'Yamenasai!!!!!!!'

This week the title refers to 'Stop that!' in Japanese because that's what I have to say to the kiddies every time they say inappropriate things to me, which is basically everyday.  That brings me to Monday.....

The students were pretty much out of control and I only had one class to teach that day!  The 9th graders thought it would be cute at Sports Day practice to tell me that I have a sexy body repeatedly.  They also proceeded to tell me that I had a 'good bust size' as they put it.  I'm thinking I need to pretend that I don't understand them because all week, I heard these things of things 2764823585 times.  The one class I had was crazy loud but I had fun.

Oh yeah, I also joined the volleyball club on Monday.  Every time I got one of the kids names right, I gave them a high five.  High fives are new to them and they looooved it.  The girls started asking me questions about sex and I was just like 'uhhh, no, bad english'.  There is no way in hell I'm going to try and tackle that subject.  They all thought it was hysterical and laughed so hard that they were rolling on the gym floor with laughter.  Yes, the hormones are raging with these kids too.....

Tuesday started out kinda wacky.  My JTE was late to teach our class because one of the students in her homeroom got hit by a car.  It was one of my favorite students, Masahiro, too!  Then, I saw him in the nurse's office and he looked perfectly fine except for the ankle brace he was wearing.  I guess he was nudged by a rolling car?  Later that day, there was another fiasco when an 8th grader went missing.  Apparently, this happens all the time, according to one of my JTE's.

This week was full of more Sports Day practices to gear up for the big day, tomorrow, Sunday, September 14.  So, I have to work tomorrow.  Monday is a public holiday so we get Tuesday off in exchange for tomorrow.  Let's hope the typhoon doesn't hit tomorrow because that screw everything up and jeopardizes bar-hopping on Monday night with the other JETs here.  Like, I said last week, the drinking party with the teachers is tomorrow night so seeing other JETs is a no-go.  As for the practices, I basically stand there sweating my butt off in the sun and snap a few pics in between.  Some kids are alllll about the peace sign and posing for them but others hide their faces and are extremely embarrassed.  Honestly, I can't wait for it all to be over because it's thrown a crazy loop into the regular schedule and the kids have been bouncing off the walls.  I just need things to go down a few notches.

Wednesday was super-chill.  I had 3 classes and then left early after lunch to go to a meeting at the Board of Education.  Every other Wednesday, all of the JETs have to report to meeting at the BOE.  It was good seeing the other ALTs again.  I mean, I hang out with some of them but not all of them.  One is semi-sidelined with crutches and others live farther away so that unfortunately makes it difficult to get together during the week.  We technically finished around 4:30pm but afterwards, a small group of us just chatted, caught up, and exchanged crazy stories from school.  Post-chatting, we went out to dinner at some random restaurant that played random music.  I recall music from Usher's latest album being played and though I am a fan, it was completely out of place.  Thank goodness, our Japanese advisor came, otherwise it would have been me and all guys yet again.  Food was good and again, I found myself eating things and then finding out later what they were.  For example) I chewed for about 5 minutes on the pig's achilles tendon.  Scrumptious, huh?

Thursday was laid back as well.  Only had 2 classes, with one of them being my favorite, full of out of control kids who get way too excited about learning English.  But, hey, that makes my job easier, doesn't it?  After work, I bounced on over to another JET's apartment here and 3 others joined us for okonomiyaki dinner.  I probably had a little too much red wine for a school night but I was fine getting back.  I just liked being able to hang out after work and not being limited to weekend get-togethers.

I prepped for two classes on Friday but one of them was cancelled due to, you guessed it, Sports Day practice!  The kiddies got out of school early but not before spending the afternoon cleaning and prepping one final time for Sports Day.  Cleaning time continues to fascinates me to no end.  They have cleaning rags they use everyday to wipe the floors.  I was intrigued by the use of folded newspaper to clean the windows too.  Teachers and students alike here were surprised to know that most schools in America have hired maintenance men to clean the schools, that no students or school employees did any actual cleaning.  I get the sense Japan keeps cutting their education budget?  But this cleaning ritual is completely and utterly normal for schools around the country.

Last night, some of my JET friends came over and we shot a YouTube video tour of my apartment.  I wanted to have a clean-cut version but with 5 guys over here, that did not happen in the least.  Needless to say, the whole thing was pretty hilarious.  Then, we hit up a nearby restaurant I like called Italian Tomato Cafe.  I think the name says it all.

Hajimemashite!

The title means 'Nice to meet you' in Japanese.  This is in reference to the fact that I had to do my self-introduction 12 times this past week.  I'm definitely sick of talking about myself, my family, my dogs, sports, my travels, college, American food, and my friends in dumbed-down English. Highlights include the kids going crazy over Ichiro pics and over one pic of me and some high school friends in my hot tub.  They just kept calling it a big bath.  Oh, and when I explained how the restaurant at the top of the Space Needles revolves once an hour, they started making vomiting gestures in reference to people throwing up their food as the thing spun around. Don't worry, I'll have to do it about 20 more times in 2 weeks when I go to a different junior high school for one week.

I'm going to preface discussing my first week at school with some excerpts from the English textbooks all Japanese students use across the country.....

1) Teacher: Jack, why are you late this afternoon?

    Jack: I broke my ankle.

    Teacher: That's a lame excuse.

2) Karen: Is our school haunted?

     Teacher: I don't think so. Why?

     Karen: The principal is always talking about the school spirit.

3) What do you call an ant who hates school?

     A tru-ant.

4) What must you pay when you go to school?

     Attention.

5) What did the dog get for Christmas?

     A mobile bone.

6) Emi: I want to find some e-pals.

    Mike: Ok, let's surf the internet and find some.

    Emi: Is it difficult?

    Mike: No, many people around the world make friends through computers.

Can I just say CREEPER?!

7) Nana: Everyone in my host family is nice to me.  But my host mother always gives me too much food.  Do I have to eat everything?  It's too much.

    Teacher's answer: You must tell your host mother.  Say, 'I'm sorry,  It's very good but I can't eat that much.'  She will understand.

Yet another example of oversized portions and American obesity.....go figure.

8)  Emi:  But as my host father says, 'Rome was not built in a day.'  It takes work and patience to have a happy family.

9) lyrics to Mariah Carey's 'Hero'

10) lyrics to 'We Are the World' by Michael Jackson and Lionel Ritchie

11) dialogue on Rachel Carson's 'Silent Spring'

12) Mother's Lullaby, a short story about a young mother and her child dying from the radiation set off my atomic bomb in Nagasaki (Oh yeah, this is the lesson the 9th graders are on.  Yay for being the new American!  Awkward.....)

So now you have an idea of the kinds of things I will probably experience everyday.

This week went be relatively quickly.  The first days, the kiddies had back to school testing so I sat around and tried to help out where I could.  On Monday, there was an opening ceremony where I had to go up and say a few words on stage in Japanese, introducing my self to the entire school.  Luckily, I survived.  The vice-principal, whose English is limited but better than the principal's, came up to me exclaimed 'Mariners!' when I was done speaking.  I had to contain my laughter.  

The week's schedule was also out of whack due to upcoming Sports Day, which is on September 14th, yes, a Sunday.  Thankfully, we get the following Tuesday off instead since we have to show up on the weekend.  I was invited to the teachers' enkai (drinking party) post-Sports Day action.  You can bet I'll have my camera out at that little shindig.  My favorite English teacher out of the 3 at this school asked me if I drank and then proceeded to tell me that she really enjoyed cold sake.  This is gonna be a riot come next Sunday!

Speaking of Sports Day, they practice all the darn time.  So far, I have not seen any actual sports balls.  It primarily consists of running activities, marching and random drills.  There is no American equivalent and sometimes I think the kids remind me of Nazi Germany with their bowing and call and response.  And this isn't just at my school either.  Two other JETs in my city compared them to Hitler's little army even before I could.  My mom just about cried laughing when I told her this.  I've heard rumors though that the kids are working on building 6-level human pyramids and run relay races all day long.  I personally haven't seen evidence of this stuff yet but this Wednesday, we have Sports Day practice alllll day long.

Tomorrow, I will be joining the volleyball club.  'Club' because they call all of the sports teams here 'clubs'.  I bought knee pads today - let's just hope I don't collapse on the gym floor.  I opted not to do soccer because I didn't particularly fancy playing on a dirt field.  I'm limiting my participation to Mondays and Wednesdays because I'm going to be taking Japanese classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  And Fridays, well, they are Fridays and time to finally enjoy the weekend away from the kiddies.

As for time away from the kiddies after work, I mainly run errands and go home to relax in the AC.  My commute is conducive to running errands because the main station I go through to switch from the train to the monorail is surrounded by everything and anything.  I can get whatever I need there.  That's not to say, I live out in the boonies because I don't.  It's just easier to get stuff around there.  Y'all know I'm lazy.

Thursday was an exception though.  Another JET and myself went down south to Kokuraminami to meet up with two other city JETs (one of them is on crutches due to a sprained ankle so this was easier) and our Japanese mini-supervisor, who is absolutely hilarious.  I found out she is obsessed with The OC now and watches the episodes in English.  She got all riled up when I accidently slipped that Marissa dies at the end of the third season, hahaha.  We had a delish dinner at a yaki-tori restaurant for about 2 hours.  It honestly was the perfect group of people there and I had a lovely time.  It was just what I needed to help me finish out the week strong.

As for Friday, I stayed about an hour later talking with one of the English teachers.  Then, a bunch of 9th graders bombarded my desk and became entranced by my notebook full of my Japanese practice, vocab, writing, text message translations, etc.  They started helping me with my things and then had me help them with their English.  Yes, it was a corny bonding experience and I loved every minute of it.

After-hours, I ran home, just in time to shower and head back out to meet some JETs for Korean BBQ.  This was my first time eating Korean food!  I tried kimshi (fermented cabbage, way too spicy for me!).  FYI....this is where the expression, 'You're in deep kimshi comes from'.  Well, it started during the Korean War apparently.  I also tried squid (yuck) and cow tongue (very chewy is all I have to say).  One of my friends kept putting things on my plate and every time I would ask what it was, he would say 'just eat it.'  I forgot to mention that at dinner, it was me and seven guys.  Unlike at home, as one of the few females, I'm always outnumbered over here which means I get more crap than usual.  Well, it's comparable to Chris, Shariff, and Co. at W&M.  Did I tell you that this was all-you-can-eat and all-you-can-drink for 90 minutes? It felt like a lot longer than that to be honest. To drink, I went for the umeshou, which is plum wine.  Needless to say, by the time we left, everyone was pretty toasted.  Even after that, we all thought it would be a grand idea to go do all-you-can-drink karaoke for 2 hours at Shidax (our fave place for sing-a-longs).  I think the highlights of the night was singing Bryan Adams's 'All for Love' which is featured on The Three Musketeers Soundtrack circa mid-1990's.  Loooved it!

Yesterday was chill.  Woke up uber-late due to the late night before.  I finally got my furniture (2 small suede couches that sit on the floor and a bed) delivered and my place looks legit now.  I want to have a housewarming party sometime soon and then a 'Swing Vote' theme party.  For the Swing Vote party, people can dress up for Halloween, as election-related things (donkey, elephant, etc), or as something Kevin Costner film related.  I would love to have the soire on the real Election Day, November 4th, but alas that's a Tuesday and we're dealing with a 13-16 hour time difference.  I figure I'll just do it the weekend before and combine it with Halloween.  I fully anticipate ridiculousness ;)

Today was catch-up day as usual.  Sunday grocery shopping, laundry, cleaning, blogging, etc.  One friend came from another part of the city to have lunch with three of us and I got to show him my newly furnished cutesy apartment.  I was proud.  With that in mind, look forward to a Cribs-esque video that shall be posted next weekend after filming goes down on Saturday.

Time for bed.  Peace out.

Bravo, Bravo!

Ahhh so I guess I'm due to report on the busy as a bumblebee weekend and my first day at school!

Friday was pretty chill.  I visited my second junior high school, Ryusei JHS in the Moji ward of Kitakyushu, in the morning.  Both the principal and vice-principal were gone but I did get to meet the third grade (equal to 9th grade in the US) English teacher.  He's so little but his English was great!  He showed me around the school and I was pleasantly surprised to find my assigned locker for my indoor shoes in addition to a welcome note waiting for me on my desk in the teachers' room.  I think my fave part about the teachers' room in that it has AC.  The rest of the school doesn't so yes, it's hotter than hades.  After the visit, I headed back to the BOE and watched the rest of my cohorts do dry-runs of their self-intro presentations.  Later, a small group of us went to the 100 Yen Shop.  Luckily, I made it home before the rain!

That night, 9 of us went out to a bar called 'Bravo!' in the Kurosaki area of KitaQ.  Three of the other ALTs live in that area and have been hanging out there for the past month so we finally decided so see what all the hype was about.  The nice CIR in KitaQ came and joined us too!  I pretty much chillaxed the whole night and was very entertained by the ooc people all around me.  I should have written down all of the crazy things people were saying!  I ended up crashing in Kurosaki because the trains stop at a way-too-early midnight.  The next morning, I arrived back in my Kokura nieghborhood around 10:30 and went shopping for work clothes around the station before taking the monorail home.

Once home, I had a few hours to breathe until Latin American Night at the Kitakyushu International Association in the Yahata ward.  Lots of English and Espanol speakers present and I could actually understand the things that were being said!  I was also able to have a pina colada (alright, a bad one) and food from Mexico, Brazil, and Colombia!  I ran into a few new friends I had met the previous week which was uber-exciting!  I met some Japanese people who would just randomly come up to me wanting to practice their English.  All of them gave me their business cards too.  I feel like such a little networker!  The majority of the night was spent on the dance floor doing the salsa.  There was a pseudo-mariachi band and I thought the whole scene was hilarious.  I think the highlight of the night was when another ALT and myself taught some Japanese ladies how to do the macarena.  They went ballistic and I laughed so hard :)  At the end of the night, I wanted to get my picture in front of the mermaid statue (they are everywhere in Norfolk) that was a gift from Norfolk, VA, one of KitaQ's sister cities and this random Hispanic guy jumped in the picture and kissed my cheek. Yikes!

Though I had another super-late night due to Skyping with family and friends at times more convenient for them, I roused myself out of bed to check out the 10:15 service at this Christian Church about a 3 minute walk from my house.  Turns out, this was a Methodist Church and there was an English teacher there.  He translated the entire sermon for her.  Nearing the end of the service, one member gave the number of people in attendance and then brought a microphone over to me so that I could introduce myself to the entire congregation.  And oh yeah, I did it in Japanese!  Yet another funny coincidence, when the teacher found out I was from Tacoma, he told me that he (along with the church) hosted a group of students from Bellarmine in June!  Then, his family invited me to have lunch with them at the church and I proceeded to learn all about Finger Five, the Japanese take on the Jackson 5 in the 70's.

Sidenote: One more crazy coincidence!  One of my best friends from Semester at Sea is somehow, randomly rooming at optometry school with a friend I've known since 8th grade through summer camp and working together later at that same summer camp!  All these connections are honestly getting ridiculous.

Oh, but anyways, Sunday ended with chilling at Starbucks with for a few hours with a couple ALTs and a Japanese woman who apparently has experience teaching Japanese.  I thought the whole situation with very awk.com but somehow I lasted.  Then I just finished a bunch of errands and made my usual Sunday journey to Trial for grocery shopping.  I actually made it to bed by 10:30 and yes, I felt like a grandma.

Today was a big day - my first official day at one of my junior high schools!  Less than 5 minutes after I arrived, I had the privilege of watching one student get his hair chopped off due to his 'unique hairstyle.'  The kid was just asking for trouble and I had heard stories of this very thing happening.  I thought it was kinda funny and all of his friends wanted to watch but the teachers ushered them out of the teachers' room.  The day really began with the opening ceremony, where I had to get up in front of the entire school and introduce myself in Japanese.  I survived and everyone clapped.  I think they had to.  Once the vice-principal heard I was from Seattle, he came over and exclaimed 'Mariners!'. Hahaha, the whole Ichiro thing never gets old, does it?  The rest of the day, they had me sit at my desk.  I ended up studying Japanese and plotting out my schedule.  I met a slew of teachers too but I was rather quiet because, oh wait, I don't know Japanese and the majority of teachers don't speak English.  

I also found out that I can order a bento for around $4 everyday but the catch is that the bento changes everyday.  I could randomly end up with fugu or some other seafood I would never touch.  One teacher kept warning me that the bento had Japanese food in it.  I mean, it's not like I expected a Big Mac or a hot dog to be in there, you know?  But whatevs, I like bringing my own sandwich anyway.  Stopped by a few of the clubs after school.  Basically, these are the equivalent of school sports.  The kids went nuts and I got synchronized goodbyes from the entire group.  The kids are fascinated by me and are very friendly.  They know some basic English phrases but I had to whip out the Eng-Jap dictionary about 482327 times today already.

Overall, like Borat would say, today was great success! But I'm exhausted.  Sitting at your desk isn't hard work but everything is still mentally draining.  You have no idea what people are saying in Japanese around you (or about you) and you never know if one of the teachers is analyzing your every move.  Let's just hope they don't secretly despise me by the end of the week!