Wednesday, November 25, 2009

"What the HECK is Going On Here..."

From time to time I have these "holy cow... how did I get here??" moments.

This past week 20 students from Evanston Township High School came and did a homestay in Niigata and attended the high school I went to. Included on this trip was my high school Japanese teacher and the mother of a friend who graduated my year (she continued to help and chaperone trips after her daughter graduated.)

It was really great to see these people again but it was so strange being on the "other side." I feel like I had a backstage all access pass to their trip here. I saw the preparation at the high school, the weeks of handouts I got about looking for homestays, the constant panic that the flu would break out and the American students wouldn't be able to come inside the school, and so on. I was even quizzed about what on earth these people would be interested in eating when they got here. I said "Probably anything that isn't uni (sea urchin), ikura (salmon eggs), or nattou (fermented soy beans)." The result was what I call "starter sushi," this is the salmon, cooked shrimp, cucumber roles, and tuna kinds. The familiar looking sushi. Then there were massive Japanese style sandwiches. (Which I assure you will get a whole post of their own eventually... they are so strange.)

The American students came and completely turned this quiet hard working Japanese school on it's head. The teachers were all terribly nervous with American students in their class "Do I teach in ENGLISH!?!" many of them asked each other. "No," I thought "because you don't really know English. At least, not enough to teach Japanese History" Usually following this someone would say just that, in Japanese though... and everyone would laugh.

The students were so excited that they could hardly be contained. They were screaming and poking their heads into classrooms. I even walked by some Japanese students peeking around a corner watching the American students eat lunch. It was like the Japanese students were on a safari watching some animals feed. They watched from a safe distance watching the Americans eat, laugh, yell, and curse at each other. "oooooo." and "aaaaaah." they'd say as the students would lift something with a chopstick and put it in their mouth with no struggle.

Japanese students that I have struggled so hard to get to answer "how are you?" in my class would suddenly be a chatty-kathy with these students.

It was fun. Really really fun. The most fun I've had since I started working here. Everyone was excited and shot full of excitement.

The final day some English teachers and I had a final goodbye dinner with my old Japanese teacher and my friend's mom (the chaperone.) We went to a nice Italian restaurant with them and shared a bunch of foods and some wine. We talked about teaching and learning and things like that. We reminisced about my high school days a bit. It was here that I realized "How the heck did I get myself to THIS point??"

I was sitting in an Italian restaurant...drinking wine...with my high school Japanese teacher and my friend's mom...in rural Japan. I'd swear it was a dream if I hadn't woken up 3000 yen poorer this morning.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Photoooooooos

I've put some more new photos on my flickr page. Including some of the pretty foliage around this area.

Mountains with trees changing colors is pretty crazy.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ohmalarkey

Masked

It's that time of year! When people start to look scary because they wear masks on their face. I know what you're thinking. "But Mike, Halloween was LAST month!" Yes, it was you sillygooses. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the protective white mouth/nose masks that so many people love to wear here!

Lately, everyone has been figuratively throwing their hands in the air running around screaming "FLU FLU FLU FLU FLU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" This is done by people quietly handing out these white masks to all the teachers and students. Some teachers got a head start by starting to wear this masks weeks ago. Now I'd say a good 90% of the teachers in the office are wearing the masks now.

I wasn't too into the whole mask thing. Not because it was unfashionable, I'm not. It's just that it seemed weird to me. I sometimes wondered if it helps or makes it worse. If you aren't sick, but are exposed to the virus, your mask seems like it would become a concentrated swamp of viruses on your face that you would constantly be breathing in.

If you're already sick, it makes sense. If you sneezed with the mask on it wouldn't go nearly as far as it would if you didn't have it on. Though, if you touched any part of face with your bare hand and then touched something else, you'd still be spreading it.

The mask seems like a nice idea but, of course, is full of holes. In my brilliant mind, I'm convinced it's a bit of a scam. The fact that there are 17 people, in the 1st year students alone, with flu at my school and 14 of them are the H1N1 virus says, to me, that masks don't work. These students are sporting masks all the time!

Also, it sounds like the H1N1 virus isn't as bad as people seem to make it. It's only bad for old people or babies... but the normal flu is too.

Schools here are divided into years, then groups. So there's First Year Group 1, Group 2, Group 3 and so on. So the students are always in classes with people in their group. It'd be like if you had all the classes your homeroom classmates have. Anyway, if 4 people or more get the flu, that group is required to stay home from school until the sick students are better. If it gets too out of control, the whole school is cancelled.

People are really freaked.

I was given a pack of masks, though no one really made a point to say "you MUST wear these." Just a calm and friendly, "becareful of the flu, wear these if you want to." I went about 4 or 5 days without wearing any masks in schools. Teachers were giving me looks when I thought to myself "I should really wear these masks."

About another week went by and I hadn't worn my masks. Then one teacher said "Why aren't you wearing your masks?" "I dunno." I said. "You will get sick without them." I wanted to say "You'll get sick with them too..." but this makes things too complicated so I just said "Oh, really?" "Yes, you should wear them." "Ok, I'll put one on... later... after my class." I don't know why I didn't want to wear it. I knew I probably should I just really couldn't bring myself to wear it. Part of me just wants to get the flu just to get it over with. If I get it now then I won't have to deal with it later. I'm not TRYING to get it. I still wash my hands like crazy, but I'm not one of these people who gargles every 15 minutes, wears a mask, and eats my lunch far away from other people.

I was in the copy room when one of the teachers came in, wearing a mask. He goes "So... worried about the flu?" "Yeah, are you?" "Yes, of course, I'm wearing my mask." "Ah, yeah. Do any teachers have the flu?" "Hmmm... actually, no, none!" "That's good." "...yet...everyone should be careful... and wear a mask."

So... I reached in my pocket. Pulled out my mask... and put it on. He nodded with a "that'll do little pig, that'll do." In his mind, he had just won the battle. The contaminated Assistant Language Teacher was now masked and safe. As soon as he left, I took it off again. It just feels weird to be breathing on your own face.

The one other thing that I have to bring up that really bugs me about this flu epidemic is the gargling. I'm sure it helps if you gargle with warm salt water twice a day, like "they" say. I'm not sure, though, that gargling with cold water and spitting it into the sink is a good idea. First, there's no salt. Second, they're spitting into the sink where everyone cleans their cups and washes their hands. When I see people gargling and spitting cold water in there and it splashes everywhere I just imagine that the sink becomes a huge Cancun-spring-break-night-club party for viruses. They're all wet and hanging out together. They're being pushes onto cups and countertops into peoples cups and stuff. Gross. It hurts to watch people use that sink. It's right next to the computers and I know that it sprays everywhere. It's like, people forget that when you flush a toilet that the dirty water sprays out of it a little bit. You're supposed to, if there is one, close the lid so there's less spray-age. This is happening with the sink. I come to use these computers and their covered in all the teachers' sick viruses and...


...I'm putting on my mask.

Friday, November 13, 2009

It's Like I Never Left


I just wanted to show off more cooking photos...

I made my own barbecue sauce for the first time ever with some ingredients from here and a few my mom sent me (thank you).

Monday, November 9, 2009

Ugh. => Phew.

Ugh.

I got a fax last week from the school I go to on tuesdays saying "No class on tuesday November 10th" This means that, instead of going to that school, I'd just have to go to my base school and lounge around all day. Not too difficult.

This morning (Tuesday, November 10th) I woke up with a cold/some-kinda-virus and went to school. I did what I normally do, sit at my desk and not look at the clock as long as I can. I also try to avoid using the computer as long as I can... but then around 9am I decided I needed to use the internet to look up my symptoms online and see if maybe I'm allergic to something in my house.

Then the phone rang at school. I heard one of the teachers speaking in Japanese saying "Yes, yes, he's right here. Oh... he should be there? I will give the phone to him." They pass the phone to me. "Hello?" "Yes, hello, you should be at THIS school today, please!" "You sent me a fax that said there were no classes." "Yes. You have three classes today." "Huh? Really?" "Yes. Your first class will start in 15 minutes." I took a deep breath and said "You better check your tone with me, lady. Don't ever try and rush me, ever." Ok, I didn't say that. I didn't even think it. I could tell she was totally stressed since I wasn't there. The problem was that I felt awful, it takes about 25 minutes to drive there, and that the students there are really loud and energetic so it's really draining... not good for me today.

I got in my car and did what any person in my case would do. I drove to 7-11. I knew this would set me back a few minutes, but only 1 or 2. It would allow me to get some kind of energy drink, though. So I got a little energy drink and some carbs. I made it to school and was about 10 minutes late to my class, the other teacher had already started.

After that class some other teachers came to tell me I could never be late again. I showed them the fax they sent me and were all kind of doing a "hmm, I wonder who wrote that." kind of vaudeville looking routine where they'd point at someone else and that person would point to someone else and then that person would point to someone else and then suddenly they'd be in a human knot and all get pied in the face.

Anyway, I got here, had my 3 classes. The 4th class the one that got cancelled. When they said "We have no class on Tuesday." they meant "One of your classes will be cancelled." I politely apologized, though. I wasn't mad at them, they were even trying to be polite by sending me a message in English. I just showed them a better way to do it for next time.

Even though I felt really bad the class was pretty easy. I had to explain how to play the game "Guess Who" and then we played guess who with the whole class of 40 playing and one student would come up to the front. They ended up liking it a lot. So... phew.

That's my story for today.

Here is a link to something I find really really cool.

I've grown more and more interested with Japanese history. Mostly photos and art from the Meiji and Edo period of Japan.

Here are some "stereoview" pictures of Japan from the late Meiji period in Japan. They also added color to them. There is something so cool about seeing old photographs from anywhere. It's like looking at another planet sometimes.

http://pinktentacle.com/2009/10/animated-stereoviews-of-old-japan/

If the 'jumping' of the photos is too much, you can click the title under the photo and it will take you to a link where it's just the photos.

Anyway, enjoy.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Weekends???

When I talk to people at home they keep asking me what do I do on weekends? My response is...

click here to see a video there are about 15 seconds of nothing before it starts


Don't be too creeped out. I'm not actually this lonely... I swear.