I'm dreaming of a white... Thanksgiving?

I spent this very windy/snowy/blizzardy day teaching about Thanksgiving at Kado Elementary School (the one closest to my home, so the kids in my neighborhood go there, too). Today was curry and rice day for lunch, which is my absolute FAVORITE so I think it was a good Thanksgiving meal. During lunchtime recess, all the kids got bundled up to go outside and play in the snow! I didn't have the right gloves or a hat, but I couldn't resist and I went out to play, too (with my camera!).

She was chasing him with snowballs in hand. I didn't see how it ended...

Everyone wants to pose for Katie-sensei! These are second and third graders I think.

They wanted to show off their handiwork.

A snowman in the works...

Eikaiwa: Round Two!

I just had my second English conversation class, and I totally rocked it! We reviewed days of the week, names of the months, "how's the weather?", useful English expressions (from "How's it going?" to "good luck!"), and three different "running into a friend on the street" scenarios. Kind of a lot for one class, and we didn't get to practice the scenarios by making skits due to time, but that's okay - it can be review next class! It went 300X better than last class (by the way, the grumpy grandma didn't come back - which is okay by me!), and everyone had a good attitude, learned, and seemed to be enjoying it. I think the level was right on. There were three students that found it kind of difficult, but they worked together and everyone helped each other out, so it was okay. Also, I demonstrated three dialogs by myself, which was pretty entertaining. For two scenarios, I played two characters, and for the third I played three! haha it was tiring, but successful, and not only were they able to understand, but they were also amused and appreciated my obvious efforts.

Tonight, I had a good attitude, a good lesson, an attentive class, and I was a good teacher. So, I am happy.

In fact, I'm in such a good mood, I'll put forth the effort to upload some pictures! Enjoy!

Okay, so this was 11/4, I went to a Kiritampo Party in the woods! Kiritampo is an Akita specialty food. It's cooked rice that's mashed together and boiled in miso broth (so like rice balls), and in this case it was in a kind of winter stew.
I like to party with 70 year olds! :) This is my friend Steph's English Conversation class.
We actually ate outside in the woods. It was awesome!
This is what happens when ALTs want to play badminton but don't have enough rackets (notice Steph in green with a cutting board, and Caito in black with a brownie pan!
Why were we in the woods? One of the ladies in the class makes wood crafts so we were lunching outside her studio. These are the crafts she makes - They're so American! I wanted to buy them!

My JET friends Paula and Phil had a joint birthday party (11/10) at a Japanese restaurant in the city. Maggie was there!
Amelie (from Quebec) and I wore matching shirts!
And, of course Christy was there, too!

Jumping ahead to this past weekend, I hung out with Marie (the friend with whom I went bowling and to play random sports). We went shopping at the mall and to watch a sappy Japanese love story at the movie theater. Good fun! And we took purikura:


The next day (11/18), I hung out with Maggie and three Japanese guys we met at the JET Halloween party. We went bowling then out for Chinese food. Good times! So that's Tetsu, Koike, and Yuta.

After two games, we were bowled out, and I was happy because I wasn't the one with the lowest score (*cough Maggie cough cough*)
hahaha when the guys saw these costumes to try on, Koike jumped at the chance. He's quite the character - and not just when dressed as a bowling pin.

Of course, we had to make time before dinner for some purikura!

*The End!*

Akita in the news again

Check out this article from the New York Times!
Snowbound in Japan

And, as it happens, snow season has begun - with a HUGE storm yesterday/last night.
I'm going to get my tires changed today. Driving in the snow/ice is kind of scary. Think good thoughts for me!

Updates!

1. In case you did hear/see/read elsewhere, I will be coming home for Christmas. I'll be in CA 12/15-12/27. I'm going to spend a couple of days in Berkeley when I fly in, and then head up to Chico. :) Hope to see you!

2. I have a new hobby ~ jump-roping!! I decided a winter exercise activity, so I went out and bought a jump rope. I'm going to make some cool jump-roping playlists and try to do some everyday. Let me know if you have song recommendations!

I love karate!

No matter how tired/frustrated/sad/yucky/lazy/grumpy I am when I get in the car to go, the ride home is ALWAYS full of singing along to the ipod and clapping and smiling.

I had my first eikaiwa (English Conversation Class) this Tuesday, and I don't think it went very well. I wasn't in a very good mood going into it, so I think I made the class too hard - or at least some people were complaining it was too hard afterwards. There's students of really low (no) English ability, and then there are some that are pretty good, and age 20 to age 72. I knew what we were doing was difficult, but I had them working in groups and everyone was trying (and succeeding!). That is, except for this one old grandma lady. She just sat there shaking her head complaining it was too hard and not even trying, even when I tried to help her. And at the end of the class she started people complaining. So yeah, that basically sucked. It's frustrating because some people want to do REALLY basic stuff like greetings and names of the months and stuff, and then most of the class (10 of 15) is way beyond that. I'm afraid if I only do really easy stuff, the higher level students will quit, and I don't want that. Honestly, they're the ones who will benefit the most from an eikaiwa (as opposed to 72 year old grandma who I doubt will ever actually use the things from my class). But, I do have to teach to the whole class. The other part that's kind of annoying is that the Board of Education is watching me like a hawk, and keep trying to interfere (granted in the name of being "helpful"), so my autonomy is kind of limited. I want this class to be something I'm in charge of. The rest of my ALT job I'm just that, and ASSISTANT, so I want this to be something I do on my own. Call me stubborn, but I don't really like/want someone from the BOE telling me what to teach and how to run my class.

Anyway, overall, I left the class feeling pretty bad about it (a bit of a flop), and it's kinda put a downer on my week (even though I started teaching about Thanksgiving today which is totally fun!). But then, tonight I went to karate, and now I feel like everything's okay.

For one, I'm becoming even friendlier with the blackbelts there and I really like them. For two, they saw me practicing some weapons kata (empty-handed) and asked me about it, so I got to tell them all about how I do weapons, too. And then my favorite old man teacher whipped out a pair of nunchaku and let me borrow them!! I only did one kata (nunchaku dai ni), but by the time I was halfway through, the WHOLE room (class and parents) had stopped what they were doing and were in total silence watching me. haha it was a little scary, but mostly funny. I guess they were impressed? They clapped and everything. So yeah, after that I got to tell them about what weapons I know how to use and they asked if I had them here. Unfortunately, I don't, but I said I'm going to bring them back when I come back from Christmas, and they want me to teach them!! I think that's so cool! I'd LOVE to teach weapons - especially to these guys. I'm actually thinking I'll get myself a bo (aka go buy a 6ft dowel at the hardware store), and I know I can buy kama at the 100 Yen store (yes, they sell those scary bladed weapons for less than a dollar each - to cut your grass!).

After class, we were talking more, and I found out two of the teachers are also ski instructors!! They said they'll take me out and teach me! haha I'm excited! They're all just so nice. It's a sort of dojo family. I like it.

Oh, and to top it all off, Itoko (the blackbelt lady who ALWAYS helps me) had come to my eikaiwa, and told me as we were walking to our cars that she really loved the class! And she's looking forward to next time! She said it was kind of hard, but she liked the challenge and I thought I did a good job. Now being in Japan, you never know if that's politeness of genuineness, but she's a pretty genuine person and she seemed like she really meant it. And even if she didn't, it made me feel better.

In conclusion:
Next eikaiwa I will have a better attitude and it will be great.
Weapons are ALWAYS fun.
I'm going to learn to ski from two old men!

11:11pm

Make a wish! :)

I just wanted to post up a couple of pics I took with my cellphone recently.
Let's enjoying!

This is me and Seth (ALT in a nearby town) pretending to be Japanese high school students for Halloween.

I found this lake when I was riding my bike around. It's behind the baseball fields at one of my junior highs. Soooooo pretty!
This one's kind of blurry, but I took it for Camille -- Japanese ducks! :)
I wish I knew how to rotate.... I guess you can see the symmetrical aspect better...
I LOVE the country!!

WORLD PREMIERE!!!

Check this out!! My very own home-made video --> Starring YOU!!

Falling into Fall

Hello! Tonight I returned from a two-day conference in Akita City for all the ALT (assistant lang. teachers = people like me) and JLT (Japanese lang. teachers = the English teachers we work with). It was a loooong two days of lectures and workshops on how to improve workplace relations, resolve conflicts, and, of course, improving our English teaching methods! While there were definitely some boring points (like the two hour lecture on recognizing cultural communication difference - i.e. body language is different between Japanese and "Western" cultures, etc.), overall, I learned some pretty useful stuff I hope to take back and incorporate into my classes.

Also, I learned Akita Prefecture's junior high students have the highest average scores on national English tests, which means we all do a pretty good job! In addition, in all of Japan, only 9.6% of high school English teachers actually SPEAK English in class, whereas in Akita, it's up to 35%. Another yay for us! But, on the downside, 65% of high school English teachers in Akita use little or NO English in class! That is crazy bad! Better than the nation as a whole, but, still, 65%?? Wow!

Other stats (I quickly googled them, so I think they're legit): Akita has the fastest decreasing population in Japan, and the highest suicide rate!
[Though, there should be a disclaimer on the suicide rate, because, though we have the highest rate, the NUMBER of suicides is way less than major urban areas - For example, in Akita, the total number was 412, compared to Tokyo's 2,502, and Osaka's 1,965.]
On the plus, I read somewhere that Akita has the highest number of beauty salons per capita!

As proud as I am of our smart students, and our better than average use of English in the classroom, it makes me sad to read and hear all these things about my adopted home. It is such a beautiful place, and the people are so great! It's economic depression is... well, depressing! At least, on paper.

But I want to show you something else. I want to show you the Akita I'm lucky enough to see and experience everyday.

These are photos from Friday's visit to Moritake Nursery School and Shimoiwakawa Elementary's International Club Halloween Party, followed by photos from my koiyo "leaf-viewing" excursion.

Apparently I'm the only one that go the memo that this was supposed to be a funny picture...

The 5-year olds brushing their teeth after lunch -- it lasted literally 8 minutes!

The International Club carving their first ever Jack-o-Lantern!

They don't celebrate Halloween here, so the kids don't really know much about it.

But don't worry, I taught them to Trick-or-Treat, and even gave them "American" candy (Snickers!)

This is at a mountain temple I saw while I was driving along. I just pulled over, left my car and climbed up.

Can you see the flame-colored hill in the background???

These pictures are of the Shirakami Mountains, a World Heritage Site thanks to its magnificently well-preserved old growth beech forest. Supposedly it looks exactly like it did just after The Ice Age.
Using my car for a tri-pod.

I wasn't lying when I said it was beautiful here.

Do Something

I just donated $50 to the San Diego County American Red Cross.
You can, too:
San Diego Red Cross

I also just donated $50 to the Los Angeles County American Red Cross.
You can, too:
Los Angeles Red Cross

Hoping for rain

I had lunch with the first graders today, and while I was eating my mikan (mandarin)and listening to the kids talk excitedly about Tokyo Disneyland, all I could think about was oranges, (*real*) Disneyland, and Southern California.

These fires have come to a magnitude I can't even comprehend, nor truly know how to respond to. Lately, everyone from fellow teachers and my supervisor to my hair dresser and the attendant at the gas station have been asking me about the fires. Mostly they ask if my family, my home is okay, and thankfully, I can tell them my home is a safe, happy 500 miles away. But the fact that people in my tiny town in Japan know about the fires and are concerned about their intensity, scares me more than I probably would be if I was back home. Also, this stupid time difference makes it really hard to get a hold of people, and without a TV or newspaper I feel really disconnected, which totally stresses me out. As far as I know, my friends (and their families) are safe, but I know some have houses in danger and some have been evacuated. It's scary, and, I'm worried.

I wish there was something I could do... I wish I wasn't so far away (because I feel like being closer, I *could* do something - whether or not that's true is a different story).

Take care of yourselves, friends. I hope you/your friends/family/property stay safe.

It's really not that bad here - bad publicity!

Akita to brush up its depressing image

10/19/2007
BY SAWA OKABAYASHI, THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

Life in Akita Prefecture isn't much fun, if current labels are true.

Home to 1.14 million people, the northern Honshu prefecture faces problems like these:

・Its minimum wage is the lowest in the country;

・Its suicide rate has been the highest in the nation for past 12 years;

・Its birthrate is the lowest in Japan; and

・Its younger residents are fleeing in droves.

Hoping to reverse this trend, the General Policy Making Division of the Akita prefectural government began looking closely in the mirror.

The officials concluded Akita's poor self-image has done much to hinder development.

The division now wants to transform that negative image.

"We agreed that reinventing the prefectural character may bring positive results," a member of the division's 40-person task force on the issue, including residents, said. "We are afraid that we may get left behind in this time of rapid change."

The group has met on three occasions since July to sound out ideas. They took a long, hard look at the Akita image.

It wasn't flattering:

"People here don't speak up unless they have a drink first."

"Akita people are always getting in each other's way."

"People around here don't like change."

Some panel members suggested that the best way to change those traits was to set a good example.

So the group wants Akita's business leaders and local government officials to undergo retraining in how to behave in more socially acceptable ways.

Once residents see their leaders reinvent themselves, others will invariably follow suit, according to the plan.

The prefectural government is inviting people from outside Akita to share their experiences and views on the local character until Oct. 21.

The task force is hoping that locals will then become interested in extending the makeover project, and get the ball rolling to re-energize the entire prefecture.

Shinichi Yano, a marketing consultant and author, is a self-proclaimed expert in local characteristics in Japan's 47 prefectures. Yano has praise for Akita's efforts, but he notes they have a long way to go.

"They should make the best of their positive talents, rather than fixing upon shortcomings," he said. "That way, they will see an improvement in consumption behavior, which will bring other benefits."(IHT/Asahi: October 19,2007)

Upward Mobility

I just how to blog from my phone! Cool... updates on the go, go, go! ＼(^_^)／

Talking About My Generation

The YouTube Generation, that is.

I'm here to announce that I've joined them! I'm now officially an owner of a YouTube account, allowing me to post all kinds of crazy videos for your enjoyment! Of course, I only have like three videos in my collection, but there's plenty of growth potential.

Anyway, as my first act as a YouTube-r, I'm posting these clips that go with the recent posts:

1. McArthur A'Conti, the band we saw in Osaka (really short clip, sorry)


2. Sugitchi Dance (part 1)


3. Sugitchi Dance (part 2) - this is the part I didn't know very well, as you'll see!

Spo-cha!

Last Friday, my Japanese friend Marie (the one I went bowling with a few weeks ago) invited me to "play sport." I agreed before I really knew what that entailed, but let me tell you, it was fabulous!

So we went to this "fun center" building and paid 1400Y (about $14) for three hours of access to three (huge) floors of ever game and sport imaginable. We played a multitude of arcade games (all free-play), basketball, badminton, tennis, did batting cages, archery, pingpong, curling (yes, CURLING!), and finally, an hour of karaoke. Things we could have tried: golfing (like mini driving range), fishing (with LIVE fish!), darts, go-kart racing, rollerblading, bowling... etc. Move over Disneyland, you've got competition for happiest place on earth or whatever - this might be the funnest place on earth! I plan to spend all winter there. haha.

Enjoy some pics! The group was Marie, Keiko, Aiyumi, Maggie, and me.



I said, "Are you ready? I wouldn't want to look stupid in my curling picture!" And then I slipped. hahaha Serves me right!

There we go. I look like a pro!

Dance! Dance! Dance!

Michinoku Yosakoi Matsuri!!!
The 13th-14th I hopped on the bullet train (yep, it's fast and cool!) and headed over to Sendai for this amazing dance festival. It's one of the three largest in Japan, and there were teams competing and performing from all over Japan!

After two solid days of watching dance performances, I've determined the key ingredients for a winning team:
-Crazy/flashy costumes
-At least three costume changes during the dance (usually by turning something inside out, taking off a layer, pulling sleeves out of your sleeves, or just sheer MAGIC)
-GIANT FLAGS (the bigger the better, and the more the fabulous)
-Props (including naruko noisemaker thingys, folding fans, parasols, lanterns, shiny material, smaller flags, etc.)
-No kids or old ladies (unless they're in the back - that's how you tell the serious teams from the cute-sy ones)


I really liked Sendai! I spent the night with my friend Jenny (the girl I sat next to for 10hrs from SF->Tokyo), so I had a free place to stay and insider advice.








On Wally's recommendation, I decided to check out this building called the Sendai Mediatheque. Wally said it's in all the architecture books, so I expected it to be neat, but I was surprised by how much I really really liked it! It contains and a library and a couple of art galleries.





I also went to the top floor of the tallest building in Sendai so I could take this picture at sunset.
I also found where Ginger can go to get some learning...
Before I caught the train home, I stopped for some Mexican food! I was early (like 5:30) so I was the only one in the tiny restaurant and the chef was also my server (until the waitress arrived at 6 haha). I had two enchiladas and two tacos (they were tiny), and they were really good! I want to go back!

Homeward bound! The station looked cool at night, and I got to watch some MORE dancing until my train came.
Looks fast, huh?