Dress Code Violations

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 25

Was running very late to work this morning. I managed to make it in only a minute late, but it was a frantic bike ride. I even forgot to roll up my futon this morning, the first time that's happened.

I walked in to see Mama holding up hair swatches to a student's head. I wasn't quite sure what was going on, but they were comparing colors and speaking in Japanese. Afterward, she came over and explained to me. Students aren't allowed to dye their hair and she's in charge of enforcing this rule. So, she has a set of hair swatches and if a student has dyed hair, they have two days then must report to her again. She compares the colors. The first three (black, dark dark brown, and dark brown) are okay, but anything lighter is not. Any student still in violation gets a call home to their parents. My hair, for the record, is in violation of the dress code, but I get a pass. Mama also collects earrings (“pierces”) from students, as none are allowed. She says she has quite a few and she returns them to students upon graduation. Ouch! I mentioned that I had my ears pierced and she said that teachers can wear earrings.

I decorated the English classroom some more, then taught two lessons. It's the same lesson plan as yesterday, but it's interesting to see how it changes depending on which JTE I work with and the students enthusiasm and willingness to participate.

For lunch, I reheated my stir fry, one of the reasons I was late. I woke up and realised that I had no rice. I had been talking with Olivia yesterday online about how I feel bad eating American food, because I'm in Japan and feel like my coworkers would judge me. She said that they probably expect it as I am an American. But today, I was happy that I had the stir fry. I had a coworker walk past, see my food and was shocked at my Japanese lunch. She pulled Mama over to translate, and with other teachers looking on, I was intently questioned about what was in the stir fry, exclamations that I made it myself, and quizzed over the details of the cooking process. It was rather flattering, actually. I read Pride and Prejudice for the second half of my lunch break. This version has annotations in the back, which are quite interesting. I've never viewed the story from a literary angle before.

In the afternoon, I spent more time planning for the English classroom. Really, it's looking rather run down (peeling paint, bare walls) and uninviting and I want to change that. I'm also assembling an ABCs of Madison to put on the wall. Everything's fantastic (Y is for Yahara River) except for X. Anyone got any ideas?

Also, I have a challenge for anyone willing to accept! I have a board in my classroom with a map of the US. If you're willing, please send me a post card from somewhere in the US and I'll put it up, along with a tack and string to the location. This way, students can get an interesting view of America. Pick your post cards for something High School students might find interesting. Also, Madison and the capital are overrepresented already, so if you do Wisconsin, choose another city or the state as a whole. Thanks! And!! As a reward, I'll mail you back a postcard from Japan! Just message me and I'll get you my address.

I ended up leaving work at about 4:20. The sky was getting increasingly dark and lighting was flashing with the occasional burst of thunder. I didn't want to bike in that! As I was leaving, I passed another teacher who saw me looking out the window. I managed “watashi” and “gitensha” which was enough to get my point about weather across.

Back at home, it did end up briefly down-pouring, but not too badly. I took a quick nap, as I've been staying up much too late and this morning was very, very difficult. Once I finished snoozing my alarm I got up and biked to the store. At the hyaku-yen store I picked up some tacks and safety pins. I need to safety pin my new blouses that my mother sent me to make sure no bras peek out. The tacks are to hang posters. Then I went down to the grocery store. I had planned on only getting a few items, but in the end, I spent $41 on everything from tofu to chocolate spread (for crepes) to powdered garlic, to yogurt, to brown sugar (for my cookies this coming weekend!) It was well-needed. I feel so stocked up now!

I made some Japanese noodles for dinner. My god... they cook in about 2 minutes. Forget angel hair, this stuff's incredible (and probably has zero nutrients.) As tomato sauce is expensive, I have taken to just dumping on a few extra shakes of spices and the flavor is more intense, thus saving sauce.