THURSDAY, AUGUST 5, 2010
Mosquitoes killed today in apartment: 1
Mosquitoes still in apartment: minimum 1
Didn't want to get up this morning. I snoozed my alarm twice.
At work, there were very, very few people today. It seems lots of people took today off, including Mama. Kyoto-sensei (formerly “Vice-Principal-sensei”) was there, though. It was a quiet morning. I need to sit down with Mama (and the half-dozen other English teachers I'll be working with and figure out (1) what they expect of me in class (2) what book we'll be using (3) what the structure is (4) what level the kids are at, etc. I need to start preparing, but do find myself at a loss.
Mischievous-sensei also seemed to be at a loss for work, as he offered to take me on a tour of the school. For the first time, I brought slippers to school. We take off our outdoor shoes when we enter and put them in our lockers, then wear slippers/crocs/in-door shoes at work. I've been wearing the bright green, a hideous green, really, for days, and finally dug out black ballet-style slippers from my closet here, brought from home. The problem with the school is that there are three buildings, connected by outdoor covered walks. You wear your indoor shoes outdoors to cross between buildings on the ground floor.
We walked all over the school and I got quite lost, even with my gigantic map. Students were everywhere, participating in club activities. We popped into the art room, saw some students practice music and went down to the sports areas. Everywhere I walked, students looked up and stared. Some said, “hello!” before giggling, while others chattered, peeked around corners at me, smiled, and said, “kawaii.” The warm and happy reception everyone gives me is going to be bad for my ego.
We checked out the martial arts gym, which had kendo sticks out, and kendo uniforms neatly lined up. I want to watch a practice sometime. The track and field group were outside the gym and as we passed, I stopped to read the English on the back of two of the boys' shirts. Unfortunately, they were grammatically correct, even if they were odd (an ocean resort shirt and something about how even the longest days end.) I was really hoping for something more Engrish.
Later, while Mischievous-sensei was showing me a website for some sort of American Boxing, he asked me about Manga, and ended up offering to take me to a Manga shop this afternoon. Having lived in England, his English is one of the best, if not the best I have encountered. I have fun actually using my normal vocabulary with him, rather than simplifying like I do for the other teachers. Today, he learned the word “hodge-podge” as I described mixed martial arts. Like Jason back home, Mischievous-sensei looks 15 years younger than he is. Somehow the Japanese have discovered the fountain of youth.
So, after lunch (which, for me, was noodles left over from yesterday. No one seems to be able to comprehend that I cook my lunch the day before; they're always shocked at what I have.) we walked to the used bookshop.
Now, I love books. If you know me well enough to still be reading this blog right now, you know that I love books almost on the same level that I love chocolate. Books, like chocolate, are precious. They should not be allowed to get dirty or damaged. They should NEVER be thrown out. Walking into this used bookstore, although much smaller than the Borders or Barnes and Nobles of back home, was still an amazing experience. Here were were, with rows and rows and rows of books, and, as far as the eye could see, they were all Manga.
I should stop here and explain Manga. I am much more knowledgeable having read the printout from Wikipedia on Manga that I found in my desk. Manga are Japanese comic books. While still not a “respected” art form, certainly not canon, they are very popular and prevalent in the mainstream (versus here where comic books are limited to geek or nerd circles.) Mangaka (I believe), the writers of manga, are well-respected like pop stars. Manga is now exported around the globe, and available in the US, and hugely popular in France. It covers any number of genres, from children, to romance, to action, to adventure, to science fiction, to mature content. It is not a medium reserved for children, as we might consider comics to be. Additionally, the manga readership in the US is 60% female, an unheard of fraction compared to the female readership of traditional American comics. Popular Manga may be made into a movie/series version, called an Anime, meaning Japanese animation. Also, as Japanese doesn't distinguish between singular and plural nouns, manga (like anime, and kimono) is both the singular and plural form. Make note.
So, while I'm used to book shops, and used to manga sections back home, nothing could have prepared me for walking in those doors and seeing nothing but manga, manga, manga as far as the eye could see. At home, manga has a few bookshelves. Here, it dominated the store. Most of the manga was 100 yen a piece, which, compared to the $10/book you'd pay at home is amazing. Being unlucky, I found “Paradise Kiss” which I rather enjoyed in high school (identification made possible only by the fact that the series name is in English.) So, as my first splurge of the year, I bought the series (total: $15) in Japanese. Added bonus, bragging rights when Alyssum finds out. Of course, I'll probably then spend the rest of my paycheck sending her books to make up for it. My goal, thus, is to one day be able to read these books. I also, at Mischievous-sensei's suggestion picked up the 100 yen, first book in Nana, the most popular manga series right now (for girls, I would assume.)
We went to a convenience store next to Mischievous-sensei could pick up some snacks for himself, and bumped into some students. He chatted with them a bit and had me pull out my new books. One girl, in perhaps the best student English I've heard yet, motioned to Nana and made it known it was her favorite. I caught up to her later, brought out Paradise Kiss, and also said “my favorite.” I enjoy the students and I really want to start interacting with them more.
Back at work, most people had cleared out. Honestly, the place was dead. Kyoto-sensei was out for a lot of the afternoon, and the staff room relaxes considerably when he's absent.
After work, Elizabeth (formerly code-name “Australia”) stopped by and we compared apartments. Our lay-out is a bit different, but they're both nice. She inherited a lot from her predecessor, so she has furniture, a rice cooker and other goodies. I noticed Harry Potter on her bookshelf and commented happily. She gave it to me – it had been left my her predecessor – and she (poor unenlightened girl) doesn't read Harry Potter. When I said I collected Harry Potter books, she gave me Chamber of Secrets in Japanese, which had also be left. It's been a wonderful day for books.
Elizabeth and I both had notices in our mailboxes that there had been a failed delivery from the post office. While originally excited, we soon figured out that it was just our bank cards. We walked down to the post office together to get the letters. On the way back, we stopped by the 7/11 to use the fax machine. For 200 yen, I faxed my official documents (and a cover letter explaining who I was, what these were for, and also that I had messed up my land line phone number on my application so the new one was as follows) off. Hopefully I'll now have internet in a week.
I forgot to mention yesterday that young boys with bleach blond hair, often combed across their eyes are called “yanke,” pronounced just like my friend Louis' last name from back home. These are the boys from which the Japanese organized crime recruits. Louis, I thought of you.
Elizabeth and I are going to see the fireworks in Otsu tomorrow. They're supposedly spectacular. The crowds are also apparently vast, so the train on the way home should be a True Japanese Experience(TM).
Five spiders were removed from the bathroom tonight.
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