Thursday, September 16, 2004
Daniel With A Bow On Top!
Oh, the ways we've kept in touch!
We're glad this one's small! But let me point out that I'm frowning too!
He’s going to be here for four weeks at least, five if I can squeeze them out of him! He’s a little worried about what he’ll do all day while I’m at work, but he knows he’ll do the same thing he does all day when he’s at his home. Code. I’ve got fast internet so that’s not a problem, and in the evenings we can go to all my weekly activities like karate, tennis, flower arranging and taiko drumming practice. We can go out to restaurants or have some co-workers over, drive up north, go swimming and running (and push-ups and sit-ups to get ready for basic training). As you can see, I’ve been planning for weeks what I might do with someone who came for a visit!
I’m also beginning to come to the conclusion that I should go home for Christmas. Well, I shouldn’t go home because here I am in Japan with so many places I’ve never been to and would love to go to just next door. But there are so many enticing reasons to go back and see my family and friends—people I haven’t seen for ages (like Sahra who will be visiting from Germany; Steven, who just got back from the middle east; Ken, who’ll be fresh off a cruise ship; and then my mama, sister, aunts, uncle and cousins and neighbors. And Daniel will be home for two weeks too; his friend Seth who I’d love to meet might be around…) I’m still deciding, but it’s certainly an option at this point.
Last night I spent the entire evening reading the second Harry Potter book. I realized that I needed to return it to the library today and had only read a few chapters. So I settled down and read the whole thing, and dang bust it, forgot to return it this afternoon! It’s not like there are many people in this town waiting for it, but I should try to respect the rules, eh? I’m going to start pouring into my own bookshelf soon. (Now I’ve read all four English books in the Narao library: the Barefoot Gen comic book series and the first two Harry Potter books.) I have some good reads, actually. Frommer’s Japan, Travelers Tales Guide Japan, Navigating Nagasaki, Culture Shock Japan, Nagasaki Hospital Guide, Globetrotter Japan, Southeast Asia On A Shoestring, The JET Programme Resource Handbook, and The Truth About Japan. In all seriousness, there are some interesting things: The Story of My Life, by Helen Keller, Nineteen-eighty four, which I’ve read, but just love, The Enigma of Japanese Power, and A God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy. I mostly should crack Japanese for JETs, but it’s so unmotivating!
And I mentioned quickly. I started practicing taiko drumming! I’m going to drum in some school festival—no idea when it is, but hoping it’s during DT’s visit—and practices started tonight. I’m just horrible at it, but everyone else has been doing this since they were toddlers so I try not to feel too bad. Kyoto-sensei was there and he loved helping me get the “da da dah, da da, da dah!” just right. I swear if that man were unmarried and about 40 years younger I’d snatch him up!! Oh, his daughter recently gave me a little present. She’s 23 years-old and went on a trip to Kyoto recently, bringing me back a small Hello Kitty phone ornament. If you’re not familiar with the Japanese love for cutsie things, let me be the first to introduce you. I’d never give an adult a cartoon-anything at home, but here it’s totally acceptable! It was a very sweet gesture and I have it hanging from my digital camera because—sorry, no ketai (mobile)!
I’m suppose to be getting my karate uniform here pretty soon. It might be tomorrow night or maybe next Tuesday. I'm excited to conform and feel more like I fit into the group. That’s all I had to say about that…
Funny, I don’t talk much about work. I mean, the actual teaching. It just seems to take up so little of my time. I lesson plan a lot, but only because I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m not that impressed with the teaching to be honest. Occasionally I’ll get an enthusiastic class, feeling brave and willing to talk, the activities just seem to mesh well together and the time flies by. But sometimes it’s painfully slow and I can watch the kids for minutes (literally) as they try to answer, or even understand, my question. I have to say, I taught the worst class of my career (I can say that because it’s been a 3-week career) yesterday. The lowest class at Nakagoto HS could not even get through my self-introduction lesson, which all the junior high classes flew though on Tuesday. I was really frustrated by the end of the class because I couldn’t do anything in the silence. If I ask a student a question I can either wait it out until s/he answers, prod the student on by giving clues, or just forget about it and move out. While I do enjoy releasing the poor kid from his/her misery, I also don’t feel that’s really teaching them anything except if you wait long enough you can get out of it. I have no ideas for what to do with that class. Starting at the alphabet would be ideal, but then it bores the students who are a little more advanced. I understand why Tomonaga-sensei gets frustrated now!
Just have to add a few pictures from the radio broadcast show from Wednesday. I had my first guest on the show, Tsuchiyama-sensei ,（in Japanese that's 土山先生 ...what do you think of them apples?）and I’d say it was a general success. Tomorrow is my animal sounds lesson over the radio!!
Here are the students that are in charge of the station this semester.
Here's me reading v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y so the students can understand me.
That's all for now, folks, keep checking in on me!
Love and DT with a bow on top!
Sierra
I said if you send me pictures, I'd post them online, and I don't lie (usually)!
Here's a picture of Daniel's childhood friend, Seth (far right). He's with some friends camping out on an ancient mountaintop castle in the wind-blown Syrian desert city of Palmyra. Seth is thinking about coming to Japan, perhaps to teach English, perhaps to work at a news organization. Good luck to you!
And my lovely mother who sent this picture from Bainshee...or someplace in the Midwest.
