My Nishi, Your Nishi

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8

The morning did not start well. Let's skip that.

At school, Nish was holding their cultural festival. I joined my Nishi supervisor and we went to a tea ceremony, which was a lot like Koko's, except the girls wore their uniforms instead of yukata. The desserts were also less tasty. But it was nice and I got some pictures.

We admired more flower-arrangements. I have got to check out Wikipedia and see what they have to say about these.

We then went to view exhibits of calligraphy where I chatted with a young girl obsessed with French. This was when I realiesd how much French I've lost. It was terrifying. I said “gracias” instead of “merci” and I haven't had Spanish since my three-week introduction in sixth grade! I was embarrassed and horrified. The calligraphy was on huge banners about 3 feet wide and 12 feet long. Most were Chinese characters. It was interesting to compare the different styles. One student had done old Chinese characters, which more resemble pictographs than the kanji we're used to. Another had written in a kind of flowing way so that all of the brush strokes were connected. There's a name for that. I left then a nice review in their review box, but odds are they'll either chuck it or cry seeing the amount of English on it.

The art room had a nice display of throught-provoking paintings done by students. One of my favorites had many plugs and a roach. I got into an interesting discussion about what plugs are like in American versus in Japan.

We went to the planetarium, which, I will admit, I have been spoiled by having the district's planetarium in my high school. This one looked more like the forts my brother and I made as kids. It had sheets tacked up on the walls, then a smaller ring of sheets tacked up, chairs arranged inside around a little projector. We compared names of starts and constellations.

In the teachers' room, we did some photocopying for class.

For lunch, we wandered around the school to look at the foods the students were making and selling. One of my favorites (though most weren't vegetarian) was a plate of sauce, and instead of just scooping rice into it, the students packed he rice into a star-shaped mold, popped it out on the sauce, then the next student in the assembly line (every student must have a job as part of Japanese team dynamics) put three circles of sea-weed on it in the shape of Mickey Mouse. The last student then decorated the plate with three little pink edible stars.

The staff were making rice cakes in a traditional manner, so we went out to watch. Rice was in a big hallowed-log bowl and it was mashed with a huge hammer. There were students everywhere waiting to buy the rice cakes. But, of course, they set the ALT to work trying this traditional cooking method. The hammer wasn't that heavy, but then, I'm stronger than most Japanese women. They tried to correct my grip, but apparently just swing left-handed, like I play hockey leftie. Doing it right-handed just felt weird. The finished dough was then rolled in either soy sauce or bean powder. The first batch ran out before we got any, but we got some an hour later. The bean powder was sweet, making it like a tasty dessert. I easily would have had more.

I spent the afternoon at my desk doing some work. I'm possibly going to switch my second lesson at Kogyo and Nishi. I think my first is probably way too complex, however practical it would be. I've also been reading many articles about the debate surrounding the JET program and whether the results are sufficient to justify the expense. It reminded me that I'm not here as a teacher. I'm here as a cultural ambassador. The students don't need to learn English from me so much as learn not to hate or fear it, which many students do! Thus, I want to make my classes fun, practical, and enjoyable.

It's hard to work when the school provides me with nothing. I had to ask for paper to work. I'm beginning to wonder if I'm required to buy all of my own school supplies at both Kogyo and Nishi. Koko gives me everything I could possibly want, which is probably why I'm so much more productive when I'm there.

I left school at 4:20 and headed back along my 25 minute walk to the train station. It was not raining. In fact, Shiga got nothing more than a few cloud bursts (many that morning during my walk into school) making this the most pathetically boring typhoon I've ever been in.

I chatted about the typhoon with many teachers (and, it does dominate the Facebook statuses of JETs around the country.) My teachers all said the flying chairs the Koko teachers talked about probably weren't an issue. They did say to make sure I closed my shutters. “Shutters?” I asked. They then carefully explained shutters to me – which I already knew and understood – until I was able to say that my house DID NOT have those. They froze, looked at me carefully, inquired to be sure that I was certain, then asked about the double windows that I obviously have, right? “Um?” I proceeded to explain my windows (which are single) and the teachers looked more stunned. They then asked if I had spoken with the landlord, which I obviously haven't. This was quite the reassuring exchange.

I was just reaching the station when I met up with Andrew, who was coming back from his away school. We chatted a bit and were soon joined by Jane. We talked a while until it came out that I was at Nishi today and Jane was at Nishi. Neither of us saw the other and we were very confused. Andrew had a good laugh at our expense. Andrew headed off home into Hikone and Jane and I hopped on the train together. It wasn't until we talked more that we realised she was at the Junior High School and I was at the high school. Completely different schools, same name. How confusing!

Back at home, I met up with Brian. He was some paces ahead of me, but strolling quite casually. I quickly overtook him with repeated calls to him, but he didn't react. It wasn't until I was right next to him that I realised he was wearing headphones. I tried to carefully say “hello,” but he about jumped out of his skin to see me there.

The wind was blowing quite fiercely, so I made sure my windows were closed, then headed out on my bicycle to the grocery store and the hyaku-en store. I bought giant fans for my students to vote on my true-false quiz in class the following day. In the grocery store, I picked up tofu (so cheap! Must figure out how to use it!), milk and cereal. I also splurged and stalked the lady putting discount stickers on food. My hunch paid off and I nipped the only loaf (six whole slices!) of rye bread to go on 30% discount. It still makes it much more expensive than white bread, but I need something more than wonder-bread white. Some bread is even packaged in white-tinted plastic to make it look unearthly unhealthy. While the bread is “rye” and I haven't tried it yet, to me, it looks like white bread with some larger grains mixed in for decoration.

I got back and saw that I'd missed Brian, who had promised to drop off a catalog of mail-order furniture. I haven't looked at it yet, but I hear that there's a “Hard Off” (yes, that IS the name of the store!) in town, which sells used furniture (by Japanese standards, it has to basically be brand new – none of the half-broken stuff we find at Good Will.) for dirt cheap because the Japanese don't approve of “used” goods. The problem will be in bringing a bookshelf home on my bicycle.

I cooked dinner – a recipe I got offline and, like the last recipe I got offline, I was disappointed. That much sugar should NOT be on tofu. But, following the advice of a commenter, I added some miso paste, which, surprisingly, I actually have, and it dulled the sweet by adding salt. It was edible, but not one I'll probably make again. If anyone has a good tofu-rice recipe, I'd love a copy!

I then worked on my PowerPoint for my very first Japanese High School lesson the following day, gathered together all of my props, and laid everything out. This was when I realised that I'd left my Wisconsin Vocabulary sheet at Nishi, which I'd intended to bring to Kogyo because it hadn't made any of my teaching packets that I'd distributed to Kogyo teachers. Kicking myself, I made sure every possible thing I could was done (I even set out a bowl and spoon for cereal) so that I could get up as late as possible and still manage to swing by Koko to photocopy the worksheet before coming to Kogyo at 8:30. I was not a happy camper.

Fell into an exhausted sleep.