Down for the Count at Christmas

Christmas isn't as big in Japan as it is in North America, but most parents still indulge their kids with a present on Christmas morning.  Many Japanese celebrate Christmas in a non-religious fashion with  beautifully crafted (and rather expensive) Christmas cakes and many consider a big bucket of KFC a special Christmas dinner!  In many ways, Christmas is a young couples holiday here with young lovers going out for dinner and an evening stroll. Shops are still fairly busy, though, and there is still the hustle & bustle of Christmas in the air when one is in department stores and shopping arcades.

As for me, I hurt my back on the morning before Christmas day and spent most of the next 48 hours lying on a futon, except for a daily, pain-filled, walk to a chiropractor about two or three hundred yards from our apartment.  Luckily, after three days of misery, I was finally able to get on the subway (the start and stop, herky-jerky motions can trigger a spasm) and travel to a clinic where I was prescribed muscle relaxants and pain killers. So, while the kids were happy to get toys and candies, I'm just happy to be able to get up and move around a bit.  I'm still crooked, twisted, and tight, but at least it doesn't hurt to sit anymore and I can finally walk a reasonable distance. Most of all, I'm just thankful that I'm on the track to recovery and that, despite being in severe discomfort, I was able to quietly sit and observe my kids during the holiday.  It seems that life flies by so fast while we're busy raising children that it's easy to miss their growing up.  This Christmas, rather than worrying about who was opening what or what to do with the wrapping paper, I was able to simply lie there and enjoy their expressions of joy and the priceless idiosyncrasies of my children at play.

Lumineria and Iranian Chit-Chat

Entrance to Kobe Lumineria

Exit of Kobe Lumineria

On Tuesday evening, we went to see "Lumineria" in downtown Kobe.  It was a beautiful display of lights standing 40 feet high or so and stretching for several blocks. It began in December of 1995 to serve as a memorial for those who died in the Great Hanshin Earthquake that had taken place in January of the same year and to serve as a symbol of hope for those who survived.  This year it served in the same capacity as we all remember the earthquake and tsunami of 3/11.

On Wednesday evening, as I was working out in the gym, I happened to meet an Iranian who was competing in the adjacent arena's international power-lifting competition.  We went from small talk to a discussion about the differences between media perception and reality within our two countries and how people were really a lot more alike than not.  Before he let me say goodbye, he insisted I wait for him to return quickly to the arena so that he could give me a small gift for me and my family--an interesting buttery sweet with saffron and cardamom  spices and a bag of Iranian pistachios.  It was a sincere gesture of kindness and I wish I'd had something to give him on behalf of Americans as well, but I simply said farewell in the Farsi blessing he'd taught me earlier.

The rest of the week was rather ordinary: a trip to the library, some window shopping and eating out with the kids since my wife was sick.

A Real Living Room

A relatively boring week at school was capped off with a rather nice weekend.  After hitting the gym on Saturday morning and having lunch, we took the kids to a little Christmas festival with a magician, singing, story telling--and best of all, no cliche manger drama!  Then we and an Australian family we're friends with were invited to a little welcome party held by two Japanese families.  We drank beer, ate sushi and shot the breeze while all of our kids ran around and entertained each other.  Both of the Japanese fathers spoke decent English and one who hosted the party had lived in Virginia for several months and remembered how lonely and frustrating it was for him before he met people who began to show him around a bit. Nothing like a little ex-pat empathy to build common ground--he even offered to lend us an extra TV he had when he found out the kids were watching DVDs on a little seven-inch portable player.

On Sunday, the kids and I walked a mile or two to nearby Taisan-ji temple to enjoy the colors of fall and explore the temple grounds.  Afterward, we soaked our tired feet in a small hot springs foot bath located outside of Taisan-ji onsen (hot springs), before taking a free bus back up to the train station near our house.  Then we walked over to McDonalds for a cheap & easy kids meal and a nostalgic taste of home.  Early in the afternoon, we got the TV, went shopping for a small book case to put it on, and a carpet for the floor, came home and now--voila!--we have a cozy little living room set up where we can watch TV or DVDs though out the could winter months ahead. Can't beat that.

Kyoto Colors

Rafting down the Hosu River Canyon

A Traditional Japanese Inn Nestled among the Foliage.

After a nice Thanksgiving meal of roasted chicken, beef chuck roast, and mashed potatoes & gravy with several of the other JETs on Wednesday, it was back to school.  You see, Japanese thanksgiving day is only one day--Nov. 23--and if it's on a weekend, well, too bad.  Nothing like the extended break we enjoy in U.S. schools.  So, the highlight of the week was Saturday's trip to Kyoto, the ancient capital of Japan, to see the maples turn and the colors of fall explode.  We were not disappointed--it was absolutely beautiful scenery and would have made for a pristine, romantic get-away had we not been accompanied by tens of thousands of Japanese with a few hundred foreigners thrown in. It was like being at an outdoor night club that had been filled to 150% capacity.  If we were careful, we could slip into a spot along the roped off garden and snap a picture of one of us, making it appear as if all were calm and quiet.  Luckily, we decided to skip visiting more temples in exchange for a ride in a vintage train along a private railroad hugging the side of the Hosu River Canyon and to follow that ride up with a two-hour rafting trip back down the river.  I wouldn't recommend taking children to Kyoto in the fall for leaf viewing or in the spring when the cherry blossoms or in bloom, but I certainly hope ours remember more than being packed into subways and shuffled around throngs of people; I hope they remember that they walked among the fiery maples of their mother's homeland awash in the cascade of Kyoto colors.

Skills Development Conference

Well, this past week included the Skills Development Conference, which was thankfully a lot better than the first professional development experiences I had to endure in August.  The presenters were much better and the presentations were infinitely more useful. There's still plenty of room for improvement, though. 

We rented out a large room in the community center for the kids' birthday party, and since it rained all day, we're glad we did. My wife had ordered a cake that used some kind of laser technology to print a picture of the kids right onto the frosting--although I was a bit freaked out at having to carve up my children's faces just to get a sugar fix. 

Sunday's weather was sunny, but windy, and things are definitely cooling down, but it has yet to drop below 40 degrees for the overnight low, so things aren't too bad yet.  Unfortunately, the apartment is encased in uninsulated concrete and we have single pane windows and sliding glass doors on the balcony, so it's colder inside than it should be. 

This week we'll be renting out the same room at the community center to celebrate Thanksgiving with some of the other ex-pats around town.

The Week in Review

Not a bad week, all in all.  School went well.  Even the class with the little "F-You" girl went off without any hitches.  My back is getting better and is at about 90% or so.  Saturday morning was spent on the phone with relatives and a close friend of mine.  Then, it was off to China Town with my kids and a friend of mine so that my wife could do housework in peace and have a few hours to herself.  This wasn't my best idea ever, though, as China Town was packed with tourists, and we ended up walking around Sannomiya for a couple of hours.  The kids drove me nuts--first, by whining, and later, by running around wild.  Who'd of thought a four-year-old and a six-year-old wouldn't enjoy walking around for miles looking at shops! 

Today was much better.  I started off with a trip to the gym, then ran a couple of errands, before taking the kids to the park, where they entertained themselves for over two hours with a group of six or seven Japanese kids.  They played tag and hide-and-go-seek and seemed to have a pretty good time running around until the sun began to go down and things cooled off.  It was good to seem them communicating and interacting comfortably in Japanese.  Now it's time for baths and bed and the week ahead.

Universal Studios Japan

Universal Studios Japan

Jurassic Park

Mechanical Musical Show 

Last week was a busy one: I had my official evaluation on Halloween, which went well, thankfully.  Then we decided to spend two days at Universal Studios Japan in Osaka to celebrate birthdays.  Unfortunately, my back went out on me Friday morning before we left, but I took a couple of muscle relaxers and was feeling pretty good by the time we arrived, so I decided I would go on the rides with my kids.  Bad idea.  After the third ride I was feeling it--of course it was late afternoon by the time we finished the third ride, so we simply took in some of the shows and staked out a spot for the evening light parade, which my daughter absolutely loved.  The next morning brought rain and more back pain, and I'd unfortunately misplaced my muscle relaxers and couldn't find them after lunch (we later discovered them that evening buried in the suitcase), so I took off for home early by train because I could stand the entire way.  I knew if I walked around on a cool damp day and then sat on the bus for the ride home, I'd seize up.  So I spent Saturday night and Sunday morning at the chiropractor before finally scoping out an orthopedic doctor on Monday evening--this was good because HE could actually provide me with drugs.  Natural therapy is great when your healthy, but...  Anyway, here it is on Tuesday, five days later, and I'm finally coming around.  As for our trip to USJ, I think the kids had a pretty good time, but when asked to tell their grandparents what they did, they "couldn't remember"!  Well, I certainly won't forget, I have my back and my wallet to remind me!

School Culture Festival

Today is Monday, but I've got the day off in exchange for working the school's culture festival on Saturday.  My school is unusual in that it actually had three separate days of activities because the 7th, 8th, and 9th graders are kept separated at all times to avoid behavior problems.  On all three days though, there was an opening ceremony, followed by a class chorus competition (Each class sings two songs, one of which is the same for all classes, and one of their choice; they are judged upon their performances--my YouTube channel has a clip of students singing "Country Roads".) In the afternoon, a few students read essays or put on a short play.  Then the teachers perform a comedy skit for the students, after which the bass brand plays and the closing ceremony takes place. Then, we teachers go out in the evening to eat and drink in celebration of having pulled it all off without having had to strangle anyone!

Now that the culture festival is finished and the sports day is a month past, things are supposed to settle into a more routine schedule.  Hopefully, this means I'll have a predictable pattern of classes and will get to know the students a bit better...

A Busy Weekend

This weekend was fairly busy and mostly entertaining. Hiro, a former exchange student came to visit us on Friday evening, and we spent all day Saturday at a small festival celebrating the bloom of thousands of Cosmos flowers on a hillside at a nearby park.  There was a bit of food and entertainment provided--you can see a couple of the Japanese Taiko drumming performances on my YouTube channel--rodgottula.

On Sunday, we went to an Indian festival and ate loads of good curry, nan and tandoori chicken. There was Indian music and dancing, and a huge flea market surrounding the park as well.  Because East Indian culture is not very well known in Montana, it was a great opportunity for the kids to see some stuff they'd never seen.

Finally, Monday was a national holiday here, so we went to a little festival put on by the design university just up the hill located behind our apartment complex.  They, too, had tons of food booths and lots of arts and crafts activities for the kids as well as live music and a Power Rangers skit to entertain the kids.  We spent about three hours there before going to Harborland to meet some relatives, who happened to be in town, for dinner.  So, all in all, a pretty busy weekend.

A Good Sports Festival

Finally--a good sports festival day!  The weather was beautiful: sunny, about 75 degrees with a slight breeze.  My son's elementary school had everything well organized, from reserving sections for parents behind each grade level (so they could easily watch their child interact) to ensuring that no group of kids was sitting for more than about 45 minutes.  They had lots of different activities for the kids, like camel fights, various sorts of silly races, and human pyramids--all designed to maximize cooperation between students within, and across, grade levels.  They also opened up a small gate between the athletic grounds and the park adjacent to them, so that students and their parents could enjoy picnic lunches on the grassy hillside. They even had the parents involved, competing against each other in a tug of war, after lunch.  For me, personally, it was nice to witness and participate in a fun, well organized event that was actually focused more on "enjoyment" than on one's ability to endure extreme weather or long periods of boredom. And, finally, the dog days of summer are over, which makes everything a bit easier to appreciate and enjoy...

Back from the Noto

Well, it's Wednesday morning here and I'm back from my trip to the Noto Peninsula. It was nice to visit rural Japan again and see old friends.  The trip did me good in that it helped me to remember that Kobe isn't all there is to Japan, thank god.  Monday was tough, though. 

Despite catching an earlier than usual subway, we were still packed in like sardines--and because it wasn't particularly hot, the air con was on very low, if at all.  I can't imagine spending 20 or 30 years of my life traveling to and from work this way.  At any rate, school was okay, but I feel under utilized in most class settings.  It's not uncommon for 90% of a class to be taught in Japanese or for half of the students in class to be sleeping.  In the after-lunch class on Monday, it was actually more like 3/4 of the students with their heads down.  Having lived in Japan before and taught at an agricultural high school, I wasn't under the naive impression that all Japanese students diligently study in a well disciplined, highly rigorous setting, but I wasn't quite prepared for this either.  It's still early for me, though, and perhaps things will improve in the classroom, or perhaps I'll play a more integral role, but like I said in an earlier post--I'm the assistant, and they've never had one of us stay for more than a year, so it's hard to create buy in.  But I'll keep trying.

Sports Day

Well, yesterday was my junior high's sports day, and the students did well.  They really came together when it counted and gave their best effort to form their human pyramids and dance routines.  Unfortunately, there was a huge downpour that cancelled the last half of the afternoon session and left me and the other teachers slugging around it mud puddles and wet sand trying to get everything back in order.

My daughter's preschool sports day was today, and the weather cooperated, but as I said before, so much about Japan has to do with enduring monotony.  We stood around for four hours to watch her participate in about 10-15 minutes worth of activities.  Worse, still, the poor kids sat still in their chairs waiting for their turn.  I suppose it's a bit like a track meet or wrestling meet--lots of sitting and little action.  At any rate, it's done and over with, so I should stop complaining now...

Sports Day Preparations

So, like I said yesterday, the Sports Festival is at least as much misery as fun.  Today, I spent the first four and a half hours of the day with students sitting under the hot sun while small groups of various students were called out and lead through the routine of how things would go once the big day actually arrives.  I wore sunscreen and a hat, but the students weren't even allowed to use their towels to cover their heads or laps to protect from sunburn, which most of them were quite obviously getting as time wore on.  Again, the whole event is meant to teach camaraderie and endurance, so they were cheerfully encouraged and sometimes scolded, but for "the second worst school" in the city, I thought they did a pretty good job of taking it all in stride.  As for me, I stayed inside after lunch and read my book.

Hot & Muggy Sports Festivals

Despite the fact that we're midway through September, the weather here continues to be hot and muggy.  Some days it seems like living here is nothing more than some kind of an endurance test in redundancy and discomfort, and that I'm really just some unassuming foreign schmuck on a low-budget reality TV show called "Let's Gaman Together". 

My school and thousands of others across the country are preparing for their Sports Festivals.  In fact, it wouldn't be considered very festive in many places on Earth, but given the daily drudgery that kids here have to endure, it seems like a nice tangent, I suppose.  Some of the activities seem more like rudimentary military training than fun.  For example, the boys have to strip down to their gym shorts, get on their hands and knees, and form pyramids in the dirt (no grass fields for schools here).  It's meant to build camaraderie and endurance, and maybe it does, since people flock to watch them do it.  Personally, it seems more like an ongoing form of hazing from one generation to the next. Hopefully, the day of the actual festival will be more enjoyable than training for it.

There's Always Hope

After my first couple days of classes, I was a bit disappointed in student behavior and their attitude toward learning, but the last couple of days have gone much better.  I'm not too annoyed by ability, but, man, can a crappy attitude dampen the spark to teach.  I've noticed the Japanese teachers I work with feel more comfortable in the lead role, which is fine, given the fact that the foreign assistants have yet to stay or be assigned at their school for more than a year.  I find that I'm also a lot more relaxed playing the supporting role, helping out those kids that care, and being able to play "good cop."  There's no point in trying to come in as the Great White Savior, stir things up, and then leave someone else to clean up the mess when I leave next summer.  Best to assist where I can, bring what I can to the table, and make a difference where possible without stressing about the things I can't change. So, two days of good classes in a row... There's hope!

First Day at Elementary

Today was my first day at elementary school, and it was absolutely refreshing.  The kids were genuinely friendly and excited about learning English.  They did their best to be respectful and to participate, and it was nice to be in front of a classroom and feel like there was actually some learning going on with the majority of students.  Many of the kids at my junior high came from the elementary that I was at today, so it makes me wonder what happens that changes them so much once they enter junior high.  Perhaps it's when they mix with the kids from the other schools, or when the older students set the tone at the junior high.  I'm sure I'll have a few theories by year's end, but for now I'm just glad that I'll have an oasis of sanity once a week.

Weathering the Typhoon

It's been an inside kind of weekend as a typhoon hit Kobe and dumped rain all day Friday and Saturday.  Today was mostly a light drizzle, and so we were able to get out for a bit and do things.  It's not like the weather in Montana during the winter doesn't keep people holed up inside, but it's a lot nicer when you have more space and the rooms aren't so close that being in a different room doesn't really matter.  The upside of being hit by the typhoon is that it was nice and comfortable inside instead of hot and muggy as it generally is throughout summer.  Luckily, fall is on its way and the foliage here is lovely to see come October and November.

The JET Microcosm

Well, I posted a message critical of the local professional development on Facebook yesterday, and one of my "friends" felt it necessary to tattle to our supervisor. I felt bad for the supervisor, as he realized that my post made no mention of JET or Kobe and was somewhat lead astray by the whistle blower as to the severity and specificity of my commentary.

This leads me to the JET microcosm; the community is so small that every one is in every one else's business. Many of the foreigners on JET are easily aware of what's happening with other foreigners whether they want to be or not, and gossip can spread quite easily within the community. Furthermore, those who have been here longer often see themselves as being superior to those who are new, sometimes going so far as to treat other adults like complete children.

In all honesty, my commentary on today's professional development was fairly benign and relatively tame. In all truthfulness, the training was woefully inadequate and highly impractical: Planning a Budget? Really? Unless you're a financial planner giving me investment advice, I think I can manage my day-to-day living expenses, thank you very much. I needn't go further, as the purpose here isn't to bash anyone, but to shed light on the fact that those who are leading a room of adults in a professional development workshop should clearly know who their audience is, what they'll actually need, and how to deliver the material in an appropriate manner. Fair enough, one would think.

Summer School and Such

Well, it's been a while since my last blog. I've had to take four days of barely useful Japanese lessons, but was also able to participate in two fun-filled days of summer school with junior high students from around Kobe. As a chaperon, I helped lead students around to four different rooms filled with different games and activities for practicing their English. In the afternoons, I had the pleasure of listening to their English presentations.

Given that many of the students had only had one or two full years of English training, I was quite impressed. Their pronunciation still needs work, but many of them displayed a tremendous amount of creativity and assertiveness. The variety of tone and topics was also impressive. I have to remind myself that these students are the "cream of the crop," however, and I also have to keep in mind that not a single student from my school attended the event.

This is my challenge: I have less than a year's time to try and make English a relevant subject for my students. What can be accomplished in a year's time by an outsider who speaks in a foreign tongue and seems immune to the pressures of normalcy in Japanese society? What can be accomplished in a school that has necessarily made discipline the primary focus of daily interaction? What can be accomplished by someone who is only an "assistant" language teacher? In a couple of weeks, I'll begin to find out...

Children and Public Transport

We used the subway and trains to take the kids to Osaka yesterday. We spent five hours in a department store, having lunch, window shopping and checking out the Pokemon Center for my son. Then, we took my daughter to a Disney on Ice performance around 5:00 p.m. and had dinner at a Yaki-niku (Korean BBQ) restaurant afterward. We finished dinner around 9:30, and by then began the exhausting journey home: packing two sleeping children and the days baggage on a series of subways and trains before finally blowing $25 on a taxi to drop us off near our apartment. We begrudgingly hauled them up three flights of stairs and placed them soundly in their futons just after midnight. Well rested, they woke up at 5:30 this morning ready to play with their overpriced souvenir toys.

Japanese Bureaucracy

Well, one can't be in Japan very long without experiencing the frustration and inconvenience of Japanese bureaucracy. In many ways, it's worse for returning Japanese than it is for foreigners. It seems like everything requires a substantial amount of paper work and all of it is ultimately based upon their family registry and their place of birth, which often makes acquiring the necessary documents a complete nuisance. Hopefully, we'll navigate through the process as quickly and smoothly as possible.

Day One at Maruyama

Well, it's not quite 8:00 am, but I've made it to my new job at Maruyama Junior High after several days of somewhat helpful, but mostly redundant trainings and orientations. It's nice to be away from the other foreigners for a spell and get a chance to meet everyone at my school. Maruyama has the reputation of being the 2nd worst school in Kobe, but because there aren't any students here yet, I can't say how accurate that assertion is. The kids I met along the way from the train station were helpful in directing me here, so it can't be all bad.

On a separate note, I'm happy to be getting some things delivered tonight: wash machine, dresser, shoe rack for the gennkan (entry way), three small book shelves, a fan (thank god--intentionally uncapitalized), and a combination microwave and "real" oven. Hopefully our house will be a home soon.

2nd Day in Tokyo

Today is the second day of Tokyo orientation. I went out and had drinks and sang karaoke with the "young 'uns" last night and am a bit dull today as a result. I'm looking forward to being done with the orientation as a lot of the information is redundant for me. Plus, it'll be nice to be in my own apartment and to decompress a little bit.

Seattle

Got into Seattle on time, although the downtown airporter left almost 40 minutes late from the airport to the hotel. Other than the guest speaker, the orientation went well, and the reception at the Consulate General's home was absolutely wonderful: sushi, yakisoba, tempura. Not the kind of stuff I'd normally get in Montana. It was also nice meeting many of the 40 or so other JETs headed to Japan. Lots of talent and plenty of enthusiasm amongst the group. I enjoyed being around the fresh college grads as their energy is contagious.

Taking Off

It's up at 4:00 in the morning and out the door to catch a plane to Denver, then Seattle, for orientation. Although I've been back to Japan several times since leaving in 2001, I haven't taught there for ten years. So, there's lots to think about during all of the trainings and travel time over the next week or so.