(no subject)
I don’t think I’m going to learn the names of every one of my students. I’ll be teaching a couple hundred of them, and with the uniforms and fashion conformity obliterating any sort of distinctive style I can only really remember the students I’ve interacted with significantly. It doesn’t help that so many of them have similar names. In one class of 38 students I have Yuki, two Yuukis, and a Yuuta (boys), as well as Yuki, Yuuko, Yuuka, and two Yuris (girls). None of them write it the same way, either. The Yuris have the same ri but different yus, one of which is the same as the first part of Yuuka`s name even though in one name it’s a short yu and in the other it’s a long yuu. Perhaps I shall just address all of them with, “Hey, you!”
Rain, rain, rain. Drip drop pitter patter poku poku zaa zaa cats and dogs rain. Last week it poured buckets on us all throughout the school festival and canceled the sports day on Thursday. Friday morning was overcast and the ground was sodden. I had the advanced third year class that morning fill out sheets with info about themselves so I could get to know them better, encouraging them to put down whatever they wanted, and a few girls in heavy eyeliner were being delightfully dramatic about the rain interfering with the sports day (taiikusai). There was an impromptu scene where they were about to jump out the window in their sorrow and I had to talk them out of it. After class I saw that the leader of the emo sports girls had written
“We need Taiiksai!!
We love Taiikusai!!
My life is Taiiksai . . .
rain is bad. or death.”
Other students also wrote messages to the same effect or covered the back sides of their paper with 体育祭したい！again and again in rainbow ink. That afternoon the sun came out and we did end up having an abbreviated taiikusai, but all they did was present the cheer dances they had been working on. The students were divided up into red, blue, yellow, and green teams, and each team had put together a dance number. They spent hours and hours rehearsing these dances, so I’m glad they got to present them. I had been practicing along with them as well. I started out just watching them rehearse, but couldn’t keep from dancing too. I liked the green team best because they were the most energetic and the most vocal about getting me to dance with them, but I decided to maintain neutrality and practice with every team but perform with none. Green won anyway, I’m pleased to say. But that’s all the taiikusai we had, the presentation of the dances and a closing ceremony that was a bit too long considering that there was nothing to close. No games. Which is sad, but at least we didn’t have to worry about dozens of casualties from injuries and heat stroke like all the other ALTs were saying they had at their schools.
That evening the teachers had a party! We had food and drinks at a brewery/restaurant place in town. The beer was really good. I don’t like beer; that last night in Seattle we went to the Pike Place Brewery and I got their sampler, and while I could tolerate half of them the other half were unbearable. But the special Izushi soba beer was actually quite drinkable. I found myself enjoying it, rather than just enduring it like I normally do. The only problem was that there were two varieties of beer provided and someone declared that I had to try both and so I was poured a glass of each. Pouring for others is an important part of Japanese drinking parties; a chart of who pours for who would form all sorts of intricate webs and patterns. No glass should ever be allowed to go empty, and if you don’t want to drink anymore you leave your glass full. But even if your glass is brimming people will still stop by with the pitcher to pay their respects to you, and stand there until you take a swig and lower the level in your glass so they can fill it back up again. So, having two glasses to defend means getting friendly pitcher attacks from both sides. But I was able to strike a balance between social niceties and my low alcohol tolerance, in spite of the garrulous calligraphy teacher who was practically chanting “chug chug chug!” It was a very enjoyable evening. Most of the conversations I participated in centered around what I can and cannot eat, and I spent a lot of time just smiling and nodding to conversations I couldn’t follow, but it was lovely to just hang around with my coworkers in a happy relaxed environment.
The rain held off for Saturday as well, which is great since there was a beach party for all the Tajima area ALTS and related folk. It was at Takeno, the beach I visited a month ago, and one month makes an amazing difference. The waves were stronger, the water was much colder, and there was absolutely no one there! Last time it was teeming with people, but we had the whole place to our selves. Even the snack shops were gone. Japanese people can be so funny about seasonal things. Once a certain calendar day is past no one goes to the beach anymore, even if the weather is still perfect for it. Some say not to go swimming at the beach after Obon because the spirits hanging around will drag you out to see. More practical people point out that the last couple weeks of August are when the stinging jellyfish come in. But the jellyfish go away again, leaving a perfectly pleasant beach to the ignorant foreigners who don’t know that swimming in September just isn’t proper. I swam and hung out with nice people and generally had a lovely time. The ex-pat population up here seems to be a lot of really interesting people.
Sunday morning I woke up to a torrential downpour and lightning that rattled my whole house. I stayed inside as it continued to rain all day, and then spent a couple hours in the evening strolling around in the drizzle with my umbrella. The castle ruins and the shrines surrounding them were eerily beautiful in the dark and the mist with reflecting pools of water all around. I wandered around until the six o` clock “time to go home!” music started echoing through the town, then went home and got dry and cooked myself some tasty-but-slightly-burnt okonomiyaki. Overall, a very pleasant weekend.
Rain, rain, rain. Drip drop pitter patter poku poku zaa zaa cats and dogs rain. Last week it poured buckets on us all throughout the school festival and canceled the sports day on Thursday. Friday morning was overcast and the ground was sodden. I had the advanced third year class that morning fill out sheets with info about themselves so I could get to know them better, encouraging them to put down whatever they wanted, and a few girls in heavy eyeliner were being delightfully dramatic about the rain interfering with the sports day (taiikusai). There was an impromptu scene where they were about to jump out the window in their sorrow and I had to talk them out of it. After class I saw that the leader of the emo sports girls had written
“We need Taiiksai!!
We love Taiikusai!!
My life is Taiiksai . . .
rain is bad. or death.”
Other students also wrote messages to the same effect or covered the back sides of their paper with 体育祭したい！again and again in rainbow ink. That afternoon the sun came out and we did end up having an abbreviated taiikusai, but all they did was present the cheer dances they had been working on. The students were divided up into red, blue, yellow, and green teams, and each team had put together a dance number. They spent hours and hours rehearsing these dances, so I’m glad they got to present them. I had been practicing along with them as well. I started out just watching them rehearse, but couldn’t keep from dancing too. I liked the green team best because they were the most energetic and the most vocal about getting me to dance with them, but I decided to maintain neutrality and practice with every team but perform with none. Green won anyway, I’m pleased to say. But that’s all the taiikusai we had, the presentation of the dances and a closing ceremony that was a bit too long considering that there was nothing to close. No games. Which is sad, but at least we didn’t have to worry about dozens of casualties from injuries and heat stroke like all the other ALTs were saying they had at their schools.
That evening the teachers had a party! We had food and drinks at a brewery/restaurant place in town. The beer was really good. I don’t like beer; that last night in Seattle we went to the Pike Place Brewery and I got their sampler, and while I could tolerate half of them the other half were unbearable. But the special Izushi soba beer was actually quite drinkable. I found myself enjoying it, rather than just enduring it like I normally do. The only problem was that there were two varieties of beer provided and someone declared that I had to try both and so I was poured a glass of each. Pouring for others is an important part of Japanese drinking parties; a chart of who pours for who would form all sorts of intricate webs and patterns. No glass should ever be allowed to go empty, and if you don’t want to drink anymore you leave your glass full. But even if your glass is brimming people will still stop by with the pitcher to pay their respects to you, and stand there until you take a swig and lower the level in your glass so they can fill it back up again. So, having two glasses to defend means getting friendly pitcher attacks from both sides. But I was able to strike a balance between social niceties and my low alcohol tolerance, in spite of the garrulous calligraphy teacher who was practically chanting “chug chug chug!” It was a very enjoyable evening. Most of the conversations I participated in centered around what I can and cannot eat, and I spent a lot of time just smiling and nodding to conversations I couldn’t follow, but it was lovely to just hang around with my coworkers in a happy relaxed environment.
The rain held off for Saturday as well, which is great since there was a beach party for all the Tajima area ALTS and related folk. It was at Takeno, the beach I visited a month ago, and one month makes an amazing difference. The waves were stronger, the water was much colder, and there was absolutely no one there! Last time it was teeming with people, but we had the whole place to our selves. Even the snack shops were gone. Japanese people can be so funny about seasonal things. Once a certain calendar day is past no one goes to the beach anymore, even if the weather is still perfect for it. Some say not to go swimming at the beach after Obon because the spirits hanging around will drag you out to see. More practical people point out that the last couple weeks of August are when the stinging jellyfish come in. But the jellyfish go away again, leaving a perfectly pleasant beach to the ignorant foreigners who don’t know that swimming in September just isn’t proper. I swam and hung out with nice people and generally had a lovely time. The ex-pat population up here seems to be a lot of really interesting people.
Sunday morning I woke up to a torrential downpour and lightning that rattled my whole house. I stayed inside as it continued to rain all day, and then spent a couple hours in the evening strolling around in the drizzle with my umbrella. The castle ruins and the shrines surrounding them were eerily beautiful in the dark and the mist with reflecting pools of water all around. I wandered around until the six o` clock “time to go home!” music started echoing through the town, then went home and got dry and cooked myself some tasty-but-slightly-burnt okonomiyaki. Overall, a very pleasant weekend.