Tripping Far Side

Yesterday, the Miki Crew made a trip to a big gathering in Tajima for a snowboarding trip. I heard there was something like 67 JETs there! You know it's gonna be craziness when you bring a bunch of gaijin together for a rockin' good time.

We rented a car with snow tires to make the trip to Hachikogen. GPS was really cool, even though we went to the wrong side of the mountain. Got there, signed in, paid, and off to the mountains! Allison, Laura, Chris, and Gareth took lessons so it wasn't possible to meet up. So I was alone all day, but I got a lot of runs in. I hit both sides of the slopes, and although it was a bit of whiteout up at the top, it was still great to be back on the board.

Few gripes though. They were blaring music all day, which is quite different than what I'm used to. I like to really enjoy the silence up the lift and on the runs. After awhile though, I put on the iPod so no biggie. Also, the chairlifts are pretty slow and short. And, the largest capacity seat was 3-wide. That's a big difference between 6-wide, high-speed, and really long. Just outlining differences--I was still happy to carve some turns. The snow was really good--soft pack.

Afterwards was a great crab nabe dinner. Got to catch up with a few JETs I hadn't seen in awhile. Lots of drinking and afterwards--karaoke! Well, we weren't planning to go boarding on Sunday, so we all drank a ton. Good fun to be with Chris when he's toasted! Gareth too, as always, rocking the mic! Maybe the Miki Crew made somewhat of a reputation for ourselves by being a bit rowdy, but in retrospect, I felt a little bad for everyone who wanted to sleep. We finished at 11 PM, which was a reasonable time, but karaoke was in the rooms where everyone was sleeping. If you look at the pic, can you imagine squeezing all those people to sleep in 3 rooms of that size? Good thing they got us some extra rooms....

Thanks for inviting me out guys! That was a blast! Another good memory to remember. :)

A late post. Back on Christmas Eve 2005, we went out with Anna's coworkers and students. Anna works for AEON as an English teacher in Sanda's Woodytown complex. It was an all-you-can-drink and nabe (hot pot) night.

Here's a picture of Anna's coworker and our neighbor Chris, wearing a Santa hat. Haha, just a coincidence that I moved from my neighbor Chris in Miki to a new neighbor Chris in North Kobe. A really fun guy to hang out with and really nice too. He cooked us his Hokkaido stew recently, which was really tasty!

Next to Chris is Scott, an Aussie. I met him awhile back at orientations, but nice to finally hang out. Scott is a JET from Nishiwaki and has got the coolest ride! A slick Nissan Skyline R34. I hope he'll give me a ride someday.

One of Anna's students was wearing a pink shirt that she made herself. It has a patch of cute wings on the back, and says "Hangover". So, she's the Hangover Angel. Anna thought it was really neat, so she asked about it, and she made her one! Now I have a Hangover Angel of my own! :D

We drank ourselves silly. Always fun!

So, now I'm living with Anna in North Kobe. It's about a 30-45 minute drive from Miki. The area is called Fujiwaradai, and it's a newer, well-planned suburban area. The roads are wider and lots of big houses. On the other side of the Kobe Dentetsu train line, we're in between downtown Kobe and Sanda at Okaba station. Lots of things in walking distance, like a McDonalds and Daiei, a big department store.

Anna's apartment is also pretty new, which is a really nice change from the teacher housing in Miki. It's winter time, so it gets cold here, but the complaint isn't just that. It's that it's cold outside AND inside. You see, the old houses in the countryside don't have much insulation, and the windows are single-paned. You can heat it, but it'll be expensive. And in using the kerosene heater, you have to crack the window or you can die from carbon monoxide poisoning.

So the thing I like most about Anna's apartment is that it's warm inside, probably because we're surrounded by other apartments and borrowing heat from the first floor. Another great thing about the apartment is the instant-on gas water heater. Ah heat, I'm grateful. :)

I'll have to get inside pictures later, but it's small. It feels like a space of about 600 square feet. But cozy enough for Anna and me.

Space. Something of a premium here. Stress and solace. The lack of which can build stress and so the need for it that can bring solace. Well, I've always shared space so it isn't an issue, but here's a feeling of what my typical day might be like.

Here's a picture of the staff room. A bit empty when I snapped it but nothing else out of the ordinary. And next is a picture of my desk. There's a row of desks that face me behind my desk (it's covered by the bookcase though). Seems really cramped doesn't it?

Well, it wasn't really any problem, but it would be really hectic at times. The copiers would be running, phones ringing, doors sliding, fingers typing, pages flipping, chairs creaking, and feet shuffling. With all of the teachers working in this one room and students visiting, it's hard to get from one side to the other. If I'm in a good mood, it feels like an enjoyable, productive atmosphere. And if I'm in a bad mood, I totally zone out, sometimes with the help of an iPod.

Listening to others on the phone is really quite amusing because of the constant "Hai, hai" and especially if you're watching, the bowing over the phone. I'd catch myself doing it too. :) When work gets too tiring or too boring, you'll see heads bobbing or on desks. In the middle of the staff room is the Vice Principal's desk, so everyone needs to be at least looking busy all of the time.

The beginning of the day is the staff meeting. Greeting abound with "Ohayo gozaimasu" or "Ossu!" Most teachers eat lunches in the staff room as well, bringing bentos from home. I usually ate my lunch in the cafeteria, sometimes getting a chance to talk with students.

And when I need a break, there's the smoking room. Crazy eh? The room is pretty gross with everything stained with like the tint of coffee. But, I'm weak and I still need to be here. It's a nice chance to become more familiar with some of the male teachers. And when there's no one there, a nice place to get a little quiet.

If you need more, since the school is on a hill, there's a really nice view from the top of Miki. Doesn't the garden look nice? Those trees look really neat.

Miki Senior HS is pretty much a countryside school. So it was quite a surprise for some students to find a large group of foreigners roaming the halls. Back on November 11, 2005, a bunch of architecture students from the University of Plymouth came for a study-visit.

I think they were learning about Japanese culture so that they could apply some insight into their designs. The topic of this session was "Express the difference of tea." Both the Japanese and British students taste green tea and Earl Grey, and afterwards, draw their impressions on paper. I couldn't stay long enough to hear any conclusion, but seemed like an interesting cross-cultural exchange for everyone.

Since it's been two months, have a lot to catch up on.

Here are 3 students we took to Gifu to the 1st Annual Debate Competition. Our school is just a countryside school, but considering, has a fairly good English program. But the debate curriculum isn't comparable to that of other schools.

Regardless, these students work really hard. They have to, because debate is not something they know how to do. It's foreign to their culture. So Western-style, linear logic is difficult for them to make--even if I ask them to pretend. There are lots of books on the subject (The Geography of Thought and The Japanese Mind), but a summary might be that in Eastern cultures, they think in circles. They think about it holistically, examining all the relationships, and needing to understand the whole before the part. As opposed to Westerners, who I suppose think in a simpler, more deterministic way. It's fascinating really. They think in a different way, and in order to debate, they have to unlearn, then learn to do unnatural things, like being critical, analytical, aggressive, and persuasive. And these are just kids who are trying to learn English.

Anyway, I made a rebuttal preparation sheet for them. They studied the English meaning, the arguments, and why it is a rebuttal. How to be aggressive and persuasive in debate and how to unlearn certain things that were too basic from class. Everything had to be translated in Japanese eventually, so it was pretty time consuming. But, it was really quite fun for me and eye-opening for them. They did all this in the several hours it took us to drive there in the van, and up late at night in the hotel rooms.

And wow, the kids did fantastic. Their ability to make English on the spot is above average, but at this level in Japanese high schools, it's not even on a conversational level. Yeah. Mostly, they read all of the arguments, but still managed to do ok in their first-ever cross examination periods and 2nd rebuttals. They went with 2 wins and 1 loss, and the loss went to a team that won 2nd in the tournament. Of course, the outcome was never important, but they worked really hard anyway and I think they learned a lot. And, the great part is, they really seemed into it and enjoying themselves.

This is a really good memory of being a teacher at Miki Senior High School.

Wow, it's been over two months since my last update. Long story short, I got burnt out. I've never worked so hard nor had so much stress in my life. Awhile back, I had a post on culture shock that described a bit of what I was going through. Although I've only been posting mostly fun stuff, it hasn't been all that easy living in Japan. Well, I take that back. Living in Japan is fun, but my situation at work was, well, unique.

I really need to learn to say no. I accepted too many responsibilities, and combined with culture shock, it took its toll on me over several months. There were many days when I'd come home, and be so tired I'd start sleeping at 6 PM. Then wake up at 2 AM or so, then try to get a few hours of sleep again before I start work at 8 AM. And there were plenty of other nights that I couldn't sleep well because I was stressed and unhappy.

Anna was a huge support for me here, and I'm really thankful. The original reason why I came to Japan was to take an easy job and spend more time with her. In preparing for about 10 months before I came, I heard that the JET program was the easiest with most vacation time. It's just that I didn't get an easy job. The thing about the JET program is that before you accept, you don't know where you're going nor what you're doing. If I had known what I was getting into, I wouldn't have accepted. Well, they do say "every situation is different." Well, I certainly got something different that what I expected.

I got placed in a challenging place: in a Super English Language High School (SELHi) with a difficult curriculum where ALTs were expected to do so much and where there weren't enough of us. I have heard that another SELHi school had 5 ALTs! I did a lot of good though beyond my normal duties. Rewriting 2/3 of the debate curriculum for Term 2. Helping a student win 2nd in a speech contest. Helping coach our debate team go 2-1 at the annual national debate tournament despite it being their first time doing lots of new things. Helping to install wireless on laptops. Helping out with the cutting-edge text-to-speech generation software. Helping first-year students with PowerPoint to make third-year level work. Helping write a fun Jeopardy lesson, dress-your-own-character Shopping lesson with cut-out clothes and paper doll, staying after school to help students memorize a Martin Luther King speech, and trying to get kids in the English Club to do karaoke with English songs. Helping out with SELHi day where lots of professors, and administrators, and teachers visit our school. The school really impressed a lot of people and with the work of everyone, it was a really successful day. The climax was SELHi day, and after that, I just couldn't motivate myself to continue pushing and challenging.

So, the last two months, just decompressing and pretty much living like a hermit. But there's plenty of stuff to post up here, so I'll start updating this blog again. Thanks everyone back home for their worries, but I'm fine now. Here's to a new beginning--a picture of sunrise over the Port of Kobe.