Tuesday, May 31, 2005

MY IPOD!!!

Yes, it's come. The era of the iPod for Alisha... I now own an iPod photo!!

I got home from school yesterday and I had a delivery slip in my mail-slot. I called the number and told the lady I'd arrived and that I'd be here all afternoon. And not an hour later, I was in possession of an iPod. I feel a bit bad because it distracted me from being sociable with my kendo boys... but they'll understand. :-)

That saved the day yesterday... I hope today's a bit better... and I don't feel like strangling 7 year olds. The only problem today is that I'm teaching my fave kids... minus my FAVORITE!! His dad's a policeman and got transferred... so Retsu-kun is no longer around... I almost cried last time I was there. Ganbatemasu!!

Monday, May 30, 2005

who knew!?!

If I had known that today was going to be such a bust... I probably wouldn't have gotten up this morning!! GEESH!! Talk about a discouraging day... I had a class full of 6 year olds that the teacher wouldn't help me control (I've never wanted to smack anyone that young before), but I rush back to a junior high lesson of kids that was uncooperative and boring to teach (no imagination on part of teacher and no prior notice as to what we were doing... leads to boring lessons!!).

Can I go to Tachikawa tomorrow?? PLEASE!!! No really... I'm serious... PLEASE!!!

Nothing Much

This weekend wasn't all that special...

Friday watched the season finale of One Tree Hill (10 cliff-hangers!!)...

Saturday went to the beach at Sanze... was pretty unspectacular, but hanging out was pretty fun.

Yesterday I read Harry Potter, did a bit of weeding, talked to some of my kendo boys... then Lauren and I met up with Kirsty, her mum and gran to visit Gyokusenji in Haguro. It's a temple with the most amazing garden!! Truly beautiful... and the koi were evening getting a bit excited. Haha.

Today I have a full day at school (have a class EVERY class period!)... should be good...

Saturday, May 28, 2005


The middle boy is Ryohei... he almost lapped a kid in the boys 1000 meters!! Holy cow... it was AWESOME!! Posted by Hello

This is Chihiro... the younger brother of two of my fave elementary school students! He's 3... but is tall enough to be about 4-5! And MAN does he have ENERGY!!! Posted by Hello

How many people are MISSING from this pic?? Haha... giving a camera to a 5th grader doesn't always result in great camera work!! ;-) Posted by Hello

Hiroto... after having finished the long jump! How cute is he??  Posted by Hello

Another Invader... Takuro... started the hat trend! Posted by Hello

The Great Debate!

"We're thinking of getting pink hats," said the track captain at my junior high... this one statement sparked the great debate!

That day I tried to convince the guys (yes, you heard right - the boys!) that pink was a weak color... remember pink = fluffy bunnies, rainbows and unicorns...

Well, yesterday, the debate raged on... So, instead of me trying to convince the boys that pink is weak... we went for the polling method... all teachers and students (particularly boys) were subjected to the question "好きな色は何ですか?" (what color do you like?) and then "ピンクは好きですか?" (do you like pink?) It was great... the more I asked boys, the more weird "Of course I don't like pink" faces I got!! Until after about 10 minutes... when I asked the Assistant Kendo Captain... and Ken responded with a resounding "NO!!"

I wheeled around and yelled "ピンク負けた!!" Meaning... pink loses!! Which was still greeted with some objections... but HOLY COW was it funny!!

Anyway... it's been settled officially... but watch... I'll be harassed about pink again this coming week!!

Friday, May 27, 2005

I LOVE OUR NEW KOCHO!!!

I've just had the most encouraging "talk" with our new kocho-sensei (principal). He was walking past my desk and spur-of-the-moment like asked if I was busy. I said no and followed him to his office... wondering what this was all about.

He proceded to ask how many classes I have a week... and I said that today and yesterday I'll have 5. Was still unsure as to where the conversation was headed... turns out he things that I should be teaching a LOT more and he's going to talk to the English teachers about getting into more classes!! How COOL!! I came out of that impromptu meeting with the biggest grin you've ever seen!!

What a good day!?:^)

An Invader... surely shouldn't be this cute!!! Should he??? And he's wearing MY hat!  Posted by Hello

Thursday, May 26, 2005

INVASION!!!

Yesterday, after clubs were over, the expected shout of "ALISHA!!" came as per normal. This time there were more kids... and they INVADED!! While I was showing SOME of them my garden... 4 others were hiding in my genkan! Holy cow!! I opened the door... surprised the pants off them... and was then greeted with "ojamashimasu" (which is the typical thing Japanese people say when entering a house... means "sorry, I'm being a pain!") and off they went to inspect my house.

Well, just like curious kids... they went everywhere... even though I told them that my house was a MESS!! And it is... partly because I'm moving... and partly because I've been lazy.

Everything was "sugoi!" to them... I don't think they've ever seen the inside of a house that wasn't run in a Japanese manner. Obviously there were some things that were VERY Japanese, like the wa-fu rooms upstairs... but the fact that there were pictures on the walls and a computer (Yasushi LOVED that!!) just blew them away.

Man, I LOVE Japanese kids... I would LOVE for these guys to come visit my home in Alaska... it'd blow their minds!! Haha! I LOVE JAPAN!!

Wednesday, May 25, 2005

Sunny Days...

Today is going down as one of my BEST days in Japan ever!! Even though I didn't teach a single class!

Yesterday when I was at elementary school one of the kyoto's said there was sports day... fastforward to today around 2nd period. BORED!!! So, I walked home, got on my bike and headed for the festivities! How fun... the kids were going nuts... and I got to see all sorts of little kids doing track events... and even joined in the cheering (Ike, ike, ike, ike yon sho!!) and took loads of silly pics. Then I went home for lunch, but decided to come back for the last events... the tug-o-war and the relays. My fave sho (shhhh, don't tell!!), 4sho, won the tug of war... and two of the four relays! WAHOO!!

During that time I was majorly distracted by two of my fave kids younger brother. He's 3 and has more energy than any kid I've ever seen!! I didn't mind chasing after him at all... was a pleasure.

Then I came back to junior high to finish the day... with a warm welcome from my boys (the student council pres included!)... I got into a conversation with about 10 of my boys about the color pink. Now this all came about because my track and field captain said they might be getting hats that color before the big meet next month. I expressed some distress at that point and had to settle on telling them that pink is a weak color to convey my meaning (I couldn't translate that pink makes me think of rainbows, unicorns and fluffy bunnies!!).

All in all the sports day and the talking with my kids today just made the day worth it! Hope you had a great day too!
Averting boredom...

That's the goal for today... I don't have a single class today, but one of my kyoto-senseis told me about elementary school sports day that's going on today. I may have to make an appearance.
:-)
Then I have to try to find a place to live in Hawaii next year AND find some way of funding my stay in Hawaii as well. Wheee!! Wish me luck, things will come together but it'll take some serious planning!

Tuesday, May 24, 2005

A better ending...

So, yesterday I was bored out of my mind... but luckily the day ended on a good note!!

I got home yesterday, flopped down on my bed to relax and do a bit of reading... when all of a sudden I heard "ALISHA!!" I poked my head out my window and there were two first year kendo boys standing there. So, from my window we had a mini-conversation and then they decided they wanted to come IN my house... well, that's a no-go because it looks like a tornado has hit!

I rushed down the stairs and held them off... but then we got to chatting about random stuff: the English test today, English in general, girls, etc. It was very enlightening!! :-) They also thought my garden was something to be reckoned with... the enormous amount of mint that I have growing intrigued them (it was all my predecessor's doing!!) and Mizuki grabbed some to take home. Haha!

Anyway, after the incredibly BORING day I'd had... it was so much fun! Hope ya'll are having a great day. :-)

Monday, May 23, 2005

shoot me - please!

Today... this is a chronicle of what I've done...

- came to work to find my desk a complete MESS! cleaned desk (took 5 minutes or so)
- looked at schedule, which showed that there are two days this week in which I will have not one single class (today is one of those days)
- wish I were at Tachikawa this week
- stare into space
- find that the internet is up... check email and news (takes about 25 minutes)
- update cover letter to send to Interac
- look up housing options for Hawaii
- get bored and angry (angry because at least at Tachikawa I would be bored... but I'd also be in class!!)
- somewhere between the staring and anger was lunch
- more staring...
- a tiny bit of Japanese study
- and I'll have at least one more class period to TRY to figure out something to do (read: will continue to stare into space...)

DOOM!!! Death! Distruction!

Weekend Review!

This weekend was a good one... not overly busy, but not boring either.

Friday, I caught up on TV at Lauren's as kendo was cancelled that night we got an earlier start on it than usual.

Saturday, I got up at the buttcrack of dawn (which on a Saturday is around 7) to take my car for an oil and tire change. My car is very happy with me because both were LONG overdue. Then Lauren and I headed to Sakata for a MEGA kendo tournament. The Fujishima girls ended up in the final... losing to Yuza (my Tachikawa girls lost to Yuza in the previous round) and both our boys teams lost to Yuza as well (her boys in the semis and mine in the final). Both of us couldn't help thinking... DOWN WITH YUZA!!!! I also got the distinct pleasure of seeing A LOT of my former students play... Crazy Seiya was the lead off man for his school and almost the entire Sakata East high school team were former students of mine. Was really cool!
After kendo I was determined to get the CD player finally put in my car... and now I'm in love!! Why I didn't do it sooner you ask?? Because normal gas stations (that do oil changes and everything) won't actually put a stereo in a car. I've tried to get them... but to no avail.
Lauren and I went to Kim and Peter's for a little driving test meeting and then headed to karaoke...

Sunday, I watched baseball (my boys ROCK!!) and then went to a beautiful Japanese garden and sushi with the Ota's. Man, I LOVE sushi!! It was amazing... I just wish I had a sushi buddy...

There's the weekend... hope yours was good too!

BTW... I found out that I was accepted to the Univ. of Hawaii. Cross your fingers for a tuition waiver!

Friday, May 20, 2005

Coup d'etat!

All week I've been struggling with one thing: how can I save my kids from being turned off English because they're teacher is boring them to tears (among other things...)? Well, I figured it out... it's all about being a BOYSCOUT!! Always be prepared!! I came to school OVERLY prepared for school... and when it came to his plan, I just kept suggesting other (read: better) things to do in class. And for the first time this week... I've felt like I've scored a major victory. Now, if I can help keep this momentum up through the weeks when I'm the absentee teacher... (change back to my base school starting monday) Wish me tons of luck... I'm going to need it if I want to pull off another coup like I did today! :-)
STRESS... it's a killer!*

And don't I know that's the truth! Yesterday was probably one of my most stressful days in Japan yet! EEEEK! I taught a 3nensei class that was absolutely a BOMB. Oh man... and it wasn't my fault. My teacher (who will renamed un-named) took the text, flew over the bit that could have been interesting (speaking practice) and moved right into the boring grammar (for 25 minutes!!). While both Tomomi-sensei and I stod by in SHOCK! We couldn't believe what he'd just done...

At Hayashi's later in the afternoon, I prattled on about how I didn't know how to save English for my kids... because this teacher is killing it... and not in a nice quiet way, OH NO!, he's killing it by making it as boring as possible... and eventually it will just die. I'm freaking out because the kids that loved English last year are quickly losing any interest in the subject at all. We've fought to make the English program a good one... and now it's dying... anyway... I just needed a vent before I went in to wage war today! Have a good one.

*Lauren, where's the quote from??

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

HELP!!!

Am dying for ANY advice... I've gotten good advice so far, but I need a bit more. Here's the scenario: I have to work with a teacher who has two problems (big ones anyway) he patronizes his students and his students hate him... oh, and the fact that he has absolutely NO talent for teaching...

Now, I'm doing everything I can to try to reverse his effect on his students... but it only works about half the time. And I'm not at the school everyday... PROBLEM!! How can I combat his ability to KILL English for his students?? Any ideas?? Suggestions?? Anything!?!

Tuesday, May 17, 2005

And the Winner of the First Annual, Tachikawa SLANGfest is...

Today Tomomi and I were trying to figure out more interesting ways to say that you've had fun than "That was great!" or "I had fun!" And we decided that I should introduc basic slang... all with the meaning of having had fun.

We got to class and got started with a ROUSING game of shiritori (a game where you begin with a word and the last letter of tha word must begin the next word... etc etc etc) and then we started on the slang. Now... if you've ever been in a Japanese junior high classroom you know what I mean when I say that sometimes... kids lack enthusiasm... and at times it's even hard to get them to depart from monotone.

So, I'd had it... we were going to get this kids to put feeling into what they were saying if it's the last thing I did... so, row by row I made it a contest... the liveliest person in each row won the chance to get in front of the class and get judged by their peers. We had 3 boys and 2 girls... as an aside... one boy is actually a student from China, his mom is married to a Japanese man, and he has the best pronunciation of ANY of my students...

so it came down to the wire... TAKUYA is the winner, with "That's COOL!" I have to say I wasn't quite in agreement, mainly because Ryu (chinese kid) has better pronunciation, but I guess I'm the only one who can hear it! :-)
the weekend review...

After much anticipation... and more than one attempt to post this... here it is!

Friday: I had a great day! I was back at Tachikawa... that school is like my second home... being there just feels more natural than Amarume. Shhhhhh! It's a secret!
After school, I took a nap and got ready for kendo. But when I walked over there with all my gear... there was no kendo. Boo! Was quite bummed, but that did mean I got to spend some time getting ready for a party that a fellow teacher was having.
Lauren and I showed up sometime around 9:30... and left around 11. It wasn't that the party wasn't fun... it's that we've grown out of those kind of parties. Sitting around drinking and trying to make mindless conversation isn't as much fun as it once was. So... we ditched as soon as we could politely do so... and another girl ditched with us too... she needed to get home in the morning and my town has a station.

Saturday: Lauren and I got up around 9 to go watch basketball... there was a big practice tournament in my town. My team's pretty good and there were a bunch of teams from around Shonai and then there were teams from other places in northern Japan as well. My boys did fairly well... tying a team they should have beaten (grrrr.. they led th WHOLE game!!!). Then I saw my Tachikawa team... last week one of the boys told me that Tachikawa was a really weak team... but I only half believed him. Apparently he was right, because their team only came to help... to watch and to keep score!! Poor babies... gotta love that... how precious! Around 1 we left... because we had ALT sports day!

Saturday afternoon, in beautiful weather, we had an ALT sports day. Played ultimate and soccer. Now, I'm not a huge fan of ultimate... but I actually had fun. Soccer was fun as well... but I didn't get to play my position... bummer! After the soccer, we headed to an onsen (we were stinky... and sore! a nice hot bath will fix that!) and then on to the indoor events... pool and bowling. I was realy off on the pool... but I did manage to win one game. Ian shot the 8 ball in... and boy did I relish my victory... I jumped up and down and said "I won, I won!" I couldn't help myself. After that, Lauren and I had a date with Orlando... so cut out early.

If you get a chance, go see Kingdom of Heaven... I really enjoyed it, not just because there was beautiful scenery. It makes you think about things today... a little bit anyway.

After the movie we dropped in on the music party that was completely packed!! So we stayed for a little while (15 minutes or less!) and headed out again... only hitch... one of my shoes had managed to go missing. Now, this may sound crazy... but there were a LOT of shoes and we scoured them over and over... I seriously thought I was losing my mind... until someone came back inside... with MY SHOE!!! He'd worn two different shoes out... baka!! But at least I wasn't crazy. :-)

Sunday: I woke up early to head to a baseball game. My Tachikawa boys were playing baseball from 9 in the morning. So I headed up there... I got there a bit after 9. But was excited to see baseball still happening... I got to see about an innings worth of baseball and then it started to rain... first it was pretty light, but within minutes it turned into a MASSIVE downpour! Eeeek! After about 10 minutes of waiting for it to let up, the officials called the game! I was so bummed...grrrr... So I headed out to run some errands... and then headed to Lauren's to watch a bit of TV and then we headed to lunch.
We had lunch at the S-mall... where I managed to see TONS of my old students. One had a part-time job at one of the stores... I saw some of my old girls... and I saw Toshiaki!! Now, Toshiaki is special... last year, I played the Black Eyed Peas during class... and instead of just sitting and doing his work... he busted a move right in his seat!! It was hilarious. So, I caught up with him and it sounds like high school is going well for him! Yay!
After that, we had some time to kill before Lauren and I headed to dinner at Kim and Peter's. So, we karaoked!! We figure that if we do all the things we love enough times before we leave... we won't miss them aas much when we go home... or something like that. :-)

Anyway... there's the weekend!

Thursday, May 12, 2005

best and worst

Yesterday I had the best afternoon... after running with my kendo first years for about 45 minutes... I decided to go "watch" the soccer kids for awhile... well, I ended up crashing practice. Man... was it ever fun!! I want to be an assistant coach... pretty please. Great time.

Today I had some really sad news. For the last few years, my fave kid from the 2nd elementary school area has been Inoue Retsu. He's such a cutie! I just love this kid. And I went looking for him Tuesday... and the kids said he wasn't there. I just thought he was absent... until today. The kids told me he's not here... because he's moved. His dad's a police officer and he got moved in April. It was all I could do to keep from crying in the middle of school, surrounded by 20-25 little kids. I had to stare at the ceiling and take deep breaths just to keep from crying. The goodbyes have begun... only I never got to say mine.

There's my best and worst for this week.

Tuesday, May 10, 2005

Best indirect compliment of the day...

So during cleaning time I was talking to some of my boys... the ones that are usually "bad" and don't clean, but talk to me instead! :-) Heehee... Well, one asked if I had a boyfriend... I said that indeed, I did not. And he and his friends all responded with "USO!!!" which basically means "you're lying!!" Now this may be a funny thing to take as a compliment, but man... if something thinks I'm lying about not having a boyfriend... then they obviously think that I should have one. Which means, that I'm NOT the leper that my mind's eye (along with the effects of three years in Japan) has turned me into!

A stretch maybe... but I did say it was indirect...

More from Tokyo...

So, I've been back for almost a week... but I figure I should finish my Tokyo adventures before expanding on anything else... so here goes... the abbreviated version...

Saturday: I got up early and went to class... it took me about 45 minutes to get from Kim's house to where I was taking class... it made me feel like I was an actual Tokyo commuter... the only difference?? Since all but one day was a national holiday... the trains weren't crowded. :-)

After class, I met up with Kim and Tatsuya and we headed out to Odaiba on the monorail. Odaiba is a giant, American-style shopping mall. There was EVEN a Cinnabon in the food court. I didn't get one because I had eaten a biggish lunch and wasn't hungry. :-( Next time... We had a great time playing in the Sony Plaza area... they had the best, blow-you-away surround system on display! It was so cool... we hit VenusFront after that... it's designed to feel like Italy, but to me it feels like Caesar's in Las Vegas.

The best thing from Saturday... after dinner we had the most amazing matcha soft serve ice cream! It was GREAT!!

Sunday: By this time I had the commute to class all sorted... even had my headphones and MD player out... like a true Japanese commuter! Our class was starting to move along and we had inside jokes starting and everything...

After class, Kevin and I went to Shkibuya. Basically, neither of us wanted to eat alone and look like the sad cases we actually are. Haha! So, we ended up in this nice-ish Italian place in Shibuya... and we chatted about all sorts of stuff... sports, politics, etc. Was just nice to talk to someone different and interesting.

After that we searched for and ATM (ran out of cash!!), then I headed home and he headed to his hotel.

Then Kim and I spent the evening watching American Wedding and she showed me a DVD a friend of hers (James) had made about leaving Japan. He'd been a JET for one year and had all the same experiences that I've had. I BAWLED!!! Facing leaving Japan has NOT been a happy prospect for me at all... I get choked up for no reason at all... and this DVD brought it all home. (If you're interested, you can find it at www.hindsightproject.com it's the video called "Statement of Agreement") Anyway... wow!

Monday: Class was CRAZY! We had to do all sorts of role-playing practice... and everyone got really into their roles. I got to play the tough Kocho-sensei, Kevin played the evil teacher (and landlord too!), Drew was our dad, Jackie was our mom and Anna was the nice lady at the reception desk at a gym. And the Oscar goes to... Kevin for his portrayal of a VERY strict teacher! hahaha...

After that I went in search of a big koi windsock! For Children's Day in Japan, people put up these HUGE carp windsocks up. And I wanted one... too bad I headed to Harajuku when I was tired-ish and HUNGRY! I couldn't be bothered to look for very long... so I headed back toward Kim's after picking up the nicest umeboshi/wasabi onigiri (haven't managed to find that kind again!). I was on my way there when I realized I could go out to the big shopping center out near Omiya (one stop before)... it has a Lush! So I headed out there... and ended up spending WAY too much! Got some stuff at Lush... but then found the COOLEST hat ever... and found the cute Lego shop... in under an hour... I spent around 6,000yen... I headed back to Kim's after that.
She was on her way out to meet James... and I just sat for a bit and then did some repacking. James and Kim returned. He's the nicest guy... it's amazing how easy conversation is when you've got cool/interesting people to converse with. Our plan was then to wait for Tatsuya and then go for yaki-niku at Gyu-Kaku... I couldn't wait because our local Gyu-Kaku had been closed a while ago.
So, my last night in Tokyo was perfect. Out with friends just having a laugh and some good food! Great time had by all.

Tuesday: Last class. It was hilarious! Had such a good time just joking around and learning of course. After it was all done, I was really glad I'd gone to it. :-) But leaving was bad because I learned that Kevin was headed out to a Mexican place! ARGH!!! I could't go because I had a train to catch. Bah!
The train ride was great... nice and smooth. Then I had an hour wait in Niigata. I was sitting on the platform when I realized that I was being watched. I looked up and there were three high school boys staring at me from the train on the opposite tracks from me. So, I looked up and smiled and waved. They laughed and waved back. Basically we had the grown-up version of peek-a-boo going on for about 45 minutes while I waited for my train and they waited for theirs to depart. We waved, gave thumbs-up, made faces at each other... and then when their train eventually left... I waved as if we were all old friends. Man, I LOVE JAPAN!! ;-)

Ok... so there's the end of my Golden Week adventures... sorry it took so long... yesterday, I lost this post and had to do it over again today... sorry for the delay!

Sunday, May 01, 2005

TOKYO!!

Well, I'm in Tokyo... and there's loads to tell... Not sure where to begin... but I'll just go day by day...

Friday morning: I arrived in Shibuya around 6:30am, put my suitcase in a locker, then went looking for the Starbucks (I went out the wrong exit!). While waiting outside the Starbucks I was approached by two random foreign guys... turned out they were Marines. Haha... well, they provided me with far too much entertainment... on everything from the pros and cons of the Japanese dating scene to what not to say if you ever meet someone Russian (ummm... have forgotten already... therefore will never say it!)

After too much laughter, a piece of yummy caramel cake and a macha Frappacino... I headed off to class.

Turns out... there are 5 people in my class, two from Tokyo, one from Tottori-ken, one from Tochigi-ken and me. Three of us are fairly high ability and the two others are well, they need some work (but are coming along). There's Kevin, Drew, Jackie, Anna and I. Anyway...

After class I headed to Kim's out in Warabi and ended up chilling, having a shower, going for hiyashi-chuka and hitting the foreign food store all before going to bed.

For now... I'm tired of typing... so will finish my Tokyo narrative a bit later... :-)