made over the public address system at school that an emergency staff meeting would be held at 12:50, before the afternoon classes were scheduled to begin. That left all the teachers wondering, what could this possibly be all about? No one seemed to have any ideas.

So, we all waited until about 12:50 when it began. We were all handed a small notice on a sheet of paper with the details of the meeting. At about 7:45am yesterday morning, a truck driver was stabbed to death in his car, not too far from my school, and the murderer was on the loose!

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There are few times in life, as an ordinary person, where we have the joy and pleasure of being welcomed into a room by a round of applause (and a few cheers to boot). Today was my lucky day!

On Tuesday, I had a class with 2-second-delay sensei. He had forgotten that we were team teaching, and his students were expecting an English test. I arrived to the room about ten seconds after the bell had rung, much to the surprise of my JTE (Japanese teacher of English) and the students.

Although once the students saw me, they quickly realized that the would not be having a test. Instead, we would be having English fun time (as I have come to refer to it). And as that thought dawned upon them, smiles spread across their faces, they started clapping, and a few gave a cheer or two. Not a bad way to make an entrance!!

Once I got them quieted down again, I taught them the phrase, “It is your lucky day.” Because for them it was quite a lucky day, indeed.

Yesterday I spent some time after school helping the foreign exchange student from Oak Park write his college application essays. Wow! That really takes me back. Hard to believe I was doing the same thing 10 YEARS AGO!

As we were working, one of my second year students, also a member of the English Speaking Society (ESS), came up to me. She had, obviously, prepared what she wanted to say before she came into the staff room.

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